With 15 knots from the west gusting up to 25, rarely are conditions more perfect for a Thursday night yacht race than those that greeted the large Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) fleet tonight.
The fleet responded in force with great turnouts in many of the 17 classes.
Second in class one was the offshore racer, the J109 Jedi (Sarratt/Austin/McGuinness) and third was another J109, John Maybury's Joker.
There are no results issued for class zero and in class two the elderly half tonner Dick Dastardly (Brian Cusack) beat the relatively new J80 Jester (Declan Curtin) on IRC handicap.
Race officers set long courses both in the northern race area and south eastern bay area from the Mac Lir and Spirit of Irish Committee Boats respectively.
Cruiser classes got either 'N1' or 'N2' courses - westerly race track configurations that featured no less than six turning marks giving the cruisers long reaching legs in the excellent conditions and plenty of boat handling practise.
On the one design course the 'sight of the night' was the blistering speed of the SB3s who reached across Scotsman's bay from harbour mark to Dalkey island mark. Andrew Algeo's Flutter set an impressive pace (16 knots plus?) drawing out a lead of 20 boat lengths or more from 2010 overall winner Sin bin (Barry O'Neill). Alas not all the SB3s managed the tricky reach so well. White Noise in particular taking several minutes to recover from a serious broach at the tail end of the 12 boat fleet.
There was a great turnout in the Flying fifteens with Frank Burgess taking another win in the 12 boat fleet. Glassilaun (D O'Neill) won the Squibs but it was disappointing that only three of the nine boats flew kites.
Few of the many shoreline spectators would have noticed though such was the volume of boats filling Scotsmans bay at 8pm tonight.
Full results below:
DUBLIN PORT Dublin Bay Sailing Club Results for 12 MAY 2011
BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO- 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke), 3. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey)
BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke), 3. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson)
CRUISERS 1 - 1. Contango (Barry Cunningham), 2. Jedi (Sarratt/Austin/McGuinness), 3. Xtravagance (Colin Byrne)
CRUISERS 1 ECHO - 1. Contango (Barry Cunningham), 2. Jedi (Sarratt/Austin/McGuinness), 3. Joker 11 (John Maybury)
CRUISERS 2 ECHO - 1. Dick Dastardly (B.Cusack et al), 2. Jester (Declan Curtin), 3. Cor Baby (Keith Kiernan et al)
CRUISERS 2 - 1. Dick Dastardly (B.Cusack et al), 2. Jawesome 11 (V.Kennedy/M.Dyke), 3. Peridot (Jim McCann et al)
CRUISERS 3 - 1. Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell), 2. Janx Spirit (T McGrath), 3. Papytoo (M.Walsh/F.Guilfoyle)
CRUISERS 3 ECHO - 1. Small Wonder (Hugh Kelly), 2. Taiscealai (Brian Richardson et al), 3. Papytoo (M.Walsh/F.Guilfoyle)
DRAGON - 1. Diva (R.Johnson/R.Goodbody), 2. Phantom (D.Williams/P.Bowring), 3. Zu (P.Dee et al)
FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Snow White (Frank Burgess), 2. Mellifluence (Tom Leonard), 3. Fflogger (Alan Dooley)
GLEN - 1. Glenmarissa (F.Elmes/W.Higgins), 2. Glenshane (P Hogan), 3. Glendun (B.Denham et al)
RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Ruff N Ready (Ann Kirwan et al), 2. Carmen (Michael Hinkson et al), 3. Shannagh (S.Gill/P.MacDiarmada)
SB3s - 1. Flutter (Andrew Algeo), 2. Sin Bin (Barry O'Neill), 3. Defiant (R.Hudson/J.Hooper)
SHIPMAN - 1. Jo Slim (J.Clarke et al), 2. Euphanzel lll (Louis McSherry et al), 3. Gusto (C Heath)
SIGMA 33 - 1. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody), 2. Rupert (R.Lovegrove/P.Varian), 3. Gwili Two (D.Clarke/P.Maguire)
SQUIB - 1. Glassilaun (D O'Neill), 2. Pintail (M Muldoon & B Stevens), 3. Lola (Frank Whelan)
WHITE SAIL CRUISERS ECHO - 1. Act Two (Michael O'Leary et al), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Edenpark (Liam Farmer)
WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. Act Two (Michael O'Leary et al), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Arwen (Philip O'Dwyer)
