#DBSC – Light air dinghy skills were a pre-requisite to success on Dublin Bay tonight where the biggest waves were those from the wake of a passing lifeboat. Neil Colin was top in the Fireball class (read Cormac Bradley's observations below). Pierre Long's Dart was at the top of the IDRA 14 fleet. Full Dublin Bay Sailing Club results for 8 May are below:
FIREBALL - 1. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey), 2. Blind Squirrel (Frank Miller), 3. Winder (E.Butler/O.Laverty)
IDRA 14 FOOT - 1. Dart (Pierre Long), 2. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 3. Squalls (Stephen Harrison)
PY CLASS - 1. Gary O'Hare (Laser), 2. C Arrowsmith (Laser), 3. Hugh Sheehy (OK Dinghy)
And the first shall be last ........and the last......shall be first!
Tuesday night DBSC racing is always a time challenge – to get away from the office in time to get down to the Club, get changed and rigged and then to sail out to the start area. Invariably the challenge is worth it, if only to get the chance to get out on the water writes Cormac Bradley.
Tonight, the challenge was magnified when the wind that XC Weather had forecast for this evening didn't materialize. A suggestion of 7kts gusting to 10kts going from NE to N simply didn't happen – the wind was very light and was more easterly that anything else. Competitors and race management alike (Flying Fifteens) had challenges galore.
With an ebbing tide would it pay to go out to sea – DEFINITELY NOT! Would the slight breeze stay long enough to get a race in – ONLY JUST – thanks to a shortened course and even then some of us were too far behind to stay within the time limit for finishers.
Six Fireballs started within a reasonable time period of the start signal and one Fireball was very late. Of those who were in the start area at the start signal, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey were easily the last to arrive. Everyone else was already there, Frank & Grattan, pin-end on port, Glen & Dave, Mary & Brenda, Owen & Conor, and Louis & Cormac, the last combination having arrived in the start area in good time relative to their scheduled start.
A slow departure from the start line prompted the idea of going out to sea for this last combination. After all, the tide was going out and there was nothing to specifically suggest that there was less wind there than anywhere else on the course. A fatal mistake that saw the remainder of the fleet sail off over the horizon, never to be seen again!
Neil and Margaret sailed quietly into 2nd place behind Frank & Grattan, followed, I think by Owen/Conor, Brenda/Mary and Dave/Glen. The 2nd beat of the windward/leeward course saw the fleet head to shore to various degrees and Neil & Margaret sailed serenely into a huge lead. The masters of light airs had struck again.
Thereafter, the pecking order was – I think – Frank & Grattan, Brenda & Mary and Owen & Conor. Louis & Cormac? So far behind they were timed out!
And the first shall be last and the last shall be first!
