#dbsc – Let's hope Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company don't take down the wonderful Irish Tricolour on the end of the East Pier any day soon. This evening, in a scene played out across each deck and launching area, all of the dinghy crews hoped that the flag would fly and there'd be some wind out on the bay. It didn't look likely from the shore for quite a while! All eyes on the flag!
But despite initial appearances the sailors were greeted by a neat 6-10 knot SE~SW shifty breeze out in Scotsmans Bay with a short wind over tide chop. OOD Ben Mulligan's prayers were answered by a breeze that lasted nicely for the duration of the racing and not much more.
An early casualty in the PY Fleet was Sheehy in the OK Dinghy, adjudged to be some boatlengths over the line he dutifully re-started about a minute later. Mind you, Tate's RS400 hadn't gone anywhere much either, having had a dreadful start too while the Mermaids and IDRAs headed up the beat.
Tate passed them all and already led at the first mark. Then the Red Bull effect really took over. Tate and the RS400 found enough power to fly on the runs and Tate was gone. The second run was where he dominated, powering down the run on a right hand shift and pulling out a huge lead. Sheehy overhauled and passed the Mermaids and IDRA14s in a more gradual fashion, still hoping to make up for that start.
Meantime there was a returning face in the pursuing Lasers. Charles Dwyer Esq of Cork graced the fleet with his speedy presence and excellent sense of humour. We hope to see more of him and fellow Corkonian Ronan Keneally over the coming weeks.
At the first mark it was very close with O'Toolivic, Dwyer, Galavan and Keane bow to stern, followed by Walsh and Barry. Keane went left on the run while the others sailed the conservative direct line. At the bottom Keane edged inside all three to round in a lead which he held to the finish. Keeping speed on the run was key for the Lasers too, with the waves at a tricky angle to the wind offering gains and frustration in equal measure.
Overall Tate won by a mile with Keane best of the Lasers. The gap from Tate to Keane was 4mins 48seconds on corrected time. That's HUGE. Sailed well, the RS400 can be untouchable on its day. Galavan was another 1:39 back from Keane. O'Toolivic was just 8 seconds back from Galavan and Sheehy's OK Dinghy only 19 seconds from there. Tight from 3rd to 5th but big gaps for 1st and 2nd. (O'Dwyer isn't entered yet so didn't get a recorded finishing time.)
Walsh was next with Francis Barry further back and McGoldrick's Vago taking the final finishing position.
Results here.
