A generally light easterly breeze produced close racing across Dublin Bay on Thursday evening (August 13), with Valentina, Riders on the Storm and Windjammer heading the principal cruiser results in the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club Summer Series.
Conditions appeared to ease as the evening progressed, but the fleet largely completed its racing programme, with some notably tight corrected-time finishes across the cruiser divisions.
Valentina Takes Cruiser Zero Double
John Treanor's J/112E Valentina led Cruiser Zero, winning under both IRC and ORC.
Under IRC, Valentina's corrected time of 58:40 put her 28 seconds ahead of Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia on 59:08. Peter Ryan's Tsunami was third on 1:01:26.
The ORC calculation produced the same winner, but with the Puma 42 El Pocko moving into second and Aurelia third.
Valentina's ORC advantage over El Pocko was one minute and eight seconds on corrected time.
Riders on the Storm Leads Cruiser One
Bobby Kerr's J/109 Riders on the Storm won Cruiser One under both IRC and ORC.
The IRC result was particularly tight. Riders on the Storm recorded 57:23 corrected, just 31 seconds ahead of Brian Hall's J/109 Something Else on 57:54. Richard and Tim Goodbody's J/109 White Mischief was third on 58:22.
ORC retained the same top three, with Riders on the Storm winning from Something Else by one minute and two seconds, and White Mischief another 29 seconds back.
Nine boats finished in Cruiser One, while Ruth was recorded RET in the IRC results.
Windjammer Tops Cruiser Two
Lindsay Casey's J/97 Windjammer also completed an IRC and ORC double in Cruiser Two.
Windjammer won IRC in 51:44 corrected, ahead of Brendan Foley's First Class 8 Mod Allig8R on 53:24 and Paul Keelan's J/92 Cojones on 58:08.
Under ORC, the contest was considerably closer. Windjammer's 56:53 corrected beat Allig8R by just 15 seconds, with Cojones third.
Close Finishes in Cruiser 5A and 5B
Michael Ryan's Saki won Cruiser Three ECHO, just 25 seconds ahead of Wyn McCormack's Wynward, with Frank Guilfoyle's Papytoo third.
There was an exceptionally close ECHO result in Cruiser 5A, where Eamonn Doyle's Shearwater beat Derek Ryan's Brizo by only four seconds corrected. Peter Richardson's Dehliverence was another four seconds behind in third.
ORC produced a different order behind Shearwater, which also won that division. Dehliverence took second and Johnnie Phillips' Playtime was third.
In Cruiser 5B ECHO, Duncan Lyster's Almaviva won from Paul Conway's Cevantes and Rodney Martin's Gemini.
Almaviva also topped ORC, where the margin over Cevantes was only 11 seconds, with Gemini third.
Phantom Heads Dragon Fleet
With several Dublin Bay Dragons preparing for the Edinburgh Cup later this month, Phantom, helmed by D Williams and P Bowring, won Thursday's Dragon contest.
Denis Bergin's Sir Ossis of the River was second and John O'Connor's Vela third.
Mavh FFive Wins Flying Fifteen Race
The Flying Fifteens again provided one of the evening's strongest one-design turnouts, with 16 finishers.
Alan Green's Mavh FFive took the win ahead of Sean Craig's Farfalla, with Chris Arrowsmith's Betty third.
David Mulvin's Ignis Caput was fourth and Keith Poole's Mike Wazowski fifth.
Pterodactyl Heads Glen Turnout
David McCaffrey's Pterodactyl won the Glen race from Ailbe Millerick's Glenluce, with Alison O'Brien's Glendun third.
Keith Malcolm's Glenroan was fourth and John Bligh's Glencree fifth.
StarJay Scores J80 and Sportsboat Double
Kevin Byrne's StarJay won the J80 scratch contest ahead of Declan Curtin's Jester, with Stephen Gill's Javelin third.
StarJay then completed a double in the Sportsboat handicap result, beating Jester by just 38 seconds corrected.
David Ryan's Lady A was third on handicap, ahead of Javelin and Gus Legge's Number 6.
Duffy Wins Ruffian 23 Race
Brendan Duffy's Scéal Eile took the Ruffian 23 victory ahead of Frank Bradley's Ripples.
Ann Kirwan's Bandit, winner the previous Thursday, was third.
Eimear Ní Mhéalóid's Ruff Diamond and David Meeke's Alias were both recorded DNF.
Twocan Turns Tables in Shipmans
David Freeman's Twocan reversed the previous Thursday's Shipman result to beat Fergus Mason's Viking.
Twocan finished one minute and 14 seconds ahead, with Gerard Glynn's Invader third and Alain Deladienne's Poppy fourth.
John O'Callaghan's Ruadh and William Maher's Joslim were recorded DNF.
