If the crews in the eight classes competing in this year's Key Capital Private-sponsored Spring Warmer Series were looking to the early season event blow away the proverbial cobwebs, they probably got more than they bargained for last Saturday morning.
Fresh north-easterlies of over 22 knots greeted the fleets for the opening two back-to-back races and the conditions saw a number of boats retiring with gear damage and in the case of one J/24, a damaged crew member.
With the exception of SB3s, J/24s and Puppeteers with 9, 7 and 5 entries respectively, the entries were disappointing for the first weekend, with the Etchells, Squibs and Class 2 effectively enjoying two match-racing encounters.
Equinox and Storm each had a win and a second place in Class 1 while Maximus did the double over Sunburn in Class 2, as did Kerfuffle over Too Dee in the Squibs, while Starlet notched two wins in Class 3.
In the Etchells, Kootamundra and Fetching shared the spoils and Trick or Treat had two comfortable wins in the Puppeteers, firstly ahead of Harlequins and then Eclipse.
Lough Erne visitor Jamais Encore scored two second places in the J/24, firstly behind Hard on Port and then behind local boat Crazyhorse. The biggest fleet of nine SB3s saw Dinghy Supplies with an emphatic 3-min gap over Ruby Blue in race 1 and then just 9 seconds to spare over TBC in the second race.
The Key Capital Private Spring Warmer continues next Saturday with another two-race schedule.
