Everyone a Winner?

It sounds cheesy but that was the feeling as the dinghy fleet fast reached in off the Seapoint Race Course this afternoon after two close, tough and exhilarating races.

Starting boats don't get more swanky than the Molly Bawn. This is one Committee Boat you do not want to hit! The first start was a little muddled with some empty sequences and a few (McStay, O'Dowd) sailors eager to pull the trigger 5 minutes early. When the fleet did get away the majority headed left looking for the expected shift only to find themselves out of phase. Mattie O'Dowd from the RStG did well to hold off the challenge from Richard Tate to round in the lead at the top mark. Mattie then lit the afterburners and the next time he was seen was at the finish.

Lasers nearing the mark.
[Image Copyright Aidan Tarbett]
http://goo.gl/s9HQy

Meanwhile back at the ranch.. Tate, Keane, Craig, Dwyer, Harding and Nesbitt battled it out in the Standard Fleet ocassionally getting buzzed by the omnipresent Conor O'Beirne in his 4.7 rig. After 3 rounds of a long W/L course 1st home was O'Dowd, followed by McStay in a Radial and then Keane. Everyone was glad to finish and take a quick break.


The Race Committee were very efficient at getting round 2 underway and truncated out the empty sequences to ensure no-one was hanging around for too long. To mix things up they opted for a triangular course.

The second start was another hotly contested affair. At the top mark Mattie popped out to lead again followed by Craig, then Harding and the chasing bunch. People often say reaches are boring but there are options available and Keane showed that sometimes the low reach on a track away from the traffic can reap dividends.

Across the course the wind was up and down, it reached 25kts at times (committee boat verified) but there were lulls. Shifts seemed to follow a back and forth pattern that punished being out of phase.

In the standard fleet O'Dowd had marched away to a very solid lead but on the last triangle he was forced to look over his shoulder more than once as the fleet, driven by a large gust raking the course, bore down on him at very high speed. In the end he held onto his lead and was followed home by Keane in 2nd with Craig just pipping Harding for third.

Full results and pictures by http://aidantarbett.com. See slideshow here.

Big shout out to PY Fleet members Frank and Judy O'Beirne's son Conor who sailed magnificently in his 4.7 rig to take 2nd in the Junior Prizes on the day.

Class : Regatta - Laser

Boat Selection : RAYC

Number of Races Sailed = 2

Discards applied = 0

P O I N T S Cumulative Results

---------------------------

15/06 15/06 Place Gross Total Nett

Helm Sail No. Pts. Discards Pts.

-------------- --------- ----- ----- ---------------------------

M O'Dowd - J 181999 1.00 1.00 1 2.00

P Keane 195130 3.00 2.00 2 5.00

R McStay - J 183939 2.00 5.00 3 7.00

S Craig 178335 6.00 3.00 4 9.00

M Bolger 193556 5.00 6.00 5 11.00

R Harding 180969 8.00 4.00 6 12.00

R Tate 177852 7.00 8.00 7 15.00

C O'Beirne - J 183231 4.00 11.00 8 15.00

L Murphy - J 201581 10.00 7.00 9 17.00

C Foley - J 189212 9.00 9.00 10 18.00

W Nesbitt 122181 11.00 10.00 11 21.00

D Dwyer 180317 15.00 15.00 12 30.00 

Next up: Tuesday racing