PY/Laser fleet: Youth before Wisdom - but only just!

The biennial Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the Irish Sea's biggest sailing event. This year saw nearly 400 boats, many from the UK, and thousands of sailors in 25 fleets.

The PY fleet was almost a Laser one-design event, with three Laser Vagos and one OK Dinghy racing among 12 Lasers.

1st: Frank "The Kid" Devlin

Four days of intense racing with winds between 5 and 12 knots saw Frank Devlin in a Laser the winner by a single point from Hugh Sheehy in an OK Dinghy. Ross O'Leary took 3rd ahead of Neil O'Toole and Paul Keane, all in Lasers.

2nd: Hugh "The Cat" Sheehy

Frank, a member of the local youth Laser squad, put on a demonstration of dinghy sailing technique over the first two days and took 4 wins in the 5 races. Only Neil O'Toole took a race win from "The Kid" over these first two days. However, the senior sailors have been around the block and weren't slow to learn new tricks. The next two days were full of excitement.

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Saturday morning saw the OK Dinghy start the fightback with a horizon job in the first race. Banging the right corner out of the tide gave the OK an advantage it held to the finish, with Devlin finishing 3rd behind erstwhile Enterprise, Flying Fifteen and SB3 ace Sean Craig.

The 2nd race on Saturday saw tight racing around the whole course, ending in a dead heat on corrected time - Sheehy and Devlin each collecting 1.5 points for the race.  O'Leary and Craig were mere seconds behind.  

The third race was a key point in the series. Neil O'Toole led the Lasers home, with Craig 2nd and Sheehy's OK in 3rd.  Devlin had a shocker and even his speed could only get him back to 8th place in tight tactical racing.  The old men weren't dead yet!  There was still hope!

Sunday dawned with light winds, forecast to increase. While it was still theoretically possible for Sheehy's OK Dinghy to take the series, it needed two wins and for Devlin to pick up 4ths. Both results seemed unlikely.  Similarly O'Leary needed to make up 6 points to overtake Sheehy for 2nd. 

The first race saw Sheehy's OK Dinghy leading to the first mark, with a switch to the left half way up the first beat proving that more wind trumps less tide. Craig was next in an epic tussle with Devlin, who had recovered from an attempted pin end flyer at the start with the same left switch. O'Leary, O'Toole and Keane were in close pursuit.  Craig and Devlin snuck past the OK Dinghy at the top of the 2nd beat with Devlin eventually edging past Craig on the last run as their battle continued. The OK Dinghy hung on across the reach and down the run to finish only 20 seconds behind Devlin and take the win on corrected time.

That locked up the event. Devlin now couldn't be beaten for the win, with Sheehy's OK solid in 2nd and O'Leary locked into 3rd. Still, without coaches on the water no-one was quite sure of the numbers so no-one was relaxing!

3rd: Ross "Bump" O'Leary

The final race was a magnificent way to end the series. A tight bunch of boats sailed around the whole course in solid breeze and building chop - and in very close proximity. Seven boats finished within 22 seconds at the end. Craig led for much of the race, with O'Toole, Nesbitt, Devlin, O'Leary, Keane and Sheehy all in a tight bunch.  

The OK Dinghy took the race win by 2 seconds on corrected time from the resurgent Paul Keane. Keane, dominant in recent club racing, had seemed off form in this event but led the Lasers home in style in the last race. Craig and Devlin left the door open at the last trapezoid mark and Keane pounced, gaining the inside line and holding it down a tense run. 

The overall results saw Devlin winner by a single point from Sheehy's OK Dinghy. O'Leary's consistent series saw him in 3rd with O'Toole 4th and Keane 5th.  

The racing at the front of the fleet was unbelievably tight over the whole event and any error was punished. Will Nesbitt, the 2011 event winner now back in racing after some months out, found that his speed was enough to keep him in touch with the main bunch but that last metre wasn't there to break ahead. Time on the water counts! Richard Harding, frequent race winner in the Frostbites, was on the podium on Friday but also seemed to miss something off the starts and up the beats.  Both Nesbitt and Harding occasionally flew - particularly downwind - but consistent speed was missing. 

There were several new faces too - apart from the event winner. Noel Roche and Paul McDermott had a baptism of fire on their return to racing. Meantime, a few could only race the weekend with Delaney, Sweeny and Barry in Lasers and two of the Vagos adding depth to the fleet but finding the intensity at the front a hard challenge after missing the first two days. 

Results are here.

Many competitors commented on the excellent race management. The dinghy fleets all completed 10 races over the 4 days, the only group to sail a full quota of races.  Serious kudos to the PRO and the whole organizing team!  

All photos are copyright of David Branigan and Gareth Craig. They're visible on the DLR Facebook Page here.