It doesn't get much better than this! There was a turnout of 10 of the 13 RS fleet in 15 wonderful knots of breeze.
Racing was in the harbour, which was probably just as well for Stephen "The Cool" Craig and Conor "Chilled" Foley. They rocked in just in time to hear the warning gun and wouldn't have made it to an outside start. Naturally, the imperturbable pair duly won the RS200 private battle with the not-quite-so-relaxed Byrne/ Craig team who fell foul of the round the ends rule.
Meanwhile Cassidy/ Rafferty took a good second in the 200's closely followed by Totterdell/ Kelly, and the Arrowsmith boat. However, all this was not enough to stop the RS400's taking all three podium spots. Ryan/ Murphy had an fairly average start and it took them three laps to reel in the early flyers O'Leary/ Fenlon and Cleary/ Tyner to take both line honours and the handicap win.
There was some great racing here, most of the overtaking manoeuvres taking place off the wind, and the outcome was up for grabs all the way until the end.
The second race was even better. The wind had now veered a few degrees towards the East and the crews had to decide between starting at the favoured boat end or getting into the stronger breeze on the left. A stray Fireball on the start line was succinctly persuaded to "move along please!" and all the RS's got away cleanly in the best start of the season so far.
In the event, four of the RS400's arrived at the top mark in quick succession, with Sean and Tyner edging ahead. The breeze was still strong enough for exciting reaches and the Greystones team held onto their nerve and the lead until the finish. Most of the fleet got within shouting distance of the leaders, with the 200's and 400's well bunched after the PY correction.
Emmet took second this time with Marty clocking up a consistent third. Right on cue, the wind dropped immediately after racing, just goes to show what a talented race committee we have. Thanks again to Olivier and team.
Report written by Enid Blyton (or Richard Tate)
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