Bloomsday Regatta - Good sun and breeze for the Royal Alfred!

A heck of a day for the RAYC's Bloomsday regatta with sun and a decent (if tactically challenging) breeze.

A big Laser fleet was the main feature of the day. Both the younger and older elements of the fleet were there in numbers. Youth squaddies and old Masters.  Full-rigs, radials and a few 4.7s too. It added up to a big startline.

The first race was preceded by a long sequence of empty startlines as various classes didn't turn up for their assigned slots. The Flying Fifteens were there in decent numbers, but no Squibs, Mermaids, Fireballs or RS200s turned up, and only one RS400.  If the regatta had made an early decision to go for a mixed-dinghy fleet we might have had a different scene.

But, the Laser WERE there. The younger sailors gather on the startline early, with lots of tiller waggling, while the older sailors seem to prefer to keep moving. In the end it works out even. The results saw Paul Keane (an old Master) taking a 2,1 sequence of results while Conor O'Beirne (a young hotshot) took a 1,2 sequence of results. That's close!  And that close competition between young and old was seen across the results. And everyone could learn from everyone else.

The tie on 3 points still saw Keane taking the title on countback. And there can be no complaint about countback being the deciding factor since he had absolutely dominated the 2nd race, wining by several hundred metres.

That second race was a heck of a race to win too! First there were two general recalls, showing that the fleet was in full competitive spirit. Then we saw Keane very deliberately starting on the unfavoured pin end of the line, banging the left corner of the course while everyone else felt the right was preferred, and romping away to a dominating victory. This was a man with a plan and a deserved recipient of the victor's trophy.

To the victor - a platter to hold the spoils in...

In the PY fleet first place went to Sheehy's OK Dinghy. After a tight first race he got on the right side of big shifts in both beats in the 2nd race and won well. The other notable feature of the day was the improved upwind speed of Tate's Finn. That coaching session a couple of weeks ago obviously helped!

One less positive point worth mentioning. The PY attendance could have been a lot higher if the regatta had tried to incorporate the other missing fleets into one larger mixed-dinghy event. If a fleet has a dedicated start and there's concern about entry numbers it's often a self-fulfilling negative prophesy....there's anxiety about the numbers so in the end no-one from that fleet turns up. But all the one or two boats that might have been there from Mermaids and Fireballs and RSs would have been very welcome on a mixed startline. Even the one RS400 started alone and raced alone and (we think) didn't even win a prize at the end of the day. It was a bit sad in that respect when we've seen all those classes all quite competitive on PY in past events.

But overall a great day. Sun. Sea. Breeze. Boats. Lads and lassies in Lasers, mostly. A great day on the water.

So, thanks to the RAYC for a great event. See you next year!!

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