GBSC Tuesday Dinghy Results

Tuesday saw 14 boats from the mono and multi-hull fleets partake in the Spring dinghy series. The wind was expected Northerly but backed into the North-West shortly before the start. The shore-side of the line got very crowded as the competitors approached the start gun. Rory Carberry's FX1 luffed to stay behind the line but ended up stalled at the line, as did several mono-hulls that were windward of him. Anthony Murphy's Dart 16 and Gerry Drudy's 420 both got away cleanly at the favoured end, as did Ger Murray's FX1 at the leeward end of the line.

The fetch out to the first mark was in quite shifty conditions. Gerry Drudy was just inside Vincent Jordan at the first mark and rounded ahead. Vincent got a lucky shift on the next leg and crossed ahead of Gerry just before the second mark. The run down towards the club was great with all the spinnakers flying. With the advantage of an asymmetric spinnaker on his Stratos Vincent Jordan was able to pull out a small lead at the gybe mark which he kept for the remainder of the race. There were some very close finishes on the water with only two seconds separating Dave Vinnell on his RS Vision and Nicholas Burke sailing a Laser.

In the multi-hull fleet Ger Murray sailed a great race to finish with a commanding lead. Anthony Murphy initially struggled to maintain boat-speed after his great start, but once settled into the race put himself into a strong second. Rory Carberry pushed very hard to make up for the slow start, but in pushing so hard capsized and lost many places.

After the race all the competitors thanked recently-qualified race officer Aoife Lyons for doing a great job on her first time doing the flags and finishing and also the rescue boat drivers.

O'Tuairisc Cruiser Race

Despite it being Mayday the first race in the O'Tuairisc cruiser race started in strong northerly wind and belting hailstones which added to the challenges for Dave Vinnell, Race Officer, who ran the race from an on-the-water Committee boat.

A long beat to the windward mark at the Leverets Lighthouse saw After Midnight make a good start with Catalpa in close pursuit. With spinnakers raised the fleet tore downwind to Dillisk race mark and enjoyed an exciting reach over to Cockle Rock with AWOL making good ground having slickly rounded Cockle. After Midnight sailed superbly in the changing conditions on the next leg to Mutton Island to maintain their lead. The freshening conditions also helped Siamsa in Class 2 steal a lead on Silver Foam to take this leg of the race. Another stiff beat to Cockle Rock followed which saw Catalpa begin to close ground on the upwind sail selection for the beat. Both Catalpa and Siamsa managed to sail well on the following legs which were two runs and beat between Cockle and Leveret lighthouse. After Midnight, however, maintained their lead throughout and went on to claim first place by only 1 seconds from Catalpa and AWOL I in third. In class 2 Siamsa took a first over Silver Foam with Ocean Venture taking third.