Second half of Dun Laoghaire Regatta proves calmer

In the end, it was a regatta of two halves, the first with more wind than many were accustomed to and the second, well, that was somewhat more familiar even if less demanding.

Yesterday's finale in the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta ended with a complete race programme across all 31 classes that drew a total fleet of 409 boats from around Ireland the Irish Sea region.

Amongst many winners, the stand-out "Boat of the Week" overall trophy was awarded to veteran campaigner George Sisk and his long-standing crew on WOW from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The Farr 43-footer only recently won the Division 0 championship title at the ICRA Nationals at the Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale while this home waters win was for topping the 25-strong IRC Offshore class.

Different outcome

It might have been a different outcome however had Adrian Lee’s result on his Cookson 50 on Friday been allowed to stand. However, a navigation error led to a late-evening foray to the protest room where Lee Overlay Partners first place was disallowed and Sisk moved up to second place behind Conor Doyle’s Freya for the day. But the weekend brought consistency with two bullets each on Saturday and Sunday when the class toured the outer reaches of the Dublin Bay.

The overall award is calculated by averaging a boat’s score for the series, adjusting for the number of races and then for the number of boats in that class. The same formula almost saw the trophy awarded to a boat on the opposite end of the sailing spectrum.

The GP14 dinghy had a large turn-out of over 30 boats competing for their Leinster championship. Irish Olympic veteran Ger Owens from the Royal St George YC sailed with Melanie Morris from East Antrim Boat Club though illness meant that Max Treacy substituted for the opening day and later the third race on Saturday had to be skipped.

Although the discard took care of the maximum score that followed, ensuring the championship victory by a very comfortable 13-point lead, it did affect the calculation for the overall winning boat that saw Sisk come through. Still, dinghy classes counted for a third of the classes though most couldn’t muster the turn-out of the GP’s.

A growing class of International Moth sailors did stage plenty of entertainment during the regatta with the novelty of foiling dinghies in near full flight, especially in the windy conditions on Friday when the racing was held inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Eight boats competed, more than twice the appearance at this event two years ago though there was little change in the outcome. Olympic coach Rory Fitzpatrick won all nine races.

In other overall prizes, Paul Colton’s Cri Cri from the RIYC won the Volvo Trophy for best performance under IRC. The quarter-tonner won four of the six races in the 15-strong division and was able to discard a third place from the series.

In other IRC divisions, there was disappointment for Tony Fox’s Gringo from the National YC who led Division 1 going into the final race yesterday against 15 boats with the top of the leader-board finely balanced.

Infringement

However, an “on-course side” starting-line infringement by two seconds saw the Archambault 35-footer obliged to return to the start and ended the race in ninth place.

That left the way clear for Paul O’Higgins Rockabill V to win the class with three points to spare after a very consistent series of fourth and third places plus a race win.

Meanwhile, the veteran offshore racer Huff of Arklow, on her first competitive appearance after restoration 65-years since first sailing on the bay, collected a new trophy as most successful RSGYC boat in the series.

Overall, the local clubs hosting the regatta retained the bulk of the silverware despite visitors from further afield.