Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta - Day 2
by David Branigan 7 Jul 2017 20:22 UTC
6-9 July 2017
As Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2017 reaches its halfway stage, overall leaderboards are shaping up across 35 racing classes. The so far light wind seventh edition of Ireland's biggest sailing event has produced some impressive performances on the water where in some classes leaders are counting straight wins after two full days of racing.
With all classes aiming for either two or three races today, results in the 475-boat fleet were still being computed in some classes at 6pm.
Day two racing started with the bumper 31–boat IRC offshore class and a start close to the Dun Laoghaire shoreline.
The 2015 champion, George Sisk's Farr 42 WOW, made the best of the vagaries of an 18–mile shortened coastal course to win on IRC overall from the Irish National Sailing School J109 Jedi skippered by Kenneth Rumball.
The course took the fleet south to the Kish Banks but westerly winds proved so fickle for it led to a decision to shorten the race off Bray in County Wicklow.
An hour later, the IRC Zero, One and Two also took the coastal course south.
Swansea yacht Dark Angel (Tony Ackland), that has already enjoyed early season success at both June's ICRA Championships at Royal Cork and the Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale, is now leading Class Zero in Dublin. The Dubois 37 has a three point lead over Royal Cork's Ker 37 Jump Juice, (Conor Phelan).
An impressive second place for Joker II ensures John Maybury's place at the top of 29–boat IRC one, arguably the most competitive IRC fleet of the regatta. The Royal Irish J109 now leads by 12–points from the visiting Scottish First 36.7 Animal skippered by Kevin Aitken.
In IRC two, Scottish half–tonner Trastada from Fairlie Yacht Club continues to lead but Dave Cullen's Checkmate XV Half Tonner now in second has halved Roddy Angus's lead to just two points.
Although the big IRC boats were out in the Irish Sea, the size of the regatta fleet at over 475 boats meant the bay was still full of sails with action across five race courses from 11am.
In IRC Three, Richard Colwell's Fusion from Howth Yacht Club continued his winning streak with two more wins and a second this time on the centre course to lead by a full eight points in the eight boat fleet.
In IRC four, Ken Lawless's Quarter Tonner also keeps his early lead but only by half a point. Cartoon, on 8.5 points, leads Jonathan Flood's modified Formula 28 Flash from Bray Sailing Club in the 15-boat fleet.
Ten classes have included the regatta as part of their championship calendar in 2017: GP14s, 420s and Mermaid dinghies are racing for Leinster honours, while SB20s, J24s and Squibs will decide East Coast titles, and the Sigma 33s, Beneteau 21s and the Wayfarers will race for national trophies.
420 National Champions Geoff Power and James McCann from Waterford harbour who were crowned last week at Royal Cork's DinghyFest are on target for the Leinster title too with three second places to give them a two point margin in the 14–boat fleet.
In the 20–boat Sigma 33 Irish championships, UK visitors occupy the top three places after four races sailed. Dan Lewis's Neyland Yacht Club entry Partisan leads but is on the same four points as the Clyde's Alan Harper. Third is Toby Claridge's Excelle. The top Irish boat is Ballyholme's Paul Prentice in sixth place.
Gerry Dowling's Bad has a string of four wins from five races in the 18–boat SB20 sportsboat championships. Seconds is Michael O'Connor's Sin Bin, six points adrift.
According to forecasters, it looks like there will be more light westerlies for racing tomorrow and as a result organisers plan for a start one hour later than scheduled.
173025
Results are provisional and subject to protest Full results in all 35 classes are available on www.dlregatta.org.
Racing continues tomorrow (Saturday).
The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event and takes place for the next three days until Sunday 9th July with 475 boats and over 2,500 competitors taking part. There is a great festival atmosphere across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.
For more information see www.dlregatta.org or find Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Facebook and Twitter.