Friday Night League – Race 11 report

A breezy round 11 of the Friday Night League attracted a strong fleet of 14 boats, last weekend.

Starting at EF2, race officer – Denis Ellis, sent the eight spinnaker class boats and six ‘white sail’ boats on a long beat past Cobh, to a weather mark at number 15, off Whitepoint. The fleet then turned for home and ran back to an EF1 finish, via gybe marks at buoy numbers 18 and 9. The inveterate ‘rig-tweakers’ aboard Jay were caught with under-tensioned shrouds and were disasterously over-powered in the conditions, but the rest of the fleet enjoyed a fine sail up Cobh Road and back.

Finbar Dorgan’s Sonar impressed again, taking first in IRC. This win brings her tally to 3 firsts and 1 third from 4 races sailed this season.  Alastair, Doyle and Russell’s Bedlam came closest to Sonar on the night, finishing in second place, some 30 seconds adrift of the leader.  The well sailed Impala was helmed by Jason Losty, on this occasion.  Kevin O’Connor’s Gaelic Kiwi placed third, a further 5 minutes behind.  Gaelic Kiwi retains the first place position she has held all season.  However, both ‘the Kiwi’ and second placed Re Eile must now be casting nervous glances back at the hard charging Finbar Dorgan and crew. Nick O’Rourke’s Bright Wings placed first ECHO. Away on Business sailed well in second. Gaelic Kiwi placed third.

Carl Queen’s Maximiser was first White Sail boat home. However, John Doyle’s Chanteuse took first place on corrected time, followed by Rory Allen’s Mystic, Jim Buckley’s Wader and Robert Keating’s Serendipity.  It is a testament to the competitive nature of ‘White Sail’ that all boats in this diverse division finished within 5 minutes of each other, after nearly 1 hour 45 minutes on the water.  Chanteuse leads the White Sail division, overall. Wader lies in second place. Mystic is third.