28 May Friday Night League – Race 3 Report
C’est La Vie’s Declan Murphy acted as race officer for round 3 of Cove SC’s Friday Night League, last Friday, on a night when summer finally came to Cork Harbour.
From a startline in the vicinity of buoy number 9, the OD set a fine course between buoy number EF2, on the Eastern Bank, buoy number 10 to the east of Spike Island and buoy number 13 off Cuskinny. Powered by a strong but balmy Northeasterly breeze, the varied fleet made short work of the long course and were back in good time for May’s monthly prizegiving ceremony in Tradewinds restaurant.
Jay was certainly enjoying the conditions in the starting area. So much so that she spectacularly missed the start sequence and had to start significantly behind the rest of the fleet.
The long first beat to EF2 was testing and sail trimmers were busy keeping their boats from becoming overpowered in the gusts. Jay’s crew certainly struggled to keep the J24 on her toes, as they sought to make up for their poor start. Weight on the rail was at a premium here. Niall Kelly’s fully crewed Wot Like and Finbarr Dorgan’s No Half Measures powered up the beat to lead the fleet around the first mark at buoy number EF4. An undercrewed Re Eile, sailed extremely well in this phase of the race to round EF4 in third place on the water. A recovering Jay rounded in fourth place, followed by Away on Business and Bright Wings.
Once around EF2, the fleet enjoyed a long spinnaker run to a distant buoy number 10. With Wot Like and No Half Measures stretching their legs at the head of the fleet, Jay was eager to pass Re Eile and give chase. To their credit, the kite-less Moody chose not to contest the issue and allowed Jay to roll easily over them under spinnaker. Wot Like rounded buoy number 10 at the head of the fleet, followed closely by No Half Measures. Jay rounded in third, some distance adrift, whilst Re Eile, Away on Business and Bright Wings enjoyed some close racing behind.
The fleet then turned north and beat up the channel to buoy number 13. No Half Measures sailed very high on this leg, allowing Jay to close by virtue of their more direct line to the mark. However, the J24 was never able to impact on the sonar and No Half Measures remained untroubled in second place for the rest of the race.
No Half Measures and Wot Like claimed first and second places in both the IRC and ECHO divisions, with Jay placing third in IRC and Re Eile third in ECHO. Deja Vu won the White sail division on this occassion, with La Chanteuse in second.
Thanks to those who attended the monthly prizegiving and to Tradewinds for hosting us and for the excellent food and refreshments.