A GAME OF TWO HALVES

Day 1:

35 Laser SB3’s travelled to Howth Yacht Club for the inaugural East Coast Championships from Cork, Bangor, Wicklow, and Dun Laoghaire. This was the biggest entry on the SB3 circuit so far this year and shows the continued success and growth of the class. Saturday started with a promising light breeze only to die throughout the day to very light or zero wind, rain and more rain. Two races were sailed in very challenging conditions thanks to the patience of both sailors and the race committee. The first race saw a dramatic right hand shift at the first weather mark which turned the fleet inside out and had come competitors hoisting spinnakers.

A strong flood tide also made for tricky mark roundings. In the end it was local entry Ben Duncan, from New Zealand but a recent addition to the Howth Fleet, who won the first race from Gareth Flannigan of Bangor and another local entry, Eoin Quinlan, in third. The second race was also very light at the start but as the fleet rounded the weather mark it dropped to less than a knot. , with competitors separating across the course looking for any zephyr to give them an advantage. Eventually a few knots of wind filled through the middle of the course giving Tom Fitzpatrick of Howth the race win, from Rory Byrne and Sean Craig in third. Overnight it was Tom Fitzpatrick who had a small lead on 8 points, from Gareth Flannigan and Ben Duncan, both on 11.

There was a packed restaurant in Howth on Saturday night for event dinner, which further strengthened friendships in this new class and added to the reputation of the class as a very social and friendly group.

Day 2:

Sunday was the exact opposite with 25 to 30 knots greeting the fleet as they arrived to their boats. Race Officer David Lovegrove made a wise decision to postpone racing for an hour while the wind moderated to a more manageable 20 knots. The sailing was exhilarating and the SB3’s were in their element planning downwind at high speed with the asymmetrical kites up crossing each other on route to the leeward gate. There was no shortage of action throughout the day with dramatic broaches and high speed drama.

Winds were steady with oscillating shifts and excellent courses. It was Ronan Collins who gave a master class in windy weather sailing, scoring a 1 2 1, which made up for a disappointing Saturday for the Cork entry. Tom Fitzpatrick did enough with a 4, 1, 3 scoreline to maintain his lead and win the event, from Collins in second and Gareth Flannigan in third, after scoring a 3, 5, DNS on the final day.

Many thanks must go to McAllister Volkswagen for their generous sponsorship of the event, to David Lovegrove and his team for the high quality of race management, to Mike Evans,SB3 Howth Class Captain, Ailbe Millerick and Eunice Kennedy and the Royal Alfred Yacht Club for organising the event, social and Niobe prizes and finally to Helly Hansen for sponsoring the prizes.

Report by David Quinn. History is always recorded by the victor!

Prizes
Platinum Fleet Winners:
David Quinn – Helly Hansen (3 X HH Manifesto Shoes & Perpetual McAllister Trophy) & Niobe Trophy
Ronan Collins – The Kraken (3 X HH Lifa tops & Niobe Prize)
Gareth Flannigan – McCready Boats (3 X HH Lifa tops & Niobe Prize)

Gold Fleet:
Gary O’Hare – SOB (3 X HH inshore jackets)
Micheal Murphy – Rubicon (3 X HH Lifa Tops)
Pete Smyth – Blue (3 X HH Lifa Tops)

Silver Fleet:
David Dwyer – Sunday Brunch (3 X HH Coatal Jackets)
Stephen Kavanagh – Big Blue (3 X HH Lifa Tops)
Guy O’Leary – Mephisto (3 X HH Lifa Tops)

Well done all!

Complete results | More photos from fotosail.

21 Laser SB3’s arrived at the startline of the first race saw some light shifty airs on Belfast Lough, the OOD Robin Gray was going to have a difficult day!

The 1st race eventually got underway after a general recall.

The wind was north easterly, the Kraken (Ronan Collins) was out in the lead on the 2nd windward leg when the big wind shift hit, promoting Colin Galvin in Sea Breeze into the lead with McCready Sailboats (Gareth Flannigan) in 2nd place. A Gybe hoist at the top mark put Flipper in the lead and Colin was forced into sailing higher than his rudder could cope with and a audible crack and a small fall over later dropped to 4th. The breeze increased giving us the best wind of the weekend; unfortunately it was a straight romp to the finish with McCready sailboats taking the 1st gun of the weekend, from Eoin Leahy & Ronan in 3rd.

Race 2 saw a great race between the top 3 boats with Tom Fitzpatrick sailing Helly Hansen taking line honours over McCready sailboats with The Kraken 3rd

In the following race Ronan started at the pin compromising Helly Hansen’s start. Unfortunately for our boat we went to the right side of the 1st beat this proved to be the wrong call with the left shift that hit the fleet. Ronan Collins demolished us all, sailing off into the sunset! Behind the pack was lead by Mark Thigh on Oresias and Helly Hansen scrambled to 3rd.

After a recall and the Bar opening approaching the OOD Robin put up the dreaded Black flag. Michel Ennis at the pin end was the only boat that fell foul and headed home to warm the bar up for us! A great race followed a fairly even start The Kraken lead most of the race, with Colin Galvin in 2nd. The next 3 places was a fantastic fight between Ben Duncan on Sharkbait, Helly Hansen & McCready Sailboats, Ben rounded the last leeward mark 3rd with HH 4th & McCreadys 5th a few tacks later at the line McCready’s just got Helly Hansen for 3rd and Sharkbait was demoted to 5th.

Saturday night proved a bit of a split fleet. Most competitors made use of the casual dining in Royal Ulster Yacht Club in the cosy back bar at the club, partaking of a few light refreshments. A great evening.

Sunday morning was a little brighter but the wind was still light and shifty, on the 1st downwind leg the 3 lead boats were joined by Flash (Gordon Patterson) & The edge (Owen Hennesy), Flash went a bit too far to the right and lost ground, Tom Fitzpatrick took the lead as the wind shifted right in the direction of the Copland islands giving a 3 sail reach on the 2nd downwind leg, Tom Fitzpatrick marked up his 2nd win of the championship with Owen in 2nd followed home by The Kraken, McCreadys and Flash.

Race 6 was the turning point of the regatta. The top 3 boats after discard were separated by 2 points Collins – the Kraken 8pts (discard of 3!), Fitzpatrick – Helly Hansen 9pts (discard of 13), Flipper – McCreadys 10pts (discard 9). Robin left the Black flag up and we all got off to a clean start, by the 2nd downwind leg The Kraken lead, McCreadys were in 9th with Helly Hansen 10th .

A long line of Starboard boats prompted Flipper to gybe set, Collins came across to cover, by the leeward mark the 2 boats were together in the lead with a fading breeze.

The leeward mark became a car park with everyone together, Spinnaker went up and down, tacks were attempted, frustration mounted. Up at the committee boat they still had 4 kts of wind from the same direction! Eventually it got to the boats, Robert Espey on Where R We took the gun with Ronan using his get out of jail free card for 2nd and taking the McCready Sailboats trophy for the overall Championship. Joe Hughes took the final podium place, Helly Hansen finished 7th and McCready Sailboats back in 10th

The Kraken headed for home leaving Helly Hansen & McCready Sailboats to fight it out for 2nd overall. The breeze held fairly steady for the last race 3rd place went to Rory Byrne sailing Mandrin, 2nd Colin Galvin and Tom Fitzpatrick sealed 2nd overall with the win. Congratulations to Ronan, Killian and Donal for a fantastically consistent regatta and a well deserved win.

Results (Prizes)

Platinum Fleet
1st The Kraken 3291 Ronan Collins RCYC (McCready Trophy, 6 HH Manifesto shoes)
2nd Helly Hansen 3240 Tom Fitzpatrick HYC (3 HH Lifa Tops)
3rd McCready Sailboats 3233 Gareth Flanigan RUYC (3 HH Lifa Tops)
4th Sea Breeze 3271 Colin Galavan NYC
5th Schneaky Boys 3232 Eoin Leahy RCYC

Gold
1st Bob Espey (3 HH Inshore Jackets)
2nd Gordon Paterson (3 HH Lifa Tops)
3rd Rory Byrne (3 HH Lifa Tops)

Silver
1st Ben Duncan (3 HH Oilskin jackets)
2nd Joe Hughes (3 HH Lifa Tops)
3rd Gavin Vaughan (3 HH Lifa Tops)

Many thanks to Royal Ulster Yacht Club for hosting a great event, special thanks must go to the OOD Robin Gray, who managed to get in all the scheduled races in very tricky conditions, the mark layers Alan Morrison & Robin Flannigan who never finished adjusting the course, John & Julia Simms and Brian Spence, Michael Frend for sorting the marks, boats etc, and Johnny the crane driver.

Many thanks to Helly Hansen for sponsoring the Platinum, Gold and Silver fleet prizes.

Complete results | More photos.