RS Racing in the Dun Laoghaire Frostbite Series - Races 5 & 6
by Hugh Sheehy 19 Feb 2014 11:36 GMT
16 February 2014
Enthusiasm was the theme of the day for the RS fleet. Nine of the Thirteen entrants took to the water in 10-12 knots, happy as clams (it was high water!) to go racing after a hiatus that, quite frankly, was beginning to become a major pain in the RS.
Race 1
Enthusiasm and a strong ebb tide at the mouth of the harbour were too much to bear and resulted in a general recall for the RS fleet. When the boats finally got away at the second time of asking, the Hinksons' and Algeo/ Nolan's unabated enthusiasm at the pin end cost them an OCS each.
The beat was as long as reasonably possible in the harbour, with the windward mark in a nice open position at the East pier. Well done to the race committee! The Clery brothers in their RS400 pretty much dominated the race from start to finish although Emmet Ryan and new crew were improving with every lap of the 5 lap race and finished just 30 seconds behind.
However this was not enough to take second place - that honour went to Craig and Foley who raced superbly in their RS200. The other 200 with Byrne/ Craig was only 17 seconds behind in 4th place. So, only 40 seconds separated the top four. O'Leary/ Fenlon and O'Hare/ McAlister got close enough to the leaders and Tate/Groves some way behind. The Tate/Groves pair insist that they weighed in at around 200kg - that's their excuse, and they're sticking to it (ditto for race 2).
Race 2
This was another great race. The wind had backed around to SE and the battle at the pin was intense yet again. This time the overenthusiastic bug caught only one boat out (Marty, we feel for you, man!). Emmet and new crew fought it out successfully with the Clerys and the two RS400's took the first two places. Not far behind Sarah Byrne and Heather Craig triumphed over Andrew and Peter's 400 with Conor and Stephen only a few seconds further back in the second 200.
Roll on next Sunday! Let's hope we are lucky with the weather gain. And let's go for it guys and gals - all 13 boats - it can be done!
Results here:
dmyc.ie/afloat/frostbite-racing