Bulman Pursuit at Kinsale Yacht Club
by Dave O'Sullivan 15 Jul 10:57 BST
13 July 2019
Kinsale Yacht Club Bulman Pursuit © Dave O'Sullivan
A pursuit race can be a fun thing. Instead of all boats starting together, the goal is for all boats to finish together. So, the slow boats head off first and the fastest last. The 40 footers chase the class 2s, who chase the Dragons who chase the Squibs and, with the witchcraft of mathematics, all boats reach the line at the same time.
A lot of Race Office fingers are crossed.
Bang on the start of the race and the wind changes 180 degrees and we now have a Leeward/Windward course instead of the intended. A potential disaster but the wind steadied and a near perfect race ensued - a lot of sighs of relief.
But, of course, we will remember none of this. We will remember a glorious day of silver seas, blue skies and white puffy clouds. We will remember a beautiful beat to the Bulman Buoy and long spinnaker runs up and down the harbour. We will remember that Bobby Nash & Co. on 1601 had a faultless performance and were the undisputed victors on the day.
We will remember the generous (seriously generous) sponsorship of the Bulman bar that involves tying up after the race to trays of gourmet seafood and ice buckets full of Heineken. That really is an 'only in Kinsale' moment.
And the Race Officers (Mike Walsh & Donal Hayes) will remember their joy when they realised the happenstance of winning boat (1601) reaching the finish line one minute after 4 o'clock.
Overall Results:
1st 1601 - Bobby Nash & co.
2nd TBD - Matthews, Jacob, Good
3rd Godot - John Godkin & co.