505 Irish Open Championships at Monkstown Bay Sailing Club

Michael Ennis and Fenton Parsons from Belfast and five others of the British contingent arrived on Friday evening to face the initial onslaught of Irish hospitality, and survived to help unload the four-boat trailer in the morning. PRO Dave Barry sent us afloat soon after 1100 in order to get out into Cork harbour in time to get two races in before joining the fabled Royal Cork YC "Dognose" race around the harbour navigation marks. A moderate southerly gave us a comfortably fast reach out past Cobh, with time to enjoy the scenery and work out what the tide might do in the eastern part of Cork Harbour.

The racing was close. The wind was reasonably steady in direction, but streaky and varying in strength from F3 to a good F4. Gybing at the top mark with a view to getting some tide proved to be a mistake, and local aces Ewen Barry and Charles Dwyer swept into a good lead. Up wind, Ben Iliffe & Simon Lake and Rob Napier & Kimball Morrison closed the gap. Rob and Kimball briefly retook the lead on the first reach, but a good gybe saw Ewen and Charles ahead and well away down a gust with - for the visitors - ominous ease. A similar pattern emerged in race 2, with Michael and Fenton adding to the excitement at the front, but again with Ewen and Charles running fast and deep into the lead. Rob & Kimball closed upwind, followed down the reach, but this time held onto a lovely gust past the stern of Ewen at the gybe mark and gybed later at what proved to be the perfect angle to the leeward mark, and stole the race. One all.

Sadly the weather had closed in with thick fog shrouding the Heads and the Dognose mark, so the Dognose race was cancelled. Inside the harbour it was not so bad, and Dave Barry gave the 505s another race. Martin Wedge and Neil Fulcher came into the picture, but Rob and Kimball were gaining in confidence and led throughout. At the end of day one, 2-1-1 for the Englishmen, against 1-2-2 for the top Irishmen. Amongst the rest of the Irish, Alex Barry and Sandy Rimmington were improving every race, and Chris Marwood and Stan Reynolds were benefiting from their experiences at Hayling Island.

On Sunday, with a light westerly and with the sun shining between the cloud streets, Dave Barry again sent us out to Cork Harbour - kindly favouring the visitors by removing the probable advantage to the locals if we had fought the tides in Monkstown Bay. Nevertheless, in the light shifty wind, an Irish comeback looked likely, and before the start Rob and Kimball were watching Ewen and Charles so closely that they messed their own start. Luckily for them, Ewen and Charles didn't start too well either, and went off right which proved a mistake. Alex and Sandy sailed very well, holding the lead for most of the race, losing out eventually to Ben and Simon. Martin and Neil benefitted from a 'moment' by Michael and Fenton whose belief in their ability to sail directly into the wind when not quite laying the weather mark proved misguided. The visitors were helped by a little more wind in the final two races, and were perhaps luckier in reading the shifts. Rob and Kimball sailed on to victory, and Ben and Simon got two seconds, thus relegating Ewen and Charles, the leading Irish, to third. Peter Scannell and Joe Bruen pulled up places, and Brian Jones and Dale Spoonley got the better of Jim Berry and David Barnes for a second time in their private battle.

Many thanks to all at MBSC who did so much to make us welcome. One of the senior visitors was seen tacking unsteadily up the pavement from the club to the hotel late at night; that summed it up. As always, a great weekend.

Overall Results: (6 races, 5 to count)

1. GBR8701 Rob Napier/Kimball Morrison 2 1 1 4 1 1
2. GBR8885 Ben Iliffe/Simon Lake 3 3 4 1 2 2
3. IRL8408 Ewen Barry/Charles Dwyer 1 2 2 7 3 4
4. GBR8836 Martin Wedge/Neil Fulcher 4 5 3 3 5 3
5. IRL8429 Michael Ennis/Fenton Parsons 5 4 5 5 4 11
6. IRL18408 Alex Barry/Sandy Rimmington 8 7 6 2 6 6
7. IRL8408- Peter Scannell/Joe Brown 7 9 12 6 7 5
8. GBR8907 Jim Berry/David Barnes 12 6 7 8 9 8
9. IRL8357 Michael O'Brien/John O'Gorman 6 11 10 10 8 9
10. IRL8072 Chris Marwood/Stan Reynolds 9 8 8 11 10 10
11. IRL8358 Brian Jones/Dale Spoonley 10 10 9 9 12 7
12. IRL8123 James O'Brien/Andrrew Welland 11 12 11 12 11 12