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Rockshore / Bosun Bobs RS400 Winter Series at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club - Day 4

by Gerry Reid 1 Dec 2021 06:00 GMT 28 November 2021

The Rockshore/ Bosun Bobs RS400 Winter Series continued last Sunday at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club. The series is now twelve races in and has thrown up some surprises, twenty boats currently entered.

Race 10 started in a fresh breeze from the North, with 18 boats on the start line. Trevor D'Arcy and Alan McLearnon (on 1366) got a good start along with Liam Donnelly and Rick McCaig (on 1405) with the rest of the fleet in hot pursuit. Liam got to the windward mark first, however by the end of the first lap D'Arcy had taken the lead followed by former Olympian Peter Kennedy and Steve Kane (on 1339) and Andrew Vaughan (on 1348) 3rd. At the race end D'Arcy held on and took the win, with Andrew Vaughan 2nd and coming up the outside Neil Calvin (on 1245) to take third. Incidently this was Barry McCartin's old boat and after 9 races Neil had seemingly found its gears!

Race 11 the wind had clocked slightly to the left, course corrected, Race Officer Gerry Reid got the race away again sharply. This time the fleet were pushing the line, with 2 boats over Tom Purdon (on 1004) to be fair has been nailing the starts on the series, however on this race he nailed it a bit to hard, found himself in the pack and struggled to get back to the line, but back to the line he went now following the whole fleet. Unfortunately for D'Arcy they pushed on believing they were having a terrific race. Liam Donnelly was once again first to the wind ward mark and first on lap one, followed by D'Arcy (OCS) and Ross & Jane Kearney now lying 2nd, and Peter Kennedy 3rd. By now Donnelly was going well with a comfortable lead right up to the last leeward mark were a spinnaker issue stopped them dead in the water allowing a few boats to pass on the short run up to the line. Peter Kennedy taking the win followed by Ross Kearney and Neil Calvin in third. Donnelly was robbed into 4th!

Breeze was still nice and steady going into the third race of the day (race 12) possibly it was the extremely cold conditions that the entire fleet was keen to start, quickly followed by a General recall. Conditions didn't allow for a normal restart and the race got under way with a black flag start. They were all less keen this time around to push the line so aggressively as before.

By now the wind started to drop yet once again Liam Donnelly was going well in a heavy pack making for the wind ward mark. By lap one Peter Kennedy had taken the lead, followed by Donnelly with Andrew Vaughan in third. In lap 2 the wind continued to lighten. But still over 7 knots. By the finish Neil Calvin had accelerated into the fist spot with PK in second and Tom Purdon third. It was deemed to cold for a forth race as many of the crews were blue not to mention the Rescue and Committee boat teams! Some credit has to be given to Neil Calvin who had a great day and has showed a huge improvement in his performance over the series so far.

The Rockshore/Bosun bobs RS400 Series continues for another three Sundays, finishing up on the 19th of December for the Big Christmas Race.

Results after Day 4:

PosSail NoHelmCrewClubR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10R11R12Pts
1st1339Peter KennedyStephen KaneRNIYC41(10)31839141237
2nd1438Andrew VaughanToby McCulloughRNIYC1(8)167572326444
3rd1405Liam DonnellyRick McCaigRNIYC(10)5394321574548
4th815Ross KearneyJane KearneyRNIYC(DNC)DNC275163852666
5th1366Trevor D'ArcyAlan McClernonCSC5442DNF104571(OCS)1269
6th1264Neil CalvinSharon DohertyCSC76(DNF)8DNF9127633177
7th1245Luke McIlwaineHenry GreerNewcastle YC/SLYC2255671410(DNC)DNCDNC84
8th1004Tom PurdonSam PurdonSLYC(DNC)DNC71328144814385
9th1353Robert HastingsRory HigginsRNIYC1239424(DNC)DNCDNC987100
10th500Frank Macfarlane CSC6961181213101313(15)9110
11th941Steve AtkinsonFiona AtkinsonCSC310DNF1010614DNF(DNC)141613128
12th1178Brian HolmesWendy SmithColeraine YC911111212141615111213(DNF)136
13th728Steven NelsonBrian ConwayNewtownards SC87(DNC)DNCDNCDNC9814111010140
14th1440Simon HutchinsonBen WilliamsRNIYC(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNC56210511144
15th1179Ben MartinPhillip MartinBYC1112813911(DNC)DNCDNC18915148
16th888Stephen DonnellyTim LeonardCSC(DNC)DNCDNFDNF1113151215161716166
17th1001Charles KearneyNick ThallonRNIYC(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNC1013121578170
18th1188Stephen McLernonRyan WilsonCSC(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNC11119612DNF173
19th1379Neill StrainJohn FergusonRNIYC(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNC171114210
20th840Morris Black RNIYC(DNC)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNC231

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