Rockshore / Bosun Bobs RS400 Winter Series at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club - Day 5

by Gerry Reid 8 Dec 2021 14:11 GMT 5 December 2021

The Rockshore/Bosun Bobs RS400 Winter series continued to thrive with 14 boats out on a sunny Sunday at RNIYC.

As the fleet set off to the race area, a steady 10 knots started to fade and by the start of Race 1 the breeze dropped off and half the fleet were being swept across the line with what seemed like an extra strong tide.

As the pin end bunch battled for that killer start unfortunately there were two OCS casualties in Trev D'Arcy and Ginge and Brian Homes and Wendy Smith. As the majority of the fleet headed left off the start, they seemingly sailed into a hole which gave the struggling windward end boats battling to make it round the committee boat a much-needed chance.

First to escape the committee boat chaos were Ross and Jane Kearney who managed to tack right and find some pressure which got them into a comfortable lead at the windward mark. Once the wind filled in, the pecking order remained very steady throughout the fleet with Peter Kennedy/Stevie Kane and Liam Donnelly/Rick McCaig chasing hard right to the finish.

Star performer last week Neil Calvin sailing with RNIYC's Leah McCleave had a great 4th place with Leah stepping back into Dinghy sailing after a few years sabbatical.

Race 2 kicked off with a favoured pin end being fairly crowded, with the fleet getting away cleanly and with the wind going slightly left the leaders came in from this side of the course. The first run saw various place changes, Stephen Nelson/Brian Conway gybing off early into clear breeze along with Andrew Vaughan/Peter Todd working out the left side had paid well but it was Bosun Bob and Rory Higgins who carried on down the right side of the run and judged the lay line perfectly to jump into a nice lead by the leeward mark.

This leeward mark during race 2 saw plenty of action, if there was an action camera attached it would be prime time reality tv viewing! Between 3 boats trying to squeeze into the same spot to PK and Stevie deciding to do some fishing and then mount the leeward mark it had it all.

Rob and Rory sailed off into the distance thankfully on the lookout as the wind had shifted 40 degrees they had spotted the new windward mark position way out left.

Andrew and Pete managed to keep Rob and Rory honest and chased them hard to the finish with PK and Stevie pulling off a rescue mission to get back into 6th.

With the rescue crew looking cold, race 3 started very quickly, Gerry not holding back to enable us to get 3 great races completed. With some members of the fleet using smoke signals to identify subtle wind shifts pre-start along with the strong tide they managed to get caught out and miss the start.

With the line lying more committee boat biased this time, the leaders worked right and continuing their form from race 2, Bob and Rory, Steven and Brian, Uncle Liam and Rick had led the fleet round the first lap.

Liam and Rick managed to build and hold a good lead with Ross and Jane, Bob and Rory chasing hard.

Notable performance was from wind shift guru Woo Kearney and Nick Thallon recovering from a late start to finish in 6th.

Thanks again goes to Gerry and the race team, mark and rescue crews for managing such quick-fire racing to ensure we were off the water before the toes realise how cold it is.

Following 15 races, Peter Kennedy and Stevie Kane are sitting in pole position with a pack of 3 chasing hard behind.

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week in the lead up to the grand finale Christmas race.

Results after Day 5:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15	Pts
1st	1339	Peter Kennedy	Stephen Kane	RNIYC	4	1	(10)	3	1	8	3	(9)	1	4	1	2	2	6	4	40
2nd	1405	Liam Donnelly	Rick McCaig	RNIYC	(10)	5	3	(9)	4	3	2	1	5	7	4	5	3	4	1	47
3rd	1438	Andrew Vaughan	Toby McCullough	RNIYC	1	(8)	1	6	(7)	5	7	2	3	2	6	4	6	2	5	50
4th	815	Ross Kearney	Jane Kearney	RNIYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	2	7	5	1	6	3	8	5	2	6	1	3	2	51
5th	1366	Trevor D'Arcy	Alan McClernon	CSC	5	4	4	2	(DNF)	10	4	5	7	1	(OCS)	12	OCS	5	7	81
6th	1264	Neil Calvin	Sharon Doherty	CSC	7	6	(DNF)	8	(DNF)	9	12	7	6	3	3	1	4	8	9	83
7th	1353	Robert Hastings	Rory Higgins	RNIYC	12	3	9	4	2	4	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	9	8	7	5	1	3	88
8th	1245	Luke McIlwaine	Henry Greer	Newcastle YC/SLYC	2	2	5	5	6	7	1	4	10	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	126
9th	1004	Tom Purdon	Sam Purdon	SLYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	7	1	3	2	8	14	4	8	14	3	DNC	DNC	DNC	127
10th	500	Frank Macfarlane		CSC	6	9	6	11	8	12	(13)	10	13	13	(15)	9	7	12	13	129
11th	1440	Simon Hutchinson	Ben Williams	RNIYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	5	6	2	10	5	11	8	9	8	148
12th	728	Steven Nelson	Brian Conway	Newtownards SC	8	7	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	9	8	14	11	10	10	10	OCS	14	158
13th	1178	Brian Holmes	Wendy Smith	Coleraine YC	9	11	11	12	12	14	(16)	15	11	12	13	(DNF)	OCS	OCS	12	162
14th	941	Steve Atkinson	Fiona Atkinson	CSC	3	10	DNF	10	10	6	14	DNF	(DNC)	14	16	13	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	170
15th	1001	Charles Kearney	Nick Thallon	RNIYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	10	13	12	15	7	8	9	10	6	174
16th	888	Stephen Donnelly	Tim Leonard	CSC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNF	DNF	11	13	15	12	15	16	17	16	11	7	11	174
17th	1179	Ben Martin	Phillip Martin	BYC	11	12	8	13	9	11	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	18	9	15	DNC	DNC	DNC	190
18th	1188	Stephen McLernon	Ryan Wilson	CSC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	11	11	9	6	12	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	215
19th	1379	Neill Strain	John Ferguson	RNIYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	17	11	14	12	11	10	222
20th	840	Morris Black		RNIYC	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	273