After the disappointment of the previous weekend's fog, the penultimate race in the Anglo Irish Bank Autumn League was sailed in bright sunshine and light southerly Force 2-3 winds that were dying as the races neared their conclusion.
Such conditions were clearly more to the liking of some boats than others - the last boats to finish took over 3 hours to complete the course whereas the fastest boats took an hour less!
The results leave a number of classes with everything to play for going into next Saturday's final race. Five of them have only one or two points between their respective top two while the last race means everything to Class 3 and the Puppeteers who each have two boats on equal points after discard.
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| Puppeteer |
Puppeteer - Cloud Nine - E Burrows
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A second win in the series for Robbie Stanley & Tim Callen on 'Mojo' - this time a narrow 17-seconds lead over Johnny Swan on 'Chancer' - gives them a share of the overall lead in the Puppeteers with usual pace-setter David Clarke on 'Harlequin'. That should make for interesting pre-start manoeuvres next Saturday.
Edward O'Reilly's second place on 'Gepetto' on HPH behind Class Captain Billy Morgan on 'Nefertari' has helped to consolidate his position at the top of the handicap leader-board ahead of the challenging Neil Murphy on 'Yellow Peril'.
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| Class 3 |
Class 3 - Tobago - Ray & Others - MYC
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The Class 3 rivalry between HYC's 'Alliance' (Vince Gaffney) and Malahide's 'Hydrogin' (Sean Colbert/Andy Davis) has increased significantly prior to the League finale, with the East Coast Cruisers 3 champion winning for the second race in succession to even things out with the Hydro 28. Now it's all down to the last race for glory with the visitors hoping for their favoured strong winds!
'Alliance' also won the fourth race on ECHO and so moves up to two points adrift of 'Hydrogin' in the overall standings so again everything handing in the balance.
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| Classes 2, 5 & 17 Footers |
Class 2 - Relax Freebird - R Dalton - DMYC
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It's almost as tight in Classes 2 and 5 and the Seventeens, where only one point is the leadership margin.
'Kinetic' (Murphy/Colwell) had a comprehensive win in Class 2 ahead of 'Dux' (Anthony Gore-Grimes) who nevertheless holds on to the overall top spot.
Jim Molohan's 'Dochas' had a good win on ECHO but it doesn't prevent 'Aloha' (Nolan & Others) from staying in first place overall while 'Toughnut's' 2nd behind 'The Big Picture' (Heffernan/Freyne) is enough to maintain its top position in the IRC Restricted division.
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Class 5 - Mumbo Jumbo - M Macken
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It's a two-horse race in Class 5 where 'Man O'War' (Brendan & Cabena Smith) are contending with 'Brazen Hussy'
(Stirling/Barry) for the overall honours while in the Seventeens, Peter Courtney isn't having it all his own way.
The Duffy's 'Hera' got the gun ahead of 'Erica' (D.Cronin) and Courtney which means the latter has only a one point gap over 'Isobel' (Turvey/O'Doherty) ahead of the last race. The positions are, however, reversed on the HPH handicap system.
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| Class 0 |
Class 0 - Kingspan - M Davis
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Roy Dickson's 'Rosie' notched up another win to enhance her lead position in Class 0 over 'Tiger' (Hughes/Harris) but the day belonged to Alan Chambers' 'Infinity', with her best results to date - 3rd on IRC and winning on ECHO to move up to the top of that division with 'Tiger'.
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| Class 1 |
Class 1 - Esperanto - M Reilly - Sligo YC
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Dermot Cronin's J35 'Same Old Story' from Malahide, winner of Class 1 this time last year, got back to winning ways in Race 4 but it won't be enough to unsettle series leader Barry Cunningham on 'Contango' from the RIYC.
The latter will be keeping a weather eye open for 'Flashback' (Breen & Others), the most serious challenge to their overall success.
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| Class 4 |
Class 4 - Premier Cru - A Jackson
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Harry Byrne and the crew of 'Alphida' have been among the most consistent performers of the League, a consistency that been rewarded with first overall on both handicap systems in Class 4.
Colm Bermingham's 'Bite the Bullet' got the win in race 4 but it is Kieran Jameson's 'Changeling' which represents the biggest threat to Harry's double ambitions next weekend.
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| Etchells, SB3 & Squib |
Etchells - Ladies Who Launch - O'Loughlin & Dwyer
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Yet another win for Dan O'Grady/Raz Beshoff/Paul Reilly wraps up the Etchells series for the Irish Champions with only Roger Cagney & Others in 'pEtchellant' holding the faintest of chances.
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Squib - Puffin - E Harte
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Similarly in the SB3 fleet, a third straight win for 'Aranow' (Des Faherty) cements an overall win the SB3s while Fergus O'Kelly ('Betsy Blue') clocked up another win to settle the Squib competition.
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