Patterns Emerging at half-way Stage Day 3 - 30th September
by Graham Smith
Peter McKenna, PRO Offshore Fleet with his team on the Free Enterprise
Three down and three to go! and as the Anglo Irish Bank Autumn League reaches its half-way point, a pattern is emerging in some classes, with the early pacesetters consolidating their leads and others putting in performances that put them into contention for the second half of the series.
The third set of races was a little shorter than the previous two, partly because lighter winds - south-easterlies of up to 15 knots - underlined the need for shorter courses and then there was always THAT match in Paris that half the country wanted to watch! Just as well that the match was after sailing rather than before it, otherwise there might have been a distinct lack of the usual enthusiasm demonstrated on this Sunday morning!
Class 0
Geronimo - Norbert Reilly
Biggest win on the water was 'Rosie' (Roy Dickson) in Class 0 with a 3 minute lead over main rival 'Tiger' (Harris & Hughes) which converted into a healthy IRC win and overall leadership of the series by a single point.
'Tiger' still won ECHO and heads that division by five points from 'Rosie'.
Class 1
Flashback - Breen, Earls, Hogg
Royal Irish visitor Barry Cunningham and the crew on 'Contango' got line honours again in Class 1 but it was the Beneteau 34.7 'Flashback' (Breen/Earls/Hogg) who did the business by winning on handicap by the tiniest margin of 0.05 corrected! Second for 'Contango' confirms her 1st overall spot by a healthy 9 points at this stage.
Storm - Pat Kelly
On ECHO, it's a three-horse race with 'Storm's' (Pat Kelly, Rush) win forcing a three-way tie overall with 'Makutu' (Doyle & Co., HYC) and 'Esperanto' (Martin Reilly, Sligo)
Class 2
Xebec - Terry Giles
Local rivals 'Xebec' (Terry Giles) and 'Dux' (Anthony Gore-Grimes) battled it out at the front of Class 2 after 'Aloha' (Nolan & others) got the gun by 8 seconds to fill the top places, a result that puts 'Aloha' and 'Dux' level at the head of the 29-strong fleet.
'Aloha' has the added bonus of winning on ECHO and then heading up the ECHO standings.
Class 3
Alliance - Vince Gaffney
It was another gun for 'Hydrogin' (Colbert/Davis) in Class 3 but it wasn't enough on this occasion to head off their biggest rival Vince Gaffney and crew of 'Alliance' who took the IRC honours by just 28 seconds corrected. As expected, Class 3 is becoming a battle between these two boats, with the Malahide boat leading on IRC by a single point.
'Hydrogin' also heads ECHO overall after a 2nd place finish in that category behind another Malahide entry, Pat Higginbotham in 'Buster' was enough to maintain the 'double' challenge.
Class 4
Changeling - Kieran Jameson
In the white sail divisions, it was a particularly satisfying day for Kieran Jameson's 'Changeling' in Class 4, taking line honours by sufficient margin to win on both handicaps and move up to 2nd on IRC just behind Harry Byrne's 'Alphida' and tying with the same boat on ECHO.
Class 5
Brazen Hussy - Stirling & Barry
In Class 5, the Stirling/Barry Dufour 34 'Brazen Hussy' had the legs on Percy Boyle's 'Hair Raiser' and that was enough to move her up to share the top spot overall with 'Man O'War' (Brendan & Cabena Smith).
Etchells
After being headed last week, 'Snow Patrol' (O'Grady / Beshoff / Reilly) got straight back to winning ways in the Etchells, with a minute to spare of second-placed 'Lambay Rules' (Stephen Quinn), a result that confirms their overall lead by four points over last week's winner 'pEtchellant' (Roger Cagney & others).
Jabberwocky - Simon Knowles
Puppeteer
Yellow Peril - Neil Murphy
Another 'favourite' smarting after not winning last week was 'Harlequin' (Dave Clarke) in the Puppeteers but a 40-second margin over 'Mojo' (Robbie Stanley/Tim Callen) was just the fillip needed to extend the overall lead to five points.
On HPH handicap, Edward O'Reilly's 'Gepetto' recorded a good win over 'Yellow Peril' (Neil Murphy) and the two boats fill those places respectively overall.
SB3
A much tighter win on the water was in the SB3s where Des Faherty's 'Aranow' had barely 14 seconds to spare over Ben Duncan's 'Sharkbait' after one and a half hours racing.
It's only their second race of the series since their nationals got in the way, but 'Aranow' now has two wins to head the class overall.
Aranow - Des Faherty
Squib
Klipbok - Emmet Dalton
Emmet Dalton ('Klipbok') had a narrow win over series leader Fergus O'Kelly in 'Betsy Blue' while a handicap win for 'Leprechaun' (Gilroy & Kellett) doesn't change the HPH leaderboard where 'Bateleur' (Ruane & Craig) holds a narrow lead over 'Puffin' and 'Gizmo'.
17 Footer
Isobel - Turveys & O'Doherty
There was a slight turn-up for the books in the Seventeens where 'Isobel' (Turveys & O'Doherty) and 'Hera' (Jane & Michael Duffy) pushed the favourite Peter Courtney ('Oona') into 3rd spot on the water and also filled those spots on handicap. It also moves 'Isobel' into 2nd overall on scratch by one point and into top spot on handicap by four.
