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Autumn League Home

Autumn League Day 3
Sunday 28th September

by Graham Smith

Class 1

After the disappointment of a windless, race-less day the previous Sunday, the GreenWorks-sponsored Autumn League got back into action on Sunday 28th, albeit with a light air series of races on three separate courses.

Puppeteer

Close finishes, with little between the first boats, was a feature of the day, but nothing could compare with the result in the Puppeteers which highlighted the attraction of one-design racing. After almost two and a half hours racing, a mere ONE second separated Garret May's 'Ibis' from the Callan/Stanley-owned 'Mojo' in what has to be the tightest finish ever recorded in the Autumn League's long history.

Puppeteer - Ibis - Garrett May - HYC

The technology of photo-finishes used in athletics and horse-racing hasn't yet reached the world of sailing so some very sharp eyes and binoculars were obviously very much in evidence as the two boats crossed the line! Both boats had a couple of minutes to spare over David Clarke's Harlequin' who now holds the overall lead with 'Mojo'.

Etchells - SB3 - Squib

Three minutes separated the entire seven boats in the Etchells fleet with Des Flood's 'Who Cares' getting the gun ahead of 'No Money No Honey' (O'Grady/Beshoff/Reilly), the latter now heading the overall standings.

Etchells - Who Cares - Des Flood - HYC

The disappointingly small SB3 fleet had a repeat of the first week's racing with Des Faherty's 'Aranow' beating Jerome Aguesse in 'Aquaserge' and while only a handful of Squibs made it to the line, just four managed a finish and that saw Emmet Dalton in 'Klipbok' increase his overall lead with a second gun in a row, this time ahead of Phil Merry's 'Shadowfax'.

17 Footer

An emphatic five-minute margin over Ian Malcolm's 'Aura' was enough for 'Gladys' (the Cronin/Jones combination) to win the Seventeen's second race and with it, assume the overall lead by two points over Roddy Cooper's 'Leila' who was fourth, only a minute behind 'Aura'.

17 Footer - Eileen - K OByrne & K Finucan - HYC

Class 2

On the Slalom Course, it was the turn of Class 2 to be put through the two-race series that requires considerable downwind crew technique on spinnaker drills. Under the circumstances, it was hardly a surprise to see the well-sailed 'Kinetic' (Colwell/Murphy) record two bullets, the first by over 3 minutes and the second by 1.5 minutes. The impressive performance was sufficient to move them into the overall IRC lead with a nine point gap over 'King One' (Bourke & Cullen).

Class 2 - Kinetic - Colwell & Murphy - HYC

Conor Ronan (SYC) and his crew of 'Ruthless' had a equally good day on the ECHO front, winning both races to add to his win on the opening day to head the overall rankings by a healthy 12 points!

Class 0

Over on the 'offshore' course, it was a repeat of the first day, with 'Rosie' taking the IRC honours from 'Tiger' (although Tim Costello's new 'Tiamat' got the gun) and the positions again reversed on ECHO.

Class 0 - Tiamat - Tim Costello - RIYC

Class 1

The Tyrrell's J109 'Aqualina' from Arklow had a good day, from seeing smoke after almost 2 hours of racing to win the second race in Class 1 on both IRC and ECHO and so head both tables overall. 'Rockabill V' (Paul O'Higgins) and 'Contango' (Barry Cunningham) didn't enjoy the conditions but are within striking distance of the Co.Wicklow rival.

Class 1 - Fools Gold - Rob McConnell - HYC

Class 3

Normal service resumed in Class 3 with Vince Gaffney's 'Alliance' beating another HYC boat 'Starlet' (Fergus O'Kelly et al) on IRC to reduce the gap behind series leader 'Quickflash' (Albert Mayrs from Antrim) to two points.

Chris O'Dea's ECHO race win in 'K9' was not enough however to upset the overall standings in that division, with 'Tobago' (Ray & Others) and the Malahide entry 'Shenanigans' (Douglas/Keane) sharing the glory so far.

Class 3 - Alliance - Vince Gaffney - HYC

Class 4

It was a particularly good day for Colm Bermingham's 'Bite the Bullet' in Class 4, with wins in both handicap races, leading in turn to overall leaderships of both divisions going into the third race of the series in two weeks' time. Kieran Jameson's 'Changeling' is only a point behind on IRC and two on ECHO so there's all to play for over the remaining three races.

Class 4 - Bite the Bullet - Colm Bermingham - HYC

Class 5

It was a similar story in Class 5 where the ever competitive Harry Byrne and his crew on 'Alphida' also did the double, again ahead of Joe Carton's 'Voyager' and that's the same position in the overall standings too.

Class 5 - Alphida of Howth - Harry Byrne - HYC

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