National Yacht Club

Sunday 23rd October 2011.

Race 1 Sunday 23rd October 2011 :Niki Matthews

It doesn’t often happen, but when it does its all the sweeter. It takes an accumulation of positives to make the winning race. It means being on the start, at speed (not necessarily in the right place) and getting away with the gun. It means there was no need to tack in the first 2-3 minutes and it means there was time to look around and see how the fleet was doing around you, It means getting to the weather mark in the first group (not necessarily first) and not making a bags of the rounding and spinnaker hoist. Then it means consolidating on the run and using the time you are magically given to look around and see if you gone have completely down the wrong side (even if you have its probably not so bad). Then its pure luck to catch a wave and squeeze in at the lower mark and pull out at speed and (guess what) no need to tack in the first 2-3 minutes ….. and repeat until the finish. When it happens it seems so easy, we didn’t get caught under so-and-so who was cruising the line, we didn’t have to go right when we wanted to go left, we didn’t to go beyond the weather mark to find clear air, yer man didn’t crash tack under us at the mark, he wasn’t up our stern on the way down sucking the life out of the sail and then getting a dubious overlap at the bottom, then the other fella didn’t harden up at the lower mark and make us dive off and lose even more distance……. There is a whole lot of talk about winning and skills, 5 degree shifts, line bias, getting inside the lift, you’ve heard it all. Ultimately the winning race is the one you seem to race yourself, not someone elses’ race you are caught in, time arrives in droves and everything seems clear, its the perfect mix, its what keeps us going out time and time again. The perfect race, IRL 3708 !

Race 2- 23rd October 2011. Ben Mulligan

If the fleet enjoyed a blissful race day on the 16th October; a day worthy of high Summer- Sunday 23rd was the opposite. A gun-metal grey colour fell on the bay; this coupled with the French loss of the RWC Final by a narrow margin and frequent driving rain showers all added to a tough day on the water. The wind was coming from the general direction of Dalkey Island. All you experts who know what compass point that is could provide me with an exact bearing. It occasionally flicked in the direction of Killiney Hill. This location was also the source of large darkly, ominous clouds bearing plenty of what , I seem to remember , they call precipitation. Allied to this the wind direction varied in both strength and direction. Sea conditions did not match the wind strength. IRL 3706 won Race 2 as a simple result of the Helm, Bryan Maguire, deciding that the Breeze was going to fill in from the Harbour side of the beat, taking some shifts and steering sympathetically. We started at the Committee Boat end of the line in clear air. We tacked on to Port shortly after the start. We benefitted from lift when we tacked back on to Starboard. In addition to this, and a note we may all benefit from, Bryan sailed ‘soft’ when the wind was lighter. The genoa foot was well off the deck (c 10 cm). This helped us through that lumpy sea in those conditions. We led going around the Windward mark 1st time. We were slow going downwind. Ciaran and Frank overtook us and David Mulvin was travelling fast along with others. Rounding the Leeward gate, we opted to tack and clear our air. Ciaran continued inshore on Port. We were travelling well on starboard and opted to stay on. We were then broken and tacked back. Suddenly, we got more pressure and a lift. This took us ahead of Ciaran. When we tacked back to starboard we suddenly benefitted from more pressure and a lift. We were fortunate to be the ‘most right-hand boat’ on a starboard lift and this led to us leading at the Windward Mark 2nd time around. As the fleet knows, after the second round, it was a fetch to the Windward Mark. A soldiers march. All I wanted to do after the finish was get in and defrost! Great credit goes to Larry and his team for delivering two good races in difficult conditions; sea conditions ensured that the Committee boat pitched and tossed ; various race committee members were quite pleased that they had not had time to eat breakfast. In addition, they managed to squeeze in racing prior to the onset of the Second Great Flood and a Gale. See you on Sunday, I hope. Ben