Seafra Guilfoyle (RCYC) revelled in the breezy conditions in Slovenia today with three top 20 places, including a notable 5th place, to move to 33rd overall with the prospect of significant further improvement when the first discard is applied. Patrick Crosbie (RCYC) began to find his feet culminating in a top 10 place in the last race.
In the girls fleet, Fiona Daly (TBSC) maintained her consistency with three solid placings of 19, 21 & 19 to lie 31st overall, while Amy Harrington (RCYC) continues to improve with three top 20 places.
The forecast was dreadful but we got a superb racing day with 3 races in the bag and a championship finally truly underway.
The Irish group kept on the routine with a short wake up swim. The skies were pretty grey and the forecast for the day not encouraging with conflicting information from various forecasters. The only thing they agreed on was the light air. So the briefing was simple: be awake, be aware, anything can happen!
We launched in a light North Easterly (not given by any forecast) which rapidly picked up to a lovely 15kts building a typical Mediterranean short chop. The group was well fired up and delivered on a solid pre-race preparation lining up on the start line with a good idea on how to approach their race.
The boys first race provided a brutal 30 degrees rotation to the left but as they were already on the downwind legs in did not affect the results to much and Seafra Guilfoyle (RCYC), Patrick Crosbie (RCYC) and Colm O’Regan (KYC) had a good first race in the twenties. The girls had to wait a little longer as the course was to be re-set. Amy Harrington (RCYC) and Fiona Daly (TBSC) were also in the twenties while Tara Flood (HYC) was unlucky to catch seaweed after a great initial first beat.
An Easterly 12-15kts breeze settled in the next race. Seafra was once more in tune with the wind to catch a 17th. Amy delivered a perfect finish to overtake a good few boat on the tightly packed line and catch 16th. Fiona was unlucky to catch a yellow flag on the run and could only come back to 21st.
The breeze stayed pretty steady despite a few bubbles with little wind settling on the course. The game became avoiding these and keeping in more pressure. Seafra really understood how to play with the shifts and these no-wind no-go zones and raced at the front. Ultimately a small mistake at the leeward costed him the win and he settled with a 5th concluding his excellent day. Patrick was annoyed at his second race performance and he responded well taking 8th in his race. John Durcan (RCYC) found more pace and felt finally in the race competing finishing in a mid fleet position. Colm missed the last shift and dropped a lot despite a superb start.
In the girls, Fiona took turns on the line after an incident and played a great catch up race to take 19th ahead of Amy who after playing with the leading bunch missed the final shift before the finish line.
The races are incredibly tight and several places can be picked or lost on a single move. Following the wind, playing the lifted tack are keys to maintain a top position and concentration is a must for the full duration of the race.
This morning, there is plenty sunshine and seemingly a little bit of breeze. One more race and the discard will kick in.
Irish Results after Five Races
Boys
33 IRL 1370 Guilfoyle Seafra 120,0 20 58 20 17 5
90 IRL 1324 Crosbie Patrick 206,0 59 56 21 62 8
93 IRL 1269 O’Regan Colm 213,0 52 52 22 30 57
135 IRL 1246 Durcan John 301,0 61 73 63 62 42
Girls
31 IRL 1340 Daly Fiona 95,0 15 21 19 21 19
54 IRL 1217 Harrington Amy 132,0 45 31 20 16 20
66 IRL 1315 Flood Tara 158,0 13 41 37 35 32
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