A 180-degree wind shift to the east from the previous two days of westerlies, presented Calves Week race officer Alan Crosbie with a problem on how to get fleet to the Fastnet and back, without forming a large reaching procession writes Michael Murphy.
He elected to set up his start line inside Schull harbour with a half-mile frantic beat across the harbour to the windward mark, much to the delight of the various tourist ribs on the water.
From there the fleets split with the smaller classes three, four, and white sail two, then on a broad reach to the rock, via the Amelia buoy, while the three larger classes had a spectacular run up Long Island Sound, with a sausage type fetch from Goat Island to the rock and a reach back to the same location and a beat back down the channel to a turning mark at the harbour mouth.
M50 type congestion occurred off the Fastnet as the various fleets arrived together, with local Schull boat “Quinsea ” even managing to embrace the rock.
In class one IRC Paul O Higgins' “Rockabill VI finally beat rivals “Neulargo” and “Jelly Baby” in a very competitive race, while Gabby Hogan’s local boat “Growler” took the echo prize from Denis O Sullivan’s “Aris” and the 1720 “Sheebeen” sailed by Mick Horgan.
In class two IRC Jonny Swan’s “Harmony” came home ahead of yesterdays winner “Bad Company”, with George Radley's “Cortegada” in third, while in Echo it was a victory for Paul Eikrems “Freyja”, with Henry Hogg’s “Lisador” in second and Schull commodore Flor O Riordans “3 Cheers “ in third.
In class three IRC the Cove crew on “Musketeer” notched up another win from David Buckley’s “Jaguar” and Dan O Donovan’s “Second Count”, while the Dwyer family sailing local boat “Sally In Stitches” took first in Echo ahead of another Schull boat “La Perle Noire” sailed by Deborah Crowley.
In class four IRC yesterdays placings were reversed with Rob O Reily’s “Bonjourno” taking the trophy from the Murphy family in “Shelly D” while in ECHO victory went to the Buckley Family in “Tete a Tete”.
In White Sail one Michael O Leary’s “Act Two” finished ahead of Aiden Heffernan’s “Indulgence”, while in Echo it was a win for ex Schull sailor “Dermot Cronin” in “Encore” from Adrian Blake's “Tulia”.
In White Sail two local Schull boats dominated, with Frank Murphy’s “Dreamcatcher” beating Andrew Mackey’s “Lorna Drew” into second place.
