More great sailing conditions of 15 knots or more and another great turnout for Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Citroen South Dublin Turkey Shoot as it passed the halfway stage of the series in yesterday's fourth race off Dun Laoghaire.
With race start times from 10 am, some (black sail) boats are on the race track from 8. 30 am such is the level of competition now generated for the popular series.
With four separate starts for the 75-boat fleet and some keen jostling for the pin end, Race Officer Henry Leonard got the fleets away promptly for three rounds of a course that featured a near one-kilometre beat, a gybe mark, and a downwind to the West Pier Outfall mark before a finish off that pier's lighthouse.
Mixed sportboats
A great turnout of mixed sportsboats saw a keenly contested start with the 1720 Wolfe, full of Royal St. George One design talent, including Neil Hegarty, Peter Bowring, Bill Nolan and John O'Connor, winning the pin end battle.
As well as 1720s, there are several J70s and J80s competing, including one of the Royal St. George's newly refurbished J80 fleet.
Big J109 turnout
In the fourth start of the day, a great mix of cruisers zero and one came to the line to challenge any summer turnout. The Grand Soleil 34 debutante JustTina was out again as was the Farr 42 Wow. Both Sunfast 3600s were on the line, as was the former Turkey Shoot winner Mermaid, a Beneteau 50, and the top DBSC J97 Windjammer too, but the most popular type was the J109 that made up six of the sixteen-boat fleet.
It was nip and tuck, right off the line for the two top J109s in the country and when White Mischief (Tim Goodbody) and Juggerknot (Andrew Algeo) split tacks halfway up the first beat there was only a boat length between them. White Mischief rounded first and looked to gain initially downwind but the intriguing dogfight was shortlived because White Mischief was diverted to come to the rescue of a Man overboard. Read more here.
Sailing coach Maurice O'Connell shot the video below from the stern of Brendan Coghlan's "YoYo" (O'Connell was tactician). Olympic squad Laser sailor Ewan McMahon (in blue cap) was trimming the kite. The video shows the last leeward mark rounding (the yellow out fall mark off the back of the West Pier).
Race four results to follow on Afloat.ie's dedicated Turkey Shoot section here