Round Ireland Race Day Three (Monday) 2000 hrs - As the overnight northerly morphed unevenly into the new breeze from the west today with the fleet strung out between the latitudes of Kerry and the Aran Island, the tacticians in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022 were faced with the dilemma of finding the optimum position for their own boat’s meeting with the slowly spreading new wind, while taking into account their position in the procession which stretched along the coasts of three counties.
Thus the leader on the water, the Swiss-flagged Cookson 50 Kuka3 with former Crosshavian Tom McWilliam on the strength, seemed to benefit from holding to the east until nearing Loop Head and then tacking onto a long port tack before getting up and going with the new wind.
But if you went to the east, the essence of a successful outcome seemed to lie in being quite well to the west once you’d got to the latitude of the Aran Islands. Boats that strayed too far in towards Galway Bay, while seeming to make good progress initially, found themselves significantly disadvantaged, with the added drawback of local soft spots as the wind pattern changed.
Meanwhile, American Greg Leonard with the Class40 Kite went the furthest west, actively looking for the new wind. But it spread in unevenly, and for a while his class rival Andrea Fornaro with Influence seemed to be doing better on a more easterly course.
However, Fornaro - with Greystones’ Pam Lee in the crew - let himself get too far east, and when the new breeze finally found Kite she benefitted to such an extent that she’s now beyond Erris Head in northwest Mayo, and ten miles to the good on Influence.
But all these tactics were by the more isolated boats. The core group with the main contenders for the IRC overall lead were generally sailing in a conservative way, keeping touch in fleet racing style, and as the day wore on the usual suspects began swapping the lead among themselves.
The Murphy family’s Nieulargo from Crosshaven with Nin O’Leary on board had it for a while, as too did the Evans brothers’ J/99 Snapshot from Howth with Shane Hughes giving that extra piece of input, while Michael Boyd (RIYC) with the J/121 Darkwood and the welcome skills of Kenneth Rumball had their time in the sun.
At the time of writing at 18:00 hrs Monday with the key group west of Clew Bay, the role of leader is bouncing between Snapshot and Paul O’Higgin’s JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC), the fleet going well on a pleasant reach with speeds better than 8 knots.
How long those idyllic conditions will last is a matter of hope rather than expectation. Tomorrow is Midsummer’s Day, and after a cold and windy Spring, it rather looks as though the Irish weather is determined to treat us to an excess of mid-summery weather, but with the inevitable absence of a decent working breeze.
However, at the moment and still out in front with clearcut line honours, Kuka 3 is getting near Aranmore in Donegal with a private freshening of the breeze and 13 knots and more on the clock, while out at sea but 30 miles astern is the Volvo 70 Green Dragon lumbering along at a similar speed, and the leading Class40 Kite has put Mayo astern but is temporarily (we hope) in a softer patch, as she’s only managing ten knots.
The many ramifications of the various categories and their awards can be extracted from the data with this Race Tracker – the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022 Results can be sliced every which way, and this year in particular there seems to be something for everyone in the audience
Tracker below