The second day of the 2021 GP14 Championship of Ireland got underway more than two hours later than scheduled. Little or no breeze saw the AP up outside Lough Erne Yacht Club all morning and well into the afternoon.
Patience was rewarded, with the wind eventually filling in and PRO Derek Bothwell managing to get the fleet on the water and ultimately complete another three great races. Earlier, this looked far from a certainty.
Unlike Friday, race conditions were between four and eight knots. At the end of the day, the three early leaders were still in the top three but had been shuffled a little, and they certainly didn't have it all their own way.
Race one saw Hugh & Dan Gill in Yin Tang take first place (and the International Shipping Services Cup) from Blessingtons Richard Street, with Ger Owens maintaining his consistent showing in 3rd. Shane MacCarthy was 7th and Ross Kearney 9th.
Race two again saw YinTang to the fore until some gear failure late on allowed Ger and Shane through, with Hugh & Dan settling for 3rd. Great to see Richard Street back on the stick as he followed up his 2nd with a 4th in the day's second race.
Robert & Chris Gingles took fifth to rattle a few cages. Our overnight leaders Ross & Jane Kearney, were certainly not having it their own way and had to settle with 12th.
If anyone thought it was now just between Ger & Shane, Ross & Jane had other ideas. A second in Race three puts them well in touch, but they could do nothing to stop Shane & Josh's taking their third bullet of the event. Norman Lee with Adam Leddy revelled in the conditions to take third ahead of the McGuinness brothers and jumped into 5th overall behind Hugh and Dan Gill in fourth.
So with two races on Sunday, Shane & Josh lead Ger & Brendan by three points, with Ross & Jane four points further back.
The Masters' Championship is also on offer here this weekend and sees Norman Lee chasing Hugh Gill, but any slip-up from the top three you feel will allow Hugh in for a podium finish in the main event and a medal.
Steven Nelson and son Daniel did enough to sneak past East Downs Patrick Hamilton to lead the Silver fleet. A top ten beckons for both these Silver fleet entries. Good going in a fleet of 40.
Today, the top five finishes of Blessingtons Richard Street & Conor Flynn saw them move ahead of Sutton Dinghy Club Matthew Cotter & Tom Mulligan at the head of the bronze fleet.
Two races on Sunday in what should be slightly breezier conditions will finally sort the top five positions.
Overall results after day two are downloadable below
