Ireland secured its first race win on the penultimate day of the GP14 World Championships at Skerries Sailing Club when three times Olympian Ger Owens and crew Melanie Morris stormed to victory in Thursday's first race of three.
GP14 Worlds Overall Standings after six Races Post Hearings are downloadable below
But Owens, from the Royal St George Yacht Club, and Morris, from East Antrim Boat Club, are still only third of the Irish ranking behind skipper Colman Grimes from the host club, who is lying fourth overall, and Sutton Dinghy Club's Hugh Gill in ninth.
Leading UK helms Ian Dobson (first) and Matt Mee (second) are just two points apart with 8 and 10 points respectively compared to Grimes' 29 points and the 21 points of third placed Nick Craig from UK club
Burghfield Frensham. But Grimes says he is still determined to upset Craig and gain a podium position for Ireland in tomorrow's last two races of the series.
The series is one race behind schedule thanks to calms which led to the cancellation of all races on three days so far of the six-day series.
Wednesday's lay day was pulled into service in a bid to catch up and three races were run in increasingly heavy seas and strong winds.
Conditions were so challenging in Wednesday's third race that dozens capsized and less than half the 106 entries finished.
The final two races are to be run on Friday and most bets favour Mee and/or Dobson in the top two places, while the success of Grime's plucky challenge for third place remains to be seen.
GP14 Worlds Overall Standings after six Races Post Hearings are downloadable below
Additional reporting by Andrew Jonhston:
Thursday dawned with well over a hundred pairs of fingers crossed. Racing lost on Wednesday meant with only 3 races completed the PRO was under pressure. Thursday morning didn't disappoint. With the breeze from south or south west and steady, things looked good from the start. The changed direction also provided a flat sea which was another pleasure for the sailors after Tuesday's confused seas state.
Race 1 got off on time, with a beautiful 12-knot breeze. From the get-go Ger Owens was to the fore on the left side. Others showing early were Jane Kearney, Peter Boyle with Ian Dobson and Matt Mee not far away. Curly Morris had a cracking start and was probably in top 10 as they neared the weather mark. By the time they reached the gybe mark, Ger Owens had 3 or 4 boat length lead from Matt Mee, with Neil Marsden now up in contention.
This quartet then battled it to the finish. With a tacking duel all the way up the last leg between Ger Owens and Matt Mee, with Ger Owens just holding on to take the gun. A similar battle was ensuing behind with Neil Marsden just pipping Ian Dobson for the 3rd spot. Nick Devereux in 5th with one of the older boats, 12654. The next best Irish boat was Ross Kearney in 8th and Adrian Lee in 10th. Colman Grimes, the leading Irish boat in the event coming in 18th. Silver fleet leader Conor Twohig added another strong finish when he came across the line in 24th.
Race 2 got underway with the breeze freshening up to 14knots. The Pathfinder for this race was Youghals Adrian Lee. First to show were Matt Mee, Colman Grimes, Hugh Gill, all gone early out of the gate and started up left. At the weather mark, it was Matt Mee followed a few boat lengths by Ruan O’Tiarnaigh, Ian Dobson and Hugh Gill. As the wind increased, Matt Mee had extended his lead over Ruan O Tiarnaigh 2nd and Hugh Gill in 3rd at the gybe mark. The reaching legs were super fast, with a few capsizes through the fleet, including Ger Owens, winner of the first race of the day.
By the end of the sausage, Matt Mee had extended his lead quite considerably Ruan O’Tiarnaigh was still holding onto 2nd, but Colman Grimes had made huge inroads and now putting Ian Dobson under pressure for 3rd on the water. Hugh Gill was in 5th with Jane Kearney up into eighth spot. Ger Owens showed how to recover from a capsize and was back up into 13th spot.
Matt Mee took the gun under no pressure. However, a thrilling finish was unfolding with local sailor and event coordinator Colman Grimes just taking 2nd from Ian Dobson on the line. Hugh Gill made another good Irish finish with 4th, John Hayes 5th and Ruan O Tiarnaigh in 6th, Nick Devereux 7th, Jane Kearney 8th and Peter Boyle in 9th.
Having lost 3 race days, PRO Bill O’Hara had scheduled 3 races to try and catch up. A third race on Thursday meant 2 races on Friday would give him 8 races, and the fleet would have 2 discards.
Race 3 got underway, with Pathfinder Graham Flynn leading around the weather mark. Followed by Tim Jones, Jane Kearney, Alan Blay, Ian Dobson and Peter Boyle. At this stage, leading Irish contender Colman Grimes was in 15th just behind Matt Mee the event leader.
Wind was still 15 to 18 knots but with a grey sky and some rain. The reaches were again fast with a few capsizes through the fleet. At the top mark second time around, Jane Kearney (RNIYC) had moved into the lead from Alan Blay with a small gap to Ian Dobson in 3rd. Matt Mee had recovered somewhat and was now up into 6th with Peter Boyle 7th and Colman Grimes up to 10th. The local man is having a storming event in all respects.
Showing his class under pressure, Ian Dobson worked himself into contention with a couple of hundred meters to the finish. Tack for tack, he diced with Alan Blay with Ian Dobson taking the gun by less than a boat length. Jane Kearney finished a superb day by holding off the title contender Matt Mee. Peter Boyle took 10th and will be pathfinder for Race 7 on Friday morning. Leading Irish contender Colman Grimes finished 11th.
A great day's racing meant the event was very much back on track, and with no clear leader, Friday's racing will be intense. Ian Dobson leads Matt Mee by 2 points with Nick Craig and Colman Grimes battling for 3rd spot. Beyond Colman, Hugh Gill is the next Irish boat in 9th, with Ger Owens in 10th. Conor Twohig retains his lead in Silver Fleet ahead of Ciaran Keogh and Skerries sailor Doire Shiels in 3rd. In Bronze fleet, Conor Byrne leads Frankie Browne and Meg Tyrrell.
