#mermaid – The fifth race of the Mermaid Championships in Oranmore did not disappoint in turning the leaderboard on its head.The stronger breezes had the anticipated effect of bringing the usual heavy air suspects to the fore. Jim Carthy and his team in Vee played a stormer today, winning comfortably in the demanding conditions and established a 2.25 points cushion at the top of the table.
Jim Dempsey who has languished in mid fleet in the lighter winds, finally showed his class by finishing 2nd and Mark Boylan made his expected impact by getting a solid 3rd. However the overnight leader, the consistent Paul Smith in "Jill" managed to finish 4th, still leaving him in 2nd overall and very much in contention after the discards took effect.
Sam Shiels in "Azeezy" remains in the hunt with a 4th today which places him in 3rd place overall. Jonathan O'Rourke in Tiller Girl, unsurprisingly struggled in the heavier conditions but still managed a 9th which allows him to discard his horrendous 14th in race 3 but nonetheless, drops him to back to 4th overall, 5.25 points behind the leader. With decent breeze forecast for tommorow the smart money will be on Vee to do the business for the 5th time but Sam Shiels and Mark Boylan would like to think they still have a say in the outcome.
The dark horse has to be Paul Smith in Jill, who with his remarkable consistency in all conditions, may upset these predictions if any of the current fancied big breeze players have a mishap. As usual, the Championships will go down to the final race.
Overall results after race 5 here,
1st "Vee" Jim Carthy 9.50
2nd "Jill" Paul Smith 11.75
3rd "Azeezy" Sam Shiels 14.00
4th "Tiller Girl" Jonathan O Rourke 14.75
5th "This Is It" Mark Boylan 16.00