#sb20 – A fickle F2 north westerly in beaming sunshine tested the SB20 fleet last Sunday for the 4th (of 10) DBSC SB Sundays and the first Sunday of Series 2.

After a short postponement to clear the race track of the ICRA cruiser fleet, OOD con Murphy and his team of Barbara, Cathy, Fionnuala, Owen and owner John Roberts on "Quite Correct" got the fleet off at the first time of asking. An individual recall was sounded for the crew of Alert Packaging (Justin, Darren and Marty) but the rest of the fleet had managed to keep their noses clean. Most of the fleet opted for a committee boat end start on starboard with Should Be... (Michael, Owen and Gavan) attempting a port tack start from the pin. They couldn't quite cross Venuesworld (Ger, Chris and Rory) but ducked their transom and headed out right along with Alert Packaging and Bad (Jerry, Jimmy and Dave, Dave helming), in expectation of the forecasted veer. VenuesWorld, Manamana (Doug, Ronan and Tara) and Rubadubdub (Nick et al - sorry lads (et al), we really need to introduce ourselves over a pint this weekend at the NYC regatta!!) headed left and inshore for more pressure. Half way up the beat the boats converged back towards the middle of the course and it was clear that left and pressure had paid handsomely with Venuesworld in a commanding lead followed by Manamana and Should Be... That was the order of rounding at the weather mark followed by Bad, Alert Packaging and Rubadubdub. Heading down the run, Bad, Manamana and Should Be... opted for the early gybe with Venuesworld, Alert Packaging and Rubadubdub again heading for pressure inshore. By the bottom of the run, Venueworld had extended their lead but the rest of the fleet was still tightly packed with a few boatlengths separating second from sixth. The big movers on the run were Alert Packaging getting back up into the mix and Should Be... moving in the opposite direction. Up the second beat, the wind started to die and Venuesworld expertly plotted their way up the course, holding onto their lead. Manamana and Alert Packaging had headed out right, however this time the veer and better pressure materialised off shore and both boats made significant gains on the fleet. By now, the new north easterly breeze was establishing itself so a reach followed by a fetch to finish ensured that no further place changes were on offer and at the finish it was Venuesworld followed by Alert Packaging (who made a miraculous recovery having gone back at the start), Manamana, Bad, Rubadubdub and Should Be...

The OOD took a short break waiting for the new breeze to establish itself and once it did, the fleet were treated to a steadier F3 north easterly. OOD Con Murphy sensibly opted for a slightly shorter course than race 1 in an attempt to ensure two or more races could be completed on the day. A committee boat bias meant bunching at the weather end with several boats including Bad and Should Be... going out right with Venuesworld and Manamana heading left. At the top mark it was Venuesworld once more in a commanding lead followed by Manamana with Should Be... and Bad (this time with Gerry on the helm) in close pursuit. With the boats going pretty deep on the run, there was plenty of opportunity for the back markers to make gains on the boats ahead and claw their way back into the race and the leaders were never completely safe. After the next beat and run, the two lead boats, Manamana and Venuesworld went around the last leeward mark overlapped with Should Be... in third only a boatlength behind and Alert Packaging (this time with Darren on the helm) only a further 1/2 boatlength back. The two leaders got tangled up in a personal duel and almost allowed Should Be... through but in the end Venuesworld, sailing very solidly, held on to take the win from Should Be..., Manamana, Alert Packaging, Bad and Rubadubdub.

Race 3 got off without any delay and the fleet once again bunched up at the committee boat and split tacks up the first beat. Alert Packaging (this time with Marty on the helm), Manamana and Should Be... opting to go right with Rubadubdub, Venuesworld and Bad (this time with Jimmy on the helm) going left. This time, the boats heading right found more pressure and at the weather mark Should Be... led from Alert Packaging and Manamana. The boats bunched once more at the leeward mark with Venuesworld storming up the fleet. Should Be... still led at the leeward gate but by the narrowest of margins. In an effort to get a clean getaway, Venuesworld opted for the right hand side gate mark, however it transpired that the left mark was in fact the favoured mark allowing those boats going to the left hand mark to gain distance on Venuesworld. By the second weather mark, Should Be... had held on to their lead and were followed a few boatlengths behind by Alert Packaging, Manamana and Venuesworld. After the final run and short beat to finish, it ended up with Should Be... taking the gun followed by Alert Packaging, Venuesworld, Manamana, Rubadubdub and Bad.

So after the first SB Sunday of series 2, Ger and the crew of Venuesworld lead series 2 with 5 points and have certainly set down a marker for the rest of the fleet. Alert Packaging are in second on 8 points followed by Should Be... in third on 9 points. Special thanks goes to Con Murphy OOD and his team on Quite Correct for setting three great races in very challenging conditions. Special thanks also goes to John Roberts for the loan of his 54ft Jeanneau "Quite Correct". Having enjoyed the splendour and creature comforts of "Quite Correct", I understand that it will be hard to drag Cathy, Fionnuala and Barbara back to MacLir - I hope that they aren't unionised!!

Finally, in last Thursday's race report, I failed to mention that Alert Packaging was helmed to a convincing victory by Darren Burke with Justin on the mainsheet (unfortunately we were never close enough to tell!). Darren is obviously following in his Justin's footsteps giving the class a beating! Congratulations Darren, you might have a regular spot there! See you all this Thursday for the last Thursday of Series 1. Forecast is for wind and sunshine so leave the office and be unproductive for a few hours!