Report on Race 3 – Pwllheli to Wicklow.

23rd May 2009.

Those boats that delivered over to Pwllheli on the Thursday evening or Friday for the star5t

of the race were treated to high winds, lumpy seas and rain. This did not dampen the

ISORA pre-race social occasion in Pwllheli Sailing Club on the Friday night.

There were 17 entries for the race but the unexpected success of the Leinster rugby team in

getting into the Heineken final to take place on the day of the race, took some of these

entries. Ten boats came to the line at the earlier start time of 07.00 on Saturday. The earlier

start was to try and facilitate some of the fleets to be in Wicklow for the match.

Three entries were from Pwllheli, “Gwawr”, Dennis Williams, “Banzai”, Bob Sambrook

and “Just Enough”, Stuart Tudor. The remaining ones were from Dun Laoghaire. Liam

Coyne was sailing his recently acquired First 36.7 “Lula Belle”.

The forecast was for southerly / south westerly winds up to 20k at the start, moderating

during the day before veering westerly in the late afternoon and dying overnight. The

weather service had it correct.

The race started with a fast beat in flat waters up to St. Tudwals Sound with winds varying

between 13 and 18k. Exiting the sound, the fleet were met with the lumpy seas and the

winds increased to 20k. The leg to Bardsey Sound was a fetch. “Tsunami”, Vincent Farrell

was the first boat through Bardsey Sound with “Galileo”, Sean Lemass close behind and

followed by “Quite Correct”, John Roberts. The fleet was well bunched at this stage.

With the south westerly holding at between 18 and 25k, it was a fast tight reach across the

Irish Sea to Wicklow. Some boats were tempted to fly kites but the tight and gusty wind

angle, lumpy seas and the several broaches soon discouraged this.

The fleet was fast approaching Wicklow with the leaders just 3 miles off the finish when

the usual “Wicklow Head Hole” appeared and the three leading yachts, “Quite Correct”,

“Galileo” and “Legally Brunette”, Paul Egan stopped. “Tsunami”, seeing this, headed off

north to try and get around the hole but was soon grabbed into it. Behind “Tsunami”

“Aztec”, Peter Beamish, was still storming towards Wicklow when the wind filled in again

from the west. The leaders started to beat for the line; “Aztec” was close on their heels.

The finisher for Wicklow Sailing Club was Sadie Phelan. “Legally Brunette” took line

honours crossing the line at 15:54 followed closely by “Galileo” at 15:55 and “Quite

Correct” at 15:56. “Tsunami” finished at 16:05 and “Aztec” at 16:13. With the exception of

“Yahtzee”, Richard Mossop, who became becalmed, the remainder of the fleet finished had

finished by 17:32.

The winner was the J92 “Just Enough” in Overall and Class 2 with “Aztec” taking 2nd place

Overall and Class 2. “Tsunami” came 3rd Overall and 1st in Class 1. “Galileo” took 2nd

Class 1 and “Quite Correct” took 3rd Class 1.

There was a great reception in Wicklow where most of the boats pulled in to see the

Heineken Final, or most of it. Again, in the tradition of ISORA, the usual social “debriefing”

took place with the great hospitality of Wicklow Sailing Club.

The next race is the Lyver Trophy Race, a feeder race to the Dun Laoghaire Regatta on the,

3rd July, and is run in conjunction with Royal Dee Yacht Club, Liverpool Yacht Club and

RORC.

ISORA - Race 3 - Pwllheli to Wicklow - Prelim Results

23rd May 2009

Start Time 07.10

Boat Name Sail No. Type IRC Rating Start Time Finish Time Time elapsed Corrected Placings

(provisional) Time O/A Class WS

Aztec    IRL29832 A35 1.032 16:13:52 32632 33676 2nd 2nd

First of September GBR858IY First 435 1.017 dns

Yahtzee 1068 Oceanis 411 0.980 17:30:00* # # 10th

Albatrass IRL3999 First 435 1.037 dns

Rebellion IRL 6001 Nicholson 58 1.060 dns

Galileo IRL 1944 Beneteau 47.7 1.088 15:56:14 31574 34352 4th 2nd

Quite Correct IRL 5405 DS54 1.095 15:55:07 31507 34500 5th 3rd

Sarnia IRL 2260 0.891 dns

Tsunami IRL 4007 First 40.7 1.064 16:05:01 32101 34155 3rd 1st

Orna IRL 532 40C 1.048 dns

Lula Belle IRL First 36.7 1.020 16:51:32 34892 35590 8th

Legally Brunette IRL 4052 X41 1.121 15:54:17 31457 35263 7th

Gwawr GBR 8330 Sigma 38 0.986 16:57:03 35223 34729 6th 3rd

Banzai GBR 7344 J35 1.024 17:32:37 37357 38253 9th 1st

Just Enough GBR6912T J92 0.986 16:34:40 33880 33405 1st 1st

Contango IRL 33333 Corby 33 1.042 dns

Adelie FRA 9631 First 34.7 0.909 dns

Class 2 Provisional Class break at 1.045

Apologies for the lack of text boxes - the spread sheet did not copy from .pdf format.