Freya makes up lost ground on Gloves Off despite testing conditions

Easter Monday dawned overcast and breezy for the second week of the KYC Spring Series.

By the time the hardy competitors were out on course they were faced with a battle against the elements with westerlies in excess of 20 knots, gusting close to 30 and the sailors’ perennial favourite, rain.

Classes zero, one and two were on the round-the-cans course which saw them heading out to Black Head and back east to Sovereigns, with a few extra turning points added in to add spice to affairs.

In IRC Zero, race one saw Meridian and Gloves Off over the line early, but Kieran Twomey’s Gloves Off made a particularly good comeback in the gusting conditions to eventually finish just five seconds adrift on handicap of race winner Freya, and tied for second place with John Godkin’s Godot. Conor Doyle and crew on Freya made it a clean sweep on the day, winning the second race also, with Gloves Off and Godot claiming the next two spots. Overall, Gloves Off holds a slender half-point lead over Freya with Godot keeping them honest in third.

ECHO Zero also saw Freya claiming two bullets, albeit a joint first in the second race with Tom Roche’s Meridian. In an extremely tight leaderboard, Freya now leads Tony O’Brien’s White Tiger by just a half-point in ECHO, but Gloves Off and Godot are on the same overall score as White Tiger while Meridian is far from out of the running just a further half-point adrift.

In IRC, Ian Nagle’s and Paul O’Malley’s Jellybaby continued their titanic struggle with Dave Scott’s Eos, with the RCYC crew coming out top in both races this week. Both boats were pushed outside the pin end at the start of race two, and after some extremely close manoeuvring to get around and across the start line, battled back to the top of the fleet in the moderating conditions. Overall it couldn’t be closer, with both boats locked together on six points.

Dan Buckley’s Justus lies somewhat adrift in third.

In ECHO One, it was a good day at the office for Aidan Heffernan’s Indulgence, which came home with two bullets.

In IRC Restricted, Jellybaby and Eos claim the two top spots, with Freya now holding third place a further six points behind.

In IRC Two, the RCYC men on Bed Company must be commended for their consistency, regardless of the conditions. The Desmond, Ivers and Deasty team came home second in both races, adding to their two seconds last week, which were achieved in much lighter conditions. However, that consistency sees them top the table overall on eight points with Brian Goddin’s Allure in second. Their KYC clubmates on The Main 4 have been catapulted up to third place overall after the Salter, O’Regan and Minehane outfit claimed two bullets in the demanding conditions.

Ernie Dillon’s Silk Breeze stole the show in ECHO Two, charging home with two bullets and sizeable leads on handicap. The Main 4 crew took second place in both races to claim second place in the overall rankings. Clem and Wendy McElligott’s Sea Hawk now leads overall with a third in the second race giving them a one-point advantage over their KYC clubmates. Derek Dillon’s Bid Deal is tied on points with The Main 4.

In IRC Three, the Merron and O’Connell team on Bandit continued to reign supreme over Finbarr Dorgan’s No Half Measures and hold a four-point lead overall. Padraig O’Donovan’s evergreen Chameleon came home third on the day and lies third overall, on the same points as the Ryan and Tyler team on Away on Business.

In ECHO Three, the race wins were shared by No Half Measures and Bandit, with Chameleon coming home third and second on the day. No Half Measures lived up to her name, claiming top spot overall.

In Class Four, three boats turned out to do battle, with Alan Mulcahy’s Sundancer leading Richard Hanley’s Saoirse across the finish line in both races to tie the IRC Four series at seven points apiece. Sundancer gets the nod overall due to more lower scoring finishes. Both boats are locked at the top of the ECHO Four table too on nine points, with Sundancer in pole position again. The team on La Maraquita are ready to pounce on any slip up though, just a point behind, after solid bullet and second place finishes this week.

It was an eventful day in Whitesail One, where the crew on Wheels were out to move heaven and earth to bag a race win. Unfortunately, their plans went awry when they instead snared the Matthews Chandlery buoy and had to return to port before the race even started. Of the remaining eight boats in the fleet, Dave Akerling on Paragon claimed the bullet on the day, with Stephen Lysaght’s Reavra just pipping Dave Ross and crew on Sonas for second. Sonas is in pole position overall, with Paragon’s win lifting her to second and Dave O’Sullivan’s Cimerron VI just a further point behind in third. Billy Joyce brought Windrose home just ahead of Dave Cullinane’s Delos, with Kevin and Cella Murray not much further behind in Objection.

It has been a good campaign so far for Delos, with two second places giving her a slight edge over Windrose for now. Michael Lynch’s Lady T was not quite in the grove this week, slipping to third overall.