The 2025 season will be remembered as the one when more Tuesday races didn’t take place than those that did by a factor of nearly 4 to 1. Of the 19 scheduled races only five DB21 races are recorded however it is the quality not quantity which must be remembered.
Approaching the last Tuesday race the winds and weather forecast provided some concerns for a cancellation however the Gods looked favourably as the day progressed with a nice F2 SW wind on a flat sea albeit with threatening showers which thankfully just about held off during the race.
Amid the usual flurry of late cancellations 18 Sailors assembled under NYC flagpole enough for 4 boats to set out - Oola taking a rest.
As usual for the final midweek races the cut off time is brought forward to 8.30pm due to fading light so a shorter course was the order of the day. The OD decreed K4 - Boyd, Sea Point, Salthill and Turning all to port - an approximate quadrangle course, with Turning as the starting pin end.
Official Low tide was 19.57 with local knowledge aware that the flood is likely to start shortly after the start time of 19.10.
Coming up to the start Naneen and Geraldine chose the pin end, Estelle started closer to the hut to windward of the fleet while Garavogue took a middle position. The placing on the line proved important as the pin end lanes enjoyed a slightly shorter broad reach while the hut position meant sailing by the lee.
Naneen and Geraldine were neck and neck approaching Boyd with Naneen having the inside overlap to round in pole position. Garavogue was third with Estelle bringing up the rear. It was a reach out to Sea Point and Estelle did all she could to narrow the gap passing out some B211’s but the relative positions remained unchanged as the fleet rounded Sea Point on the beat to Salthill. The three leading boats hardened up and maintained a port tack deep into Sandymount which was the preferred choice of most other boats.
Estelle chose to tack off for clean air and possible tide lift taking a middle course. This seemed to pay off approaching Salthill as the gap had narrowed significantly and taking advantage of wind shift and tide Estelle was on Geraldine’s tail rounding the mark having overtaken Garavogue.
The final leg home was straight to the finish passing Turning mark on the way. Naneen, leading and Geraldine both took a tight rounding before settling into their lane home. Estelle sailed higher in towards the gut before settling back to a close reach to windward of the fleet. Being higher and likely in slightly less adverse tide Estelle was soon chasing the leaders quickly drawing level with Geraldine and threatening Naneen. In the end Naneen maintained her lead while Geraldine and Estelle battled for 2nd place. The finish was extremely close with the respective sounds being at most 2 seconds apart if even that.
Ashore Geraldine seemed convinced that they had taken 2nd place however Estelle’s crew quiet confidence was justly rewarded when the official results were posted as follows:
1. Naneen
2. Estelle
3. Geraldine
4. Garavogue.
The lesson learnt is that focus on the race, head out of the boat to observe wind, tide, competition and any other relevant factors can change the final place order. In Estelle’s case, with a novice helm completing their first full race, all these factors combined with an experienced crew moved her from last to a close 2nd place providing great excitement for all.
Finishing with a close competitive race embodies the true joy of one design racing in this beautiful fleet. While mid-week racing is sadly finished for this season there is still plenty of sailing opportunities for all at the weekends hopefully well into October!