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| Lambay Race Enjoys Sunshine and North-Westerly Winds
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Report by Graham Smith
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17 Footers close inshore - Photo: Michael O'Reilly
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The rest of the photos below are by Conor Lindsay (they will be in the Gallery later)
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The 160 entries - something of a record in recent times - for this year's Lambay Race - sponsored by Electro Automation Group - enjoyed a superb day afloat, basking in sunshine as they worked their way through light to moderate north-westerly winds around the island and back to their respective finishes.
A number of classes had shortened courses and the dying wind saw 30 boats failing to finish. Visiting boats represented almost one-third of the total entry and they went home with nearly half of the divisional honours.
It was a good day for Paul O'Higgins' 'Rockabill V' from the National YC which enjoyed success on the double, winning Class 1 on both IRC and ECHO handicaps, with the IRC win a matter of 7 seconds on corrected time from HYC's 'Crazy Horse' (Norbert Reilly).
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For once, it was not the multiple National Champion boat 'Kinetic' at the front of the Class 2 fleet but it was a very tight affair between two other HYC boats.
'MiniMumm' (Cobbe/McDonald) was a mere 40 seconds ahead on water (but 1.25 minutes corrected on IRC) of 'Superhero' (Byrne/Banahan) but enjoyed a much more emphatic win on ECHO by 8 minutes.
Dave Cullen's 'King One', third on both handicaps, took the IRC Restricted prize.
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MiniMumm - Class 2
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The biggest class in the regatta was the 28-boat fleet in Class 3 which was dominated on the water by two visiting J24s - 'Hard on Port' (Flor O'Driscoll, RSt.GYC) and 'Scandal' (Brian McDowell, MYC) and while the Dun Laoghaire boat was a comfortable winner, it was Basil McMahon's 'Holly' which came through to take 2nd on IRC and also win on ECHO.
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It was another southside entry, 'Orna' (P.Dilworth, National YC) which showed the way in emphatic fashion in the White Sail A Division, winning IRC by a massive 11 minutes corrected and ECHO by a more modest 1.35, both times ahead of Kieran Jameson's 'Changeling'.
Local honour was restored in the White Sail B Division with 'Flashback' (Gregory/Breen), with a good win on IRC and a narrow one (5 seconds) on ECHO ahead of Charlie Boyle's 'On the Rox' which had the consolation of taking the HPH prize.
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Orna - White Sails A
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The one-design classes had disappointing fleets compared to the cruisers but that didn't mean any lack of competition. Seven E-boats travelled from Clontarf for the event and it was 'OctopussE' (P.O'Neill) which headed the race by an impressive 7 minutes from 'Eagle Eye' (O'Hara/Smith).
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Only four Etchells made the starting line and unsurprisingly, the O'Grady/reilly partnership on 'Kootamundra' won by over 5 mnutes from runner-up 'Northside Dragon' (D. McManus).
Seven 31.7s, representing four different clubs, saw a double whammy for Royal Irish visitor 'Attitude' (D.Owens), just ahead of HYC's 'C'Est la Vie' (Flannelly & Others).
Nine Ruffians came from Dublin Bay and after 4 hours racing, only 1 minute separated 'Shillelagh' (Berber/Caldwell, NYC) and 'Shannagh' (S.Gill (RSt.GYC)
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Attitude - First 31.7
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Of the five Squibs in action, only 'Puffin' (Emer Harte) and 'Pot Black' (the McMurtrys) managed a finish and in that order too, both on scratch and HPH. Peter Courtney's 'Oona' headed the Howth 17s' fleet by three minutes from 'Rita' (Lynch/Curley) while 'Rosemary' (Curley/Jones) enjoyed handicap success.
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Trick or Treat - Puppeteer
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Puffin - Squib
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The exception to the small one-design numbers was inevitably the Puppeteers who managed to get 17 boats on the starting line and the conditions were clearly to the liking of Alan Pearson and crew on 'Trick or Treat' because their 4 minute margin over 'Harlequin' (Clarke/Egan) on the water translated into a 4-second handicap win over 'Cloud 9' (C.Feely).
The Lambay Race Committee was chaired by James Markey, who was delighted that entries exceeded expectations, and the sponsors were Electro Automation Group, a leading specialist in such areas as automated car park systems, gate and door access control systems, and intelligent transportation systems.
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Oona - 17 Footer
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