Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2013
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The light and fickle airs that prevailed over this year's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta did not hinder the efforts of many of the HYC entries during the 4-day event. Thirty-four boats made the trip across the bay to compete in this year's biennial regatta - representing almost 10% of the overall fleet.
Having taken the headlines with a win on the first day, a collision on the next day put paid to Alan Chambers and Norbert Reilly's Crazy Horse chances of glory in Class 0. They finished 8th overall in the 'big boat' fleet.
Howth's only entry in Class 1 - Paddy Gregory and Don Breen's 'Flashback' and crew sailed a very consistent series to finish 7th in IRC and 2nd on ECHO.
Class 2 was where the core of Howth teams was concentrated and Anthony Gore Grimes's Dux finished in highest place in IRC scoring a 5th in IRC. Ian Byrne's 'Sunburn' absorbed much the heat of competition in the ECHO division and finished 5th.
The Class 3 fleet included the added competition of a J24 prize for those six one-designs within the 25 boats entered. This was won following another outstanding regatta for the HYC Keelboat Team on 'Euro Car Parks Kilcullen' who also finished 2nd overall in Class 3 IRC. The top ECHO boat from Howth and ending the series in 7th place was Vince Gaffney's 'Alliance II' .
Pat Kelly's tough campaigners on 'Storm', sailing under Rush Sailing Club's burgee in this event, narrowly missed out on winning the top prize in the J109 Class, beaten for line honours in the final race by overall victors 'Joker II.'
While Colm Bermingham and his crew on 'Bite the Bullet' were extending their 2013 haul of silverware and unbeaten run by dominating the Non-Spinnaker 1 IRC class with four wins in their seven races, Windsor Lauden and Stephanie Ennis quietly won every race in the Non-Spinnaker IRC 2 class, and gave the ECHO handicappers something to consider with the performance 30-year old Club Shamrock 'Demelza' against the rest of that fleet. Demelza's latest rating is an extraordinary 1.053 and might suggest that she is in a class of her own, even managing to finish 2nd with that ECHO rating!
In the one-design fleets, Brian and Conor Turvey's 'Isobel' won the Howth 17 series while in the Squib class Hazel and Jonathan Craig finished 6th in 'Kerfuffle' and Gillian Guinness's 'Sin a Bhuil' finished in 11th place in the large SB20 class.
The 'Northside vs Southside Challenge' in the ISA Sailfleet J80s was one by the Southside team following an impressive string of results and in particular from the unassailable Southside team captain Mary O'Loughlin! Noel Davidson's Howth team with other skippers Scott Flanigan and Lynn Reilly made a late but great charge to close the gap on the final race.
See all the results here: dlregatta.org/2013/Results_2013.asp?Menu=Results
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