Another perfect day on the sunny south east with a high sitting right on top of us. Fleet didn’t launch until about 14:30 to allow Sea Breeze to kick in. Then we got three races in in short order. First race turned into an exciting one with protests flying everywhere.
Day 2
Guy Stephens & Rory Briggs(GBR) took the lead from Scott Flannigan & Jamie Carton (IRL) on the last downwind leg to bring them into 2nd place overall. Scott & Jamie answered them back with a convincing win in race 5.
Strong tides and a dying breeze meant that the last race of the day was quite short but was lead most of the way by the oldest helm in the fleet - David Dickson (IRL), but was eventually won by the regatta leaders Sofia Engstrom & Frida Langenius (SWE).
The leading Italians Eduardo Marini & Stefano Balestrero got two thirds but ended up in 5th overall after the first discard kicked in.
The Sponsors spinnaker was on Luke Finnegan’s Boat and seemed to work the magic as he had a creditable second in the fifth race. Who will get the Three spinnaker tomorrow?
In the Protest room 1837 Mathew O’Dowd & Jack Burke (IRL) were disqualified from Race 4 for a port and starboard incident with 1655 Simona Binelli & Matilde Pitante (ITA). All other issues were resolved without penalties.
For full results go to: http://feva.whsc.ie/e7fevaos.html
Day 1
Swedes claim the first day.
After floating around for most of the first day in shifting wind and loads of tide the race team finally got the racing underway at about 3.00pm. In blazing sunshine the first race won by the ITA boat Beneli/Pitanti with the Cork pair of Harrington/English in 2nd. The Speedy Swedes Engstrom/Langenius were 3rd. The GBR boats were not going to get it their own way with the first GBR boat Minors/Esse in 4th.
Race 2 was Bolingboroke/Heathcote moment of glory with a port end flier out of a text book. While the rest of the fleet stacked up at the committee boat Bolingbroke/Heathcoat vanished up the beat and lead at the windward mark by a minute! A lead which their kept until the finish. The consistent SWE had a solid 2nd with the GBR team of Stephens/Spriggs in 3rd. The Brits have turned up finally!!!!
With the race officer keen to get a 3rd race - The fleet was straight into the start sequence. It was only going to be a matter of time before the SWE lead around the windward mark and this race was theirs. The Swedes are emerging as a powerful force because the SWE/IRL team of Anderasson/Bulter were 2nd. ITA Modena/Pagani were 3rd with another ITA boat Bergia/Carlini in 4th.
