It was a day for local knowledge at Howth yesterday for the opening race of the annual Heineken Autumn League, the last outing of the season for a large majority of boats on the east coast. A strong flood tide ripped across both courses and caught dozens of unwary boats as the three knot plus current set many onto the first weather mark forcing penalty turns and upsetting hard won running orders in the big fleets.
At last count, there were 209 entries for the six race series but already some familiar boats are to the fore in a predictable pattern. Roy Dickson's Cracklin' Rosie romped around the course to lead the fleet home to the marina. However, Bob and Bairbre Stewarts Prima 38 is the rising star of the otherwise depleted Class Zero and narrowly missed beating "Rosie" by 28 seconds on corrected time.
In Class One, Colm Barrington's Velvet Glove did yet another horizon job on her rivals to take what is sure to be the first of many wins in this series with the perfect approach to handicap racing. However, in the "real" class one fleet, Jim Hyland's Maxim is next in line and enjoyed a great tussle with several key contenders. Andrew Knowles Saxon Girl helmed by Simon Knowles had led the pack at the first mark but eventually slipped to fifth on IRC handicap by the finish.
Shay Moran and Enda Connellan's Space Odyssey opened their Autumn League as they intend to finish - first on IRC in Class Two. In this shakedown year, near misses at top prizes early in the season have all but disappeared and they will be seeking a clean sheet score at Howth.
Michael Guinan's Fast Buck leads Class Three following the handicap break points putting the Impala 28 footers into that division. Among the Puppeteers on the Inshore course, Jellyroll is dominating the local fleet already for the second year as usual class leader David Lovegrove could only manage second place by a minute long gap.
Meanwhile, the 1720 Sportsboats had a reduced turnout at Howth due to the Cork Dry Gin National Championships being staged at Ballyholme. In a windy conclusion to the three day series, Terry English and Bryan Hickey from the Royal Cork YC emerged overall winners on Union Chandlery, defeating Alan Espey, the reigning champion from the Royal Ulster YC.
Ironically, Union Chandlery is better known for its victories under the hand of sailor Mark Mansfield who is the unofficial maestro of the class. However, this championship credit must go to Maurice "Prof" O'Connell, a helm of undoubted ability.
The Corkman was absent from the championship as he was in Italy competing with David O'Brien in the Star World Championship in their quest for Olympic Gold at Sydney 2000. Having made their required results to assure them of the Irish Olympic Nominating Standard at events earlier this summer with apparent ease, the pair were far from unrealistic about their hopes at Punta Ala for the last week.
Almost 130 Stars competed and the Cork/Dublin pairing ended 32nd on Friday last. A result that qualifies the class for Ireland is needed but neither helm nor crew expected that to happen at this worlds. Nevertheless, the result is a fair achievement at just their third championship outing since joining forces. Finally, Michael O'Connor and Dermot Boylan became the new ISA Match Racing Championships at the Royal St. George YC at the weekend. Sixteen competitors completed a total of 100 matches in a close series. Jamie Boag and Linda Eadie ended second while Gerbil Owens with Evan Gannon took third. Fourth place was not awarded as the seven way tie for the result was unbreakable.
