That’s Life and Addict were the two winners after two days of racing in the Galway Bay Sailing Club Cruiser Regatta.
The Regatta forms part of the King of the Bay Series, which involves the Solstice Round Aran Race.
Light winds for the first day’s racing saw AWOL (GBSC ) take class 1, crossing the line just one second ahead of Optique (GBSC ), while in class 2 it was one of the Clifden visiting boats Hallmark which took first place from Ibaraki(GBSC ).
However weather conditions on Saturday changed considerably with 20 to 25 knots of westerly winds, and it was That's Life (GBSC ) which enjoyed two firsts and a second, finishing day leading class 1 from Optique. In Class 2 the heavier weather suited Quelle Surprise(GBSC ) which won two races, while Hallmark won the other, leaving both boats neck and neck at the top of the leader board.
Those same weather conditions prevailed the next day and That's Life handled the strong winds the better, seeing off After Midnight (GBSC ) by just a 16 second margin. However After Midnight lost its mast in a squall that ended its racing and hopes of victory.
In class 2 Quelle Surprise enjoyed another good day in the heavy weather, but still had to work very hard to finish the two races in front of Hallmark.
Class 1 IRC, That's Life, Catalpa, AWOL; Class 1 ECHO, That's Life, Catalpa, After Midnight.Class 2 IRC, Quelle Surprise, Hallmark, Addict; Class 2 ECHO, Hallmark, Quelle Surprise, Addict.
That’s Life’s success continued in the second race of Galway Bay Sailing Club's Alfa Romeo Late Summer Series for cruisers, sailed in rain and light airs, while the dinghies faced similar rain, but with a steady breeze of eight knots for their third race of the Late Summer Series.
In the multi hull fleet both FX 1 boats, helmed by G Murray and R Carberry were over the course start line when the flag was lowered to indicate the start of the race, and as they did not return to restart the race the honours in the multihull race all went to Dart 16 boats. And with two of the three 420 boats which had taken podium positions last week away, opportunities to move up the leader board were seized. Yannick Lemonnier and Cathal Clarke, sailing in an ISO, crossed the finish line well ahead of the monohull fleet, but were beaten into second place by Vincent Jordan and Noel Harvey on a Laser Stratos. Dinghy stalwart Dave Vinnell and crew Maryse Collins took third place - a result that sees Vinnell holding the leader's position for now.
