Fighting the Wrong Battle

Last Sunday although cold, a nice force 2 from the west made for pleasant sailing. Newly re-elected Commodore Philip O'Connor was in charge, aided and abetted by Jim Linton and Donal McNulty. After a Greenpeace-like intervention with the mussel boat, the course was laid and no piracy charges are pending! It was great to see Ian Roche back again and new member Colin Matthews was out to add to the fleet. The race started badly for the McLaughlins who incurred a penalty almost immediately with a poorly judged tack in front of Browne/Hicks. However, it's an ill wind that blows no good, as when they were finished their penalty turns the wind had shifted enough to allow them a straight run at the first windward mark where they duly arrived ahead of the pack. Rooney/McDonagh and Browne/Hicks never gave up the chase and almost had the McLaughlins at the second leeward mark. But all was lost when they got into a luffing battle which allowed the leaders to escape and win by a comfortable margin. Ian Roche in fine form managed second place on time, while O'Hare/Morris had somewhat lost their recent form and were no threat to the RS400s on this occasion.

The B Fleet was small with RYA training on elsewhere but Stephen Finnegan took the bullet from Erin McIlwaine. Both sailed well.

Afterwards in the clubhouse the AGM was held. As well as re-election of the Commodore, Andy Browne was installed as the new Sailing Secretary, a popular choice. Great things are no doubt to follow. A new category of membership was formed for windsurfers and other water-sports such as kayaking and kite surfing, so anyone interested in joining should check out www.clyc.info. The meeting also discussed the new Sailability initiative to encourage sailing for people with disabilities using CLYC as a base. It looks like this exciting development will start next year. Aidan McKay is also to be congratulated on his second charity pub quiz which raised £450 for the Philippines disaster fund.

Andy Browne and David Hicks in the new RS400

New member Colin Matthews in his Laser before the race