Report from Cruisers 3 East Coast Championship, Howth Yacht Club 2009.



A disappointing local entry list didn’t reduce the fun both on and off the water for the DBSC Cruiser 3 fleet attending the East Coast Championships on the weekend of 14 – 16 August .
Friday evenings 1830hrs race saw Supernova from the Royal Irish take a commanding lead in a 12-15knot westerly. Two quick rounds of a windward / leeward course with the windward mark set at .7nm saw the quarter tonner take line honours also winning on IRC and ECHO. Ross Doyle on Two Step took a very good 3rd  on IRC and a 2nd on ECHO. Asterix welcomed back John Counihan on the helm and they brought her to 5th IRC and 3rd ECHO. Some tapas and a free bar courtesy of the sponsors Euro Car Parks ensured a lively evening in the clubhouse.

Saturday morning gave brisk westerly’s and a threat of rain, but the biggest threats were the powerful gusts coming over the course all too regularly, topping out at 32 knots. The PRO Derek Bothwell unusually kicked off the day with a triangle course which tested the crews to their limits on the power reaches. Brian, Nikki and Jorid showed well on their Shamrock Taiscealai and finished with a 6th, with Supernova and Asterix 3rd and 4th respectively. The PRO switched to W/L’s as the wind increased for the 2 afternoon races which led to some exciting racing, particularly downwind. The Malahide team of Goyave, Turnabout and Shennanigans reveled in the heavy going and became favourites to retain the team trophy, but the DL team of Pamafe, Two Step and Asterix were continuing to perform well and produced some good results in races 2 and 3. Michael Costello and his experienced team on Pamafe had their best result of the weekend with a great 3rd on ECHO in race 3. Meanwhile, Vince Gaffney on Alliance was showing his individual domination of the event with a 1/1/4, but the other Howth members of the team could not match his results, so Malahide sailed into a commanding lead chased by the DL team with the RIYC team in 3rd overall.
Sunday morning saw more of the same weather – wind up to 25 knots and gusting into the 30’s. The McCormack / Ryan partnership on Saki, a great supporter of this event over the years, produced their best result of the weekend with a  strong 7th, but the broach of the weekend had to go to Supernova. A heavy gust came through and Supernova had their first wipeout of the season with a Chinese gybe at a speed of 10.4 knots. Asterix and Two Step put in a good mornings work with a 4/5 and so cemented their position along with Pamafe in second place in the team event.

Supernova finished 3rd overall IRC and Two Step finished 2nd overall ECHO, with Malahide retaining the team trophy followed by DL and RIYC.

We are delighted to announce that 2010 will see the continuation of the sponsor Euro Carparks for this event thanks to Dave Cullen, and it will be hosted by a Dun Laoghaire club. We would welcome your feedback as to the number of days and format this event should have for next year. Although we have had a reduced turnout when the event is outside the bay, we have mustered up to 30 boats in recent years when held in Dun Laoghaire, and with the unique team prizes along with the individual IRC and ECHO titles on offer, we hope the East Coast Championship 2010 will become the highlight for Cruiser 3 racing next year.