North Sails Ireland are reporting an 'epic' start to the Dublin Bay Sailing Club season with a fine turnout for the third Saturday race in medium southerly winds and a good Dublin Bay chop. The sailmaker recorded the following IRC and cruiser class results: IRC 1: 1, 2; IRC 2: 1,2; B21.7: 1,2,3; IRC 0: 2, 3 and B31.7: 2, 4 Here Maurice 'Prof' O'Connell of North Sails Ireland, who was racing aboard Brendan Coghlan's SunFast 3600 "YoYo", brings this update:
Tim Goodbody, on "White Mischief" flying his new new 3Di mainsail, his three year old 3Di Code 2 jib and V-Series asymmetric stamped another win in IRC 1 and the J109 class. Prof spent an afternoon with the "White Mischief" team on Friday helping set the boat up for their new sails. After his DBSC race, Tim said, "We went like a rocket, over four minutes ahead of the next J109 in a 100–minute race – not bad!"
Colin Byrne on "Bon Exemple" flying his 3DL main, 3Di Code 2 jib and V-Series asymmetric spi chased "White Mischief" hard around the course and finished second giving North-Sails powered boats 1,2 in the class.
Jim McCann racing his evergreen Mustang 30 "Peridot" flying his 3DL upwind sails won IRC 2 by over two minutes. The North-Sails-powered J97 "Windjammer" (Denis Power and Lindsay Casey) finished 3rd.
Paul O'Higgins "Rockabill VI" flying her 3Di upwind sails, finished 2nd in IRC, beating Vincent Farrell's "Tsunami" flying her 3DL upwind sails and V-Series Symmetric spi into 3rd giving North sails-powered boats two podium finishes in the class.
Prof is keen to stress that North Sails do more than just 3D sails though! They were delighted to supply sails to all manner of craft on Dublin Bay.......
Hugh Kelly and Jacqueline McStay on "Small Wonder" flying their new North panelled laminate main and all-purpose jib won in the Beneteau 21.7 class. "By the end of last season we felt that our 2010 North Sails jib had more than done it's work. So during the winter we talked to Prof again in North Sails and upgraded to a new polyester laminate main and aramid laminate jib. We've had three out of three DBSC wins so far this season so, needless to say, we're absolutely delighted with the performance of the new sails", Kelly said.
In the Shipman 28 class, the North-Sails powered "Barossa", flying her NorDac main and No. 3 jib won by over 90 seconds - a large margin in any one-design class.
In the Beneteau 31.7 class, the North-Sails - powered "Levante" flew his new North panelled laminate no. 3 to take 2nd in class.
All in all, a great bank holiday Saturday day for North Sails-powered boats on Dublin Bay!