There was a second consecutive ISORA coastal race win for the Howth Yacht Club J109 Indian crew skippered by Simon Knowles on Sunday after a light to medium air test in the longest race of the Viking Marine series so far.
The north Dublin boat took its first coastal win in similar conditions last weekend as Afloat reported here
Just under eight weeks before the big circuit, things are hotting up for Round Ireland Race campaigners with a potent 14-boat offshore fleet on show in ISORA's fourth coastal mini-series race off the Dublin and Wicklow coasts.
Second overall on IRC was Coquine Alan Hannon's Belfast Lough-based JPK 1030, which eclipsed her bigger sistership, the ISORA champion 2023 Rockabill VI, which finished third in spite of a fast exit out of Dublin Bay in the first stage of the race.
All three podium finishers are in training for the 700-mile Round Ireland.
The latest addition to the fleet is a canting-keel 57-footer. The Greystones Harbour Elliott 57, Opal (Frank Whelan), took line honours as expected, sporting a new set of sails for season 2024.
(Above and below) the canting keel Opal skippered by Frank Whelan from Greystones Harbour, an Elliott 57, was the largest boat in the ISORA fleet and was the line honours winner in the 28-mile race Photo: Afloat
ISORA's Race 7, the fourth Irish Coastal Race, began at 11.00 a.m. for all classes for the 28-mile race. It started at Dun Laoghaire's Outfall buoy at the West Pier, then passed the Muglins (S), to Moulditch Buoy (P), to East Kish (P), and back into Dublin Bay to a finish at DL between the pier heads, which the line honours winner Opal completed in a time of three hours and 42 minutes.
Simon Knowles steered the Howth Yacht Club J109 Indian to a second light-air win in ISORA's coastal mini-series sponsored by Viking Marine Photo: Afloat
The race had all the necessary ingredients to reward the competitors: steady wind, spring sunshine, a competitive fleet and a local pod of harbour porpoises to escort the boats past Dalkey Island to boot!
Second overall on IRC, Alan Hannon's Belfast Lough-based JPK 1030 Coquine navigated. a course close to the south shore of Dublin Bay in the fourth ISORA coastal mini-series race sponsored by Viking Marine Photo: Afloat
The fleet clung to the Bay's southern shore in a bid to escape the worst of a building flood tide. It meant most of the the fleet put in multiple gybes as they sailed downwind in the north-west wind under asymmetric spinnaker but Rockabill VI with the advantage of a symmetric kite needed only two or three gybes to clear Dublin Bay and had the ability to run dead downwind in the useful gusts presented by the offshore wind of ten knots or so.
Third overall Paul O'Higgins' JPK 1080 Rockabill VI clears the Muglins to starboard and sets a course for Moulditch buoy off Greystones under her symmetric spinnaker Photo: Afloat
There were a number of retirals including Nick Miller's First 31.7 Mayfly and Michael Murphy's Sigma 38, State O'Chassis.
A Dublin Bay pod of harbour porpoises escort the ISORA boats past Dalkey Island and the Muglins Photo: Afloat
The next ISORA fixture is the first cross-channel race of the season which is May 11th's 75-miler from Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli in North Wales.
