Strong and gusty southeasterly winds on the Irish Sea swept Andrew and Sam Hall's Welsh J125 Jackknife to victory by almost 20 minutes on corrected time in Saturday's 12-hour ISORA race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire.
Despite an entry of 18, 11 boats came to the Pwllheli Sailing Club line for race nine of the Musto-sponsored offshore series. Host club boats took five of the top seven places in the 80-mile dash across the channel, a race which had, by contrast, taken 24 hours duration from Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli on May 12th.
J125 Jackknife's win is a significant one, given it is now less than a month before the season highlight of the Round Ireland Race at Wicklow, even though the Halls will be taking their Lombard 46 Pata Negra round instead of Jackknife.
The potent downwind J125 finished in 12 hours, 23 minutes, and 47 seconds corrected, with clubmates Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's new J122 Mojito taking second place at 12:42:52 corrected.
Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox's new J122 Mojito Photo: Afloat
Third was Alan Hannon's RORC entry, the JPK 1030 Coquine, from Belfast Lough, also a Round Ireland entry, from Belfast Lough on 12:52:19.
Alan Hannon's RORC entry, the JPK 1030 Coquine, from Belfast Lough
Meanwhile, ISORA stalwart Chris Power Smith took the overall win in Kinsale Yacht Club's shortened Inistearaght Race off the Irish south coast on Saturday, as Afloat reports here.
See results below
