Yvonne's IMS Southerns report

The first IMA Travelling event of the season took place at RCYC Sat 14th / 15th April. Saturday Race Officer Peter Crowley and his team Elaine Taylor, Sally O’ Leary, Andrea Devine ran three back to back races on a combination of windward leeward courses and Triangle courses, to take into account the single handed & spinnaker boats mixed in the fleet.

The seventeen boat fleet got off to a clean start, after a long testing sail out to Cuskinny in light winds. A steady 10- 14 knots of breeze did fill in for all three races and allowed the fleet to twin wire for the day. Adrian and Mike Allen from Ballyholme set the pace for the event with three bullets on day 1. No spectacular pitchpoles to report in the flat water conditions, but close racing was the order of the day – the first race saw 9 seconds separate Hobie Tigers Dermott Mc Hugh & Simon MacAree and local boat Jim Sheeran & Dave McGowan.
Race three Jim & Dave were on the pace again “1 second” behind race leaders, Adrian & Mike Allen on their Hurricane 5.9SX crossing the finish line

Day Two saw a change of Race Officer to Vitz Bulwalda and another two excellent races, again a combination of windward leeward and triangle course. Rob Doyle on the A-Class took line honours but 1st place on handicap went to Dermot Mangan and Aisling Clarke on the Spitfire, who sailed a flawless course. The final race of the event the local A-Class excelled in the slightly lighter conditions of 8 - 11 knots and Rob Doyle lead the fleet around the course followed by Yvonne Sheehan finishing 2nd over the line and on handicap.

Rob O’ Leary on his A- Class controlled the start line on both starts for Day 2 and was first boat to the top mark on both races, he managed to Port tack the entire fleet and only dipping one boat to get to the favoured side.

The next IMA event of the season is Galway Bay SC June 10th / 11th

The Class would like to thank Event Sponsors Sailcork.com and Miller for their generous prizes.

Overall Results:
SCHRS
Names - Boat - Handicap - Club
1st Adrian Allen & Mike Allen - Hurricane 5.9SX - 1.007 - Ballyholme
2nd Dermot Mc Hugh & Simon MacAree -Formula 18 - 1.005 - Blessington SC
3rd Neil Mangan & Jenny Wallace - Spitfire - 1.035 - RCYC
4th Rob Doyle - A- Class - .986 - RCYC
5th Jim Sheeran & Dave McGowan - Formula 18 - 1.005 - RCYC