Day 3 in Dromineer and after losing a scheduled race the previous day it was always likely that PRO Con Murphy might look to fit 4 races in with uncertain forcasts for Thursday and Friday.
However, with over eager sailors and a few big shifts, the first race only got going on 4th attempt. The fleet was reduced as a number of sailors fell foul of the black flag that was to be regularly applied for the remainder of the regatta. First race was a great one for the Irish with Jack Ryan and Dougie Elmes swapping places all the way around with Dougie and his crew Scott Levie eventually taking the gun for an Irish 1,2. Both Dougie and Scott have been regular visitors to Sutton for the end of year Inter-Schools regatta and in their first Mirror events were doing a great job.
It was also a great race for Sutton Sinead Dickson and her young crew Eve McMahon, placing 22 after with a strong race from start to finish.
In very strong winds gusting up to 28 knots, the second and third race were both started under black flag with Dougie Elmes well to the fore again and the event was starting to take a bit of shape with South African Ryan Robinson, GBR Sarah Richards and Philippines Ridegely Ballardes now the main players after 6 races.
Again it was Sinead Dickson who had the best of things from a Sutton perspective with a 26th followed by a superb 19th. For Shane McLoughlin & Ben Jennings it was a frustrating days as multiple gear failures hindered their progress. Despite a few good starts David Johnston & Rory McEvoy struggled to maintain pace on the long legs and had to be happy with mid fleet finishes. Conor Twohig & Matthew Cotter continued their very consistent form of the previous week and posted a couple of 27’s along with 2 mid fleet positions.
David also fell foul of the Jury boat in race 2 and was forced to take penalty turns. The presence of Jury on the water is another aspect of a world racing event that has been a major learning curve for the Sutton crews.
For many on the course the 4th race of the day was one race too many and aside from gera failures and those lost in another black flag start, there were an increased number of capsizes and retirals as crews got very tired. A broken boom meant Shane & Ben sat out the last race.
In the last race, Sinead & Eve again led the the Sutton boats with a 23rd to leave her 32nd overall and pushed her up into a prize position in the Silver fleet. Conor & Matthew and David & Rory both completed the race intact if not exhausted after almost 8 hours on the water in very extreme conditions.
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With another set of consistent results South African Ryan Robinson leads the way with Ireland Dougie Elmes & Scott Levie lying second in what has been a great regatta so far for these Mirror newcomers. They are closely followed by Katie Davis, Sarah Richards (GBR) and Ridgely Ballardes (PHI) with hard to see a winner outside these 5 but clearly South Africa’s Ryan Robinson is favorite at this stage.