Homeboys take the lead

At Flying Fifteen Worlds in Ireland

Ireland’s Justin Burke and Alan Greene took a dominant win in race 3 of the Subaru Flying Fifteen World Championships, crossing the line 5 minutes clear of Rupert Mander and Chris Hewkin of the USA team and the third-placed Australian crew of Rod Beurteaux and Chris O’Keefe. Burke & Greene of the National Yacht Club now lead the World standings with 4 races to go.

A brilliant 5th place finish for Sean Craig & Stephen Boyle moves the Royal St George Yacht Club crew up to third overall in the series, just behind Great Britain’s Alan Tattersall & Tim Smart.

The 77 strong fleet finally escaped the Dublin Bay doldrums to commence racing at 5.30pm, with Tattersall & Smart first to round the windward mark ahead of Burke and Greene. "We got away at the port end of the line, tacked early and stayed right," said Burke afterwards. "We got a lift and made the first mark without a problem. We hit the front just before the wing mark, and no problems after that."

Fourth place was taken by Britain’s Neil Platt & Jamie Marston, while newly crowned Irish Champion John Lavery recovered some of his Pre-Worlds winning form to take a creditable 8th place. A somewhat disappointing 26th place for Gerry Dunleavy and Ciaran Crummy nonetheless keeps three Irish crews in the top ten overall.

Initially blowing at 6~7 knots, the wind strength dropped off and Principal Race Officer Jack Roy took the decision to shorten the race. Even still, six boats failed to finish within the required 40 minute time limit behind the winner.

The weather remained the main topic of conversation on the platform at the National Yacht Club, with light airs and a strong heat haze playing havoc with the race schedule. Winning crew Alan Greene joked afterwards: "If we can arrange with the Met Office to have the remaining races cancelled we’d be quite happy." His competitors will be seriously hoping that Greene’s wishes are not granted.