Sun shines on J/109 fleet at Cork Week

by Assoc media on 18 Jul 2008 The sun has finally come out in Cork and the J/109 fleet had races 6 and 7 round a 3-lap windward/leeward course. The J/109 fleet started cleanly without the need of the Black Flag which earlier classes had required. Tigh Soluis II (Ken Grant) led from the line together with Joker II (John Maybury) and the majority of the fleet headed right towards the shore. A run of some 2.5Nm saw Juke Box (Brian Moreton) take the lead at the leeward mark for the start of the second lap.

By the 3rd rounding of the windward mark J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp) had caught Tigh Soluis II and in a port/starboard incident Tigh Soluis II was forced to take a penalty allowing J-Dream to pull ahead, a lead they held to the finish. Meanwhile Joker II had caught Jaguar of Burnham (Adrian Lower), Beth of Five Star (Guy Knight) and Catalpa (Tom Smyth) to finish 3rd by 6 seconds.

Result Race 6
1st – J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp)
2nd – Tigh Soluis II (Ken Grant)
3rd – Joker II (John Maybury)

The J/109 Class had a party in the J/109 Bar on Wednesday evening and by the second race of the day many crews had started to tire. Another three lap windward/leeward course was set. By the windward mark J-Dream had taken the lead from Juke Box.

A poor drop by Juke Box saw them drop back and Just Us (Dan Buckley) and Beth of Five Star played the fickle wind shifts on the next beat and together with J-Dream they set off on the second run. By the leeward mark Joie de Vie (Glenn Cahill), Outrajeous (Richard & Valerie Griffith) and Jackhammer (John Ballinger) had moved up through the fleet together with Tigh Soluis II.

On the third and final run the wind shifted again by some 30 degrees and Jump the Gun (John Kelly), Batfish II (Bill Blain) and Ju Kyu (Peter Rowe) traded places for the whole run with Jump the Gun only gaining the lead from Batfish II on the finish line, with all three boats finished within 30 seconds of each other. This was the closest race of the J/109 Irish National Championship when the first four boats finished within 45 seconds of each other.

Subject to a protest the results of race 7 are:
1st – J-Dream (David & Kirsty Apthorp)
2nd – Just Us (Dan Buckley)
3rd – Joker II (John Maybury)