A successful protest taken by Tino Hyland has given his yacht Maxim the overall lead in class one and cost Colm Barrington and Velvet Glove three places overall after four races of the Barlo Plastics-sponsored ISORA (Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association) week at Howth Yacht Club.
Now in fourth place on 26 points, Barrington will have to wait until after today's rest-day to fight again for the overall lead in class one following his disqualification from the second race of the series.
Hyland had protested that Barrington had sailed two 10-mile races on Monday with one crew too many, but the protest committee decided only to disqualify him from the afternoon race because, under the strict rules of protest, Hyland had failed to inform Barrington of his intended protest after the first race on Monday morning.
Still, Barrington produced two more emphatic wins over Olympic courses yesterday, and now counts three wins and a disqualification. Maxim assumes the lead on 14 points, with Andrew Knowles Saxon Girl second on 19 points.
Under the rules of the regatta, Barrington will discard his worst result from his final tally of points if more than five races are sailed, a schedule that should be met by the end of racing tomorrow.
The situation is fully redeemable for Barrington, especially if yesterday's form continues. But if he suffers any further penalities over the remaining three races the class trophy could be out of reach.
Meanwhile, a win yesterday afternoon for Shay Moran's Space Odyssey and a retirement forced by gear failure for overnight leader Red Eye (Greg O'Brien and John Wickham) has given Moran the overall lead in the 22-boat class two fleet going into tomorrow's penultimate day's racing.
In testing southwesterly breezes and a strong ebbing tide, Space Odyssey was one of few cruiser two yachts that managed to hold her spinnaker on a shy second reach - and make it pay - from a buoy to leeward of Ireland's Eye. Her winning manoeuvre downwind enabled her to gain a bigger advantage on corrected time over second-placed English contestant Amoress (G Hamlin).
Tomorrow's racing resumes with a short offshore race for the 55-boat fleet.
In Monday's edition of The Irish Times, the sailing report incorrectly reported the result of the Halidon Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race. Galway entry Joggernaut was the overall winner on handicap, and not Emircedes (as stated) which finished second.
