The Meg Mug

The Dublin Bay Mermaid class held its annual race for the Meg Mug the 21st July.

The course was from the harbour in Dun Laoghaire to Dalkey Island and back, leaving the island to starboard. It's essentially the Island Trial route, although it doesn't include the DBSC marks on the Island trial route. It's close enough for a first entry from a Mermaid!

Four local boats participated, namely Aideen no 21, Lively Lady (73), Jill (134) and Tijuana (147).

The race started at 15:37 hrs between the bandstand on the East pier and the end of the Carlisle pier. Jill took an early lead and was first out of the harbour. The wind was steady at about 9 knots from 100 degrees, so the leg to Dalkey Island was a beat. Lively Lady took the lead before Sandycove was abeam, having stood further out than Jill. Tijuana was in close attendance while Aideen followed an extreme inshore route, which did not pay as there was little or no ebb tide.

Jill took the lead back from Lively Lady as the boats rounded the island (on the east side). Spinnakers were hoisted on the east side in the middle of surprisingly large overfalls – keeping the kite full was tricky in the very lumpy conditions. Lively Lady took the lead briefly in Dalkey Sound but Jill regained it by the time the boats exited under spinnaker on starboard for a long tight reach to Dun Laoghaire harbour entrance. Jill remained ahead, just, and came out of the struggle with the wind shadow from the East pier light better and carried her spinnaker to the finish line, about 100 m ahead of Lively Lady in second place. Tijuana and Aideen fought hard for the last two places.

The track of Jill was recorded using a Garmin handheld mapping GPS unit. The GPS file shows that it took 01:50:24 to cover the approximate course of the Island Trial. Given better wind speed and direction, a Mermaid could probably easily cover the Island Trial course in about an hour.  It might even be able to deal with the overfalls at the island more easily than a lighter boat.



The cast was as follows:

* Aideen, 21:
           - Dan Brennan, Brendan Martin, and class captain Paul O’Donoghue
* Lively Lady, 73 

          - Gerry O’Neill, Geraldine O’Neill and David Cassidy
* Jill, 134

          - Pat Mangan, Anne Smith and Paul Smith
* Tijuana, 147

          - David Stedmond and Orla Creedon

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