After another week of unsettled weather, the Autumn League once again managed to find the better side of the weekend. Far from Sunday’s downpour, Saturday delivered sunshine, warm temperatures and a lively south-westerly breeze that kept both competitors and Race Officers on their toes throughout the day.

In the offshore fleet, the race management team was on station from 11:45 ahead of the 13:00 start. After monitoring the breeze oscillating between 165° and 195°, Course 180 was selected as the mean wind direction. However, shortly after the Class 1 start, the wind veered sharply to 200° and stayed there. An AP was hoisted, the course was reconfigured and Classes 2, 3, 4 and 5 subsequently started on the revised course. Aside from a handful of OCS calls, all of which returned to start correctly, racing got away cleanly.

The breeze continued to veer throughout the afternoon before eventually settling on a 210–220° axis. This left Class 1 with a particularly one-sided beat from Apex to Stack, while the remaining classes enjoyed more balanced courses around the bay.

In Class 1, Michael and Richard Evans' The Big Picture claimed IRC victory ahead of Stephen Quinn's Lambay Rules. On HPH, Lambay Rules continues to lead the way. In Class 2, the Gore-Grimes’ Dux took IRC honours from Mullaney & Martin’s Insider Again, while Paddy Kyne’s Maximus led No Excuse (Wormald, Walsh & O'Neill) home on HPH. Vincent Gaffney's Alliance II continued its strong season in Class 3, taking the HPH win ahead of Pat and Neil Higginbotham's Lazy Bones.

Class 4 once again produced the largest offshore turnout, with twelve boats competing under HPH. On IRC, Vixen came out on top ahead of Dermot Skehan's Toughnut, while Changeling secured the HPH win from Out & About. In Class 5, Demelza made an immediate impact, competing in her first Autumn League race of the season and going straight to the top of the results. Timbaloo followed closely behind in second place.

The inshore fleet also faced its share of drama before racing even began. A 30-degree wind shift during the final countdown to the first start forced a 20-minute postponement while the course was reset. The Puppeteer 22s and Squibs subsequently enjoyed clean starts, while the Howth 17s required a general recall and a further ten-minute delay before eventually getting away.

The wait proved worthwhile. Once racing got underway, sailors were rewarded with champagne sailing conditions that exceeded the forecast and produced excellent racing across all three fleets.

The Puppeteer 22 fleet continues to deliver some of the closest racing in the league. This week, Alan Pearson and Alan Blay's Trick or Treat topped the scratch results ahead of David Clarke's Harlequin. On HPH, O’ Reilly & McDyer’s Geppetto continued its rapid climb up the leaderboard by taking the win, with Neil Murphy & Conor Costello’sYellow Peril close behind.

The Howth 17 fleet maintained its impressive average turnout of eleven boats and, for once, the familiar script was rewritten. Peter Courtney's Oona took scratch honours ahead of the usually dominant Deilginis crew of Massey, Toomey and Kenny. On HPH, Silvermoon claimed victory, with Gerry Comerford's Anna taking second place.

The Squib fleet was back on the water this week, with the Kays aboard Crackertoo and Loughran & Hattaway on Halloween respectively taking the honours at the top of the results sheets in the determined four-boat fleet.

With three weeks now complete, the Autumn League standings are beginning to take shape. The autumn weather may be refusing to settle, but the racing remains as competitive as ever as the fleet heads into October.

Pictures courtesy of Judith Malcolm & Charlotte Delamer. More pictures can be found here.