Keelboat rules the national scene

WHAT a wonderful year for Irish sailing. What many people are hailing as the best year includes not a little controversy and some fine sporting achievements that swell the record books in a heady mixture that reflects the variety that the sport has to offer.

While many will have their favourite highlights. As the year draws to a close, here is a digest of the significant occasions that set the scene for the coming year which is shaping up to be a worthy challenger for the title of "best ever". There will be four international championships in Irish waters, the sportsboat and skiff classes will continue to grow and there will be the usual events and regattas that make up the season.

Keelboats dominated the national scene. Shortly after the season had begun the biennial Cork Dry Gin Round Ireland Race got underway from Wicklow Sailing Club. With offshore sailing at a tow ebb, it is always interesting to see whether numbers for the 704-mile classic change from year to year. But in a continuing tribute to the event's originality, once again almost 60 boats turned out for what many see as much an adventure as a competition.

For the second race in succession a J35, small in comparison to some of the larger challengers, emerged victorious, hot on the heels of the 40-footers after nearly five days at sea. Michael Boyd and his crew from the Royal Irish Yacht Club sailed a nearly faultless race, in spite of losing one crewman to injury off the Kerry coast, where he was brought ashore by lifeboat.

Weather dominated the race, as always no records were broken by the almost mandatory maxi yacht entry attempting to better Rothmans 1990 time. Tom Earls' Bridgestone, sailing for Howth Yacht Club, was unlucky that the three heavy weather systems seemed to set in astern of them, and they sailed in moderate winds for much of the course.

Many of the keelboat fleets moved on to Crosshaven for Ford Cork Week in July, where a record turnout saw nearly 5,000 sailors on the water.The Royal Cork YC ably handled the crowds, though it is hard to imagine an even bigger event in 1998 without ruining the essence of the week's appeal.

A key factor of its attraction is that amateurs can race in the knowledge that the professionals are strictly policed and confined to specific classes. However, the implementation of this system led to one of the year's biggest controversies, one which goes to the heart of sailing, not just in Ireland but internationally. The restriction by some events and organisers on paid hands competing is likely to continue into 1997.

This year, RCYC organisers asked yachts to declare in advance any crew members who may fall foul on the instruction that "paid hands" (defined as those on board who gain monetarily by the performance of the boat) should be "vetted" for all but class one, Sigmas and sportsboats. Many applications were submitted some people were cleared others were not.

But those who didn't bother to apply before the event and were subsequently brought to the committee's attention during the race were disqualified. Although few people disputed the spirit of the organisers, the disqualification of several top sailors, without hearing, ruffled more than a few feathers and led to demands that the system be refined further.

In early August, the largest Irish Olympic sailing team flew the flag .at Savannah for the Atlanta Games. Expectations were high for a least one medal from one of the six boats and 10 athletes crewing them. But Ireland's second sailing medal was not to come in 1996, although many memorable performances and results were to come from both the Games and the build-up over several years.

At Savannah, Mark Lyttle's 11th overall in the massive, 56-boat Laser fleet belied his true ability; indeed he won one race in the series by a stunning 31 seconds against a pack more accustomed to finishing within boat lengths of each other. Premature starts and a capsize in the final race denied him a chance at the medal stakes at the end of a text book campaign.

Ashling Bowman, too, in the Europe class, ended her campaign by finishing best of the Irish in 10th overall in another closely-fought, single-handed class. A technology loophole that allowed developmental carbon fibre wing-masts to be used by the super-wealthy campaigners may have worked against her, but her consistency brought her tantalisingly close to the medals. She should return for more in Sydney.

But the Olympic campaign also brought real disappointment from some of the other hotly-tipped contenders. Mark Mansfield and David Burrows had looked on terrific form in the Star class right up to the first day of racing, but they lost out on the opening days with back-of-fleet results. Similarly, Denise Lyttle and Louise Ann Cole in the 470 never lived up to their, or their rivals', expectations.

The Soling keelboat crew of Marshall King King, Dan O'Grady and Garrett Connolly opened their regatta on top form and initially seemed set to make the top six in the fleet racing to qualify for the match race finals; they held third overall before plummeting to the back of their class later on.

And Finn sailor John Driscoll arguably the most disappointing result at the venue where he qualified for the team 12 months earlier, never found form and ended his first Olympics in the bottom third of the fleet.

But as eyes turn towards the new year and the future, one of the most memorable wins of the year was that by 18-year-old Laura Dillon from Howth, who became the first woman to win the ISA Helmsman Championship at Ballyholme in October. Dillon's performance, and indeed that of the youth-dominated front-runners in that competition, is a clear indication of the success of junior training programmes and a clear pointer of greater things to come.