Kinsale's big boats revel in autumn winds

THE MAIN season may have ended for the majority of Irish sailors, but if the number of winter events continues to grow, it won't be long before full year round competition is commonplace. Apart from the usual autumn leagues concluding before various frostbite series start, championship events are also being held for two recent classes that are witnessing considerable growth.

Last weekend saw the Crosshaven Boatyard League conclude at Royal Cork with John Godkin's VSOP from Kinsale sweeping the boards on both Channel and ECHO while stablemate IMP, owned by George Radley Jnr, finished second. Mad Dog, owned by Courtney Good, completed the visitors' whitewash and a highly successful year for Kinsale's big boats.

Class two saw David Rose on Obession make a typical clean sweep ahead of principal rival Bull Frog. George Bushe on Bushwhacker took class three on ECHO, the preferred handicap for this class. There was a record entry of 107 boats across all classes. Entries came from all along the south coast including Fenit, Schull, Baltimore, Kinsale and Dunmore East.

Predictably enough, Mark Mansfield on Jeff Condell's Outdoor Innovations took the 1720 fleet ahead of Joe English on Eko. However, a gathering of the new sportsboats this weekend will provide another opportunity to displace the class master when over 20 boats are expected to compete in the Southern Championship. Conditions will be ideal if the strong winds arrive.

Another class expected to revel in strong wind will be the assorted Skiffs competing in the Electrolux League that begins today at Howth YC.

This weekend sees the annual Dun Laoghaire MYC frostbite, now in its 26th year, begin at the earlier time of 2 pm tomorrow. There will be 20 races over two series between now and Easter for Mirrors, Lasers and a "very mixed bag of Portsmouth Yardstick boats," according to organiser Valerie Kinnear. Entries are well up again and the club expects to close the list at 110 boats, although most crews appear to be heeding calls to enter early.

Shortly after the start of the third race in the World Varsity Championships in Marseilles this week, the forestay on the Irish boat broke, resulting in dismasting causing the crew to miss that race and the subsequent overnight race. They were expected to have a new rig in the Jeanneau 35 yesterday and are also claiming redress for the accident that happened in 10 knots of wind.

While the event concludes today, the Jameson-sponsored UCD team for the nine-race series had an eighth and a 10th before the incident.

Meanwhile, last weekend saw the prestigious Corum Cup series reach its climax at the Royal Hong Kong YC where there was a range of Irish interest. Based on the established Admiral's and Kenwood Cups, the series included windward/leeward races, ocean triangle races and a short and long offshore race. Paul Winkelmann's GK34 Island Fling won the CHS Cruising division for the second time. Other successes included winning the China Seas race which earned him a maritime award in 1991.

An Irish sailing school is behind what is certain to be a popular Christmas present this year to be launched later this month. Des McSherry of Dolphin Offshore Sailing has designed three interactive CD ROMs that deal specifically with the Yachtmaster subjects of navigation, meteorology and collision regulations as the first of nine products.

Animated graphics combine with video clips, voice-over instruction and photographs. Users can go straight into a specific area or begin with basic material and graduate up to advanced levels. Users can self-check their progress through a series of questions at the end of each section. Each CD is expected to retail in Ireland for £35 while a video version will be available shortly albeit without the interactive element.