SIXTY ONE entries will be gone with the wind at 2.0 p.m. today in Wicklow in the ninth and biggest outing of the Cork Dry Gin Round Ireland Race.
From small beginnings in 1980, when 14 entries took up the gauntlet, the race has attracted a record fleet this year. Indeed, the biennial event has grown so quickly that the Royal Ocean Racing Club of London rate it one of the world's classic offshore races. The addition of four maxi competitors has added international spice.
Bridgestone won she 1994 race on handicap, and the 22 man crew are aiming for line honours and the Round Ireland monohull record in their chartered 85 maxi. The current record was set by Lawrie Smith's 1990 entry Rothmans and stands at a few seconds over 84 hours and 56 minutes.
She will not be the only record contender and even the smallest maxi entry, Equity and Law from Austria, is quite capable of taking the record given the right conditions, which will need strong reaching winds for a lot of the 704 mile course.
Bridgestone skipper Tom Earls's crew includes Peter Wilson, the 1994 winning skipper and navigator Brian Mathews.
The other front line maxi is the big red boat, Sorcery, entered by American Jake Wood from Hawaii's Waikiki Sailing Club.
A Mayday distress call only six hours into the 1994 race is one of the reasons event organiser Fergus O Conchobhair of Wicklow Sailing Club has doubled the radio check in points in an attempt to keep a close track on the fleet.
Sandbanks, tides, mountainous waves and flat calms combine to thwart crews and despite mandatory check in points, this course, much of it against a rocky lee shore, is potentially one of the most dangerous of all.
In 1994 Welsh entry Jackabout was forced to issue her Mayday signal because of a suspected hull failure just north of the Tuskar Rock, and at the time the organisers had difficulty in establishing the whereabouts of all 55 entries.
This year there are mandatory check in points at Tuskar Rock, Fastnet, Slyne Head, Aran Mor, Inistrahull, Mew Island and Rockabill.
The decision taken by Wicklow Sailing Club to divide the maxi and cruiser fleets with separate start times may lessen the traditional spectacular Wick low Head start. But according to the club, the decision was taken from a safety point of view. Most of the fleet start at 2.0 p.m. with the maxis following half an hour later.
Record breaking runs may make the headlines but for the majority of the fleet the circuit will take longer, anything up to seven days to complete.
There are a solid bunch of Dublin Bay cruisers all capable of a strong performance. They include Roy Dickson's Crackin' Rie, renamed Beaumont Spirit for the race, as well as the Carlsberg RAYC superleague leader Sarah J, a Beneteau 42s7 skippered by Cormac Twomey.
Denis Doyle will be making a ninth circuit on the veteran 51 foot Moonduster, which pulled out of the 1994 race with rigging failure.
In terms of club spirit, Dublin City Club Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club take some beating with four entries, including the Share A Dream boat under skipper Michael Davis. This crew hope to raise funds for terminally ill children by completing the circuit.
A virtual race within a race will take place with the 14 Sigma 38 entries, including the all women's crew skippered by Fran O'Shaughnessy of Dun Laoghaire.
Sligo Yacht club have entered two Sigmas skippered by Stewart Hunter and Tim Corcoran. Corcoran's boat, Mobil One, will have Whitbread veteran Joe English on board.
Two visually impaired sailors, Michael Beggs (39) of Bangor and Martin McKeaver (28) of Derry, join four sighted crew to become the first visually impaired competitors to compete in the race.
Beggs, who lost his sight in a road accident in 1985, is completely blind and, remarkably, only acquired his sailing skills since his accident. He relies on an audio compass which "speaks" the bearing sailed. Begs claims the device gives the blind sailor full independence when helming offshore. "I can feel the wind on my face like anybody else and I have a good feel for direction," he said.
