SAILING/Round-up: Somewhat earlier than its usual fixture, next week sees the biennial IMF (Irish Marine Federation) Boat Show open at the RDS in Dublin. Almost exactly one year ago, as the country was gripped by cancellations and precautions against the foot-and- mouth alert, the original date for the event was postponed in spite of suggestions that this sector could not be considered at risk.
Still billed as the largest show ever, this four-day exhibition will take up over 5,000 square metres of floor space, supporting the claim by the organisers that the marine industry is proving as resilient as ever following a difficult 12 months.
The industry will be hoping to make up for the losses arising out of last year's show and, despite fears of an economic downturn, expectations are high.
Space at the show has been booked out for more than 100 stands, with powerboats likely to feature more prominently than sail.
One major firm told The Irish Times that their expectation had been for a drop-off in demand after Christmas but this had not occurred. Instead, growth could reach double-figures over the busy 2002 period.
Building on Feargal Kinsella's historic victory in the Eagle Star Champion of Champions event at the end of last season, a new initiative for disabled sailors will also be launched at the show next week. Sailforce.ie is being promoted by the Irish Disabled Sailing Association (IDSA) to anyone in Ireland who would like to try the sport.
Actual figures for demand are quite vague, so the IDSA hopes to be approached by prospective sailors.
In recent years, Kinsale YC commodore John Twomey has been the figurehead for the sport that has about 100 regular participants nationally.
Having sailed for Ireland in Sydney 2000, Twomey now hopes to qualify for the Dragon European Championships in Kinsale in 2003.
Kinsella meanwhile hopes to qualify for the 2.4 metre class for the next Paralympics, while Paul McCarthy, a former crew-member with Twomey, is planning a Sonar class campaign.
The show is previewed in the latest edition of Afloat, which has a variety of stories, including several key issues involving the Royal Cork YC.
While the RCYC has spear-
headed regulating professional sailors at its national flagship event, Ford Cork Week, Tom MacSweeney sounds the alarm for Ireland's most popular water centre because of the number of chemical factories that dominate this natural harbour.
Meanwhile, another event cancelled from 2001 was eventually held last weekend at Mullaghmore, where 18 teams gathered for one of the closest National Intervarsity Team Championships in recent years. Originally delayed due to the FMD problem, the rescheduled event also had to be cancelled as the facilities were in the process of being rebuilt.
However, the delay allowed brand new boats to be available for the finals which eliminated all but skill and tactics in deciding the event. Although Cork Institute of Technology topped the 62-race pre-finals elimination round, UCD I powered back from a shaky start to the final rounds to meet their second team on Sunday's deciding round - the third year running that this has happened.
UCD's winning team comprised Philip Lawton and Rachel MacManus, Mirror world champion Peter Bayly with Libby Lambe crewing and Peter Scannell with Fergal O'Shea.
HOWTH YACHT CLUB - Brass Monkeys Series 2; 1 White Knight (C Mulcahy); 2 Flashpoint (Virtue/Others); 3 Clever Clogs (M Higgins); Cruiser 2 Echo: 1 Under Pressure (D Broderick); 2 Golondrina (T Kiernan); 3 Moondance (K & K Halpin); Cruisers Echo: 1 Hippocampus (B O'Loughlin); 2 Lady Frances (J Nolan); 3 All Mine (P Larragy); IRC: 1 Shearwater (P Reilly); 2 Cochise (D Hunt); 3 Lethal Weapon (B Linehan); Laser Frostbite Series 2; Laser Full: 1 C Cunningham; 2 M Evans; 3 S Knowles; Laser Radial: 1 R McDonald; 2 D Reamsbottom; 3 J White; All results provisional.
