SAILING NEWS ROUND-UP: DEFENDING CHAMPIONS Noel Butler and Séamus Moore start as favourites in a fleet of 25 Fireball dinghies that race for national championship honours on Clew Bay in Co Mayo this morning.
The line-up includes a number of top English crews.
A nine-race series will decide the title, but British visitors Andy Pearce – who lifted the Fireball Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta trophy earlier this month – and Tom Gillard – who won the Ulster Championships – are both entitled to win this weekend’s fixture, but not the title as national honours are restricted to Irish sailors.
As well as Chew Valley guests, eight Irish clubs make up the competing fleet. Though mainly drawn from Dun Laoghaire, there are single representations from Skerries, Clontarf, Killaloe, Strangford Lough and Dunmore East, but none from Cork.
Dun Laoghaire’s Noel Butler, the 2004 Laser II world champion, faces competition from Beijing Olympian Phil Lawton sailing with Francis Rowan.
“We’re in with a good shout all right, but Simon McGrotty, Damien Bracken and Will Moody will all offer a strong challenge,” Butler said last night.
The class will continue to head west over the coming seasons because the Fireball World Championship is to be staged in Sligo in 2011. It is an opportunity no doubt to build on the current west coast representation offered by lone Fireballer Richard Fox from Killaloe in Co Clare.
Staying west, 154 Optimist dinghies competed at Galway Bay Sailing Club for the largest dinghy regatta ever hosted from the club, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Held in light airs last weekend, Dun Laoghaire’s Harry Craig won the regatta fleet. The junior division was won by Robert Dickson of Lough Ree YC and Royal Cork’s Seafra Guilfoyle won the senior Division.
In Galway, Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has announced the approval of a grant of €57,900 under the Small Quays Scheme 2009, in order to provide three more ladders on the new quay in An Spidéal, an important addition for boat owners.
It it 30 years since the Fastnet Race of 1979, and the entry is now, as it was then, absolutely maxed out. Among the 300 entries are seven Irish boats, ranging in size from 78 feet (Whisper, Mick Cotter) to the 38-foot Blackjack, a double-handed entry sailed by Darren Nicholson.
Cork-born solo sailor Cian McCarthy brings his new, Owen Clark-design Class 40 to a 23-strong fleet. McCarthy is no stranger to solo offshores, having twice entered the Mini Transat, sailed in Tom Crean, his 6.5-metre one-design.
At the top end, ICAP Leopard will return to try to lop some time off the course record she set last time around. The race kicks off at midday on August 9th.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club have announced details for the 2010 Commodores’ Cup to be held in Cowes, Isle of Wight, from Sunday, August 15th, to Saturday, August 21st.
Irish Cruiser Racer Association commodore Barry Rose called a meeting of interested skippers for a 2010 Irish Commodore’s Cup team in April.
Although Royal Cork’s David Dwyer has expressed interest in participating, there has been no other declarations to date.
In 2008, Ireland finished second and third overall and there is hope Ireland can mount a successful campaign next year.
