SAILING/Cork Week: It was a day straight out of the Fáilte Ireland brochure and everyone at Cork Week set out to make the most of the superb weather. Wind, sun and sea combined for the 400-plus fleet in as perfect a day the Royal Cork Yacht Club organisers could ever have wished for.
Full results from every class, the complete programme and just a few protests, as usual throughout the six courses.
Compliments were as widespread as grins on faces from the crews returning to shore at Crosshaven yesterday afternoon.
"It was fantastic, nice weather and constant wind," enthused Richard Strahan from Dún Laoghaire racing on board Jump the Gun in Class 3, the largest division.
"Race management was very good, you couldn't ask for better. Its just a shame we didn't do better!"
The fresher winds were welcomed throughout the fleet following Monday's near total calm that frustrated Race Management as much as competitors.
Yesterday's stable conditions saw several Irish crews consolidate and improve. Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain from Limerick recovered from a poor opening day race with two firsts yesterday and has moved into contention for Class Super Zero, just three points behind leader Benny Kelly on his TP52 Panthera.
Class Zero saw Colm Barrington consolidate his overall lead on board Magic Glove while Tim Costello's Tiamat sailed well to reach third overall before a disqualification for France's Codiam vacated second overall for the Dun Laoghaire yacht to climb into.
The battle for Class One between local favourites Jump Juice, owned by Conor and Denise Phelan, against Dave Dwyer's marinerscove.ie continued unabated with the latter giving ground in the opening race of the day after placing sixth in the 28 boat fleet. Jump now leads by a small three-point margin with consistency today likely to prove decisive for series.
Elsewhere in the classes, John McIntyre's Moondance moved into first overall after receiving redress from the International Jury for rescuing a man over board from a rival entry in the morning race.
Overall, the day was hailed as a success throughout the fleet regardless of results and especially for Cork Week newcomers. The crew of Vertigo from Gibraltar were very happy with racing for their owner John Bassadonie who is racing competitively for the first time.
The emphasis in Cork is on racing first whereas Cowes Week is very corporate according to his team. Nevertheless, with weather that the visitors claim rivals Spain's recent cooler climate, the racing at Cork Week was "Champagne Sailing".
