British Mumm 30 national champion Diarmuid Foley from the Royal Cork Yacht Club will meet the might of the French and Italian professional circuits when the sole Irish entry competes at next week's world championships in Sardinia.
The prospect of a number of professional French and Italian entries in the expected 50-boat fleet has been heightened as the Mumm 30 is also the selected boat in the annual Tour de France.
Though Cork helmsman Mark Mansfield is among Foley's five-man line-up, he is precluded from steering a Mumm 30 because class rules prohibit ISAF graded G3 sailors in the event.
Mansfield falls foul of the rule because of his current Olympic involvement with the Star class where he lies sixth overall in the world rankings.
If the Admirals Cup ever rises from the ashes, the Mumm 30 is widely tipped as a likely class as it is relatively inexpensive, very popular in Europe, and provides top class international one design racing. For this reason there is increasing talk of other Irish owners - including those from the ranks of the 1720 sportsboat - being interested in the Mumm 30 class for next season.
Foley has opted to maintain his crewing positions and Crosshaven's Mel Collins is on the tiller again following the UK victory for what must be considered one of a handful of serious keelboat campaigns fielded by this country.
At home, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Finn sailor Bill O'Hara is expected to be appointed High Performance Manager by the Irish Sailing Association. The appointment, which will not be officially announced for several weeks, is a new post for Irish sailing borne out of a need to develop youth sailing potential.
O'Hara, who also managed the Irish Olympic team from 1996 to 2000, will liaise with clubs and classes in the creation of the next generation of Olympic sailors.
In Dublin, owner-driver Roy Dickson continues to lead after two outings in Howth's autumn league with two class wins from a fleet of 10 in class zero. The series, with an entry of 215 boats, reaches the half-way stage on Sunday off Ireland's Eye the day after the Dublin Bay sailing club 2001 season closes.
On the south coast, the recently crowned national Dragon champions Andrew Craig, Anthony Shanks and Graham Elmes of the Royal St George Yacht Club sailing, Chimera, aim to add a southern title to their season's tally off Kinsale at noon today in the final event of the class calendar.
A strong Dublin Bay contingent are contesting the Setanta Asset Management sponsored event that includes Chimera's biggest rivals Neil Hegarty, Peter Bowring and David Williams in Phantom.
Kinsale's local challenge in the five-race series will be headed up by James Matthews, David Good and Rob Jacob sailing TBB and also Cameron Good, Harry Lewis and Simon Furney in Tatsu.
The race officer for the event is Alan Crosbie, a former Dragon champion, who also presided over the 1720 National Championships in June.
One-hundred-and-fifty miles offshore from Portugal, Illbruck's afterguard of John Kostecki, and Ian Moore of Carrickfergus are credited with some astute positioning to take advantage of each windshift to move their Farr design into first place in the first leg of the Volvo round the world race. The eight-boat fleet are still poised for the breeze to swing this morning, lined up in an almost orderly formation in the North Atlantic on port tack with their bows pointing towards Brazil.
By virtue of being the inside boat, Illbruck, positioned on the far east of the fleet still retains the lead but should the breeze fill in from the west, Team News Corp on the very left of the pack may come out smelling of roses say.
The advantage held may only be a meagre mile or two but Illbruck continue to live up to their pre-event billing by leading out into the open Atlantic at the parallel of 42 degrees North but pressed by the crews of Tyco, Amer Sports One and ASSA ABLOY.
Adding to Irish interest in the race is the news that Willemien van Hoeve, from Holland but working in Met ╔ireann since September 2000, is the on-board meteorologist on the Nautor Challenge Amer Sport ATOO entry A professional sailor before joining Met ╔ireann, Willemien is one of the all-female crew of 13 on the yacht.
