SAILING: This morning's Sigma 33 championships on Dublin Bay will not only provide a series of eight testing races to decide the Irish title but also provide a taste for a number of British visitors - of what Dublin Bay might have in store for next June's European class.
No doubt the newest and now arguably the biggest one-design keelboat class in the bay area, the class found immediate appeal among a range of keelboat sailors looking for one design cruiser competition.
Since the class emerged only a few seasons ago Tim Goodbody's six-man crew on White Mischief has been the most consistent performer and he defends his title this morning in an expected fleet of 25 with challenges from familiar Dublin bay rivals; Dermod Baker's Shillelagh and Neil Love's Wardance.
On the south coast, Royal Cork hosts the Junior helmsman's championships tomorrow but two top ranked sailors have withdrawn from the competition and been replaced with representatives from the Enterprise and GP14 dinghy classes.
The event will have a strong attendance from the ISA's new sailing academy but the Topper class are also unable to participate because of a clash of dates with a ranking event.
Lisa Tait of Kilkenny, who is in school in the UK, and Ian McGonigle are unable to attend and have been replaced by wild cards Stephen and Robert Lee, Enterprise and GP 14 sailors respectively.
The event, billed as the highlight of the under-18s calendar, incorporates two championships - the single-handed event to be sailed in Laser Radials and the double-handed championship to be sailed in Fireflies.
At the Royal Alfred Yacht Club (RAYC), only one second on corrected time separated Eamonn Crosbie's Humphry-Go-Kart from Blue Berret Pie for overall honours in this year's RAYC superleague, cruisers two division with Crosbie's National Yacht club entry winning out.
Maurice Mitton's Exclamation - also of the National Yacht club - won the Cruiser 0 class, while the RAYC Commodore Tino Hyland won the Cruiser I series sailing his yacht Maxim.
The Superleague comprises the RAYC's own four regattas, its Baily Bowl one design Championship in May and the regattas of the National, Royal Irish, Royal St George, DMYC and Howth yacht clubs to give season-long competition, a tradition going back 145 years.
In the smaller cruiser classes, Gung-Ho became Cruisers III champion with Tim Goodbody winning the Sigma 33s. In the Shipman class, Foxy Lady pipped the RAYC stalwart Henry Robinson's Whiterock.
In the UK, "Champagne sailing" is how the 1720-class association is describing last week's European championships in Hamble on the south coast of England.
Competitors from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales were among a line-up of 49 entries that were beaten for overall honours in a cliff-hanger final race by Irish champions Maurice O'Connell and Des Faherty, the joint skippers of Aquatack.
The four-day series will be remembered for its strong, testing winds.
In a final race duel between Mark Mansfield steering Babbalas and Aquatack, Mansfield held the lead to the second last mark of the course in testing 25 knot winds when a poor spinnaker hoist allowed the Howth boat through to take the title.
It was, Mansfield regretfully admitted afterwards, a real case of "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".
The error not only cost him the title but pushed Mansfield back to fourth overall.
Second overall was Yachts and Yachting helmed by Kevin Sproul, owned by John and Maria-Claude Heyes and third was another Howth boat Hibernian helmed by Tim Powell, owned by Brian Lennon and Roger Cagney from HYC.
Faherty and O'Connell can now look forward to defending their title on home waters next year with this week's news that the 2003 European championships will be held in Howth.
Budding boat-designer Brian O'Loughlin of Howth has been short-listed by the British Marine Industries Federation (BMIF) for his entry in the Concept 2002 competition to be exhibited at this weekend's Southampton Boat Show.
The competition challenged entrants to design a transportable boat of the future. It is part of a drive by the BMIF to boost the small craft industry.
O'Loughlin came up with an innovative "eco-friendly" sailing boat featuring an innovative keel which acts as a ballast and a propeller in one.
The winners of the competition will be announced next January at the London Boat Show.
Meanwhile, the Junior Helmsmans championship 2002 invitees at Royal Cork Yacht Club are listed below.
Double-Handed: Andrew Woodward, Alex Kaiser, Jonathon O'Dowd (Mirror), John Downey, Aisling Canty (420).
Wild Cards: Robert Lee (GP14), Simon Mitton (420), Bobby Collins (Mirror), Jarod Dolan (Multihulls), Stephen Lee (Enterprise)
Single-handed: Matthew McGovern, James Espey (Laser Full Rig), Revelin Minihane, Ross McDonald (Laser Radial), Fionn Jenkinson (Optimist)
Wild Cards: Robert Espey (Laser 4.7), Paul McMahon, George Kingston, Conor Byrne (Laser Radial), Andrew Lane (Laser Full Rig).
