Sailing/Round Ireland Race: Summer gales have in the past made BMW Round Ireland records tumble, but next week's winner needs more than a favourable forecast for this afternoon's start if an elapsed time record is to be broken - which means home by Tuesday lunch-time.
The fleet are racing for three main honours: first across the line, an elapsed-time record and the main prize, handicap honours.
When the fleet departs Wicklow today on its southbound journey there are two main contenders capable of breaking the monohull record that has stood doggedly at just over three days.
The Volvo 60, O2 Team Spirit, entered by David Nixon of Howth, is relishing the prospects of some heavy going, having had a good week's training in the relative shelter of Dublin Bay.
Her main opposition, however, will arrive just in the nick of time. The French Nacira 60, CityJet Solune, delayed by gales in her journey from La Rochelle, estimated her arrival into Dún Laoghaire at midnight last night.
That gives four of her crew of eight, the current Round Britain and Ireland record holders, little in the way of a much-needed recovery for the revolutionary yacht that can hit 27 knots.
In December 2002, the Maxi Independent Challenger, in a solo run round Ireland, picked up the Cork Dry Gin perpetual trophy for the monohull record with a time of three days two hours, seven minutes and 57 seconds.
The prospect of a fresh forecast and two powerful contenders has rekindled interest in a record that CityJet Solune skipper Jean-Phillipe Chomett said he will smash in a sub-three-day time.
For the majority of the fleet, however, such speeds are not achievable and an elapsed-time record therefore is not on the cards. Instead, most will focus on corrected-time honours for the entry that wins on handicap.
The defending champion, Eric Lisson, who won in 2002 in one of the oldest boats of the fleet, a 1979 Granada, described Ireland's offshore classic as a "mixed grill of a race".
If the winds blow solidly next week it will, in all likelihood, be a big-boat race, but, as everyone knows, the weather is very changeable round these shores.
Therefore no one will be counting chickens - not even elapsed-time record breakers - before the last boat is safely back in Wicklow.
