Sailing Commodore's Cup: In the end, it just wasn't to be. Having led the Rolex Commodore's Cup all week, Ireland stood poised to secure one of the most notable victories in 30 years of big-boat sailing.

But team captain Colm Barrington's fears, expressed on Thursday night, were realised after yesterday morning's conclusion to the 40-hour channel race.

The final standings placed the Britain Red team as overall winners with defending title-holders France Blue taking second, ousting the Irish squad by a single point.

Fielding one of the most competitive line-ups ever, Barrington's side saw their campaign start to unravel on Friday afternoon after race seven, the final inshore race of the week.

An eight-point lead was slashed to just 3.5 points after a controversial starting-line incident involving Ireland's Fidessa Fastwave was successfully protested by rival Class One entry Bear of Britain. That protest resulted in disqualification for the Irish boat and would later become crucial.

Obliged to begin Friday evening's Channel Race with a reduced point cushion, Barrington's prediction of a lottery for the double-scoring decider began to come true.

Becalmed overnight, the smaller boats were kedged - anchored to avoid drifting backwards on the strong tide.

By Saturday evening, Barrington brought his Flying Glove home for his fourth race win of the series while Fidessa Fastwave secured third in her class, just half an hour behind the second-placed Bear of Britain. With team-mate Exabyte 2 also finishing in second place, Britain Red were on level points with Ireland for that race, leaving just the teams' small boats to finish.

Ireland still had their 3.5-point cushion but the unpredictability of the offshore race meant nothing could be left to chance - the disputed protest in race seven had also to be challenged.

Although right of appeal was not allowed in the event, the international jury at Friday's protest hearing indicated the substantial fresh evidence might reopen the hearing but, with the channel race starting in less than two hours, Fidessa Fastwave tactician Jamie Boag had no time to prepare.

On Saturday evening when the two Irish boats had finished, video evidence emerged along with a witness to the original incident that appeared to confirm the defence.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Bear of Britain's co-owner Kit Hobday had opposed taking the protest against Fidessa on the basis that he preferred winning on the water and not in the protest room.

With extensive support and co-ordination by the Royal Yachting Association's Keelboat Division, overall team management had taken the decision to proceed in an effort to reduce the Irish team's lead.

The decision to protest highlighted the RYA's no-holds-barred approach to securing the result, which while completely legal within the Racing Rules of Sailing, did cause considerable resentment as such tactics might be considered inappropriate at this professional-amateur level.

At the same time, it is important to emphasise there was no suggestion of anti-Irish bias by the British - it's certain the same fate awaited any team, of whatever nation, that stood between the British squad and victory.

In any event, the attempt to reopen the protest failed as, after almost 90 minutes of deliberation, the jury ruled the new evidence was inconclusive.

That outcome, however, quickly became irrelevant for the Commodore's Cup was indeed being settled on the water as the small boats of class three were on the final approaches to the finish after 40 hours of racing.

Unable to recover from eight hours of total calm during the race, Eamon Crosbie's team on board Calyx Voice & Data could not catch Britain Red's small boat, the J109 Jeronimo, which scored a second place on corrected handicap time.

The National Yacht Club team needed to be one place behind her for Ireland to win the event but with a freshening breeze and favourable tide, the back-markers and lower-handicapped boats were swept up the ranks of the class, gradually knocking the Irish boat into fifth place, then sixth and then, with just minutes to spare, seventh place as the handicap time elapsed against them.

That final slip to seventh was just what defending title-holders France Blue needed to take second overall, leaving Ireland in third place by one point and more than 10 points ahead of fourth-placed Netherlands.

The final result failed to do justice to the overall performance of the Irish team, which was testimony to the strong state of Irish keelboat sailing. The right boats and equipment were sailed by regular crews of amateurs with key positions filled by just a few pro sailors.

Each of the Irish boats had its own "shocker" result during the eight-race series as did every other team. But the weighty offshore race finale, where one-third of the points for the entire series are available, will undoubtedly provoke critical comment, especially as light airs and their attendant "luck" factor were forecast all week.