SAILING: In three weeks' time Wicklow Sailing Club rolls out its 14th Round Ireland race but its appeal, though deserving of far greater international note, remains rooted in a domestic fleet. The club have received 32 entries to date and that is likely to swell to 40 before the July 1st start. Over half of the fleet is from Dublin and Cork with the balance from the west coast, Waterford, several UK and two French entries.
A reduction of about 25 per cent in entries for the 2006 event will be seen as a disappointing outcome for a number of reasons but primarily because if it is, as so often it is claimed to be one of the world's classic offshore races, then its fleet could, as with Australia's Sydney-Hobart or Britain's Fastnet fixture, number in excess of 100 boats.
Cork's race veteran Eric Lisson was clear about this when he lifted his overall prize in 2002. He pleaded with offshore sailors to go out and canvass support. Two years later, 49 entries and a big breeze meant 2004 went down as a highlight of the race's 28yearhistory.
But now four years on, the exact reason for the fall can be attributed to a clash of dates with the Commodore's Cup. Ireland is fielding three teams, all of which, incidentally are in action at this weekend's UK IRC Nationals, and with a strong entry for the Cowes event this has had a direct effect on Round Ireland numbers and crew availability. But even this is too convenient an excuse for a race whose strength should be in foreign entries.
The entire sailing community headed by the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) or another body needs to get behind Wicklow and assist it in promoting this 704-mile offshore race as an icon of Ireland's summer sport.
Nowhere was this point more clearly made than this week when the world's top offshore sailors called in unexpectedly to our south and west coasts. They came principally in search of wind in leg eight of the Volvo Round the World race. They found little wind, unusually, but before they left they wrote prose worthy of a Fáilte Ireland copywriter.
In other sailing news, there are 180 entries for this weekend's Lambay Race from Howth Yacht Club.
Sligo Yacht Club was the biggest beneficiary of the 10 yacht clubs that featured in Wednesday's annual National Lottery sports capital grant allocation. The west coast club, that hosts the GP14 world championships in eight weeks' time, received €80,000 for new changing rooms including disabled facilities at its new clubhouse in Rosses point.
Another western club, Tralee SC, got €50,000 for Boats and the development of a training area.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Friday: Lee Overlay. AYC/ISORA-Carlingford Howth YC
Saturday/Sunday: Lambay Race Howth YC; Oyster Pearl regatta Dundalk and Carlingford SC; Wayfarer Eastern Champs Skerries SC; J24 Northern Championship Portrush and Coleraine YCs.
