SAILING:IRELAND'S NEWLY-crowned Star Eastern European champions Peter O'Leary and Tim Goodbody have travelled from the south of France to the Netherlands for the next leg of their European tour.
They are 11th overall after three races at the grade-one Delta Lloyd regatta. The Cork-Dublin pairing got off to a bad start, breaking a forestay in the opening round on Wednesday, forcing them to count a “did not start”. O’Leary was the subject of a “yellow flag penalty” in race two (for alleged body movements) but bounced back to form yesterday afternoon winning the third race. They lie 11th in the 28-boat fleet but there are 12 races left to sail in what is fast proving to be a high-scoring event.
After last week’s win in the Europa Cup, the National YC’s Annalise Murphy (19) opened her account at the same venue with a fifth and third to put Ireland in the top three – another notable development.
The form did not continue yesterday, however, with a 42nd, 22nd and 53rd in the 61-boat fleet, leaving her 23rd overall and 11 races left to sail.
Dún Laoghaire’s Tino Hyland and Nigel Biggs of the UK have won the overall title at the Scottish series this week in their J109. The two sailors dedicated the result to the memory of their late fathers.
Winning with a stock production boat named Christie Cancer Care to publicise the Manchester centre of excellence which cared for Biggs’ late father, it was a poignant and appropriate year for the crew to get their hands on the top award.
The nine-strong team endured a tough final pair of races when they started prematurely in the final race of the series and were hampered by slower boats. Although Biggs has previously won his class, he never before lifted the overall trophy.
A fleet of up to 40 boats, including Michael Cotter’s 80-footer Whisper, will be on the Dún Laoghaire starting line for the race to Dingle on Saturday week.
As a further innovation to this year’s fixture, GPS Trackers will be on board each boat. The biennial race is doubling as a feeder for the ICRA national championships in Fenit a week later.
Kinsale are also staging a feeder race which starts off the Charles fort line next June 5th.
The Jim Donegan trophy will be presented to the winning Echo handicap boat, while the recently-commissioned ICRA offshore trophy will go to the top IRC yacht.
There is the chance of a coastal encounter between these boats and the departing Volvo fleet who will be rounding the Fastnet Rock next Saturday afternoon bound for Gothenberg, Sweden in the next leg of the Ocean Race.
The Irish SB3 class has confirmed that the Dublin Port Company/RAYC Liffey Fleet Racing Championship will go ahead on June 12th.
The 12-boat event will be held between the walls in the heart of the city, in sight of the newly-installed Samuel Beckett bridge.
With co-operation from Poolbeg YBC, the East Link toll bridge will open at 10.30am to allow boats upstream, and short-course windward/leeward racing will continue for four solid hours between 11am and 3pm.
It will be the last event this year on the river as the city moorings facility is to be closed to “masted traffic” until next season.
Irish safety regulations will keep up to seven tall ships tied to the quay wall this weekend instead of sailing on the river Liffey.
Over 100,000 festival goers are to attend the Dublin Docklands Maritime event but nobody can be taken as a passenger on the ships, some of which have sailed round the world and take on board thousands of passengers each year at other maritime events.
The newest addition to the world’s oldest one-design keelboat class – the Howth 17 Footer – was launched at a special ceremony at Howth Yacht Club last Saturday attended by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan TD.
The wooden boat – built to a 112-year-old design – is the first brand new Howth 17 Footer to be built in 21 years.
The project to build her began in Wicklow some years ago and was completed by master boatbuilder Dougal McMahon in Co Offaly recently, with support from a number of sponsors and the practical input of Class members.
Up to 20 boats are expected to start the inaugural Metmasts.ie Turbines yacht race from Arklow this Sunday.
The course is around the Arklow bank wind turbines. Vice-commodore Ken O’Toole expects that under the current moderate forecast the race will last six hours.
There is a cash prize for the winner of €700 and a new perpetual trophy.
