SAILING: Royal Cork's Anthony O'Leary is on board the Corby 35, Antix, this morning bound for Dublin and next Friday's Saab Irish Cruiser Racer championships (ICRA) off Howth.
O'Leary's early departure from Crosshaven is the surest indication yet of a strong south coast challenge within the class-one medals.
His crew is drawn from his 1720 Sports boat crew with the addition of Howth sailor Brian Lennon, and they are hoping for the same strong winds that gave them overall success in Kinsale Yacht club's April league.
His optimised John Corby-design will head further north to the Scottish series in Tarbert that starts on May 20th.
Antix is one of six Royal Cork boats en route for the inaugural cruiser championships that aims to have at an 80-boat fleet in situ this time next week.
Howth Yacht club have also announced a team competition within the event to be made up of three boats, one from each competing class. More details are available on www.hyc.ie.
Looking ahead to June in the cruisers fixtures, there are now 17 entries received for Wicklow's BMW Round Ireland race. Organiser Denis Noonan expects over 40 for the June 26th race. Deadline for entries is May 25th.
This weekend in Dún Laoghaire, Hamble River Sailing Club will defend their Sigma 33 Team Racing title against a line-up that includes the Royal Thames Yacht Club and an Irish fleet of East Coast Sigma teams.
More than 200-sailors in eight teams from both sides of the Atlantic are in Dún Laoghaire for the Chubb Insurance-sponsored event.
In the Olympic qualification stakes, Royal Cork's Mark Mansfield will sail in his fourth Olympics (within one appearance of the five-games sailing record set by 1980 silver medallist David Wilkins) this summer following confirmation from Gaetta, Italy, that he and crew Killian Collins had finished 11th overall at the class world championships.
His finishing position, marking a consistent top-15 placing over the last four years, was only three places ahead of Dublin rivals Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks in the final round of three Olympic trials, a lot closer than in the previous two trials, where the Royal Cork pair had already established a comfortable margin.
