SAILING: As the Irish season got underway earlier this week at Kinsale yacht club's April League, one of Ireland's best known sailing administrators has strongly criticised east coast racing crews.
Donal McClement of the Royal Cork yacht club says there is little or no interest in a major offshore racing event this summer. What interest there is appears centred on the Admiral's Cup, an event beyond the ability of most domestic racing crews, he adds.
This week's event in Kinsale saw the nucleus of a SCORA (South Coast Offshore Racing Association) team limber up for a full Rolex Commodore's Cup campaign that culminates in Cowes this August. McClement is Team Manager and also a committee member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) that organises both the Commodore's and Admiral's Cup events.
"I am very disappointed that there is zero interest on the east coast, specifically Dublin Bay," he says. "I am amused at the superior attitude from some Dublin Bay sailors who have no interest in Commodore's Cup but yet think they can enter Admiral's Cup.
"This is presumptuous and in fact stupid as you don't win at Admiral's Cup level if you can't win at club level."
McClement says the Commodore's Cup is an ideal tester for a club-level crew considering a major campaign.
"Are we on the pace or are we off the pace?" is the question he poses. "I suspect it would be the latter in most cases. However, any (Commodore's Cup or similar) event experience is worth 100 days on Dublin Bay or even three seasons of racing in your own waters.
"The other aspect is that the Commodore's Cup is a relatively inexpensive way of seeing if you have a chance or are simply living in cloud-cuckoo land."
Two SCORA crews have begun training on the Beneteau 40.7 footers that form the basis of the three-boat SCORA team. The Commodore's Cup is aimed squarely at leading club level crews from around the world and was introduced to offset increasing professional involvement in the Admiral's Cup.
The next Admiral's Cup is due to be held in Dún Laoghaire in July 2003 and will have two boats per team, comprising a semi-professional IMS600 class boat of around 40 feet plus a fully-professional big boat of at least 50 feet. Both events will permit two teams per country.
The SCORA approach is to introduce talented young south-coast sailors to a new level of competition and intensity, both afloat and in team preparation.
The selection by McClement of two Beneteau 40.7s, both IMS-dedicated boats, strongly suggests the main objective is 2003 in Dún Laoghaire.
Nevertheless, only SCORA has started a campaign in spite of a larger pool of potential team boats based in Dublin. An ideal Dublin-based Commodore's Cup team as a preparation for The Admiral's Cup might comprise three "one-off" boats such as Roy Dickson's Cracklin' Rosie, Bob Stewart's Azure and Colm Barrington's Gloves Off.
All three have undergone winter modifications and Gloves Off produced a second place in last weekend's Red Funnel Easter series at Cowes. IRC handicap ratings will be revised as a consequence of these modifications and a potential second Irish team may depend on the final certification of each.
Azure's Bob Stewart told The Irish Times yesterday that he would be pleased to participate in a Commodore's Cup team. "We certainly are not interested (in Admiral's Cup)," he said. "I'd be quite cynical about it due to the enormous costs involved."
Dún Laoghaire 40.7 owner Oliver Sheehy commented that while the Admiral's Cup looks more interesting and he would like to trial for team selection, he would have difficulty with the professional element to the Admiral's Cup.
"Whether or not I'd change from being a Corinthian - probably not," he said. "I couldn't countenance having paid hands on board."
Meanwhile, Clayton Love Junior, a leading light of Ireland's best Admiral's Cup years in the 1970s will receive honorary membership of the Irish Sailing Association this weekend at the a.g.m. at the Royal St George yacht club.
