It's happened again. The Irish Sailing calendar has run aground with conflicting fixtures adding confusion, this time primarily among the big boat classes, to an already congested fixtures list. Four events scattered north and south are at the centre of this latest problem that ultimately brings little benefit to anyone, least of all to the racing boats and sailors most likely to be taking part.
At the larger boat end of the scale, both Bangor Week and Barlo ISORA Week at Howth get underway on Monday and clash neatly all week thus preventing boats at either event from sailing at the other. At the same time, the Halidon Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race started last Tuesday evening and diverted another fleet of potential entries away from either of the other two series.
And now the Heineken Dinghy Week in Cork, underway since yesterday, is complaining of an entry shortage due to some classes participating in Bangor while other dinghy sailors are also in demand at Howth.
Entries in both Bangor and Howth remain strong and though far from record-breaking, are acceptably high enough to deliver an impressive fleet at each - enough to satisfy minimum expectations at worst. With race management issues rapidly becoming a nightmare of the past at most venues, the inescapable conclusion is that the quality of racing in any conflicting event must suffer if potential competitors are elsewhere, and probably encountering the same situation at that event. Or are we to believe that yacht owners and their crews are satisfied with this state of affairs?
At Bangor, organisers at the Royal Ulster and Ballyholme yacht clubs are pleased with their fleet of more than 70 boats from around the northern Irish Sea. At Howth, a similar number of entries have organisers smiling. Down south, smiles are more muted as a quieter Crosshaven notes the lower than hoped for turnout. Somewhere, not too far from Cork Harbour, the fleet in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race are frowning at the lack of breeze but then that's another matter.
Yet that middle distance offshore race contains many notable racing yachts that would be equally at home in either Howth or Bangor and would probably be ranked among the favourites or better at those events. Conversely, many of those competing at next week's events would be ideally suited for the race to Kerry and would certainly swell that race's turnout had the calendar been kinder to them.
On the face of it, the lofty vision of a stream-lined sailing calendar suiting all and sundry seems far fetched. But for a sport that can ill-afford any diminution of its "minority" status, radical surgery must be a priority.
This is no easy task. In fact it could be impossible. For a start, the clash between Howth and Bangor has been known and publicised since last year. The northern event is deliberately timed to coincide with the 12th of July festival weekend. Nevertheless, and in spite of the undoubted and renowned hospitality at Bangor, crews from the East coast and other Irish ports in the Republic simply will not attend during this week. Highlighting this, just two boats from Dublin entered in 1997 while this year, only one determined crew is sailing North.
However, the reality is that while Irish boats remain divided on a sporting issue, even if for completely reasonable motives the remainder of our Irish Sea neighbours are forced to choose which event to attend thereby diluting the competition further.
In an ideal world, agreement might be reached between representatives of all those concerned, at national level as to how a season such as 1999 might progress. It could well see a sort of rally beginning with the Scottish Series in May as usual, then progressing to Bangor and then to Dublin or Wales, whichever turn it was to host ISORA Week. And then leading into the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race which opens up the prospect of participating in the various West Cork regattas. Meanwhile, organisers at the Royal Cork YC where the biennial Dinghy Week gets into full swing have recognised fundamental changes needed at that event to effect its recovery to the high levels of attendance since its revival in 1995. Event Chairman Peter Crowley said "The drop is essentially down to a combination of three factors: We moved the date from its usual time of August while there has also been poor communication within some classes to their members. The clash with Bangor has also seen us lose some Flying 15's and multihulls as well."
In 1997, the Laser 2 World Championship was transferred to Crosshaven, swelling numbers to more than 300 dinghies. In the inaugural year of the revived event there was in excess of 200 boats. With the change in date and fixtures clashes this year, organisers at the RCYC set a target of 150 entries across the six classes competing. With more entries arriving overnight for the first full day of racing this morning, numbers have passed the 120 mark and counting.
