With two weeks to go before the starting gun on the LE Aishling is fired for the Round Ireland Race 2000, organisers at Wicklow Sailing Club have succeeded in attracting 30 entries for the 704-mile circumnavigation.
Although hampered by the loss of its long-term sponsor and a significant reduction in entries after the 1998 event, predictions of the race's demise appear to have been ill-founded.
There can be no denying that offshore sailing has become more specialised in recent times, but the Round Ireland event has always had a strong core support, and the new millennium has seen the stalwarts rally to the cause. The fervent hope of all participants is that the event will continue to survive at a time when sports boats and day racing have taken centre stage.
This year's fleet will see more large boats in the mid-sized divisions taking part. The maxi years of the early 1990s have long gone both here and around the world but the 1998 course winner and new record holder will be back. Colm Barrington, of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, smashed Lawrie Smith's record time on Jeep Cherokee, a Volvo 60-footer with full water ballast. Two years on, the Round the World race yacht is returning to the fray under its original name, Toshiba, with Paul Standbridge unconfirmed as its skipper for a Royal Cork Yacht Club crew.
On the opposite end of the scale, Noel Condon's db1 RNLI Wildgoose from Mayo, the smallest boat in the race, typifies the determination that the event should keep going.
A number of candidates in the handicap fleet could see long-held ambitions realised. Chief among these is Roy Dickson on Cracklin' Rosie, Howth Yacht Club's best known big boat.
Also vying for this prize will be Bob and Bairbre Stewart's Great Bear, although a second Prima 38, White Knuckles II from the UK, presents a significant challenge.
The `King of the Course', Denis Doyle returns yet again on Moonduster, the irrepressible Frers 51 for the RCYC.
Meanwhile, few changes have been made on the race management front. Given that there is only one especially fast large boat taking part, it is likely that a combined fleet start will be made at 2 p.m. on June 24th at Wicklow.
