SAILING:ENGLAND'S PETER Rutter will cross tacks this morning off Ireland's Eye, at the Saab Cruiser National Championships, with four of Ireland's Commodore's Cup boats also in the running for Irish championship honours by Sunday evening.
Cruiser racer chief Fintan Cairns has assembled a fleet of 106 boats spread across four classes - none of them white sails - representing 23 clubs in Ireland and Britain. It is a significant showing and one the host club, Howth YC, can take some pride given the early timing of the fixture.
Although there are only nine boats from Cork they represent the bulk of the top-flight boats and are Rutter's main opposition.
Disappointingly, Tim Costello's new Tiamat from Dún Laoghaire is not ready in time and misses this weekend but will be afloat next weekend on the Solent.
Eamon Rohan won Class 0 on home waters last year and is back to defend his IRC title with his latest Blondie (IV). Again, he can expect stiff challenges from fellow Corkonians Anthony O'Leary (Antix Eile) and Conor and Denise Phelan (Jump Juice) while the Dublin challenge will be headed by Howth boats Rosie (Roy Dickson) and Team Kingspan (Matt Davis).
Class One was headed by Eamon Crosbie's Teng Tools from the National YC in 2007 and he is looking to repeat the success. Among those planning to upset the odds will be the Tyrrell's Aquelina from Arklow, Barry Cunningham's Contango (RIYC) and the Breen/Earls/Hogg combination from HYC in Flashback.
There are more clubs involved in the 33-strong Class Two fleet than in any other class, yet it probably represents Howth's best opportunity to do well, with Kinetic (Colwell/Murphy), King 1 (Cullen/Bourke) and Tigger (Cassidy/Mulhall) - the ECHO winners in Cork last year among the candidates. The opposition, however, includes the defending IRC champion Barry Rose in Obsession VI from Cork and Tim Goodbody on White Mischief from RIYC.
Racing starts at 11am on each of the three days and will be spread over two race courses - one giving windward-leeward courses and the other round-the-cans. The programme has seven races, with prizes awarded daily and overall on both IRC and ECHO.
Elsewhere, fat head mains, bowsprits and bigger kites are but some of the many add-ons that are turning the TP52's into IRC racing machines for July's Cork Week.
With the promise of a fleet of TP52's in Crosshaven, Benny Kelly's Panthera has decided to return to Cork from the Caribbean to take on what will prove a very tough challenge with several newer generation TP52's in the fleet and a vast array of Americas Cup talent amongst the crews.
Britain's Kelly took overall honours at the Heineken St Maarten Regatta and Stanford Antigua Race week, and Panthera is on a ship back to Europe from a successful Caribbean campaign.
There will be a serious Irish challenge to the Antigua race week winner in the form of Dún Laoghaire's Colm Barrington who returns to Cork Week this year with his recently-acquired Flash Glove, an IRC modified TP52.
Flash Glove has been in the US for the early part of the season where she finished second and first at Key West and SORC regattas respectively, winning the combined trophy, beating JV66 Numbers and other IRC 52's such as Samba Pa Ti and Windquest.
Flash Glove will be fielding a strong crew line-up which will include Robert and Peter Greenhalgh, Dave Lenz and Barrington on the helm.
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) will not consider the Star keelboat nomination made by the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) until after an appeal expected from Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks this morning has been heard.
Yesterday, on foot of a letter from the OCI, the ISA cancelled its Beijing team press conference because of the likelihood of the appeal being made by today's deadline.
Peter O'Leary and Stephen Milne got the selectors' nod for Qingdao a week ago when a committee decision rather than an on-the-water process was used.
"We alone qualified the country, we are the highest-placed Irish Star sailors in the world rankings and I cannot believe the decision," was Treacy's reaction at the time. Under ISA rules Treacy's appeal has to be made in the first instance to the group who only last week unanimously selected his rival.
