Looking around the club racing fleets at this time of year, an impartial observer could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. After two months of hectic activity for dinghies and especially keelboats, minimum turnouts appear to be the order of the day.
True, this is the peak holiday season and for many larger boat owners this means cruising away from local waters. If the final destination is an Irish port, chances are such boats will be heading for the West Cork regattas, which commenced last week with Baltimore Sailing Week and are now reaching the end of Calves Week at Schull. This is a small series in anyone's language - we're talking anything from 15 to 25 boats, sometimes more.
The series isn't widely advertised but all passing boats are welcomed equally. If small is the byword for these regattas, quality also goes into the mix and the sole emphasis on club level racing.
Bringing Cork Week race management supremo Donal McClement in as Principal Race Officer sets a suitably credible tone, although he clearly is in no doubt about the spirit required for this series. And the quality of competition isn't lacking either.
With a very marked one-design theme to Baltimore Week where Impalas and Ruffians dominated (the latter fleet competing for the Munster South Coast Championship), racing was as close as it could be anywhere in Ireland.
Top youth helm Youen Jacob on La Camarguaise emerged overall winner of the first event last weekend, while Stuart Musgrave was crowned the Ruffian Munster Champion with a neat four-win hat-trick. "This is what club sailing should be about," Musgrave told The Irish Times yesterday. "Bonhomie on and off the water with a good competitive edge."
Meanwhile, Sean Craig and Heather King finished best of the six-boat Irish squad attending the Enterprise World Championship last weekend when they secured 10th place. The event was held at Mounts Bay Sailing Club in Britain and not in South Africa as erroneously reported in last Friday's sailing column.
Ian Pinnell of the host national emerged overall champion.
