Sailing/Chieftain sets sail in delayed Fastnet race:After a 25-hour postponement - the first in its 82-year history - the Rolex Fastnet Race finally started off Cowes yesterday morning, writes David Branigan.
Close to 300 boats and several thousand crew blasted away against a brisk breeze and a favourable tide, the conditions throwing up a lumpy sea that built steadily at the western end of the Solent, charging through Hurst Narrows and out towards the picturesque Needles lighthouse.
Last to start, the exotics of the Class Super Zero, including canting keeled boats, saw Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain mixing with goliaths double the size of the Cookson 50-footer.
Three super-maxis started alongside the Limerick boat, but it was always expected to be a two-way contest between Mike Slade's brand new Leopard 3 and Neville Creighton's Alfa Romeo as they duel for both line-honours and a possible course record - conditions willing.
Those conditions, forecast variously to blow between 30 and 50 knots from today, prompted the postponement that will, organisers hope, permit the smaller entries to seek shelter if conditions prove extreme before turning north at Land's End.
Only the multi-hulls proved to be a casualty of the decision, as their speed would have placed them beyond this point even with the delayed start, and, following a series of incidents last year in the Bay of Biscay during gales, they decided en masse to withdraw rather than risk damage ahead of the coming Transat Jaques Vabre from France to Brazil.
Meanwhile, the storm warning has prompted organisers of the La Solitaire du Figaro single-handed race to omit the Fastnet Rock from the third stage of the course from Brest to Spain in an effort to avoid the area at the same time as the other major event.
Equestrian/All clear for Irish in final Olympic assault:All five Irish horses were passed sound at yesterday's veterinary inspection at the European show jumping championships in Mannheim, Germany, writes Grania Willis.
Team manager Robert Splaine confirmed to The Irish Timeslast night that his original selection of Jessica Kürten's ride Castle Forbes Libertina, Marion Hughes' Heritage Transmission, Cameron Hanley's SIEC Hippica Kerman and Marie Burke's Chippison were given the thumbs up, along with reserve horse, Cian O'Connor's mare Echo Beach.
"They're all fine, thank God," Splaine said last night, "so it's all systems go."
The championships are the last chance Team Ireland have to qualify for next year's Olympic Games, when the equestrian sports will be staged in Hong Kong, not at the main Olympic site in Beijing.
Golf/McNamara out early:
Irish junior international Rory McNamara lost on the home green to England's Nickey Maddison in the opening round of the Boys Amateur Championship at Royal Porthcawl yesterday.
In the Girls Championship at nearby Southerndown, 12-year-old twins Lisa (77) and Leona Maguire (78) have a great chance of qualifying for the knock-out phase.
