#icra – The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) executive met in Portlaoise at the end of last month and reviewed the 2013 National Championships in Fenit, Co. Kerry revealing a number of changes for the 2014 event scheduled for Dun Laoghaire.

The meeting agreed to abandon its 'no discard provision' for its national championships that was used in Kerry and revert to its earlier provision 'If 6 or more races are sailed 1 discard will apply for next year. 

But there will be no change to the professional rule operating at the Fenit event and it was also agreed that the IRC rules were properly applied in Kerry and should be so applied in future.

Present in Portaoise was ICRA commodore Nobby Reilly, Mark Mills, Barry Rose, Peter Stewart, RUYC, Ed Alcock,
Simon McGibney, Fintan Cairns, Ian Travers, Chris Howard, Peadar Murphy and Denis Kiely.

ICRA is to tighen its notice and scoring rules so that clear scoring rules would be published for the future for its team event.

The question of whether a non-ICRA boat can win the National Championships was also raised and as it was an open event it was confirmed non-ICRA boats can win the title.

There was a general discussion about the Fenit event and matters such as marks visibility, abandonment of racing on the Saturday due to high winds [37kts reported] where various views were expressed. It was also agreed that there should be closer ICRA liaison with the Race Officers during the regatta.

In relation to the race schedule it was agreed that in future the general policy to be observed by race officers would be that, taking into account weather conditions, as many races as possible [3 races] would be held in the early part of the regatta i.e. every suitable opportunity to get in a race would be taken, and that the SIs should be written to reflect this policy.

After lengthy discussion, the dates agreed with the Royal Irish Yacht Club for the 2014 event - 13th to 15th June 2014 - were approved.