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Victorious Commodore's Cup Team Saluted With ICRA Boat of Year Award

16th November 2014
Victorious Commodore's Cup Team Saluted With ICRA Boat of Year Award

#cruiserracing – Ireland's three boat team that scored the most comprehensive victory in the 22–year history of the Commodores' Cup were saluted in Galway Harbour at the national cruiser conference yesterday when they lifted ICRA's Boat of the Year award. It was a fitting reward for a team that finished the international team regatta on 268 points, with an unprecedented lead of 173.5 points.

The tale of how the 2014 Commodores' Cup was won was related in full by team captain Anthony O'Leary to WM Nixon immediately after the victory here.

The unrivalled performance that saw the team climb to the top of the ranking early in the competition.

Described as one of the most 'clinically focussed keelboat Irish teams', the three boats Antix (Anthony O'Leary), Quokka (Neil Dowling and Michael Boyd) and Mark Glimcher's Catapult left no stone unturned showing total commitment to optimising their boats so they were fully prepared to arrive at the start line in optimum set up.

ICRA contributed by managing to bring to the team the most sought after weather and tidal expert Mike Broughton, who acted as overall team coach at the event. This role was pivotal in maintaining the focus of the team. Supporting the team in Cowes was ICRA flag officers Fintan Cairns, Norbert Reilly and Barry Rose.

Meanwhile, details of the 2015 ICRA Nationals to be sailed in conjunction with Kinsale's Sovereign's Cup were presented to the Galway conference. The 2015 ICRA Notice of Race can be downloaded here

Published in ICRA
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The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)