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Displaying items by tag: Cavanagh

#ROWING: Battleborn, skippered by Irishman Philip Cavanagh, has landed in Hawaii, completing the Great Pacific Race from Monterey in California in 45 days, seven hours and 24 minutes. The crew of Cavanagh, Britons Barry Hayes and Darren Taylor and Australian Dan Kierath were the second home in the race. Their boat, Patience, flew the Irish flag. They arrived in the early hours of the morning, Irish time. Among those waiting on shore were Philip’s parents, Carmel and Michael Cavanagh.

Published in Rowing

#OCEAN ROWING: Battleborn, the crew skippered by Irishman Philip Cavanagh and carrying the Irish flag, has been disputing the lead in the Great Pacific rowing race. The crew lay second this morning to Uniting Nations in the race from Monterey in California to Hawaii which is in its seventh day. Battleborn has covered more miles than Uniting Nations but has been heading south of the direct line. According to the organziers Battleborn reported that they may look like they’re going off course “but there will be a strategy … avoiding the rough stuff and catching the handy trade winds.”

Cavanagh’s crew is completed by a Welshman, Barry Hayes, an Englishman, Darren Taylor, and an Australian, Dan Kierath.

Published in Rowing

#OceanRowing: Irishman Philip Cavanagh is set to compete in the Great Pacific rowing race from Monterey in California to Honolulu in Hawaii next summer. Cavanagh is putting together a four-person team, which will be called Battleborn. Barry Hayes from Wales and Englishman Howard Wagstaff are already signed up. None of the three had been rowers prior to committing to this project.

The race, which the organisers hope to run every two years, covers approximately 2,100 nautical miles (2,400 miles; 3,890 kilometres) and there will be trophies for the fastest four, pair and single to complete the journey. Nineteen crews (seven fours, six singles and six pairs) intend to compete.

Published in Rowing

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)