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ICRA Seek Team for Defence of 2012 Commodore's Cup

12th October 2011
ICRA Seek Team for Defence of 2012 Commodore's Cup

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) is seeking expressions of interest from owners to form an Irish team to defend the Rolex Commodore's Cup next July.

ICRA Commodore Barry Rose says that despite the current difficult environment ICRA remains hopeful of mounting a serious defence and have waited until now to allow the maximum time to those who may consider supporting the challenge.

The Rolex Commodores Cup takes place from 21st to 28th July 2012 based in Cowes. Ireland first won this prestigious International Trophy in 2010 .

Captain of the winning team Anthony O Leary told Afloat.ie: 'We finally won this great event in 2010 with a well organised campaign. Let's hope we
can return to defend it in 2012 learning further from that experience'

The regatta format has been changed by event organisers the RORC in that the smallest boat will now have a minimum rating of 1.020 with the biggest boat maximum rating of 1.230. There will be only one boat per team allowed to rate in excess of 1.150.

This means there will no longer be three separate classes so all starts will be all in which will add to the excitement and spectacle of the event.

Countries will be free to decide on their own combination of boat sizes within the above bands which will add further to the intrigue of this non discard seven day test of inshore and offshore racing.

ICRA is asking for potential interested owners to make contact with them as soon as possible in order that a meeting can be held within the next month to advance ideas on how best to mount a successful defence.

 

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)