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Changes to the Irish Cruiser Racing Association Rule Book for 2020

1st January 2020
In new ICRA rules, The 'confusing' use of the term ‘ICRA classes’ has been changed to ‘standard groupings’ In new ICRA rules, The 'confusing' use of the term ‘ICRA classes’ has been changed to ‘standard groupings’

Some small changes have been made to the ICRA general rules following a successful first season under its new revamped committee and constitution.

Overall the objective of the General Rules remains the same; to help race organisers keep their documentation simple while helping competitors by keeping the detail consistent from event to event. Much of the rules remain the same with changes representing an evolution based on learning's from the 2019 season.

The statement of the fundamental principles of seamanship has been updated to bring it fully into line with the requirements of the main IRC events.

The 'confusing' use of the term ‘ICRA classes’ has been changed to ‘standard groupings’. A mechanism for reassigning boats between divisions and carrying over scores has been added.

Minimum requirements for safety equipment have been added. Again these standardize the requirements already in place at national IRC events.

Using the number of boats in a division to decide overall prizes can be seen as somewhat arbitrary. A means of calculating an Overall Score using the previous years Boat of the Year scores to assess the competitiveness of each division is provided.

Read more 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)