Although Friday’s racing was cancelled in the face of heavy winds and the strong possibility of fog in a notably unstable weather phase, it has otherwise been Camelot in Kinsale for the Simple Blue Sovereigns Cup 2023. Any serious rain has gone through in the hours shortly after midnight, and the most of it is only a memory by the time the intensely-focused sailing athletes for which the Sovereign’s Cup is renowned are preparing for another day of sparkling sport afloat. For this is what dictates the maritime perception from the historic port. The view is southward, and if there’s any sun about at all, you look towards the promise of the open sea across an almost ludicrously picturesque stretch of vibrantly shining water.
For the opening two days of the 2023 Sovereigns Cup this week, that gallant old war-horse of a cliché “champagne sailing” was worked within an inch of its life. But if anyone can come up with an equally viable alternative, we’ll gladly use it. Please be advised, however, that “Spritzer Sailing” and “Elderflower Fizz Sailing” have both been run up the flapgpole, but neither has made it to the top.
Be that as it may, part of the delight lies in the nature of the venue itself. It has taken an impressive amount of history and turns of fortune to make Kinsale what it is today. So much so, in fact, that the pivotal Battle of Kinsale in 1601 is increasingly regarded by your average citizen as just another staging post in a long progression in which at times there was no progress at all, and the place went to near-dereliction, while at other times it has been a case of two steps forward, and then almost immediately one step back.
KINSALE IS EAST ATLANTIC EQUIVALENT OF ENGLISH HARBOUR IN ANTIGUA
Yet throughout the 1700s, Kinsale was one of the Royal Navy’s most significant victualling, ship repair and operations control ports serving the North Atlantic fleet. It was in effect the eastern Atlantic version of English Harbour in Antigua. But with the Napoleonic Wars at the end of the Century, ship sizes were rapidly growing, fleet numbers were increasing at speed, and by 1803 it was proposed that the Naval Base would be moved to Haulbowline Island and Cobh in Cork Harbour.
In sunny weather, the outlook from Kinsale is always across sparkling sea
The process got under way in 1805 and the move was completed by 1812. So the Royal Navy upped and departed from Kinsale, but left behind this perfect time capsule of an 18th Century Navy town. Yet even though they had no further use for the place, being the all-powerful authorities they were very reluctant to relinquish control to any other potential users, particularly fishing fleets.
The same attitude prevailed generally through the 1800s when the relatively new packet-boat harbour at Dunmore East became available after the arrival of steam power enabled the Waterford cross-channel ferry to go direct into Waterford city. It took years before the struggling Dunmore East fishermen – forced to work their boats off the beach at what is now the Strand Hotel – were allowed regular access to the much better space in the harbour.
Equally, on the East Coast at Howth, they may have seen the cross-channel Mailboat service moved permanently to the new harbour at Kingstown in 1834, but it was almost 1860 before the many local fishermen were allowed complete access at Howth, and meanwhile it was the drying inlet at Baldoyle which was the main local fisheries centre.
FISHERMEN FINALLY GET A CHANCE
Thus there’s a certain satisfaction in contemplating the fact that both Dunmore East and Howth are now designated Fisheries Harbour Centres before they are allowed to be anything else. But in both cases, the influence of nearby cities created a certain dynamic and development.
Cork Harbour, however, is such a universe in itself that although Kinsale developed a local fishing fleet, it was allowed to slumber on ignored, in a near-coma. Enough was done to preserve much of it as this classic miniature seaport of the 1700s, yet when I first sailed in there in 1966, it was surprising to find how many buildings were still semi-derelict despite the new life and attractions of the pretty little town being indicated by - among other things - the foundation of Kinsale Yacht Club in 1953 by John Thuillier and his friends.
KINSALE TODAY IS IRELAND TOMORROW
Since then, it could be argued that if you took the pulse of Kinsale, then you were taking the pulse of what Ireland could become. For sure, there have been some highly visible developments that might have been better left unbuilt. But knowing how Ireland went through a crazy phase of sudden prosperity when it seemed the right thing to tear down the fine old buildings which had witnessed the years of relative poverty and replace them with questionable new structures, by some fortunate miracle the character of the Kinsale of the 1700s is still very much present in an otherwise modern town.
In Kinsale’s ancient winding streets, they’re not nervous about livening things up with strong colours
It’s a town where marinas and small commercial quays and fishing berths and hotels and the yacht club and waterfront homes and business buildings live in such comfortably close proximity that you can sit down to your lunch in the Trident Hotel with the quayside empty behind you, and when you rise well-fed, you turn around to find that just a very few metres from the window behind you, there is now the stemhead of a handy little coaster which has come in to discharge grain for the local company.
It’s this lively mix of bustling activity and space to relax that gives Kinsale much of its highly-individual character. It’s a character and personality with which its sailors are so confident and comfortable that they reach their own conclusions about what’s best for Kinsale and its sailing, and for some years now they’ve side-stepped the numbers game, particularly when fleets with classes of larger cruiser-racers are involved.
SOVEREIGNS HIT THE SWEET SPOT ON NUMBERS
Thus although the Sovereigns Cup in times past saw fleets pushing towards the 120 mark, most are now quietly aware that the Kinsallions reckon that around 90 is the sweet spot for a typically contemporary fleet in the biennial Sovereigns Cup, and with enthusiastic support from the environment-friendly energy company Simply Blue in 2023, that’s precisely what they’ve got.
Yet in 90 boats, you can find a universe. And so much of it is in a family situation too, such that rising talents - looked on as sailing-rock-stars-in-the-making in the national or international context –find themselves still seen as the local lass or lad who done good.
“Gibberish Spoken Here” – Ross McDonald at the helm of the McBearla’s 1720 Atara. Photo: Robert Bateman
You get it at the front end of the 1720s where the McBearlas – “bearla” in old Irish means those who spoke English, in other words, gibberish – are battling to defend their European title. And if they do so, it will be clarified that they’re a mix of the children of the late great Joe English of Crosshaven (where his former house is now home to Darryl Hughes of the Old Gaffers) and the McDonalds, who came south from Barra in the Outer Hebrides in 1745 to Donegal after the failure of the invasion by Bonnie Prince Charlie, who is mostly famous today for being the only man in history to have been named after three sheepdogs.
Amongst others, the McBearlas are up against Julian Hughes of Dunmore East and Fionn Lyden of Baltimore, added to the O’Learys of Crosshaven and Baltimore in at least two boats, and also such household names as the After Headcase crew – formerly of J/24 Headcase – of Dickson, Mulloy, Ryan, Glynn and O’Byrne. They are very much on campaign in alien territory, as Munster is the only province not personally represented in their all-star lineup.
J/109 COMEBACK
Recently in pondering the results of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2023, we idly wondered with a bit of coat-trailing if Ireland and the Irish Sea had passed J/109 peak, as the best-placed J/109 in that surprisingly rugged event was Mojito from Pwllheli way back at ninth overall. But we’re certainly getting our come-uppance at Kinsale, as the super-hotties in IRC Class 1 are being dominated by the J/109s, with three out of the top four places filled by ever-young veteran J/109s, with John Maybury’s multi-winner Joker (Royal Irish YC) first.
The Comeback Kids – the J/109s occupy three of the top four places in IRC 1, including the lead held by John Maybury’s Joker (RIYC). Photo: Robert Bateman
That said, the defending champion, Mike & Richie Evans J/99 Snapshot from Howth, is just one point behind the Maybury boat, so there’s all to play for today (Saturday). Meanwhile, further down the line the Dwyers of Crosshaven with the historic Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble, have had a clean sweep so far. The much-loved and very characterful Bubble has come through so much merely to survive this far that she deserves her own online page if she doesn’t have one already, and it gives pleasure simply to see her work her own special way through the sea.
The Cat With Nine Lives – the Dwyers’ historic Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble deserves a fan club if she doesn’t have one already. Photo: KYC
ANCESTOR WORSHIP AFLOAT?
But in terms of family history and special boats, the two classics racing – the O’Keeffes with Lady Min and the Sisks with Marian Maid – are in a league of their own. The immaculate condition of both boats is ancestor-respecting piety raised to fresh heights. The O’Keeffe’s Lady Min was designed and built by Simon O’Keeffe’s great-grandfather Maurice O’Keeffe in Schull in 1902, and her restoration by Tiernan Roe of Ballydehob is the current holder of a Classic Boat International Award.
The O’Keeffe family’s 1902-built Lady Min is the 2023 holder of a Classic Boat Award. Photo: Robert Bateman
As for Marian Maid, she was built by Hal Sisk’s father John Sisk in 1954 in Dun Laoghaire, in a shed behind the West Pier after Sisk Snr had to move his Dalkey Yacht Company from premises at Bulloch Harbour.
Marian Maid is unusual in many ways, not least in being a yawl-rigged version of Swedish designer Knud Reimers take on the newly-introduced International 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Rule, with Reimers liking the boat so much that he had a sloop-rigged version built for himself in Sweden.
At 69 years old, Marian Maid has been re-born. Photo: Robert Bateman
Meanwhile, for the last 69 years, the Maid has been through a variety of experiences, not all of them pleasant. But now she has been restored at Rossbrin Boatyard in West Cork by Jimmy Murphy and Peter Sweetman and their team with Sisk boat specialist Ian Squire, and the result is a creation of such a high standard that it seems almost sacrilegious to put her in something as harsh and abrasive as the south coast’s very salty sea, yet the hyper-elegant Marian Maid has been taking it all in her stride.
The restoration of Marian Maid has been to such a high standard that it might be felt she shouldn’t be put in anything as abrasive as salt water, but off Kinsale she is taking it all very elegantly in her stride. Photo: KYC
