Colm Dunne and Rob Gill's Allegro from Kinsale Yacht Club leads the 2020 Squib Southern Championships after three races sailed in Cork Harbour yesterday.

Scroll down for Bob Bateman's photo gallery of Day one racing below.

The Cove Sailing Club hosted event is the first on design championships of the season and was sailed over windward-leeward courses on the Eastern Bank of the Harbour.

13 are competing including three Northern Ireland entries and a strong seven boat turnout from Kinsale.

Racing so far has been in light to medium westerly breezes.

Royal North of Ireland's Peter Wallace, on five points, trails Dunne by two points with Dunne's club-mate Ian Travers five points off the lead.

The Championship resumes this morning with a first gun at 10.55

Results are here

The first major Class championships this season and the first in Cork Harbour will go ahead at Cove Sailing Club next weekend. The Squib Southerns will be based at the new Cove SC clubhouse and marina at Whitepoint.

The event and the marina are a big boost for the harbour town. Cobh has long-needed facilities for visiting boats. Several previous attempts to build a marina there failed. Cove Sailing Club, which celebrated its centenary last year, undertook its own project. It was not without difficulties and financial pressures which did create some internal club difficulties. At one stage another club, the Great Island Sailing Club, was formed and organised cruiser racing while remaining club members devoted their attention to getting the marina built. They succeeded, the new marina is now in operation, the clubs have re-united, with Great Island ceasing activities and members back in Cove Sailing Club which is a busy place at present.

Race Officers get the first race away from Cove Island Sailing Club's new marina pontoons Photo: Bob Bateman

There is also a new clubhouse and dinghy sailing is resuming, with training courses also going ahead.

Kieran Dorgan is Cove Sailing Club’s Commodore and is my Podcast guest this week, discussing the developments and the economic boost which the marina will provide to the town of Cobh. I started by asking him about the Squibs Southern Championships next weekend, with racing on Saturday and Sunday, July 25 and 26:

Cove Sailing Club’S first evening league of the season was won by Commodore Dorgan’s Altair, a First 36.7 David Doyle’s Sigma 33, Musketeer, was second and Norman Allen’s Impala, Nadia, third. Twelve yachts raced.

The first cruiser race of the Cove Sailing Club season was started from the brand new Cove Marina in Cork Harbour on Friday, July 10.

Cove Race Officer Brian Curtis got 12 boats away using the marina and the flagstaff at the Naval Base on Haulbowline as a transit.

A downwind start saw most of the fleet hug the Spit Bank to dodge worst of the tide.

The course then featured a run down to Cuskinny 13 mark then out to harbour to 12 before a short beat and a fetch to the finish line.

As Afloat reported previously, Cove Saling Club’s new marina pontoons were put to immediate use with yachts and motorboats occupying the new berths since the opening up of sailing activity on 8th June.

First race photos by Bob Bateman below

Cove Saling Club’s brand new marina pontoons have been put to immediate use in Cork Harbour with yachts and motorboats occupying the new berths since the opening up of sailing activity on 8th June.

Coronavirus restrictions delayed the original expected completion date in April, but the berthing pontoons are fully assembled and connected to the gangway that was installed earlier this year.

New Cove Marina

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Cork Harbour club has also been working on upgrades to its dinghy park facilities including a new meeting room, office and kitchen at Whitepoint in Cobh.

Cove Sailing Club dinghy parking facilities Photo: Bob Bateman

Colm McDonagh has shared images of further progress on Cove Saling Club’s new marina pontoons in time for the opening up of sailing activity from tomorrow, Monday 8 June.

Coronavirus restrictions delayed the original expected completion date in April, but the berthing pontoons are now well into assembly before connection to the gangway that was installed earlier this year.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Cork Harbour club has also been working on upgrades to its dinghy park facilities including a new meeting room, office and kitchen at Whitepoint in Cobh.

What a fantastic addition the @CoveSailingClub marina will be. Really coming together now. @CobhTourism @CobhHarCham @CobhTidy @hashtagcobh2020 @AfloatMagazine @jonathanlee0312 @KENNYTCORK @CathalRasmussen @eucoolroute @royalcork @deshocks @PortofCork pic.twitter.com/cq6n8Gi2gJ

— Cobh Gifts by CMcDonaghPhoto (@C1McD) June 5, 2020

It’s expected the club will shortly provide an update on summer sailing events and courses upon the latest relaxing of restrictions — which allow members within the same county or 20km to visit, and for bigger groups to sail while observing social distancing.

The problem for resuming normal yacht racing is the current limitation on household crewing of boats only. Because the majority of yachts are not crewed solely by one household, racing is impossible under current restrictions. This is reflected in the intentions of two Cork clubs to resume limited racing, for household-crewed boats only, reports Tom MacSweeney.

Kinsale Yacht Club's limited form of club sailing

Kinsale Yacht Club is proposing to start what Club Commodore Mike Walsh describes as   “a limited form of club sailing next Wednesday (June 10) but only for family/ household boats living within 20kms of the club marina. This would include Squibs, Dragons, Cruisers.”

He has told members that this racing “will be limited to white sail only for cruisers.

“All activities are limited to household units. If there is sufficient interest we will continue this league or series of races until July 20. Starting and finishing will be from the club marina.”

The club intends to start its Junior Sailing/training course on July 6, which is likely to run to the end of August in a restructured schedule. The course is fully booked. Further applications will be put on a waiting list.

Loch Greine, owned by Tom, Donal and Declan O'Mahony sailing past Roches Point Lighthouse Photo: Bob Bateman

Cruiser racing in Cork Harbour Photo: Bob Bateman

Cove Sailing Club's single-handed or single household sailing

Cove Sailing Club in Cork Harbour says it is aiming to resume sailing at the start of July, “assuming government restrictions are lifted at the end of June.”

This also will only be for “single-handed or single household sailing.”

Cove Sailing Club Headquarters Photo: Bob Bateman

The club says it will not be able to run “a full programme of training courses similar to the past 13 years, but will endeavour to plan for a return to sailing courses as soon as safely possible.”

Cork Harbour has lost a sailing club, which is actually good news for the sport.

If that seems questionable statement, it is not because it brings back together the members of Cove Sailing Club and the Great Island Sailing Club, after a split over ‘differences of attitude and opinion’ as they were described, which occurred due to difficulties in the development of the club’s marina at Whitepoint, just outside the town.

As a result, members who left Cove SC in 2018 set up Great Island Sailing Club to protect and continue, they said, sailing in Cobh. (The club name is spelt differently from the town name).

As the marina project as being progressing satisfactorily and now installation is underway, negotiations between the clubs have been going on. With a positive outcome, Great Island Sailing Club held an EGM to discuss re-joining Cove Sailing Club and a motion to do so was passed unanimously.

“We are looking forward to having a stronger bigger club in Cork Harbour and are very excited with plans for the 2020 season,” said Johanna Murphy, GISC’s Commodore. She confirmed that GISC no longer exists and its members have rejoined Cove SC.

A joint statement from the two clubs said that Cove SC, which celebrated its centenary last year, will continue the Cork Harbour Combined League, which GISC was instrumental in initiating for Cruisers along with the RCYC and Monkstown Bay SC. The Cork Harbour to Dunmore East Race, which was inaugurated last year, will be run by Cove SC at the end of May. It will also be running club events such as the Cove at Home, Cobh People’s Regatta and the Cobh to Blackrock Race.

“The rejuvenated evening dinghy racing will continue this year on Wednesdays throughout the summer as well as the continuation of junior dinghy training. We are also pleased to be hosting the finish of the Dun Laoghaire to Cobh Race (formerly known as the Kingstown-to-Queenstown Race) in association with the National Yacht Club,” said the statement.

Johanna Murphy will continue as Commodore of the South Coast Offshore Racing Association. She is also a member of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association’s board and has been appointed to the Cruiser committee of Cove SC.

On my podcast this week I’m joined by Damian Ahern from Cove Sailing Club’s Committee and who is also a member of their Asset Management Team which is overseeing the new marina installation and other projects within the club. We discuss these developments.

• Listen to the Podcast below.

A new lecture series in the run-up to the Cobh Traditional Sail Regatta kicks off next week at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh with a talk on the key role of marine pilots in busy city docks.

Port of Cork pilot Tony Mulcahy will give his lecture on ‘Berthing a City’ next Thursday 5 March at 7.30pm.

And a forthright later, Ronan O’Connor of Ardmore Adventures will talk ‘Paddles & Penguins: Kayaking South Georgia’ on Thursday 19 March from 7.30pm.

Admission for each lecture is only €5.

Cove Sailing Club in Cork Harbour has expressed excitement at progress being made on its new marina.

Planning approval was granted this past May for the marina at Whitepoint, scaled down from a larger scheme that faltered in the planning stages some years ago.

Contracts were signed last month for the 30-berth facility designed by Byrne Looby from their Cork office.

And construction began at the end of October, with the breakwaters recently cast across the water at Ringaskiddy.

“This is a huge step forward in the overall development process and it’s great to see the project progressing and coming together,” said the club, which expects the marina to be completed and open well in advance of the 2020 sailing season.

Richard Marshall, Anne Ahern, Micheál O’Driscoll and Damian Ahern, committee members of Cove Sailing Club, with Paul Murphy of Byrne Looby and local councillor Cathal Rasmussen | Photo: Colm McDonagh

Speaking at the contract signing last month, Kieran Dorgan, Commodore of Cove Sailing Club, said the new marina would provide state-of-the-art facilities year-round and accommodate both locals and visitors.

This week Cove Sailing Club celebrated its centenary with a gala dinner in the town’s Commodore Hotel, as reported on Afloat.ie yesterday.

Sailing has its ‘ups-and-downs’ and a hundred years brings many changes as the years roll by, both good times and those that are more difficult.

Sailing in the Cork Harbour town of Cobh has experienced this, an experience which underlines that history repeats itself. There were once two sailing clubs in the town, then there was one, now there are two again.

That there are two is the result of difficulties which set back what had been the main club as it approached its centenary. Problems for Cove Sailing Club emanated from the decision to provide a much-needed marina on the town’s seafront when financial problems led to difficulties that had to be dealt with and there was movement away of members who felt more concentration was needed on sailing and founded the Great Island Sailing Club. That was the motivating force behind the foundation of the Cork Harbour Combined Clubs League, which is in its second pretty successful year.

Cove Sailing Club’s Commodore Kieran Dorgan launches the centenary programme Photo: Bob Bateman

Positive things can happen from problems and this was the approach taken by Cove Sailing Club’s Commodore Kieran Dorgan when I spoke to him about the future for the club: “Sailing is back, we worked through our difficulties and now we’re driving on.”

"There were once two sailing clubs in the town, then there was one, now there are two again"

The club’s committee view is that “the next few years provide an opportunity to put sailing in Cobh firmly on the map and we plan to work closely with other clubs within the harbour to adapt to the challenges of encouraging new boat ownership and participation in sailing.”

This is the centenary year of Cove SC and the positive approach has been marked by getting planning approval and financial backing for the marina at Whitepoint which had been at the source of its difficulties.

So, when I spoke to Commodore Dorgan for the Podcast, he first recalled that this is not the only time when there have been two sailing clubs in Cobh.

Listen to the podcast below