Last night (Thursday), south Dublin harbours at Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey were subject to the force of big waves as gale-force north-easterly winds hit 40 mph on Dublin Bay. 

Overtopping occurred in Coliemore Harbour in Dalkey Sound, leaving moored rowing boats taking on water.

The conditions have led to the cancellation of tonight's ISORA night race from Dun Laoghaire, organised by the National Yacht Club.

Waves overtop Coliemore Harbour at Dalkey on Dublin Bay 

According to forecasters, the strong winds are set to continue on Friday, and Met Eireann has a small craft warning in place.

The big seas off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Thursday evening Photo: Afloat

The forecast for Irish coastal waters from Belfast Lough to Wicklow Head to Roches Point and the Irish Sea is for northerly force 6 or 7 and gusty. Decreasing northwest force 5 or 6 imminent. Further decreasing west to northwest force 3 or 4 later.

This morning off Dun Laoghaire winds had abated and with a much calmer sea state, the cruise liner Regal Princess arrived on schedule. Live Dublin webcams here

While most of the population looked forward to this weekend's forecast good weather, Ireland's cruiser-racer sailors had mixed feelings. For the projections for Day One (Friday) highlighted the possibility of calm in Dublin Bay. This was the situation as the centre of the dominating high pressure area moved steadily but slowly towards the northeast close to the north of us, tracking along the Hills of Oriel, and then out over the Irish Sea at Clogherhead, whence it went on towards the Isle of Man.

At the island, it stopped for a few hours in the afternoon and evening before being run out of town, and sent on its way to north England's Lake District and beyond.

Meanwhile to the south of it, the predicted wind arrows for Dublin Bay - mostly between east and northeast - were not showing much enthusiasm. Indeed, it seemed like a case of Workshy Friday Syndrome. So when the early morning revealed an onshore if ultra-light breezes, we wondered if the absolute dog end of August is too late for sea breezes to develop with any power, or might it just do the business?

Living history. Hal Sisk's restored Knud Reimers-designed 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Marian Maid was built for his father John Sisk in his own Dalkey Yachtyard in 1954. Photo: Afloat.ie

Happily, the pessimists were wrong. They – that is, onshore sea breezes or something very like them – developed nicely from the northeast to provide what others might well call champagne sailing, even if we wouldn't dream of using that hackneyed phrase ourselves.

TWO RACES COMPLETED AT CIVILISED TIME

Regardless of what was happening to individual boats, the first day of the UNIO ICRA Nationals 2024 on Dublin Bay from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire was as pleasant sailing as we've had all year. With two races completed at a civilised time with the Race Officers Michael Tyrrell and Eddie Totterdell and their teams notching a clean set of results, a bit of relaxation would be in order were they not busy looking at refinements for Saturday.

In theory it should bring stronger breezes from the southeast as the High Pressure continues to move slowly away and a spot of weather develops in the Atlantic, but nothing is certain in this world.

Chris Johnston's Beneteau 31.7 Prospect has emerged from the first day's racing leading the class. Photo: Afloat.ie

CLASS 0

As it is, there was a touch of David and Goliath in the Cruiser 0 results, as in the first race in which Pete Smyth's Ker 46 took clear line honours, next down the fleet David Maguire's Cape 31 Valkyrie nipped across the finish line just seven seconds ahead of the Biggs/Cullen team in the comparatively majestic First 50 Checkmate XX.

VALENTINA AND IMPETUOUS SQUARE UP

Perhaps it's timely to remember that in the original story, it was David who smote Goliath big time. But either way, it shows there was enough bite in the breeze to make the uber-comfortable Checkmate XX a performer, such that at the end of the day the IRC battle was between Johnny Treanor's J/112e Valentina on 1,2 with the Welsh Corby 33 Impetuous second on 3,1 and Checkmate in the picture third OA with 2,6.

Johnny & Suzy Murphy's defending champion, the J/109 Outrajeous, has been making a strong defence with a youthful crew. Photo: Afloat.ie

CLASS 1

There's no escaping the reality – it's those pesky J/109s every which way in Cruisers 1. Barry Cunningham's Chimaera has been having a good year of it, and shows no sign of slackening the pace with a first and third on opening day, though challenged by overall defending champion Outrajeous which clocked a couple of seconds while John Maybury's Joker II with The Presence on board logged two thirds to lie third OA.

WALL-TO-WALL J/109s

It's of interest to note that overall on IRC it's wall-to-wall J/109s all the way down to sixth place, and here it's another J Boat, Mike & Richie Evans' J/99 Snapshot, which pops up to keep an X boat, Colin Byrne's Bon Exemple, back in seventh.

CLASS 2

Here be Classic Half Tonners. Or rather, here should be Half Tonners, but the Cork/Fingal Too Farr is sitting it out in order to pile the Lusk talent into the Kelly family's J/109 Storm, and so James Dwyer's legendary Swuzzlebubble from Cork is out on her own.

Classic Half Tonners set the style and pace in Cruisers 2. Photo: Afloat.ie

Or she would be, had not Crazy Diamond - Frank Whelan's other boat from Greystones – made a good debut with line honours in the first race. But when the numbers were crunched it was Nico Gore-Grimes' veteran X boat Dux from which took it on corrected time, with Swuzzlebubble second. In the second race, The Bubble reinforced this with a win, and concluded Day One on first OA with a 2,1 while Stephen Quinn's J/97 Lambay Rules (HYC) is second on 5,2 and Dux is third on 1,8.

CLASS 3

It's odd that somehow we don't think of the veteran J/24 as being part of the modern J/Boat family, yet she's the granny of them all. Wicklow is developing a gra for them, and it has had a real boost with WSC's Haughton, Flood, Heather & Kinnane team emerging from the first day of the ICRA Nats with their J/24 Jupiter leading Cruisers 3 after logging a 1,2.

The Cobh Mafia are getting to grips with campaigning the Classic Quarter Tonner Snoopy. Photo: Afloat.ie

Another veteran boat, Stephen Mullaney's Sigma 33 Insider from Howth, also did the business with a 4,1 to make second overall, while the Quarter Tonner Snoopy, now Cork Harbour-based and campaigned by the mysterious Snoopy Race team from Cobh, provides a healthy spread of results across disparate sailing centres to be third OA on 3,3.

CLASS 4 (Non-Spin)

Colm Bermingham's Elan 333 Bite the Bullet from Howth is making something of a career these days out of doing well in races where coloured sails forward of the mast do not feature, and he did it agin in Dublin Bay with a 2,1 in Class 4, with clubmate Splashdance, a Dufour 40, taking 1 and 2.

Colm Bermingham's Elan 333 Bite the Bullet from Howth Photo: Afloat.ie

BENETEAU 31.7

The substantial flotilla of Beneteau 31.7s in Dun Laoghaire will have thanked their lucky stars that they decided to throw in their lot with the ICRA Nats for their annual championship, as everything is set up for them on the water such all they've had to do is add boats and crew, and the sunshine comes free.

David and Goliath scenario – David Maguire's Cape 3l Valkyrie comes to the mark just clear of the First 50 Checkmate XX. Photo: Afloat.ie

Chris Johnston with Prospect put his mark on it from the off, winning the first race and notching third in the second. In the latter, Michael Bryson with Bluefin Two secured the win, but his first race was less assured with a fourth, and consequently, Prospect leads OA, with Bluefin second Michael Blaney's After You Too ditto second, but back in third on the usual formula, which has an element of the consultation of chicken entrails in it, but so be it.

TGIF AFLOAT

So there they all were, TGIF and a wonderful summer day's racing carved out of an unlikely time of the year. Only a week ago, the International Dragons were battling early inset Autumn on exactly the same waters. Day One of the UNIO ICRA Nats 2024 has been a real community tonic.

"Just add celebrating sailors". A mood of anticipation around the deserted Royal Irish Yacht Club when the hundreds of sailors are at sea. Photo: Afloat.ie

But why has it been such a balm for Ireland's bruised sailors? After all, while the summer of 2024 where has been less than ideal for the good reason that the particularly noxious weather periods seemed to coincide with major events, at least there was enough wind to get the programmes completed, and there has been some great racing.

WE ARE ALL AFFECTED BY INTERNATIONAL SAILING SETBACKS

However, in this age of global sailing communication, we are all affected – worldwide and likewise in Ireland – by major setbacks to our sport in every part of its diverse aspects. Some highly specialised or narrow-interest sailing folk might shrug their shoulders and say some negative event in another form of sailing and yachting elsewhere "Doesn't affect me, mate", but they're deluding themselves and fooling few others.

For in global terms, sailing folk are a tiny minority of the population, and the general perception is of us all sharing any setback, however remote we personally may like to think ourselves to be. And the reality is that August 2024 has been a very poor month indeed for glossing up sailing's world image.

NEGATIVITY TOWARDS MARSEILLE

Thus the Sailing Olympics at Marseilles provided a mostly negative picture. After all, this was very much the Paris Olympics 2024, and as far as the general media was concerned, Marseille was just a footnote, both geographically and image-wise. The main scene of the action in Paris was so compellingly televisual and so completely dominated by stadium events that the sailing seemed to be stuck into any report at the very end.

SHORT COURSES

And in a hurry too, once they'd made contact with the deep south and found there'd been no racing because there was no wind. Yet even when there was racing, it might have been over courses so short that they could retain public interest, but genuine sailors thought this extreme shortness so total that it was plain silly.

THE HOODOO OF THE MEDALS RACE

On top of that, Ireland's Olympic sailors seem to be great starters in any international series, but less confident finishers. This mindset is exacerbated by concluding the Olympics with the double scoring Medals Race. The format of the Medals Race – introduced in 2008 when the main games were in Beijing and the sailing was at Qingdao – might have been specifically devised as a particularly exquisite form of torture for the Irish mindset.

It was only after Annalise Murphy did some very focused training on this "Medals Race Mindset", after slipping to fourth in the Olympic scoreline in the 2012 Games, that it showed to the good in Rio 2016.

Annalise Murphy with her Silver Medal in 2016, after turning the problem of the double-scoring medals race into an opportunity

Annalise is getting married today, and all Ireland's sailors and many others wish her well as we very happily recall that 2016 Medals Race. Going into it, most folk thought it was a real problem to be faced, but she turned it into an opportunity, moving with one mighty leap from being a challenged Bronze Medal hopeful into a triumphant Silver Medallist.

SHOULD WE REVERSE OLYMPIC TRAINING?

Thus might we suggest that all Irish Olympic Sailing training from now on be done back-to-front, starting with discerning those who have the right mental structures to be strengthened towards a winning performance under the extreme pressures of a Medals Race.

All of which assumes that there will be any sailing events in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. We wrote last week of the dogs barking as the caravan of global sailing interest moved on from Marseille towards the America's Cup in Barcelona, but since then the barking dogs within Olympic sailing have been oddly silent.

KEEPING SAILING IN THE OLYMPICS

For it may well be that the only thing that keeps the sailing in the 2028 Olympics is the fact that Los Angeles is a coastal city with sailing possible on the sea as required, and immediately off the town as well. Then too, Los Angeles 1984 was the last time any hosting city showed a clear profit on staging the Olympics.

Our Man on the Coast – Los Angeles YC Commodore Ken Corry (originally from Cork) welcoming sailing folk from several places with (left to right) Ken's mother Sheila, Ron Holland down from Vancouver, Ken himself, and Ron Holland's daughter Kelly

On top of that, the mighty Los Angeles Yacht Club currently has Ken Corry - originally from Cork - as its Commodore, so its sailing heart is in the right place. And if we need dogs barking the right way, Snoop Dogg's 2028 Olympics support gives the LA barking some real heft, and it's encouraging to note he and his family take their few holidays on yachts. So Los Angeles's enthusiasm for hosting sailing in 2028 may well be a factor in its retention for another four years.

Outside the Olympic bubble, another encouragement as August came in was the class victory in Cowes Week of the Jones family's J/122 Jellybaby from Cork, a clearcut win with which all club sailors could identify.

A success we can share – Jellybaby on her way to victory at Cowes Week 2024

Yet no sooner had the Olympics gone off the screen that our interests took another mighty blow with the horror sinking of the super-yacht Bayesian. We might be judged wanting in simple humanity in trying to look beyond the utter horror of this tragedy, which is still difficult - if not impossible - to grasp.

Beyond comprehension – the sudden sinking of the Bayesian may have technical explanations, but the reality of it all is almost impossible to grasp

But the fact is that however remote your average Irish sailor may be from the world of ultra-super-yachts, we can grasp the salient points of this disaster and its human meaning more readily than most. And once the word got out that the big boat was kept stable for sailing by an enormous and hugely heavy lifting keel, the though that it may not have been deployed made a sense of the sinking which sailors now appreciate more than most.

Again, if you think it has nothing to do with you, you must have the hide of a rhinoceros, and good luck to you. But at its most crude, the sinking of Bayesian has to be seen as a bruising setback for sailing in its broadest sense.

FIGARO FINISH FARCE

Thus as the approach of the finish at Giijon in Spain of the long leg of the 2024 Figaro Solo series during this past week approached, the news that Tom Dolan was in with better than a shout of a Stage Win was something to be cherished. Then all the leaders concertinaed together in a flat patch five miles from the finish.

Tom Dolan in action. Photo: Afloat.ie

How can you explain to a non-sailor (or indeed a potential sponsor) that a 617 sea miles race effectively re-starts with the finishing line in sight because the motive power for the whole thing takes a day off, with Ireland's genuine and well-earned hope of a win suddenly slipping to ninth? It's not a good look for the promotion of sport as a whole.

SEEKING GOOD NEWS THROUGH AUGUST

So we have stumbled on through August grasping at any straw of sailing feel-good facts, and secretly hoping that there might be a last gasp of summer for the ICRA Nats. It seems to have come to pass. But in our sailing worldview from Ireland, we have to use it to offset more bad news on the global stage.

For last Thursday was when the 37th America's Cup – dating from 1851 and the world's oldest international sporting fixture – got going at full power off Barcelona. The first day's sailing was a success, but it almost immediately went pear-shaped shoreside.

GOOD AFLOAT, NIGHTMARE ASHORE

The reality is that the better an ultra-modern sailing machine is in the challenging of attaining more speed on the water, then the more difficult it is to move that same machine ashore. And the ludicrously expensive America's Cup machines are absolutely tops in difficult shoreside handling.

Thus when news came back of a power failure to the lifting crane for the New Zealand boat as it was being lowered into its cradle, there was only one brutal question: How far?

The 2024 America's Cup boat. They look very odd, they're difficult to handle ashore, but they sail very fast.

NO HIGHLY-TUNED STRUCTURE COULD SURVIVE BEING DROPPED 22 FEET

The answer is 7 metres. So in writing this on Friday afternoon as we await further good news of quality racing from the ICRA Nats, we're going to stick our neck out and say the New Zealand boat may be a write-off.

For if its hull is capable of surviving in a re-buildable form after being dropped 22 feet onto relatively small and localized cradle supports, then that hull was grossly over-built in the first place, and that is clearly not the case.

EVIL GENIUS?

The America's Cup 2024 without New Zealand competing in top order is Hamlet without the Prince. If somebody was looking to sabotage the 37th America's Cup in Barcelona, then it has to be said that they've displayed evil genius in doing it by clicking a switch.

So to offset that, we need as much good news as we can get from the UNIO ICRA Nats 2024, and Friday August 30th has done that in style.

See day one results below

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) welcomed the newest addition to its fleet as the white-hulled catamaran, 'Corinthian,' was officially named in a special ceremony held at the National Yacht Club on Dun Laoghaire's East Pier.

The naming ceremony took place before the final race of the AIB DBSC Summer season began.

This new vessel, which arrived in July, marks a significant milestone as it arrived during the club's 140th anniversary year, signifying a new chapter in the club's rich history of providing year-round fixtures for a fleet of over 200 racing yachts on the capital's waters.

New Committee Vessel 'Corinthian,' was officially named in a special ceremony held alongside at the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire Photo: Michael Chester

DBSC Commodore Ed Totterdell commended the club team's exceptional effort in designing, specifying, and building the purpose-built catamaran. He expressed his pride in Corinthian, stating, "I believe Corinthian is the finest committee boat in the bay, if not the entire island. Not only that, but she came in on budget!" 

Supporters, well-wishers, and sponsors gathered to celebrate the launch of Corinthian ahead of 2024's final Thursday night race Photo: Michael Chester

The vessel, following in the wake of its predecessors, Freebird and MacLir, is expected to continue the tradition of delivering world-class racing, with Lady Commodore Dara Totterdell blessing 'Corinthian' by smashing a bottle of champagne on its bow during the naming ceremony.

Following a seafaring tradition DBSC Lady Commodore Dara Totterdell blessed 'Corinthian' by smashing a bottle of champagne on its bow Photo: Michael Chester 

Supporters, well-wishers, and sponsors gathered to celebrate the launch, expressing their enthusiasm for the arrival of the new vessel, which is set to play a crucial role in many races to come.

The 186-ton brigantine Florette made a maiden call to Dun Laoghaire on Wednesday evening (August 7th) and anchored off the town's East Pier in Scotsman's Bay.

Built by the renowned Picchiotti shipyard in Italy, 28-metre Florette holds a special place in the seafaring world and has been exploring the oceans since 1921.

Sailed by the Haynes family since 1978, the Florette offers a wide range of activities and, according to the ship's website here 'embodies the timeless allure and adventurous spirit of the Mediterranean'.

According to the Venturesail website, the ship is currently sailing from Scotland to the coast of Spain via Ireland. The voyage began on August 3rd and is expected to take 15 days.

As she was built to carry over 200 tons of marble deep sea, her construction is twice as strong as compared to a normal ship of her size. She is constructed with double oak frames and up to 13 metres long, 14 cm thick ironwood planks (azobe). Her topsides are built in mahogany.

While Thursday, August 8th has had a misty start on Dublin Bay, Florette is visible on the live webcams here

If Dublin Bay sailors spot some unusual movement on the Poolbeg chimneys in the next few weeks, it’s all for the love of aesthetics and maintenance.

The ESB says that painting of the upper 100m of both chimneys is due to begin in August, weather permitting.

This will follow completion of a “full condition survey of the structures”, it says.

The two chimneys are no longer in use since the decommissioning of the oil power station at Poolbeg over 15 years ago.

However, they remain a part of ESB’s Poolbeg energy hub, where the company says that some of the latest technologies will be deployed to support the future delivery of renewable energy.

The technologies relate to batteries, green hydrogen and offshore wind, it says.

ESB Executive Director, Generation and Trading, Jim Dollard said the company was “delighted to announce our plans to repaint the Poolbeg chimneys which were previously a part of the site’s oil power station”.

“While they are no longer in use, the Poolbeg chimneys remain a well-known landmark for so many people and one of the most recognisable structures in Dublin,”he said.

The repainting of chimneys’ red and white bands will continue through September 2024.

“All works on the lower parts of the chimneys will take place in late spring 2025 once the weather improves after winter,”the ESB says.

In recent years, a maintenance programme has been implemented which has included chimney inspections, placing caps on the tops of both chimneys to minimise water ingress, and detailed engineering assessments of the foundations.

ESB “will continue to work closely with Dublin City Council and other local stakeholders in relation to all future developments at Poolbeg, including the chimneys,”it says.

The Poolbeg peninsula has been a key strategic site for the nation’s energy since electricity was first generated from coal at the Pidgeon House station in 1902, with ESB stations in later decades running on oil and gas.

The energy company says the site is “set to play an important role in the delivery of ESB’s Net Zero by 2040 strategy as well as facilitating Ireland meeting its emissions reduction targets”.

No sooner than a superyacht departed, another exotic pleasure craft arrived this weekend at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

As Afloat reported, the 45-metre Gitana anchored off Dun Laoghaire on Saturday evening (July 20) before her onward journey to Scotland. Early the next morning, Dublin Bay welcomed the new arrival of Sea Tilt to the Irish capital's waters. 

The bronze-hulled 22-metre long Gunboat 68 catamaran, designed for high-performance cruising, sailed into Dun Laoghaire and berthed at the town's marina. 

The Gunboat 68 is the first model (built in 2020) to launch from French manufacturer Grand Large Yachting, new owners of the famous performance multihull brand.

In last weekend's Sailing on Saturday (July 13th) we tried to interweave the story of offshore racing development with the long history of racing offshore along the 160 miles from Dublin Bay to Cork. It's an event which has been far from annual, or even biennial. But its intermittent stagings go all the way back to 1860, making it arguably the first recognisably modern offshore race.

Yet in doing so we failed to mention a significant staging of the race in August 1946, perhaps because it was hidden in plain sight. It was regularly observable somewhere on a wall in a framed photo, and is recounted at length in W M Nixon's To Sail The Crested Sea, which was published in 1979 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Irish Cruising Club.

MALACHY HYNES REMEMBERED

Fortunately Peter Ryan spotted the omission, and this glorious image of 1946 popped up on our screen here, living history from days almost beyond recall. It's an Irish Press photo of the era when newspapers had a tidy sideline in selling full-plate prints of their published photos, and we'd guess it is by Malachy Hynes, a polymath whose paying job was as a photographer to the long-gone Irish Press Group, with one of his particular enthusiasms being sailing images.

They're now of great historical value, but alas, it's feared all his negatives are long since lost. So if you have an inherited Irish Press sailing photo on the wall in the downstairs loo, then cherish it (the photo, that is).

Back in 1979, you could run acres of demanding-to-digest print without sub-titles, so here (with health warning for readers of short attention spans) is the story of the 1946 Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race as scanned in three parts from To Sail The Crested Sea. The book title was taken from a free-form re-interpretation and translation by James Clarence Mangan of an exultation from St Columba in 693AD, which most likely emerged when the saintly sailor has a fair wind, a safe offing from the coast, and a spot of sunshine:

"What joy to sail the crested sea,
And watch the waves
Beat white upon the Irish shore"

THE STORY FROM 1946

THE SCENE OF 1946

So why has all that apparently been forgotten? This special race when a crowd of sorts really did turn up to watch the start? Well, 1946 was a sort of post-war bounce time. There were very few new boats, such that offshore racing pioneer John Illingworth (who - as revealed above – had sold his pre-war mount Maid of Malham to Bridget Livingstone) was only able to get construction of his new all-conquering Myth of Malham underway with Hugh McLean on the Clyde by buying an ancient Int. 8 Metre, and telling officialdom the old boat was being repaired and restored and would be re-named Myth of Malham when the job was done.

In Ireland Skinner's of Baltimore had a couple of 16-ton ketches to John Kearney's design in build as a speculative venture for James Faulkner of Belfast Lough, but generally things were slow, and in Ireland in particular they got even slower, even if – as we shall see in Sailing on Saturday on July 27th – there was a burst of Olympic energy in 1948.

But in 1946, well-stored newer boats from the 1930s were soon made ready to go. And the story of the Dutch boat Groen Loew, built in wartime secrecy under a railway arch, is something which somebody will perhaps investigate further.

THE TWICE-BUILT BOAT

Then too the two Colonels are worth a mention – Blondie Hasler racing a 30 Square Metre with success offshore was something of a sensation on the immediate post-war scene, while Colonel Hollwey's handsome 14-ton ketch Viking O was known in her home port of Dun Laoghaire as "the twice-built boat'.

Her notably-determined owner had commissioned her in 1936 from highly-regarded Swedish builders, but when he sent his own surveyor unannounced the remote yard to see how things were getting on at a late stage of the building, not all was as it should have been. So the Colonel insisted they start completely anew, and for years a rejected and heavily-discounted semi-sister of Viking O sailed in Swedish waters, while the real one sailed in style from Dublin Bay.

As for Miss V Douglas, mentioned as being "Samson" aboard John Kearney's Mavis in the closing lines, she'd become John Kearney's crewmate and housekeeper after she and Daphne French joined Skipper Kearney in Dunmore East in September 1944 to help him get Mavis home to Dun Laoghaire. Thereafter, she kept him in such good shape that he was designing boats well into his eighties, and lived to 88. And until Mavis left Dun Laoghaire in 1952, Samson was more often at the helm than the skipper himself.

Mavis waiting for the Saturday afternoon sea breeze in Dun Laoghaire in 1950, with Skipper Kearney in the companionway and Miss Douglas – aka Samson – already at the helm. Photo: Dick Scott

The idea of an offshore race from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour around the middle of July seems a no-brainer when you look at how sailing types spend their summers. Many cruiser-racers appear to move along that Leinster-to-Munster axis around this period of the summer almost of their own volition. Yet it has taken time for the K2Q sprint to gain a secure place in the sailing consciousness.

We can say "it has taken time" with heartfelt meaning. For as everyone now knows, it goes back to 1860. And for 1861 and 1862, the idea was repeated, using the form in which it was originally promoted in 1860 by the remarkable 80-year-old Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Thomas G French of Cuskinny House on the Cobh side of the harbour.

As his club was a world leader in terms of antiquity with its foundation date of 1720, in his gentlemanly way he may not have thought that some thrusting newer people might try to kidnap his cherished idea. Yet they did. But either way, by the 1870s Cork was going through a bit of an economic recession, whereas Liverpool on the Irish Sea was basking in the benefits of its period of wealth.

FOCUS SHIFTS TO IRISH SEA

Thus the offshore racing powerline shifted to Royal Alfred YC and Royal Dee YC cross-channel "matches" from Dublin Bay to North Wales from the 1870s onwards, although one other Dublin Bay to Cork race was sailed in 1888. But while the great Harry Donegan reminded everyone of the pioneering Cork spirit when he campaigned his 17-ton cutter Gull to third place in the first Fastnet Race of 1925, he went to start and finish at English ports in order to do so.

Harry Donegan's Gull from Cork, a Charles E Nicholson design of 1898. For twenty years in his ownership from 1921 to 1940, she competed to third place in the first Fastnet Race of 1925, took part in the founding cruise of the Irish Cruising Club to Glengarriff in 1929, and sailed in the revival of the Dublin Bay to Cork Race in 1937. Photo: RCYC

REVIVAL OF DUBLIN TO CORK IN 1937

Yet by 1937, the 1929-founded Irish Cruising Club felt confident enough to promote a well-supported Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race. And Gull under the command of Harry Donegan Jnr was leader coming in towards the finish. But in trying the make the historic finish line at Cobh in light airs, she came gently to a stop on the Spit Bank. And there she sat for most of a tidal cycle, while in time the line honours were taken by John Kearney's Mavis from Dun Laoghaire, and the handicap win was taken by the new Scandinavian designed-and-built 6-ton Bermudan sloop Curlew, owned and skippered by Francis Cobbe of Malahide.

RORC ON BOARD IN 1963

But after World War II of 1939-45, the Royal Ocean Racing Club was increasingly recognised as the reference point for signature events, and the powerful duo of Douglas Heard and Rory O'Hanlon of the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire signed them up as co-organisers for a 200-mile race in the Irish Sea in 1963. It started and finished with the RStGYC in Dun Laoghaire, and the winner in tough conditions was Stephen O'Mara's Dublin Bay 24 Fenestra (RIYC), skippered by Arthur Odbert.

John McConnell's robust cutter Susannah (NYC) comes in past Roche's Point lighthouse to win the 1964 RORC Beaumaris-Cork Race. Photo: Examiner

Then in 1964 the Royal Anglesey YC in Beaumaris in northeast Anglesey reeled in the RORC for a revival of sorts of the Irish Sea Race to Cork, and this time the winner – with the finish at the entrance to Cork Harbour rather than off Cobh - was the hefty performance cruiser Susannah, owned and skippered by John McConnell of the National YC, where he was to be Commodore from 1965 to 1969.

The Beaumaris-Cork Harbour format was re-used under the RORC administration again in 1966. In ultra-summery weather, the two International 8 Metre Cruiser/Racers from Howth, Johnny Pearson's Orana and Ross Courtney's Fionnuala, reckoned to get help from the night breeze off the land close along the Wexford coast. And they did so, to such good effect that they were clear first and second overall.

The Sisk brothers and the crew of Sarnia after their win in 1970

This Irish Sea dominance of the top finishing slots was slightly dented by the RORC race of 1970, as it was won by the Sisk brothers with their Cork connections saiing the S&S 36 Sarnia. Yet in reality, Sarnia was Dun Laoghaire-based, with an all Ireland crew. But as the 1970s drew on, any racing towards Cork from any port was increasingly Crosshaven-dominated on the leaderboard by the likes of Archie O'Leary's Irish Mist II, Denis Doyle's Moondusters, and Clayton Love's Assiduous.

The summer of 1975, when Crosshaven still awaited much of the development that is now integral to its many facilities. Dried out alongside the pier in traditional style is Otto Glaser's McGruer 47 Tritsch-Tratsch II, and moored off are Archie O'Leary's Holland 40 Irish Mist II, Clayton Love's Swan 44 Assiduous, and Denis Doyle's blue S&S 47 Moonduster of 1973 vintage. Photo: W M Nixon

With this more recent history, we watch the current edition of the "Great Ocean Race" with fascination, as the strong contingent from Cork have much to live up to. And those of us who remember when Imp was the hottest new boat on the ocean now have to accustom ourselves to the fact that a George Radley of Cobh – having won the trophy for the oldest boat in the 2024 Round Ireland race which he also won overall back in 2000 - is now in line for the same honour in the race to Cork.

FINISH AT ENTRNCE TO CORK HARBOUR

But much and all as Imp's skipper would enjoy finishing close off the waterfront of his home place, the result of the race in times past has so often been determined by luck – or the lack of it – in the final stages within Cork Harbour that the organisers of ISORA and SCORA - co-ordinated by former NYC Commodore Peter Ryan - have deemed it sensible to finish in the Cork Harbour entrance, just north of Roche's Point.

GETTING THE FLEET TO CORK

Then too, where the original race of 1860 was made possible by the assembly beforehand of a fleet for a week of racing in Dublin Bay, this time round – 164 years later - the purpose is to encourage boats to the South Coast and Cork Harbour for Volvo Cork Week.

They won't have finished when this latest issue of Sailing on Saturday is first posted. So in recognition of those who kept the spirit of sailing going through the Covid Lockdown with the Fastnet 450 (when it was just about the only form of sailing possible) we revive the spirit of the 1860 race:

THE GREAT RACE

In 1860, the Royal St George Yacht Club on Dublin Bay organised a week of regattas in early July, and the Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the remarkable Thomas G French of Cuskinny in Cobh – and still going strong at the age of 80 years - saw an opportunity for implementing his long-held dream of a distance race from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour.

But instead of having a great blaring of publicity beforehand for this then-novel idea, he quietly circulated the idea in what we now think of as pop-up style among those owners and skipper – they came from many parts of Ireland and from England too – in the days before the week in Dublin Bay. And during the course of the regatta socialising ashore, he continued to quietly press the idea.

Destination for July 1860….the members of the Royal Cork YC at Cobh (now the Sirius Arts Centre) expected to be able to witness the finish of the race from Dublin Bay close at hand and in comfort, regardless of the flukey winds sometimes found within Cork Harbour.

SIXTEEN ENTRIES TO RACE 160 MILES

After the regattas had concluded, no less than 16 boats – of very varied size and type – had accepted Admiral French's challenge of racing the 160 miles to Cork, and it started on the morning of July 14th. But it was still very informal, with those definite entries only being finally firmed up on the morning of the race as the Admiral visited each boat in turn as they lay anchored, and personally collected the entry fees based on boat size, while wishing owners and crews the very best of luck and encouragement.

That year, Admiral French didn't sail the race himself, as he wanted to get to Cobh to be sure the Royal Cork YC in its impressive 1854-completed premises was ready to receive the finishing fleet in appropriate style. It was an overland journey which in itself must have been quite an effort for an 80-year-old, as the railway system wasn't to be extended to the Queenstown waterfront until 1862.

Printed version of the entry list for the first race of 1860 as it appeared in H P F Donegan's History of Yachting in the South of Ireland, published 1908. Sir John Arnott certainly hedged his bets – he had two entries, and one of them, Sibyl helmed by the amateur Capt. Henry O'Bryen, was the winner

The Entry List for the second race of 1861 was still very much an ad hoc affair, with RCYC Admiral Thomas French encouragingly visiting each boat pre-start in Kingstown, confirming their entry and the fee paid on this list believed to be written in his own hand. He also competed personally in this second race – aged 81 – with his 61-tonnner Spell (top of list). Image courtesy RCYC

Before travelling back to Cork, the Admiral supervised the start of the first race and saw it well on its way. Much of it was sailed in rugged windward conditions, but light airs prevailed at the finish off the Cobh waterfront for a real knife-edge conclusion, with Sir John Arnott's 39-ton cutter Sybil – designed and built on Cork Harbour by Joseph Wheeler of Lower Glanmire – winning line honours and the race by three minutes from J.W.Cannon's 40-ton cutter Peri, with Cooper Penrose's 90-ton schooner Kingfisher another two minutes astern of Peri.

AMATEUR ACE

Sybil was skippered by the amateur ace Captain Henry O'Bryen, who had reputedly relinquished the helm for a total of only one hour during the race, a triumph for Corinthianism before it had became profitable or popular, if we may mix metaphors for a moment.

The hand-written Start Instructions for 1860 were also on a "make it up as you go along" basis. It reads: "Ocean Race. A flag boat will be moored off the harbour, and no yacht may pass between her and the Light House on the East Pier until 11 am, when a gun will be fired from "Urania" as the signal for starting. The yachts may lie where they please provided they do not pass between the Light House and flag boat before the gun fires".

You would have thought Admiral French would have received eternal credit and respect for inaugurating this first recognisably modern offshore race. But Sybil's owner Sir John Arnott (1814-1898) was something else, a real go-getting Scottish-born entrepreneur who'd arrived into Cork in 1837 aged 23.

He had immediately launched himself into a sometimes rocky commercial career which at various stages involved heavy investment in department stores in Ireland and Scotland, horse racing both as an owner of thoroughbreds and of noted race courses, steamship companies, railways, and for a while the inevitable newspapers, in his case The Northern Whig in Belfast and The Irish Times in Dublin.

Victorian entrepreneur Sir John Arnott, who had two yachts entered in the first Kingstown to Queenstown Race of 1860.

Arnott was always a man in a hurry, so it's possible that he thought the distinguished flag officers of the Royal Cork were a bit conservative in their management. Thus he was one of a bunch of shaker-uppers who set up a new club in Cobh, the Queenstown Yacht Club, which they cleverly up-graded by taking on the tattered-remains of the old Royal Western of Ireland YC, founded in 1828 in Kilrush by Maurice O'Connell and his nephew Daniel of Derrynane among others, but wandering more or less homeless after the horrors of the Great Famine of 1845-47 had wiped out fripperies like yachting on Ireland's Atlantic seaboard.

After a vague period in Dublin, suddenly the old Royal Western emerged re-born in 1861 in Cobh with Sir John Arnott as Commodore, and Henry O'Bryen – in a shrewd bit of window-dressing worthy of Arnott's at their best - drafted in as Vice Commodore of the Royal Western of Ireland, despite his family's connections with the Royal Cork going back to the original Water Club of 1720.

However, all these seemingly-rebellious Young Turks in the re-born RWIYC had retained their membership of the Royal Cork YC and would in time become part of its establishment lineup, as so often happens. But everything seemed up for grabs in the early 1860s, and though the Kingstown to Queenstown Race was sailed again in 1861, the management at either end was less clear.

THE SECOND K2Q OF 1861

Be that as it may, the 1861 race had started in Dublin Bay on 19th July, and once again mustered 16 starters with the winner being Colonel Huey's slippy 62-ton cutter Osprey, with designer-builder Joseph Wheeler's own 48-tonnner Avalanche having to make do with second despite having led into Cork Harbour in light airs, while E J Saunderson of Lough Erne YC was third with another even smaller and equally slippy craft, the 34-ton cutter Phasma.

Admiral French's own 61-ton yawl Spell took part in this second stahing, but although he was to continue as RCYC Admiral until his death in 1866, he'd already been 77 when he took over as Admiral in 1857, and his enthusiastic promotion of the Kingstown-Queenstown race's first staging in 1860 suggested an old man in a hurry to promote an idea which he'd been carrying for some time.

THE THIRD RACE OF 1862

Certainly at the Kingstown to Queenstown Race's third staging on July 11th 1862, there's a clear impression that others had taken it over, as the host club on Dublin Bay has become the Royal Irish YC from their impressive 1851-completed clubhouse, while the trophy is an expensive bit of silver plate presented by the Royal Western of Ireland YC.

History twice over. The Royal Irish YC hosted the start of the third K2Q in 1862, and berthed off it in this photo is the 70ft Fife cutter Hallowe'en, winner of line honours in the second Fastnet Race of 1926. Photo: W M Nixon

For anyone seeking abstruse historical connections, it's of interest that The Liberator, Daniel O'Connell of Derrynane (1775-1847) had been present at both the foundation of the Royal Western in Kilrush in 1828, and the meeting in Dublin on July 4th 1846 when the 1831-founded Royal Irish YC had been revived.

Meanwhile in 1862, the third Kingstown-Queenstown Race once again attracted 16 starters (though there's no note of any entry limit), and they ranged in size from three 35-ton cutters – Ariadne (G Higgins), Coolan (G Robinson) and Glance (A Duncan) – to two 130-ton schooner, Galatea (T Broadwood) and Georgiana (Capt Smith Barry).

The clear winner was the 50-ton cutter Phosphorous owned by W Turner - who is doubtless immortalized in modern Cork by Turner's Cross - while C J Tennant's 90-ton cutter Clutha was second on the water, but Galatea won the schooners and was reckoned second on handicap.

THE ROYAL WESTERN'S TIME IN COBH

They arrived into the finish at Cobh where the Royal Western of Ireland was now well-established as the second club with premises at Westbourne Place next the Queen's Hotel, and a membership which by 1863 included the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carlisle, as well as Sir Robert Peel, at that time Chief Secretary for Ireland.

So heaven only knows what politicking was going on behind the scenes, for the Royal Cork, still with T G French as Admiral, had been well settled into its purpose-designed new clubhouse in Cobh since 1854, and no-one doubted its claim of seniority in its descent from the Water Club of 1720.

As it happened, 1863 was probably the high point of the RWIYC's time in Cobh, for the rest of the decade saw a period of economic decline, and a Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race wasn't staged again until 1888. While the Royal Cork came through the thin times as it had come through many others, in 1870 the Royal Western of Ireland YC was quietly wound up at Cobh.

ROYAL WESTERN REVIVES WITH KILRUSH MARINA

But in the west of Ireland, and particularly with the Glynn family of Kilrush and the The Knight of Glin across the Shannon Estuary, enough of its memorabilia, artefacts and records survived for yhe Royal Western of Ireand to be revived with the opening of Kilrush Marina, with the club's greatest modern success being Ger O'Rourke's overall victory with the Cookson 50 Chieftain in the RORC Rolex Fastnet Race 2007.

The Royal Western of Ireland lives again – Ger O'Rourke's Cookson 50 Chieftain on her way to winning the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race overall. Photo: Rolex

THE GREAT CONTRIBUTORS TO CORK SAILING

But for now, it is timely to realise that while a readily-inspired club spirit is essential to stories like that of the wonderful sailing in Cork over centuries, it takes determined individuals to give that club spirit a sense of direction. We can think of several who have done so. But with this historic 164-year-old race being sailed again towards today's version of Cork Week, it is behoves us to recognize the exceptional contribution made to the golden thread of Cork sailing history by visionaries like Thomas G French, Harry Donegan and Clayton Love Jnr.

Harry Donegan (1870-1940). His genial appearance was a useful cover for a great and serious determination to promote Cork and Irish sailing. Photo: RCYC

The $250 million megayacht NORN, owned by billionaire Microsoft tech tycoon Charles Simonyi, is visiting Dublin this morning.

The battleship grey-hulled vessel crossed Dublin Bay at 10 am on her way into Dublin Port. 

The brand new NORN is currently sailing under the Cayman Islands flag, the second most popular flag state for superyachts.

The 90-metre yacht has a gross tonnage of 3491.0 GT and a 14.7 m beam.

Dublin Bay’s environment is being polluted by election posters which are up to 30 years old.

As The Irish Times reports, environmentalist Brian Bolger and his son Colm have located many around Bull Island Nature Reserve and Dollymount Strand on the north side of the bay.

Some are up to 30 years old, including one from the long-disbanded Democratic Left political party.

The newspaper reports that University of Galway marine scientist Dr Liam Morrison conducted tests on fragments of some of the posters, made with polypropylene, a water resistant material.

Although it can degrade, Dr Morrison said this type of plastic can break down into microplastics which can be ingested by marine organisms.

“This is just a short stretch of coastline,” Bolger told the newspaper.

“If it’s happening here, it’s happening in beauty spots around the country. In every small town, in every protected piece of coastline.”

Under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, election posters and the cable ties used to hold them up must be removed one week after polling day, which this time around is June 14th.

The newspaper quoted reaction from political parties, including Labour (which has former Democratic Left members) and the Social Democrats, who said they use secure poster materials and had received “no reports of sea or beach pollution”.

Read The Irish Times here