Whilst the major noise surrounding the 2010 Rolex Middle Sea Race will resonate around Esimit Europa 2's anticipated assault on the course record, there is much more to the race than the maxi component. Ireland is to have at least one entry in the form of repeat Dun Laoghaire contender Legally Brunette. 

Cathal Drohan and Paul Egan are the owners of  the Royal St George Yacht Club entry and the X41 will be skippered by Cathal Drohan for the race. The crew for the race are scheduled to be John Hall, Philip Doyle, Matt Patterson, Philip Allen, Susan McGrath, Susan Delany, Anna Egan, Niall O hEalaithe.

The Maltese participation is a crucial element in the success and popularity of the race. After watching foreign yachts secure overall victory in seven out of the eight races so far sponsored by Rolex, there is a feeling amongst the locals that it is time to redress the balance. When the 606-nautical mile race starts on 23 October, there will be a veritable posse of Maltese yachts chasing the seemingly elusive crown.

One of those yachts is even named Elusive II; the weapon of choice for Arthur Podesta, a thirty-time veteran of the race, which is now approaching its 31st edition. Podesta's record is enviable. No other major 600-nm offshore course – Rolex Fastnet, Rolex Sydney-Hobart or Newport-Bermuda – can boast a participant that has competed in every race since its inception. Immensely proud of his continuing achievement, which includes being a three-time winner as crew, Podesta takes nothing for granted and is happy enough to make the start-line each year. Do not confuse that with lack of ambition. Podesta and his crew, which usually has its backbone formed by his three children - Maya, Aaron and Christoph - push as hard as anyone for the win. In 2008, they finished third overall, a mere forty-minutes off the corrected time pace.

Another family affair involves the last Maltese winners and a family name synonymous with the colourful history of Malta's flagship sailing event. In 2002, John Ripard Jr and Andrew Calascione sailed Market Wizard to first overall. This year they are back again, with a neat twist as Ripard explains, "my brother-in-law Andrew Calascione and I will co-skipper Andrew's very recent acquisition Jaru, which is a J-133. We'll have with us a crew comprised almost entirely of direct family, being: my two sons, Sebastian and Thomas; Andrew's two sons, Daniel and Marc; plus, my sister Rachel's son, Luke Scicluna, and, my sister Erika's son, Sam Pizzuto. My father, John Ripard Sr [winner of the inaugural race in 1968], will have six grandchildren on the same boat!" The remaining three crew are Benji Borg, Sebastian Ripard's 49er Olympic campaign partner, John Santy from the UK and an Australian, Jordi Smith.

Another local with an eye on the main prize is Jonas Diamantino embarking on his tenth race and, once again, with Comanche Raider II Gasan Mamo. Diamantino exudes optimism ahead of each race; firmly believing he has the crew and the boat should the conditions favour them. This should not be seen as making excuses ahead of game-time for a poor finish. However good the handicap system, there is always an element of chance that the weather conditions will suit one end of the fleet or the other. That is the accepted nature of long-distance yacht racing. In recent years the big boats have held the upper hand. 2008 provides the sole glimmer of hope since 2002 for the smaller yachts, when the First 40.7, Spirit of Ad Hoc, took the crown.

Also in the same camp as Diamantino is Jonathon Gambin, with Ton Ton Surfside. Gambin sees nothing wrong in aiming high; seeking to test himself and his crew each time they cross the start line. Sandro Musu and Aziza have also come close to the Holy Grail, finishing fifth overall in 2004. Musu is as excited as ever heading into his seventh straight race.

Kevin Dingli and Fekruna will be satisfied to make the start line after last year losing his rig just before his debut race as skipper. Caught by a truly destructive waterspout during the inshore warm-up race, Dingli thought his race was over until his friend Peter Vincenti offered up his yacht, Manana. Edward Gatt Floridia, who has tasted the glory of being onboard the first Maltese yacht to finish, is skippering Otra Vez Fexco, one of the smallest boats in the fleet, for the second time. Another member of the Ripard clan will be on Lee Satariano's J-122 Artie. Christian Ripard is a two-race winning skipper, once in 1996 and then again in 2001; coincidently, both times with J-Boats – maybe a good omen. Satariano, himself, came close to the ultimate prize in 2006, almost scooping the trophy from under the nose of the German maxi Morning Glory. Alfred Manduca and Allegra round out the Maltese roster.

Sonke Stein may be German, but he is as good as a local in the eyes of many. He and his exuberant crew, which includes seven Maltese, have been a feature of the race for a number of years. Stein loves the it, most of the time, and this year is entering a new boat, coincidently a J-133 just like Ripard and Calascione, "she's named Juno and though she is registered in Hamburg, she is based in Malta. We have raced the boat a couple of times and are very happy with her performance. The crew is still a majority of Maltese, comprising my old team mixed with some others from the J-125 Strait Dealer [winning boat in 2001] crew. With experience from my earlier J-105 Oh Jee and the experience from Strait Dealer added to it we are looking forward to the race."

Whatever the weather and whatever the eventual results, the Maltese crews may expect a crescendo of noise to match any surrounding their more celebrated foreign-counterparts. The crowds lining the Valletta bastions at the start and the Royal Malta Yacht Club deck at the finish will make sure of that.

The Rolex Middle Sea Race commences on Saturday, 23 October 2010. Entries close on 15 October. The final prize giving is on Saturday, 30 October. George David's Rambler (USA) established the current Course Record of 47 hours 55 minutes and 3 seconds in 2007.

Hosted by the Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, the RS Feva Nationals took place over the weekend of the 27th to the 29th August. An unprecedented total of 58 boats, from both Ireland and the UK, competed at this three day event. Amongst the competitors were the reigning World Champions, Owen Bowerman and Charlie Darling.

Conditions were varied over the weekend. Friday was a mixture of moderate and light airs but Saturday brought fresh north-westerly winds which tested the fleet and organisers. Sunday's sailing had ultimately to be abandoned. However, by that time a championship series had been completed and competitors enjoyed a sun-drenched forecourt where dancing and swimming replaced racing for the day.

The winners of the National Championships and Open Competition were Brendan Lyden and Marc Cudmore from RCYC followed by Vikki Cudmore and Amy Harrington also from Cork. Two of the UK visitors , Robert and Emma Loveridge from Draycote Water SC and Morgan Peach and Herbie Harford from Royal Torbay YC took third and fourth respectively . Two more RCYC boats, Richard Roberts and Eoin Lyden , and Dermot Lyden and Peter Stokes finished fifth and sixth.

The reigning World Champions, Owen Bowerman and Charlie Darling finished tenth, while the top finishing host club boat, Amelia O'Keeffe and Annabel Elliott, from RSGYC, came twelfth.

Seventeen Irish boats, which all also competed in the 140-boat Feva Worlds in France in July, were present at the Nationals this weekend. They were joined by other fleets from around the country; the RCYC, Greystones, Cove, Howth, NYC, RIYC, Lough Ree and Rush.

Thank you to all volunteers and staff of the Royal St George Yacht Club who worked tirelessly over the three days, especially Jack Roy, the most experienced of the International Race Officers based in Dun Laoghaire, who ensured racing - when weather permitted - went without a hitch.

 

The 68-strong fleet head into the final day of the SF Marina Ireland Squib Nationals today, a week of sailing that has been dogged by fog and light airs.

Just five races have been completed so far, and the leaders enjoy just a two-point cushion going into the final stage. That is, if they go out at all. 

With just 2 knots of wind showing on Dublin Bay at the moment, this event, billed as one of the biggest one-design events in Dun Laoghaire, has been something of a damp squib (excuse the pun) in terms of conditions.

UK boats have dominated things when racing did go ahead, with just one Irish boat in the top ten (Peter Wallace and Kerry Boomer from Royal North). Abersoch sailors occupy the top two slots, the Harris/Stephenson pairing just two points clear of Dave Best and Pete Richards in second.

Photos are HERE with results HERE.

Over 300 entries are expected, with a combined crew of over 1,000 sailors for the BMW Royal St. George Yacht Club regatta in Dun Laoghaire. 

The full day event will take place on 3 July at the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire. More than 20 different sailing classes will be represented on the day and compete on three courses in Dublin Bay.

The George Regatta is a biennial event and has a long standing tradition, leading back to the year 1844. It is one of the biggest and most prestigious events in the Irish Sailing Calendar and traditionally accompanied by the Irish Navy. This year, the LE Roisin will be sent to accompany all racing activities.

“The BMW George Regatta promises to be an excellent sailboat racing for our members and visitors, as well as a fun day out for all the family. We are delighted to have BMW Ireland, in association with Murphy and Gunn, onboard and supporting our 172^nd Club Regatta. Indeed, Saturday, the 3^rd July promises to be a spectacular occasion both ashore and afloat,” says Patrick Blaney, Commodore of the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

The full day event will commence with registration in the morning and races starting at 11am. Sailors are expected to arrive back at around 3pm and the prize giving will take place at around 6pm.

Hospitality and entertainment throughout the day, including a Ladies’ Fashion Lunch and various bands, will be provided for those who stay on shore.

Whoever sold their soul for the weather, it was worth it. Three days of consistent sunshine and sailing breeze is nearly unheard of on Dublin Bay, but by whatever means, the Liebherr ICRA Cruiser Nationals went off without a hitch. 

Day three concluded with winds of 10 knots and flat seas providing exciting and tight racing.  After the first race was sailed today the fleets swapped courses and sailed on their alternative course for the second race adding variety and spice to the racing.

Dominating proceedings from before the start gun with a win in the feeder race from Cork, Anthony O’Leary in Antix on 9.5 pts took the Class 0 IRC title by the slimmest of margins. Despite stringing together five winds in a row at the start, just a single point separated them from  Dave Dwyer’s Marinerscove.ie in the end, when Mariners finished with 10.5 pts.  Marinerscove, sailed by Nicholas O’Leary, had two bullets on the final day,  the lighter airs suiting the Mills 39 over the Ker, and with Antix yielding 40 seconds in the hour.  In the strong tides and light winds Antix secured second and third today. Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8, a British Commodore’s Cup Team member, had a third and second today but was very consistent throughout the event and was able to discard a 6th and this cemented his third place on 16 points.

On the whole there were no major surprises in the IRC results with just a couple of changes in placings, with a notable exception in Division One IRC, with the emergence of Tony Fox’s A35 Gringo to take second place.  Gringo, who was lying in sixth place yesterday, today scored two seconds and with a discard of 19 this was enough to bring him to second place. The winner, Rockabill, sailed by Mel Collins, had five firsts and a second in the series in what was possibly, with 29 boats, the most competitive of the classes. The best of the J109s, Joker 2, was third.

In Class Two an interesting fact is that Corby 25s took places one, two and three. The pre-race favourites the Colwell/Murphy Kinetic, took the trophy from two Cork boats, Denis Coleman in Thunderbird second and Vinny O’Shea in Yanks and ffrancs third.

In Class Three Flor O’Driscoll in Hard on Port lost his crown to the Faroux Quarter tonner Tiger of Joxer O’Brien and the Kenefick father-and-son pairing followed in third place by the quarter tonner Supernova from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The non-spinnaker Division 5 sailed only five races for the series and Vincent Farrell in Tsunami took the crown here followed by Philip Dilworth in Orna  and Liam Coyne in Lula Belle.

Non spinnaker Division 6 was won by Joe Carlton in Voyager, followed by Peter Dunlop from Wales in Mojito with Howth Yacht Club Brazen Hussy of J.Barry and M. Stirling in third place.

All in all it was an excellent series with strong competition in all fleets and will be a hard act to follow for the hosts of 2011, the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Blue skies coloured Dublin Bay again yesterday with a sea breeze of 12 knots providing perfect sailing conditions for the ICRA Nationals, writes Claire Bateman. The results illustrate the closeness of the competition in most divisions. Anthony O’Leary in Antix is leading IRC 0 after five races and indeed had the unusual situation today of having a tied result with Dave Dwyer’s Marinerscove.ie on corrected time each receiving 1.5 points in Race four. This is keeping it very much in the O’Leary family as it is Anthony’s son Nicholas is helming Mariners cove. Antix is very much the dominant force in Class zero, discarding a fifth after yesterday's racing to leave her with four wins on the scorecard. 

ICRA members will be interested to know that Mariners had a better day scoring a total of 4.5 from the three races and as the defending champion is now a mere three points adrift of the leader. It is great to see Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8 competing and he is now lying third on 17 points.

In Class One IRC the O’Higgins Rockabill V appears to be walking away with the series having scored three wins and two seconds leaving him with seven points. Currently following on Rockabill’s heels, is a plethora of J109s led by J.Maybury’s Joker 2 followed by Jalapeno and Jelly Baby. However, should there be a discard tomorrow Jelly Baby could come up the leader board and it is all to play for here.

In Class Two IRC the pre race favourite, Kinetic, the Colwell/Murphy well sailed Corby 25 and defending title holder, has built up a good lead and is currently on 12 points followed by Denis Coleman’s Corby 25 Thunderbird from Cork with Anthony Gore Grimes in the X302 DUX just one point adrift. Things are very tight with the top two boats in Class Three IRC with just one point separating the current leader the O’Brien, Kenefick and Kenefick, Tiger, from the defending title hoilder Flor O’Driscoll in his J24 Hard on Port.

Currently lying third is Supernova and it most def initely is all to play for in this class.

In the Non Spinnaker Division Five IRC four races have been sailed and they have already received a discard. Counting the discard and leading on 4 points is Tsumnai, one point ahead of Orna followed by Lula Belle on 7 points. 

In the Non Spinnaker Division 6, again with one discard applied, the Howth Yacht Club Dehler 34 Voyager is on four points, two points ahead of fellow HYC yacht Brazen Hussy, and a Welsh raider from Pwllheli SC, Mojito, who is on equal points with Brazen Hussy.

In Class 0 ECHO Marinerscove.ie continues to hold her lead followed by Tiamat and Antix respectively. In Class One ECH0 Rockabill V leads Joker 2 with Donal O’Leary’s D- ‐Tox in third position. In Class Two ECHO Kinetic leads Thunderbird Page 2 followed by Indigo who is on equal points with Thunderbird. Class Three ECHO has very tight results to date at the top with only one point separating the leading three boats.

The current leader is Jibberish on 33 points, followed by Tiger and Supernova both on 34 points. However, it is Tiger has the more consistent results which could stand to her in the case of a discard. Class Five ECHO Adelie is on 7 points, Lula Belle also has 7 points and the Sigma 38 Persistance is just one point adrift on 8 points. Class 6 ECHO is currently led by Voyager on 5 points followed by Brazen Hussy on 7 points and Mojito on 8 points.

 

A lot at stake for today in many classes.

With a close to perfect score, Andrew Fowler's team of Sam Hurst, Brendan Fafliani, John Sheehy, Nick Smyth, Guy O'Leary, Peter Bailey and Phil Lawton from Royal St George YC in Dublin, won the 2010 Royal Thames Cumberland Cup from Ian Ilsley's team from Yacht Club de Monaco writes Malcolm McKeag. Firm friend and arch-rival of the home side the Southern Yacht Club of New Orleans was third, claiming by dint of that result the Bourgne Cup, contested on each and every occasion the clubs meet, in whatever larger competition..

Over three days at Queen Mary Water hard by Heathrow airport the seven teams sailed a total of 54 races in the international yacht club contest, ferried to and fro from the RTYC's Knightsbridge clubhouse in that iconic symbol of London, a bright scarlet Routemaster double-decker omnibus.

Sailing in a fleet of eight carefully-matched modified J80s the competition began with a two-day double round-robin in which each team raced each other team twice. St George topped the league, winning 11 out of their 12 matches and losing only to the hosts and current holders, Royal Thames, and thus apparently setting the scene for the finals. It was a scene dramatically re-shaped by the winner-take-all nature of the Cumberland Cup's competition structure.

With teams travelling from across the globe to compete in this regatta, the organisers deliberately eschew a competition format that eliminates teams early from the competition, espousing instead a format that keeps every team sailing into the final round. The result is The Ladder, which as some teams including the hosts found to their cost might be better termed The Greasy Pole. On The Ladder, a win carries the double bonus of promotion to the next rung – but every loss earns the double-penalty of relegation. On The Ladder, it is just possible by dint of really good sailing to redeem a disappointing result in the round-robin and climb all the way to the top – as did the Monegasques – while the series leaders – in this case the Irish – must not put a foot wrong if they are to retain their fingertip grip on the crown.

Thus on Sunday The Ladder's first and lowest rung saw the Germans face-off against the Kiwis for a chance for stardom, while Royal St George had to wait patiently to see which of the Yanks (and it's not often the team from New Orleans are called Yankees!) and the Brits would be first to step up to try and knock them off their perch. As matters transpired, it was Royal Thames who beat the Southerners to race against the champs: to no avail.  Royal St George won.

After Round One, the Brits began what turned out to be their slide down The Ladder, while the visitors from the Mediterranean climbed ever higher. The Southern, meanwhile, had to dispose of Royal Port Nicholson if they were to have a chance, in Round Three and the final round of The Ladder, of another crack at the leaders.  

With Port Nich out of the way, the crunch race in Round Three was that between the Southern – highly vocal as always – and Monaco, who had quietly beaten Royal Thames when Ben Clothier of the host club earned a penalty for inadvertently but illegally 'sculling' the boat with the rudder while trying to slow down to block his rival.  Given that in the round-robin YCdeM had lost almost as many races as they had won (and then been penalised a further point for a violent T-bone collision in their early race against St George) it is not unkind to suggest that their presence, by Round Three, on the top rung of The Ladder had been predicted by few. But Ian Ilsley, their team captain who by his own admission 'hadn't team raced for years' had by now earned both the respect of his rivals and the nickname 'the Old Fox'.  

Southern, in blue jackets, began by blowing the yellows away at the start to be a comfortable and apparently safe 1-2 at the windward end of the course – but somehow one of the YCM team managed to get close enough on the long run to engage a blue boat and suddenly it was Game On again. On the final beat all four boats were mixed together and the denouement came – as so often in this two-boat team racing where the crucial factor is that the team with the boat in last place loses the match – at, beyond, above and back round again to the finishing line, with a Southern boat blocking out one Monaco boat only to find his own way back blocked by the other Monaco boat.  And vice versa. Finally a Southern boat crossed the finish line – only to cop a penalty by blocking the path of the last returning Monaco boat under the rule that says a boat no longer racing must not interfere with one that is still racing.

And so it was a Monaco-Ireland final. If anyone thought this would be a walk-over for the Irish, they were wrong.  Monaco had their tails up and no mistake. Once again it was their down-wind sailing that kept them engaged and it was not until the final mark, when the Monaco boat in second earned a penalty, that it really was Game Over.

Monaco were justly pleased with their Ladder climb from 4th place after the Round Robin – but none could nay-say the Irish for their win. 15 matches sailed and only one of them lost.

Photos below and on our gallery by Ingrid Abery

More photos here on our gallery.

A Royal St George YC team will be the sole Irish representatives at the Royal Thames YC Cumberland Cup, the oldest perpetual trophy in yacht racing, with racing kicking off today at Queen Mary SC. The event is a two-boat team racing event sailed in J80s with the home team, Royal Thames, the current holders. The RSGYC team, headed up by John Sheehy and Nick Smyth, will face off against teams from Australia, Monaco, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the USA. The Cumberland Cup dates back to 1775 and was established some 76 years before the America’s Cup

Two-boat team racing is best known in Ireland through the 'random pairs' format, where the team with a boat in last place loses the race. The result is highly tactical and combative, aggressive sailing, with the final beat to the finish line becoming particularly frantic.

Sheehy and Smyth come off a weekend that saw the pair finish in the last eight at the presitigous Wilson Team Racing Trophy in West Kirby SC, and Sheehy is also Ireland's top-ranked match racer at present.

Racing kicks off this morning, and you can catch some glimps of the action on the reservoir on their website's live webcam.

ROYAL THAMES CUMBERLAND CUP

 

 

This May Bank Holiday weekend (01-03 May 2010) over 300 boats from seven different classes will race on three separate courses in Dublin Bay. The format for this year’s event is based on that of the ISAF Youth World Championships which will be hosted by Dublin Bay in 2012.

Many of the junior sailors who will be targeting qualification for the 2012 Youth Worlds will be competing in the Optimist Class at the Mitsubishi Championships as sailors must be under 18 years of age in 2012 in order to qualify. There will be over seventy Optimists competing for this years World, European, and Under 12 squads.

The Laser Radial, Laser 4.7 and 420 Classes will also be fighting it out for Irish team places too with the prestigious 2010 ISAF slots also up for grabs. The 2010 ISAF Youth Worlds will be held in Istanbul in July and Ireland will be represented at this event by the leading sailors in all 3 classes.

The Junior Pathway classes, Topper’s and RS Feva’s will also compete along with the SL 16 catamaran which makes its debut on the bay in preparation for 2012 where it will be a class. The introduction of the SL class two years in advance offers sailors a fresh opportunity to train and qualify in this new class to Ireland.

www.dublinbay2012.com has been set up by the organisers to assist sailors and clubs to prepare for the prestigious Youth Worlds. Full details of all pre-event activities are available on this site including a link to the Mitsubishi Motors Youth Championships 2010.

 

ICRA are reporting its national sailing championships entry is approaching the 100-mark nearly two months out from the event, the first big regatta of the sailing season.

The Liebherr Cruiser Nationals to be held in Dun Laoghaire from May from May 21st to 23rd and hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club, has already attracted very strong support. ICRA are delighted to report that already entries are almost at the 100 mark and expected to reach record numbers despite the current economic environment. The formula for the event will be a three-day championship with seven races.

There will be a variety of tight Windward/Leeward and Olympic type round the cans courses in two separate specially designated areas. The combination of the National Championships title at stake and an excellent social programme ashore has proved to be a great success. The fact that the event rotates locations has also added to its stature.

With the excellent racing and onshore entertainment planned by the Host Club, the Royal St. George, and in conjunction with the strong sponsors, Liebherr, The Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire and Dubarry Footwear and Clothing, a very special festival of sailing plus a strong welcome for all competitors is assured. The inaugural ICRA Corinthian Cup for non-spinnaker boats is also being well supported with 17 entries already recorded. This event will be sailed on a separate course. Early entry is encouraged so that final Class Bands can be fairly decided.