#irishsailing – Ireland's national sailing authority has been going through turbulent times in recent years. With unprecedented expansion of ISA staff numbers as the country revelled in the boom years of the Celtic Tiger, the arrival of the inevitable and abrupt financial downturn found an Association bloated, unfit to cope, and out of touch with ordinary sailors.

High profile events, top level training and international participation had become so dominant in the ISA's range of activities that many of the ordinary sailors of Ireland already felt the Association was no longer relevant to their own low key personal pursuit of friendly sport afloat.

When the crash came, it led to a marked decrease in active sailing numbers as disposable incomes fell away. People focused on keeping their jobs and businesses afloat rather than their boats sailing, while many promising young sailors were forced to emigrate.

This new reality was reflected by the growing disillusion of club officers, who saw their membership subscriptions decreasing even while the ISA – which is largely reliant on subvention from the clubs for its own income – seemed always to be looking for more money. And at the height of the boom years, when all the major clubs had put through significant expenditure in developing their facilities to international standards, the ISA had shown its lack of contact with the reality of club life by proposing its own stand-alone National Sailing Centre in Galway, a facility which would in effect have been run in rivalry to the main clubs. To the mutterings in the grass roots were added the rumblings from above as major clubs threatened to withhold their annual payment to the ISA unless real reform was initiated. W M Nixon takes up the story.

In a classic grass roots revolution, club sailors Norman Lee from Greystones in County Wicklow and Bryan Armstrong from Sligo were at first rebuffed when they tried to voice their concerns about the ISA's increasing irrelevance to the needs of the vast majority of sailing enthusiasts, people at local level who were doing their very best to keep the sport alive through torrid times.

The Irish sailing community now owes these two men and their supporters a debt of gratitude, for they believed in what they were saying and they refused to be turned aside. Eventually, in November 2013 moves were in place to establish a Review Group for the urgent analysis of all ISA activities, and its personnel drew comprehensively on Ireland's remarkable pool of people with hands-on experience of running successful sailing events and organisations.

It was chaired by Brian Craig of Dun Laoghaire who has headed up the organising team on more major and notably successful international sailing events in Dublin Bay than probably anyone else, and its able personnel included two former ISA Presidents - Roger Bannon of Dun Laoghaire and Neil Murphy of Malahide and Howth - who had both been noted for their skill in running a tight ship when they were in charge. With them was highly regarded International Race Officer Jack Roy of Dun Laoghaire, and renowned sailmaker/activist Des McWilliam of Crosshaven, who each year is inevitably seen in busy involvement afloat in more Irish sailing centres - large and small - than anyone else in the boat world.

Bryan Amstrong of Sligo on the helm for a Mirror race

Also on board was one of the men from the barricades, Bryan Armstrong of Sligo. His background in a relatively remotely-located club which nevertheless has a long and distinguished sailing history made him uniquely qualified to voice the concerns of the grass roots. And we have to remember that all these people were giving voluntarily and generously of their time to this project in a period when Irish life was largely a matter of just getting through each day, while staying economically afloat was something of an achievement.

Primarily, the Review Group's function was to analyse the Association work on behalf of ordinary club sailors, as it was agreed that the Olympic and High Performance Divisions of the ISA's activities – which receive direct Sports Council grants – were in effect functioning as a different entity.

The Strategic Review Group was still work in progress when the ISA acquired a new President in David Lovegrove in March 2014, but by August the SRG published proposals which led to the setting up of a more formal body, the Planning Group. If this seems like a case of kicking the can down the road, it was anything but - these were people in a hurry, they'd got through the first stage of analysing areas where action was required, now they had to be more structured in coming up with clearcut ideas and concrete proposals.

This new Planning Group, which went into action in early Autumn 2014, was chaired by Neil Murphy, and its members included ISA President David Lovegrove, ISA Board Member Brian Craig, Ruth Ennis, Peter Redden, Sean Craig, and ISA CEO Harry Hermon, with noted Dun Laoghaire events administrator Ciara Dowling to provide administrative support.

They had their draft plan ready by mid-December 2014, and on January 21st 2015 Neil Murphy and his group publicly unveiled their analysis and proposals for the first time at a well-attended and very representative meeting in the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire.

Neil Murphy is a former ISA President who, in addition to extensive experience as a Race Officer, is a typical club sailor, racing a Puppeteer 22 out of Howth. Photo: W M Nixon

While those involved in setting the ISA on a healthier course are mostly working on a voluntary basis, it has to be said that the PowerPoint presentation and the printed material was of the highest professional class. In fact, it was much better than many professional shows I've been to, and the level of thought which went into a wide range of questions from the floor answered by Neil Murphy, Brian Craig and David Lovegrove generated a growing level of goodwill which concluded with Norman Lee voicing his congratulations and good wishes for this continuing process in which he and Bryan Armstrong had played such a key role.

So now we move on to the next stage – taking the ideas to the rest of the country. Doubtless you'll have noted the double meaning in titling this piece 'Just Who Do The ISA Think They Are?' In a first interpretation, that question is the one for which, let's hope, we are all now involved in working together in providing and implementing a satisfactory answer.

But equally, as the ISA Road Show gets out of Dublin to take this excellent presentation to a public meeting in Cork next week (it's in the Rochestown Park Hotel on Tuesday, Feb 17th, 7.0 pm to 9.0 pm) and then Galway the week after (Galway Bay Sailing Club, Tuesday 24th February 7.0 pm to 9.0pm), they'll be taking themselves into areas where experience of sailing administration long pre-dates the establishment of organised sailing on Dublin Bay.

Crosshaven in the summer time. When we look at the natural advantages to be found here, it's little wonder that structured recreational sailing on Cork Harbour long-pre-dated any organised sport on Dublin Bay. Photo: Robert Bateman

So you might well ask just just who do they think they are, these people from Dublin, going down to Cork to try to tell them how sailing should be organised? The nerve of them, doing it in a place where they've had organised sailing since 1720, and where the two biggest clubs – the Royal Cork and Kinsale – are both mighty establishments of international sailing repute which would remain so even were the ISA to disappear overnight in a puff of smoke...

And as for going west along the road to Galway, that will take them through Athlone where the Lough Ree Yacht Club dates back to 1770, while on the west coast the Royal Western of Ireland YC at Kilrush traces its origins back to 1828. Equally, further north along the Atlantic coast Sligo YC dates back to 1821, and in Lough Erne the club began in 1820. Yet the first club on Dublin Bay, the Royal Irish, only began as recently as 1831, and even then it barely hung in and had to be revived in 1846, with the pace being set in the meantime by the Royal St George YC, founded 1838.

Kinsale is another harbour which seems to have been designed with sailing primarily in mind. Photo: Kevin Dwyer/courtesy ICC

Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary had a club in being before there were any sailing institutions on Dublin Bay. Photo: W M Nixon

So in terms of sailing administration history, Dublin and Dun Laoghaire are only Johnny-come-lately places by comparison with just about everywhere else in Ireland. Yet thanks to the inevitable dominance of economic development, population growth and the strengthening centres of political power, we now find that sailing administration and decisions of national import are emanating from a place that, in terms of natural sailing advantages, lags far behind the rest of the country.

Oh for sure, Dun Laoghaire Harbour is a fabulous artificial amenity, and the advent of the new marina at Greystones has already been seized upon as greatly increasing the "cruising" options of Dublin Bay. But let's face it, Dublin Bay is really only good for racing, specific day sailing and training, whereas Cork Harbour and Kinsale provide such a variety of opportunities for interesting race courses, mini-cruises with multiple destinations and what have you, that in effect they're not just in a different part of the country – they're a different country altogether.

Dun Laoghaire is a totally artificial facility, and sailing options on Dublin Bay are limited. But it's inescapable that this is the primary point of leisure access to the sea for Ireland's largest and most affluent population. Photo: Kevin Dwyer/courtesy ICC

All of which adds to the difficulties of creating a meaningful national authority with which every sailing person can identify.
This business of Dublin v The Rest is not unique to sailing, of course, but when you have a specialist sport with multiple sub-branches of activity, the problem is exacerbated.

So please bear this in mind if you take yourself along to the meetings in Cork or Galway during the next ten days. This really is a genuine attempt to base the ISA within the sailing community at an everyday level of usefulness to all, with scope for growth while enhancing existing structures, and input from the sailing community at this stage will help in developing the ideas and initiatives proposed.

While the draft ISA Strategic Plan 2015-2020 very definitely puts the emphasis back on to the need for healthy well-run clubs as the basis for the sport, there was initially a feeling at the meeting on January 21st that the new-look ISA is not supportive of commercial sailing schools. In fact, what the new-look ISA hopes to do is encourage training schemes within clubs, while at the same time supporting commercial sailing schools where the demand is such that no club could realistically cope while maintaining its essential club ethos.

Going into this in more detail in a personal meeting this week with Neil Murphy, who is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, we talked around the fact that a thriving club scene is central to the spirit of Irish sailing, and he was musing on the success of Sutton Dinghy Club where Hugh Gill heads up what is in effect a commercial sailing school within a club setting.

In fact, what Murphy would hope to see emerge at larger population centres is sailing's equivalent of the public golf course. Anyone who has used a public golf course will be aware that the proprietors are usually mustard keen to encourage the formation of a "club" within their customer base, and there is no reason why this shouldn't eventually take root in Irish sailing, providing access to sailing at a fraction of the cost of joining an established club.

It's not something which can realistically be objected to by established clubs trying to protect their own membership, as the people who would use a "public sailing club" would be those who simply couldn't afford to go sailing at all in the current traditional club setup.

Nevertheless support for the established club setup is central to the new Strategic Plan, and the provision of Regional Development Officers to serve clubs directly is very much to the fore in the new thinking. But in looking over the figures published with the report, it's good to note that the ISA works with no less than 80 recognised training centres, while an encouraging statistic is that there are now 24 secondary schools in Ireland which include sailing as a regular part of their curriculum. Admittedly it's a long way from the French setup where every schoolkid is entitled by law to one week of sailing and one week of skiing per year, but in a country where an aversion to being on the water used to be thought inevitable, it's a step in the right direction.

All these considerations of inexpensive sailing are a whole world away from the stories of recent weeks and days about the ISA's High Performance Division seeking a fund-raising executive who will be tasked with finding €2.75 million per annum through philanthropic and other donations in order to help the funding of top level campaigns which we're not allowed to call Olympic campaigns, as apparently that is copyrighted by the Olympic Council, so we call them High Performance instead.

But apparently Government departments aren't restricted by this limitation on the use of the word Olympic, for it was bandied about like nobody's business in this week's news that the government is spending mightily through the Sports Council, with sailing being number three in all Ireland in terms of current Sports Council funding, with a total tag of €1,289,900.

Of course it's not all for specifically Olympic sailing, but it covers 103 sailors from Optimists to the Olympics. Which is fine and dandy for those who are mad keen to race at the highest level, but most sailors in Ireland are much more interested in performing well within their chosen area and boat class, but with sailing being just part of a reasonably civilised and well-balanced life.

And as became evident at the meeting on January 21st, there's an increasing number of people who feel that sailing needs to realise that there's a sizeable population out there of folk who'd like to go sailing, but don't feel the almost religious vocation to own a boat.

With the rapid expansion of sunshine sailing holidays with boats and equipment readily available for hire at the destination, there's a strong feeling there's a real need for more of this in Ireland, even if we can't guarantee the sunshine. The suggestion brings us back to both the "public sailing club" concept, and the growing realisation by established clubs that they have to reach out to potential members by having boats available for sailing on a trial basis.

The Affordable Sailing Team – Norman Lee (right) with his brother Ken beside their campervan at last year's GP 14 Worlds at East Down YC on Strangford Lough. Photo: W M Nixon

With their own very high can-do standards of boat maintenance, Norman and Ken Lee can keep their GP 14 in the competitive frame. Photo: W M Nixon

That said, the need to own one's own boat and tune and tinker with her to your heart's content is what sailing is all about for many of us, and Norman Lee is a classic case in point for this approach. He claims that his sailing costs him just €600 per year, though that of course is after he has paid for his well-tuned GP14, and he has long since written off the cost of the vintage camper-van which is home to the Lee Equipe when they hit the campaign trail.

Nevertheless the entire setup has to be outstandingly good value, and doing it in such economical style is part of the fun of it all. So when someone with Norman Lee's approach to sailing is prepared to get up at the big ISA public meeting in Dun Laoghaire and congratulate the team who have been working on the reforms which he and Bryan Armstrong set in train, then that is approval of a high order.

And as for just who or what is the ISA, can we maybe agree that ideally we all are the ISA, every last one of us who goes sailing or is even just interested in the sport, and it's up to us to keep it in line and encourage it to identify with and serve the ordinary sailor every bit as much as the high-flyer.

Private pleasure.....the 2014 GP 14 Worlds at East Down YC is about as high as many Irish sailors would expect or want to aim, and many are content with much lower-key regular club sailing. Photo: W M Nixon

#kinsale – While the bulk of the early entries for the ICRA Nationals, now totalling 42, come from the domestic fleet the championships that runs in conjunction with June's Sovereign's Cup has also attracted a number of early UK entries.

Yealm Yacht Club, near Plymouth, will be represented by the Ker 40, Geronimo (Andy Williams). Coming from Wales is Neyland Yacht Club's Corby 36 Roxy 6 of Milford Haven (Robert Davies) and sistership Stratisfear (Guy Cowper) is also coming across the Irish Sea, from Royal Dee Yacht Club.

Organisers report a buoyant take up before the early bird deadline this weekend.

The current entry list is downloadable below as a PDF file.  

#astrid – If the initial MAYDAY message from the Sail Training Ship Astrid had been sent out in the correct format the emergency services could have been activated 10 minutes earlier, which could have been critical to the final outcome had conditions been more severe, according to a Marine Casualty Investigation Report (MCIB) published today. 

The 95-year-old vessel ran aground on to  Rocks off Kinsale during a photocall for the Irish Sailing Association Gathering Cruise promotion, prompting dramatic scenes as 30 people were rescued from rough seas. The vessel ran aground on July 24th 2013.

The main cause of the grounding is that the ship was not operated in a safe manner in compliance with the International Conventions, the report says.

In its conclusions the MCIB states: 'The correct passage planning procedures should have been carried out and the Master should not have altered his passage in an unsafe manner to facilitate promotional activities'.

The report also concluded that passage planning of the voyage from Oysterhaven to Kinsale was inadequate for a ship to navigate a course within 300 (m) of a lee shore in a Force 6 wind. The report says passage planning appears to have been influenced by the 'desire for photograph opportunities' for the Irish Sailing Association's (ISA) 'Gathering' cruise. The report says SOLAS Chapter V Regulation 34 was not complied with.

Mike MacSweeney, a photographer on the media boat that day told Afloat.ie: 'I wish to unequivocally state the following as a matter of record there were no instructions or requests from the media boat to the skipper or anyone onboard the Tall Ship Astrid before or after leaving Oysterhaven on the day in question'.

MacSweeney adds: 'Any actions taken by the Astrid were solely the decision of the Tall Ship Astrid. The first interaction between the media boat and the Tall Ship Astrid was when the ship was in difficulty and the media boat assisted in the rescue'.

The report concludes the immediate cause of the ship grounding and subsequent sinking can be attributed to the loss of power from the main engine. The main engine stopped as a result of fresh water contamination of the fuel. The cause of the water contamination can be attributed to human error when taking on fresh water in Brighton on 12th July 2013. Once water contamination had been found, insufficient action was taken to ensure fresh water was removed from the fuel system.

It went on: 'The operation and condition of the ship did not correspond with the applicable SOLAS Conventions, presenting a danger to the ship and the persons on-board and a threat of harm to the marine environment'.

The ship was not certified as a passenger ship for either EU or international voyages nor were the crew appropriately certified and the ship should not have been at sea, according to the MCIB.

The emergency services responded in a timely manner and effected the recovery of 30 persons without injury.

The MCIB made four recommendations including that the operators of sail training vessels should ensure that they comply with international conventions and European Union law.

It also said sail training ships entering Irish waters and ports must comply with the regulations, and that ships engaged in promotional activities must ensure that the Master has over-riding authority and that the Master must not compromise good passage planning and safety when involved in such activities.

A link to download the report as a (17mb) PDF file is HERE.

#paralympicsailing – The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will feature 22 sports, with badminton and taekwondo included for the first time. Two sports not included in Tokyo 2020 are football 7-a-side and sailing.

Ireland has been at the forefront of paralympic sailing hosting the International Federation of Disabled Sailing (IFDS) Paralympic worlds in Kinsale in County Cork in 2013. IFDS president John Twomey (58) of Kinsale has represented Ireland at an astonishing ten successive Paralympics, dating back to Toronto in 1976 in both discus and sailing disciplines.

The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has been one of the first to issue a statement over the cut: 'This is hugely disappointing news for the sport of disabled sailing worldwide, for British Sailing Team athletes who are already working hard towards Tokyo, and is a loss to the Paralympic Games itself as sailing provides a unique element to the sporting programme'.

At its meeting in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Saturday (31 January), the IPC Governing Board approved a further six sports for inclusion in the Games, adding to the 16 sports that were ratified and announced after its meeting in October 2014. A maximum of 23 sports could have been included for 2020.

The 22 sports that will be included in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games are: athletics, archery, badminton, boccia, canoe, cycling, equestrian, football 5-a-side, goalball, judo, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, sitting volleyball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair fencing, wheelchair rugby and wheelchair tennis.

 

#Oil&Gas - Kinsale Energy will take an 80% stake in Landsdowne Oil and Gas's Midleton/East Kinsale gas prospect in the Celtic Sea, as The Irish Times reports.

The deal will see the Petronas subsidiary assume 100% of costs for drilling on the prospect and will fund Lansdowne's costs of testing for up to $2.5 million.

Kinsale Energy, which was formerly Marathon Oil, already holds an interest in the Deep Kinsale Prospect beneath the Kinsale Head Gas Field, thanks to its option agreement with Fastnet Oil & Gas last year.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

#MCIB - Poor adherence to various safety regulations made worse the situation in which a fisherman died of severe head injury off Cork in February last year, according to an official report into the incident.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the man was one of three crew on the fishing trawler FV Liberty that was hauling cod off the Old Head of Kinsale when the tragedy occurred on the evening of Thursday 14 February 2013.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board's (MCIB) report into the incident details the sequence of events that led to the fatality, which was caused by the failure of split links in the vessel's hauling gear as a cod trawl net was being hoisted, striking the casualty on the head.

It was determined by the MCIB that the ropes and links used on the vessel were prone to jamming and the boat's head blocks were in poor condition - and that the incident may have been avoided if these were properly examined and maintained.

It was also found that none of the three crew had undergone basic safety training, and that none was wearing protective headgear on deck.

While the skipper was an experienced fisherman, he was new to this particular vessel. The casualty, too, had only joined the vessel that day, while the third crew member tasked with operating the lifting gear "would not be considered sufficiently experienced to conduct such a task".

Moreover, the vessel's radio equipment was found to be in poor condition, making communication with emergency services challenging.

Above all, the MCIB states that the vessel "did not comply with the requirements of the Fishing Vessel Code of Practice. 

"The deficiencies in place on-board FV Liberty during the MCIB investigation showed that risk assessment was not completed, annual inspection was not carried out for lifting equipment, and personnel had not completed the required training."

The full MCIB report into the FV Liberty incident is available to download below.

#youthsailing – Talented Royal Cork youth sailors made a clean sweep of the All Ireland Junior Helmsmans Championships off Kinsale yesterday. In an end of season boost just ahead of his solo assault on the Optimist Worlds in Argentina next month, Harry Durcan lifted the trophy in style, topping off a remarkable 1,2,3 result for Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Twenty sailors from nine classes and out of eleven clubs (including two wild cards) were chosen to compete this weekend out of Kinsale Yacht Club.

After patiently waiting again for wind the morning of day two, racing started at 12:30.  Race five turned out to be hectic at the marks throughout the race with plenty of calling out by all. First over the line was Ros Morgan and Ronan Walsh of Skerries Sailing Club, followed by Clare Gorman and Amy Carrol of the National Yacht Club and third place Adam D'Arcy and James Hassett of Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Winds remained consistent for some reliable performance throughout race six with Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhain of Royal Cork Yacht Club coming first over the finish line on race six, the final preliminary race before choosing the top ten for the medal race.

Selection for the top ten resulting sailors to enter the medal race was calculated and six teams from Royal Cork Yacht Club made it through with one team from Malahide Yacht Club, National Yacht Club, Dingle Sailing Club and Kinsale Yacht Club.

The medal race (race 7) gave double points and the pressure was on to get a good start. James McCann and Michael Carrol of Royal Cork Yacht Club were ahead all the way with excellent mark rounding and good boat control that got them over the final line first. Fellow club members, Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker, were close on their tail.

Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker from Royal Cork Yacht Club were the overall winners

Gemma and Cara Mc Dowell from Malahide Yacht Club who won the Ladies Competition

The overall top three was:
• 1st Harry Durcan and Harry Whittaker of Royal Cork Yacht Club with 29 points.
• 2nd Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhain of Royal Cork Yacht Club with 32 points.
• 3rd Adam D'Arcy and James Hassett of Royal Yacht Club with 42 points.

Ladies Competition
• 1st Gemma McDowell and Cara McDowell of Malahide Yacht Club on 45 points.

Harry Durcan's next event he will be representing Ireland at the Optimist Worlds in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Harry will then be moving on to compete in 29ers in 2015. 

Sail No	Helm	Class	Crew	Club	Place	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	M	Points	DSC	NET
12	Harry Durcan	Wild Card	Harry Whittaker	Royal Cork YC	1	3	3	1	3	7	6	6	29	7	22
4	Peter McCann	International 420	Michael O'Suileabhain	Royal Cork YC	2	5	2	2	2	4	1	16	32	5	27
6	Adam D'Arcy	Optimist	James Hassett	Royal Cork YC	3	7	7	7	7	3	7	4	42	7	35
10	Gemma Mc Dowell	Optimist	Cara McDowell	Malahide YC	4	4	9	10	5	6	3	8	45	10	35
15	Seafra Guilfoyle	Youth Worlds	Conor Horgan	Royal Cork YC	5	6	1	11	4	8	2	14	46	11	35
3	James McCann	Optimist	Michael Carroll	Royal Cork YC	6	21	6	5	12	10	5	2	61	21	40
20	Clare Gorman	Optimist	Amy Carroll	National YC	7	9	4	21	6	2	14	12	68	21	47
5	Paddy Cunnane	Topaz	Adam Byrne	Dingle SC	8	8	10	9	21	5	8	10	71	21	50
16	Cliodhna NiShuillebhain	International 420	Jill McGinley	Kinsale YC	9	1	14	6	1	12	12	18	64	14	50
13	Johnny Durcan	Laser 4.7	Florence Lyden	Royal Cork YC	10	2	5	3	8	21	21	20	80	21	59
19	Rory Caslin	Laser 4.7	Scott Levie	National YC	11	21	11	4	9	21	9		75	21	54
18	Shane McLoughlin	Mirror	Oscar Langan	Sutton DC	12	10	12	8	11	15	21		77	21	56
11	Ros Morgan	Topper	Ronan Walsh	Skerries SC	13	15	16	21	21	1	4		78	21	57
7	Stephen Craig	RS 200 Youths	Morgan Lyttle	Royal St. George YC	14	14	13	21	13	11	11		83	21	62
17	Triona Hinkson	RS Feva	Catherine Kelly	Royal St. George YC	15	16	15	12	10	13	21		87	21	66
1	Hugh Perette	Topper	Conor Kneafsey	National YC	16	18	19	21	14	9	10		91	21	70
8	Alison Dolan	RS Feva	Grainne Young	Blessington SC	17	12	18	21	21	14	15		101	21	80
14	Tiarnan Dickson	Mirror	Rory MacAllister	Lough Ree YC	18	11	20	21	21	17	13		103	21	82
2	Jack Kiely	Topaz	Joey Curran	Dungarvan HSC	19	21	8	21	21	18	16		105	21	84
9	David Johnston	GP 14 Youth	Meisha Johnston	Sutton DC	20	13	17	21	21	16	21		109	21	88

#allireland – Wild card entry Harry Durcan leads the Junior Helmsmans championhips at Kinsale Yacht Club this evening by a singe point from his Royal Cork clubmate Peter McCann. Durcan's twin brother Johnny is lying third after four races sailed in a dominant display by Royal Cork youth sailors. Full results below.

16 young helms waited breeze until 1pm today before the first race of the ISA event commenced in a ten–knot southerly, just enough to get them moving. As they came down on a run to the finish line the winds abandoned Kinsale Harbour all together and boats were left drifting. A maximum race time was set for 40 minutes and race was abandoned before any boats made it to the finish line. Boat number 3 with James McCann and Michael Carroll from Royal Cork Yacht Club were only 10 metres from the finish line.

Race two commenced in 8 knots of breeze with a cloud formation that seemed to promise consistent winds and the promise came through. Cliona NiShuillebhain and Jill McGinley of Kinsale Yacht Club gave a steady performance throughout the race and remained in the lead spot to the finish line.

The wind stayed with them and at 15:00 race three commenced. Séafra Guilfoyle and Michael Carrol of Royal Cork Yacht Club worked their way up through the fleet to cross the finish line first.

Race four started at 16:00 – the two Harry's (Durcan and Whittaker) from Royal Cork Yacht Club started with a good lead and were first round the weather mark on the first beat and again first round on the second beat with a 40 second lead. The tide started flooding up to 3knots, which caught a few competitors that took the course wide were held back, with 8 competitors resulting in DNF from not going over the finish line within the time limit.

Winds became light again for race 5 and five resulted in DNF. The girls from Kinsale Yacht Club slammed it again and won Race 5, with Peter McCann and Michael O'Suileabhan in 2nd place and the Harries in at 3rd.

Results after day one

Series Place	Sail No	Class	Helm	Crew	Club	Series Points	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5
1	12	Wild Card	Harry Durcan	Harry Whittaker	RCYC	10	3	3	1	3
2	4	International 420	Peter McCann	Michael O'Suileabhain	RCYC	11	5	2	2	2
3	13	Laser 4.7	Johnny Durcan	Florence Lyden	RCYC	17	2	5	3	7
4	16	International 420	Cliodhna NiShuillebhain	Jill McGinley	KYC	20	1	12	6	1
5	15	Youth Worlds	Seafra Guilfoyle	Conor Horgan	RCYC	22	6	1	11	4
6	10	Optimist	Gemma Mc Dowell	Cara McDowell	Malahide YC	26	4	7	10	5
7	18	Mirror	Shane McLoughlin	Oscar Langan	Sutton DC	38	9	10	8	11
8	20	Optimist	Clare Gorman	Amy Carroll	National YC	39	8	4	21	6
9	19	Laser 4.7	Rory Caslin	Scott Levie	National YC	42	21	9	4	8
10	3	Optimist	James McCann	Michael Carroll	RCYC	44	21	6	5	12
11	5	Topaz	Paddy Cunnane	Adam Byrne	Dingle SC	45	7	8	9	21
12	17	RS Feva	Triona Hinkson	Catherine Kelly	Royal St. George YC	49	15	13	12	9
13	6	Topper	Adam D'Arcy	James Hassett	RCYC	51	18	16	7	10
14	7	RS 200- Youth	Stephen Craig	Morgan Lyttle	Royal St. George YC	58	13	11	21	13
15	9	GP14 - Youths	David Johnston	Meisha Johnston	Sutton DC	69	12	15	21	21
16	8	RS Feva	Alison Dolan	Grainne Young	Blessington SC	70	11	17	21	21
17	11	Topper	Ros Morgan	Ronan Walsh	Skerries SC	70	14	14	21	21
18	1	Topper	Hugh Perette	Conor Kneafsey	National YC	70	17	18	21	14
19	14	Mirror	Tiarnan Dickson	Rory MacAllister	Lough Ree YC	71	10	19	21	21
20	2	Topaz	Jack Kiely	Joey Curran	Dungarvan HSC	79	16	21	21	21

#disabledsailing – Munster were the winners of the newest prize in Irish sailing, the President's Cup for disabled sailors at Kinsale Yacht Club in County Cork over the weekend writes Claire Bateman. Ulster were second, Connaught third followed by Leinster who it is hoped will stage the event next year at a Dublin yacht club.

As Afloat previously reported, The Cup has been named in honour of ten times Paralympian, John Twomey who is the current President of the International Sailing Disabled Association. (ISDF)

A team of ten sailors from each of the four Provinces competed in four different classes: the Hansa 303, Skud 18, Squib and Sonar for this brand new trophy.

Saturday's racing in Kinsale Harbour consisted of one race in a north westerly breeze of about five to six knots and, after a short delay when the wind dropped, and the competitors waited hopefully for it to fill in again, it did oblige from the south east and a further two races were held.

The Sonars, Skuds and the Squibs sailed two rounds of a windward/leeward course and all started together. The Hanse 303s sailed just one round of the same course. Over 110 attended the lively dinner on Saturday night. The event was being sponsored by Kingspan.

#rnli – Volunteer crew of Kinsale RNLI were called out on four separate occasions over a three-day period last week. On Thursday 28 August at 12.44pm, Miss Sally Ann (Baggy) went to the aid of pleasure craft, The Spirit of Kinsale, which had become propped by ropes and lost power near Charles Fort. Assisted by Kinsale harbour master Cpt Phil Devitt and local divers Ocean Addicts, the crews from Kinsale and Courtmacsherry lifeboats were able to tow the vessel with 41 passengers and 2 crews on board to the safety of the marina.

Kinsale RNLI Helm Nick Searls said: 'The master on board the pleasure craft deserves credit for his calm handling of the situation, ensuring all passengers were equipped with lifejackets and made aware of emergency procedures. This reinforces the point that any vessel going to sea should have proper safety equipment and know how to react if they get into trouble.'

At 7.40pm that evening, the lifeboat launched for a second time to recover a yacht that had broken its moorings near the bridge. The unmanned vessel was carried down river and across the harbour, coming to rest on rocks by Scilly. RNLI volunteers towed to the yacht to the safety of the marina to ensure it would not present a danger to other shipping in the area. As rougher weather approaches, owners are advised to reinforce their moorings to avoid damage to their own and to neighbouring vessels.

On Friday 29 August at 6pm, a member of the public reported a young lad in a punt in the harbour who was in need of assistance. The lifeboat crew was quickly able to reach him on the shoreline near Castlepark and deliver him safely home.

On Saturday 30 August at 5.30pm, volunteer crew on a routine training exercise were summoned to assist a motorboat that had lost power in Holeopen Bay East. When efforts to restart the engine failed, the vessel was taken under tow and returned safely to its marina berth.