Kinsale Yacht Club has confirmed its O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereign's Cup from 23rd to 26th June 2021.

"Having considered the recent announcement on the easing of government restrictions and after consulting all stakeholders, we have agreed that we can hold our reduced size Sovereign's Cup", said Regatta director Anthony O'Neill.

"We believe that there is a pent-up demand among all sailors to get back racing and that this year's event, albeit a more 'on the water' regatta, will cater very well for that demand".

Anthony O'Neill, Sovereigns Cup Regatta Director

"We are very happy to be in the position that our early decision to plan for a smaller event with a target of 50 boats has now been proven to have been a prudent one. While the government announcement last Friday has effectively given the 'green-light' to sailing in controlled situations, there still remains many uncertainties and challenges for event organisers. Not least among those are restrictions and measures that may be required ashore", O'Neill said. 

"All of us at Kinsale Yacht Club are working hard to provide the best possible racing in June"

For that reason, a final decision on the level of social activity in Kinsale Yacht Club will not be made until closer to the event.

"We will be guided at that time by the guidelines in place with regards to numbers allowed at Events and Social Gatherings" he added.

"If the expected clarifications/alterations to the guidelines do not allow for the use of our Club facilities, then we are confident that participant's needs can be accommodated at the outdoor facilities of the Restaurants, Cafes and Bars in the town".

In addition, all Hotels and Guesthouses will have indoor dining available for those participants who are residents.

"All of us at Kinsale Yacht Club are working hard to provide the best possible racing in June", ONeill concluded.

The number of entries for June's O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereign's Cup exceeded the target of 50 boats over the weekend.

As Afloat reported last month, there was an immediate uptake for the even when entries. The current entry list is available here.

Kinsale's Regatta Director Anthony O'Neill and his organising committee have closed the online entry system until further notice. The Government's Covid-19 Pandemic restrictions and guidelines will now be closely monitored to determine if more boats may be accommodated in the event.

Kinsale Yacht Club says a regatta waiting list has now been set-up and any boat interested should email Anthony O'Neill at [email protected] stating Boat Name, Sail No., Rating, Owners Name and Club.

Kinsale Yacht Club is now operating a waiting list for its June Sovereign's Cup Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

KYC say the calibre of boats taking part in June has not been affected by the lower number of entrants necessitated by Covid-19.

Coastal Division

In the Coastal Division, Conor Doyle's Xp50 Freya, the biggest boat in the fleet, along with Tom Roche's Salona 45 Meridian, both from KYC are potential winners.

Ahead of the regatta, Doyle's crew will have honed their boat-handling skills in the Dun Laoghaire to Race earlier in June.

Conor Doyle's Xp50 Freya from the host club Photo: Afloat

Other Sovereign's Cup regatta boats that will also have benefitted from the D2D race will be George Sisk's Xp44 WOW, Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, and the Burke/Lemass/Rigley team's Beneteau First 40 Prima Forte. These bigger boats will be joined by two other smaller boats, also competing in the D2D which are Johnny Treanor's Grand Soleil JustTina and David Riome/Mark Leonard's Valfreya from the host club.

Dublin J109s 

In IRC Zero, Conor Phelan's Ker 37 Jump Juice and Niall Dowling's Ker 40+ Arabella are sure to feature strongly. In IRC 1 the J109's are set to repeat their 2019 'Battle of Kinsale' with Richard Colwell/John Murphy's Outrajeous, Simon Knowles' Indian and the Shanahan Family's Ruth.

Simon Knowles' J109 Indian from Howth Yacht Club will compete in IRC One of the Sovereign's Cup Photo: Afloat

These along with Paul and Deirdre Tingle's X-34 Alpaca will be expected to do well as like the bigger boats in the Coastal Division they are also competing in the D2D race.

Eight Half Tonners will race in IRC 2 division of the Sovereign's Cup 2021 Photo: Bob Bateman

Eight Half Tonners Sign Up

In IRC 2 no less than eight Half Tonners will be participating. George Radley's Cortegada will be making the trip over to Kinsale from Cobh in Cork Harbour to take on the seven entries from Dublin Bay. Among those will be the 2019 IRC 2 winner Nigel Biggs in Checkmate XVIII and 2019 Irish Half Ton Cup winners Michael Wright and Rick DeNeve in Mata.

Nigel Biggs in Checkmate XVIII

White Sails

The White Sail Divisions will be book-ended by KYC's James Matthews' new acquisition Fiscala, a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49, and the biggest boat in White Sail.

In White Sail IRC2, will be the smallest boat Shillelagh, a Blazer 23 owned by Kinsale Yacht Club Ex-Commodore and former Sovereign's Cup winner John Twomey.

All in all, there should be intriguing racing in the battles not just for the individual class titles but for The Sovereign's Cup, the Portcullis Trophy and the Michelle Dunn Prix d'Elegance Trophy which are the perpetual trophies awarded for the best overall performing boat in IRC, the best overall performance in Echo and the best-presented boat at the event.

In less than two weeks since registration opened for the O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereign's Cup 2021, 30 entries were received. The speed at which the entries have come in is best exemplified by Denis and Annamarie Murphy's entry of Nieulargo which was received within an hour of registration opening. In this year's Sovereign's Cup, Nieulargo will race in the Coastal Fleet where they hope to build on their stand-out offshore success in 2020 when they won both the Kinsale Yacht Club Fastnet race and the inaugural Fastnet 450 Race.

These early 30+ entries received more than five months before the start of the event on June 23rd, have been welcomed by Regatta Director Anthony O'Neill as he and his organising committee rolls out its revised format Covid-19 compliant event.

Nieulargo - the first boat to enter Sovereign's Cup 2021

The entry List may be viewed here.

Niall Dowling's Ker 40 Arabella

As the list shows, there are some very capable boats already entered in the Coastal Class. Among them is RIYC's, Solent based Ker 40+ Arabella entered by Niall Dowling. Dowling is very familiar with these waters, having won the 2018 Round Ireland Race in his then Ker 43 Baraka GP.

George Sisk's Wow will be in the mix as will the Patsy Burke/Lemass/Rigley Prima Forte. These boats, along with the Kinsale boats already entered, will ensure that this fleet will be hotly contested. Richard Colwell and John Murphy's J109 Outrajeous returns to defend the Class IRC Class 1 title which he and his team won in the 2019 Sovereign's Cup.

George Sisk's XP44 Wow

As previously reported, this year's event has a target number of 50 boats, this is due to the potential uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that may be required at the time of the event.

The Shanahan family's J109 Ruth from the National Yacht Club, a former ISORA champion, is entered for the 2021 Sovereign's Cup

All boat owners who intend entering the event are encouraged to do so as soon as possible, especially considering the healthy number of entries received to date.

Enter here to qualify for the Early Bird Entry draw. The Early Bird Entry cut-off is February 14th, and a draw will take place for a €200 Kinsale Good Food Circle voucher for all entries received by that date.

Registration is now open for the 2021 O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereigns Cup which will take place 23rd to 26th June in Kinsale Yacht Club, click here to enter online.

Participants will sail in Classes 0, 1, 2, Coastal and White Sail under PRO Jack Roy and RO Peter Crowley.

Due to the uncertainty around Covid-19 the event will be limited to 50 boats as outlined by Anthony O'Neill, Regatta Director. "Our reason for making this revision to our plans for the event is driven by the potential uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that may be required at different times during 2021. We are taking the prudent approach that will allow maximum flexibility to proceed with the event given the capacity of our clubhouse and marina."

With a limit of 50 boats, early entry is essential.

If KYC have no option but to cancel the event all competitors will be refunded their entry fees in full.

The details of a revised plan for the O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereign's Cup 2021 have been published by Kinsale Yacht Club together with a Notice of Race (NOR).

The Notice of Race is downloadable below as a PDF document (2mb)

Sovereign's Cup Regatta Director Anthony O'Neill has outlined how plans for the event, which is to take place from 23rd to 26th June 2021, have been revised and the reasons for doing so.

"We are all only too aware of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions necessary to curtail the spread of infection. We also know that this has led to the cancellation of many planned events this year. Given the potential uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that may be required at the time of this event, the target number of entries will be 50 boats".

This total number of boats may, at the discretion of the Organising Authority (KYC), be increased in order to have a reasonable number of boats in each division and at the same time remain compliant with Covid-19 guidelines in effect at the time of the event. It is intended that boats will be participating in IRC Classes 0, 1, 2, Coastal and White-sail.

Our reason for making this revision to our plans for the event is driven by the potential uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that may be required at different times during 2021. We are taking the prudent approach that will allow maximum flexibility to proceed with the event given the capacity of our clubhouse and marina.

In addition, our clubhouse may be restricted to booked table service only for food and beverages. Given that our marina is in the town we are confident that the local hotels, restaurants and bars will cater for the participants not accommodated in our clubhouse.

If the prevailing Covid-19 restrictions next June are such that we have no option but to cancel the event all competitors will be refunded their entry fees in full.

Registration opens on January 5th here

Listen to Sovereign's Cup Regatta Director Anthony O'Neill's July podcast with Tom MacSweeney here

Anthony O’Neill has been sailing Dragons for twenty years. In September he would have been racing in the Dragons’ major international event, the Gold Cup, which had been scheduled for Kinsale. The pandemic stopped that. Now he has been appointed to a new role as the Director of Kinsale Yacht Club’s premier event, the Sovereigns Cup, which it runs every two years.

His first task has been to secure sponsorship which has come from the company run by a man who has won the event a few times – Anthony O’Leary. Major events need such support and the many cancellations forced on the sport this year due to COVID 19 have had their impact as companies review commitments. However, with O’Leary Insurances aboard, the new Director is now busy on two fronts.

In his on-the-water competitive role, he’ll be taking part in the Dragon Week which the Kinsale club will run from September 5-12, replacing the Gold Cup.

“That will be interesting and enjoyable. We were well keyed-up for the Gold Cup, but we’ll have our competitive week and get in some good sailing. They’re a great boat and there’s a lot of members of the class just wanting to get into the competition and enjoyment of the week ahead in September after the disappointment of the cancellation.”

In his directorial role for the Sovereigns Cup, he is already working on the Notice of Race for the event next June. That will be issued by December and entries will open in the New Year.

Anthony O’Neill is my Podcast guest this week. He is hopeful that there will be a carry-over to next year from the disappointments of this year’s sailing event which will bring more people onto the water in competitive events. The target for the Sovereigns Cup is 100 entries and work towards that is already underway he tells me.

Listen to this week’s Podcast below

There was a packed clubhouse at Kinsale Yacht Club for the presentation of O’Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup prizes. Photos by Bob Bateman.

As Afloat reported previously, with a superb string of six race wins in the four-day event, Frank Whelan's Eleuthera from Greystones Sailing Club took the overall trophy on Saturday night as the best boat performing under the international IRC rating system.

The Portcullis Trophy was awarded to John Gordon’s X-Rated from Mayo Sailing Club for best overall performance under the ECHO handicap system.

(Above and below) The Portcullis Trophy for the boat which in the opinion of the Regatta Committee performs to the highest standard under ECHO went to John Gordon’s X-Rated from Mayo Sailing Club Photo: Bob Bateman

George Sisk’s WOW from the Royal Irish Yacht Club also delivered a hat-trick of wins in the Coastal class that enjoyed a 15 nautical-mile race between the new racing mark at the Old Head of Kinsale Golf links and the Sovereigns rocks off Oysterhaven.

George Sisk (right) with the Meridian Trophy presented by Tom Roche (left) Photo: Bob Bateman

George Sisk's winning 'Wow' crew in the Coastal Class Photo: Bob Bateman

In the championship events sailed within the O’Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup this year, Peter Bowring’s Phantom from the Royal St. George Yacht Club convincingly won the Dragon Nationals thanks to two race wins on the final day.

(From left) David Williams, Neil Hegarty (with trophy) and Peter Bowring were Dragon National Championship winners Photo: Bob Bateman

Ross and Aoife McDonald’s Ropedock - Atara from Howth Yacht Club won the 1720 championship with all podium places.

Nigel Biggs from Manchester on Checkmate XVIII and representing the Royal Irish and Howth yacht clubs had a 'do or die' sixth race with Michael Wright’s Mata from Howth.

Class Two winner Nigel Biggs from Manchester on Checkmate XVIII Photo: Bob Bateman

A win for Wright in the penultimate race brought him one point ahead of Biggs who then won the match-race for the final as the pair were unbeatable for the top two places in their 19-strong fleet.

However, Wright still emerged with Irish Half-ton Cup to sit alongside his Division 2 national championship title from earlier this month.

(Above and below) Michael Wright’s Mata crew from Howth were Irish Half Ton Cup winners Photo: Bob Bateman

Dave Cullen of Checkmate XV was third in IRC2 Photo: Bob Bateman

Richard Colwell and John Murphys’ Outrajeous in Division 1, completing a scoreline of all first and second places for the series.

In Class One, winners were from left the Tingle Family (second), Brian Jones (third) and overall winners Richard Colwell and John Murphy Photo: Bob Bateman

In the non-spinnaker fleets, Waterford Harbour Sailing Club’s Shane Statham on Slack Alice won the overall White Sails trophy for his straight wins under IRC plus his counterpart victory on ECHO handicap, a feat only managed by Eleuthera in Division 0 and Kinsale’s John Twomey on Shillelagh in White Sails 2.

(Above and below) Shane Statham on Slack Alice won the overall White Sails trophy

John Twomey and his White sail crew Photo: Bob Bateman

Patrick Burke’s Prima Luce from the Royal Irish Yacht Club won the ‘Prix d-elegance’ trophy for best-presented entry Photo: Bob Bateman

Other major prizes included Patrick Burke’s Prima Luce from the Royal Irish Yacht Club competing in the Coastal division that won the Michelle Dunne ‘Prix d-elegance’ trophy for best-presented entry in the event.

KYC Commodore Dave O'Sullivan addresses the prizegiving Photo: Bob Bateman

Soveeign's Cup Race Director Bobby Nash

(above and below) Irish Sailing President and Race Officer (and Mr. Perfect) Jack Roy Photo: Bob Bateman

The Sovereign's Cup Portcullis Trophy was awarded to John Gordon’s X-yacht 'X-Rated' from Mayo Sailing Club for the best overall performance under the ECHO handicap system.

The X-332 entry won two races in the ECHO division of the Cup's biggest fleet of 19 boats. 

In the Sovereign's Cup non-spinnaker fleets, Waterford Harbour Sailing Club’s Shane Statham on Slack Alice won the overall White Sails trophy for his straight wins under IRC plus his counterpart victory on ECHO handicap, a feat only managed by Eleuthera in Division 0 and Kinsale’s John Twomey on Shillelagh in White Sails 2.

Prima Luce Wins ‘Prix d-elegance’ Trophy

Other major prizes included Patrick Burke’s Prima Luce from the Royal Irish Yacht Club competing in the Coastal division that won the Michelle Dunne ‘Prix d-elegance’ trophy for best-presented entry in the event.

Staging a major sailing event which best reflects the spirit of your beloved home port is not a challenge for the faint-hearted writes W M Nixon. When we consider the multiple factors involved in the completion of the complex four-day programme for the O’Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup 2019 which concluded in Kinsale this afternoon, we soon realise that people like Regatta Director Bobby Nash and KYC Commodore David O’Sullivan and their voluntary and varied team of supporters in their many roles are quietly setting an example which could be usefully transferred to many aspects of local and national life, both afloat and ashore.

Yet it’s in the nature of such people that they see the need for something to be done, and they just get on and do it. Central to it is the willingness to take on board lessons from previous stagings of this biennial classic, while at the same time observing any fresh innovations which may have proven effective in major events elsewhere, and taking them on board for incorporation into the Kinsale model.

The view to the sea over Kinsale – the unique attractions of this popular port provide special challenges for organisers of an event for a very varied fleet.

Kinsale’s shoreside charms are such that a successful regatta will seek to provide good racing within a civilised timeframe each day

But that’s not as simple as it sounds. Characterful and hospitable Kinsale with its beautiful natural harbour is in many ways in a league of its own as a sailing venue. The Sovereign’s Cup programme has to be designed in such a way that its staging is in harmony with the civilised mood of this multi-functional centre of the good life. In other words, the people involved in staging the Sovereign’s Cup learn more from their own biennial running of this highly individualistic regatta than they do from looking elsewhere, and a critical self-analysis after each Sovereign’s regatta is part of their approach.

So it was that despite June 2019 being one of the busiest sailing periods ever seen in Ireland (with Kinsale getting its own early share with the invasion at the beginning of the month by the 50th Anniversary Figaro fleet), the end of June approached with other major events neatly filed away, and Kinsale ready and waiting for the O’Leary Life Sovereign’s Cup 2019 with a fine and varied entry of 95 boats in all - Cruiser-Racers and two One Designs classes including the International Dragons in their National Championship – facing into an interesting programme providing something for everyone.

Class 0 start on the first day, with Frank Whelan’s Eleuthera (eventual overall winner by a clean sweep) in the foreground. Photo: Robert Bateman

Competitors were almost spoilt for choice, with four start lines operational. Irish Sailing President Jack Roy was in charge of the top end IRC racing for Classes 0, 1 and 2, Neil Prendeville looked after the two white-sail divisions (W1 and W2), Richard Leonard oversaw each day’s single Coastal Race which was favoured by mostly larger boats, and the two hot One Designs – the International Dragons with their Irish Nationals, and the 1720s with their Europeans - were in the competent hands of Peter Crowley.

The Dragons in full cry, with Martin Byrne’s Jaguar racing in the lead. The Dragon Gold Cup will be staged at Kinsale in 2020. Photo: Robert Bateman

More so than ever – or so it seemed - it was the weather which had the final say. In times past, we lived with the possibly mistaken assumption that our weather progressed in a reasonably orderly fashion, coming in from the Atlantic and heading towards us in a regular and predictable manner mainly from the southwest and west in a way which usually provides sailable conditions each day, such that often on the south coast, the old cliché about “champagne sailing” can be trotted out at some stage.

But we’re living in an era of climate change, and far from Kinsale being comfortably located in a line of useful Atlantic-based sailing weather, the approach of weather systems from several directions – with some of them freakish such as the Continental heat-wave – resulted in Kinsale itself being at the heart of a meteorological innovation and manufacturing unit at Sovereign’s Cup time.

While it may be stretching it a bit to call it “champagne sailing”, the 1720s were very pleased to get clear visibility and enough wind for decent racing. Photo: Robert Bateman

Thus although the opening day on Wednesday saw everything off to a cracking start with a good easterly, most weather predictions were suggesting that Thursday would be a non-racing day with Mistral-like easterly gales. And so it proved. In fact, national wind charts and data suggested that the strongest winds in all Ireland were funnelling right through the racing area off Kinsale.

One of the explanations for all this was that Ireland’s western seaboard from West Cork north to Donegal was experiencing the hottest weather in the entire island. Thus, where mountains loomed large, the rising hot air accelerated the wind blowing towards them. For frustrated crews in Kinsale, the explanations became ever more exotic, and one comment on the message lines was that the easterly gale cutting through Kinsale was entirely the fault of excessive temperatures on Ireland’s biggest mountain, Carrauntoohill in Kerry…

Former Kinsale YC Commodore John Twomey had a clean sweep in WS IRC 2 with Shillelagh , a Blazer 23. A variant by Laser designer Bruce Kirby on the popular Sonar, the Blazer was built in Canada by Ontario Yachts with the American MORC (Midget Ocean Racing Club) circuit in mind. John’s crew in Kinsale included Eugene Hinkel, who made the original moulds in Oakville, Canada, and subsequently in Florida used Shillelagh as his demo boat before selling her to an owner in Tampa. In time, he arranged for her re-sale to the renowned Kinsale skipper, and personally looked after the boat’s shipment to Ireland. Photo: Bob Bateman

As ever, the sagacious John Twomey, Paralympic Sailing superstar and former Kinsale YC Commodore, was to put it back in perspective with a wry comment: “The weather is the boss”, and left it at that while going out next day to continue his successful regatta in the Blazer 23 Shillelagh. For, of course, having been side-tracked by a gale on Thursday, the fleet went out yesterday to drizzly mist which beyond the harbour seemed like plain old-fashioned fog. And with it was an easing southeasterly which was still sustaining a great big lumpy swell of a sea which was particularly unwelcome for those who had decided that the best way to get through the Thursday hiatus was to party the day away in Kinsale’s renowned hospitality haunts.

But fortunately, the geography of Kinsale harbour enabled some of the classes – notably the white-sailed divisions – to get in some racing in smoother water, while out at sea, fog or not, a complete day’s programme was completed.

Nevertheless, this meant that the overall success of the event depended to a large extent on today’s racing being of at least acceptable quality. With the weather frontal systems - which had removed the easterly gale and brought the fog - shifting and evaporating ever so slowly to the eastward, there was just the chance that a nice south to southwest wind might develop, and seldom can weather predictions have been dissected with as much thoroughness as they were last night in Kinsale.

Despite a contretemps in Friday’s fog which cost her a disqualification, the J/109 Outrajeous (Richard Colwell & Johnny Murphy) regained her composure and a discard and a win in the final race today and finished tops overall in IRC 2. Photo: Robert Bateman

Maybe there were prayers sent forth, but whatever it was, the hoped-for improvement came slowly in from the southwest and by the middle of this afternoon the Race Officers had managed to achieve the desired number of completed contests in what had finally become a decent breeze, knowing they could continue to give warning signals right up to 1500 hrs.

Thus the regatta started on a high and finished on a high with today’s final race, which at one stage might almost have qualified for that “Champagne Sailing” tag. And as anyone who has been following the daily reports on Afloat.ie will know, the pace has been particularly fierce where there’s an element of one design or level rating racing, which has been seen with the Dragons in their Nationals, the J/109s in Class 1, and the Half Tonners in Class 2.

Weighing up for success…..the crew of Mata put everything into getting the overall win among the Half Tonners. Photo: Robert Bateman

You’d be hard put to say where the competitiveness reached its peak, but the J/109s were hard at it and in yesterday’s final race in the fog, the initial results may have shown Outrajeous (Richard Colwell and John Murphy HYC) as having moved into a clear overall lead of five points. But there’d been a bit of a bang with a boat from another class, and last night the Protest Committee gave Outrajeous a very firm thumbs down - she was disqualified from Race 4, thus dropping from overall leader to fourth, leaving the Jones family from Cork with JellyBaby as overnight leader ahead of John Maybury’s Joker 2, with the only non-J/109 in Class 1, Paul & Deirdre Tingle’s x-34 Alpaca, in third overall.

But this morning was another day, and just one race would bring a discard into the equation. With that one race sailed, the picture changed again - the chastened Outrajeous managed a win, got the discard, and was winner by one point from Tingle's Alpaca.

The corrected times for Class 1 for today’s final race say it all – Outrajeous is first at 1:33:26, and Chris Moore and partners with their J/109 Powder Monkey are sixth on 1:35:18, with four boats between them and Outrajeous beating the second-placed Alpaca by 18 seconds……

The other hyper-hot cruiser-racer division, IRC 2 with the Half Tonners, may have seen the Wright brothers with Mata looking strong after two wins yesterday, but they’d had mixed fortunes on Wednesday, and though they managed another win today, the burden from the first day put them just one point behind Nigel Biggs’ Checkmate in the final reckoning.

Going away….the view that her competitors most frequently had of Frank Whelan’s Eleuthera. Photo: Robert Bateman

Cup of Cheer - The Eleuthera crew celebrate winning the 2019 Sovereign's Cup Photo: Bob Bateman

In other classes as already reported, Frank Whelan’s superbly tuned Grand Soleil 44 Eleuthera from Greystones had a clean sweep in Class 0, while George Sisk’s Xp44 WOW found things very much to her liking in the Coastal Class and her crew put in a performance which would have warmed the heart of their late great shipmate Tom Power, and they won the two races sailed.

The White Sails saw John Twomey in cracking form with Shillelagh getting another win today in WS IRC2, while Shane Statham from Dunmore East with the veteran GK 34 Slack Alice found things just so in WS IRC1 to take three wins and the title.

In the end the Dragons came down to a battle within the Royal St George contingent, with Peter Bowring in Phantom getting a first in the final race to put him one point ahead of Martin Byrne in Jaguar racing with 17 Dragons racing, while the 1720s saw Ross & Aoife McDonald in Rope Dock-Atara stave off the challenge of Anthony O’Leary with Antix in a fleet of 10.

The basic concept for the Sovereign’s Cup was first unveiled by Denis Kiely in the early 1990s. Since then it has become a regatta which has acquired its own very special flavour - a flavour to which 2019’s staging in some extremely odd weather has added hints of interesting new seasoning. For some, the Sovereign’s is seen as an acquired taste. But for those who have that taste, it’s the only show in town

Full results here Read all Afloat's coverage of the Sovereign's Cup in one handy link here

A bit of unexpected sport for the Grand Soleil 34 Justtina at Kinsale shows that while twin rudders can make a world of difference, it’s not always in the way you hoped……..Photo: Robert Bateman