Joe Fitzgerald of Cork went from among us a month and more ago at the age of 94. That month provides us with an added perspective for a full appreciation of his well-lived life afloat and ashore. It enhances our understanding of just how completely land and sea can become happily intertwined in life around Cork Harbour and city.

When that way of life is being lived by someone with Joe’s quiet yet always enthusiastic appreciation of the opportunities for good times in the world of boats and sailing, we find we’re looking at a long life which was a gentle inspiration and encouragement to all who knew him.

He seemed to find the perfect balance between running a demanding yet fulfilling business in the fashionable heart of Cork city, and relaxing through sailing and the company of sailing folk. The family firm in which he succeeded his father was the iconic Fitzgerald menswear, a tailoring and clothing company and shop which Joe elevated to such a reputation for quality in all areas that it’s said the young Louis Copeland, that legend of men’s tailoring, readily travelled from Dublin in order to enhance his skills by working with Joe Fitzgerald, learning from his notable eye for fabric and finish.

All these skills were allied to an astute yet very proper business aptitude. Nevertheless a good week’s work would be celebrated at its conclusion in proper style with a host of such quiet charm that when you found yourself relaxing after business hours in Joe’s company in the heart of Cork city, the sense of being in the midst of true civilisation was central to the mood of the evening, and that mood of generous enjoyment would then be carried on to the weekend’s projects in and around boats and sailing.

Despite his small stature - it’s thought that it was his longtime friend Stanley Roche who first called him “The Tiny Tailor”, though others in Cork will claim it was a northern friend – Joe was a tower of strength around boats, and he first acquired his sailing skills through spending his boyhood summers with an uncle who had a Brixham trawler converted to a sailing cruiser, and based in Crosshaven.

Although during his working years his family home was in Blackrock, Crosshaven remained his sailing home for the rest of his long life, and for his final decade he was a resident of the apartments which had been developed in the former Grand Hotel just across the road from the side door to the Royal Cork Yacht Club, where he was wont to meet his special circle of friends.

This link to shore living in Crosshaven went back to the late 1930s when Joe and some young contemporaries rented a house in the village on a year-round basis. They became much involved with the local dinghy sailing scene through the Cork Harbour Sailing Club, where the inspiration was top international helm Jimmy Payne, who saw to it that the club had a fleet of International 12 sailing dinghies available for charter at 10 shillings for half a day at a time when The Emergency engendered by World War II might have made access to sailing difficult

The International 12s racing at Crosshaven in the 1940s. Photo courtesy RCYC
Soon, a core of useful dinghy sailing experience built up. But by 1943 the waters around neutral Ireland were less directly affected by the war, and the Irish Cruising Club organised a race from Crosshaven around the Fastnet. Lest this seem callous at a time when war was still being waged, it should be noted that several naval and military officers on active service with the Allied forces managed to arrange leave in order to participate.

Among the boats taking part was the famous Gull from Crosshaven, one of the seven participants in the first international Fastnet Race of 1925. Although her legendary skipper Harry Donegan had died in 1940, his son Harry Jnr continued the family ownership of Gull, and for that race of 1943, he included the young Joe Fitzgerald in the crew. As a result, Joe Fitzgerald was elected a member of the Irish Cruising Club in 1944 on the proposal of Harry Donegan Jnr, and today the Fitzgerald ICC membership of 72 years has the air of the eternal record to it.

The Donegan family’s Gull, a veteran of the first international Fastnet Race of 1925, aboard whch Joe Fitzerald qualified for Irish Cruising Club membership in 1944. Photo: Courtesy RCYC

Joe Fitzgerald was also busy in 1944 in other ways afloat, as he was continuing to play a key role in the dinghy sailing of the Cork Harbour Sailing Club, and 1944 saw the first races by CHSC in International 12s against Sutton Dinghy Club for “The Book”, the monumental volume in which each year’s racing is recorded by the winning team. It continues today with Sutton DC still in the picture, but it’s the mighty Royal Cork Yacht Club itself which now represents Cork Harbour, and has done so since 1970. Nevertheless it was a surprise for participants in 1988’s event in Crosshaven when Joe Fitzgerald was asked to speak at the dinner, and he gave his typically dry-humoured account of the racing in 1944 all of 44 years previously and waxed enthusiastic about the goodwill which The Book has generated ever since.

The teams racing for “The Book” at Sutton Dinghy Club in 1944. Joe Fitzgerald, on the Cork Harbour SC team, is third from the right of those seated at front. Photo courtesy SDC/RCYC

In addition to sailing for sport, Joe Fitzgerald in the 1940s joined the Maritime Inscription, continuing with the voluntary naval reserve which was re-formed as An Slua Muiri after the war. He recalled that his commissioning papers were signed by Eamonn de Valera himself, and his career with the force went on for 39 years. It’s said that he was within weeks of serving for forty years, but the stipulated retirement age was upon him. His many friends and colleagues hoped that the bureaucrats might stretch the rules just a tiny bit to allow him see out the forty years, but the bureaucracy was not for budging. Nevertheless Joe could retire from his many years of service knowing that he had been the youngest Commanding Officer of any region in Ireland.

Meanwhile he had long since been involved in sailing administration, having become Honorary Secretary of Cork Harbour Sailing Club in 1946 while also being an active member of the Royal Munster YC in Crosshaven. There was change in the air, and very suddenly in the late 1940s the International 12s, the backbone of Irish dinghy sailing for many years, found themselves being rapidly displaced by new boats such as the Fireflies and IDRA 14s in Dublin Bay, and the IDRA 14s and National 18s in Cork Harbour.

Joe opted for a George Bushe-built IDRA 14, and soon showed his mettle by winning the IDRA 14 Nationals at Dunmore East in 1951 in his new Mystery, crewed by Michael Donnelly. He was also crewing increasingly on larger craft, both for offshore racing and cruising. But when his father died suddenly at the age of 49 of a heart attack he had to re-direct energies into the family business.

It was a salutary lesson for him, as thereafter, while he was undoubtedly enjoying the good life with a high level of conviviality with a special coterie of close friends, he was way ahead of his time in keeping himself fit. His health regime - which he continued to the end of his days - included a cycling machine in a spare room in the house, and a programme of exercises which saw regular press-ups until well into his nineties.

Yet with a family on the way with his wife Maddie, he seemed the ordinary unfussed successful Cork businessman with a taste for sport and particularly sailing. In the 1960s, in addition to sailing on larger boats with top skippers such as Denis Doyle and Tom Crosbie, he got involved with the lively International Dragon Class which was growing at Crosshaven.

Almost all the boats in it were classic Scandinavian-built Dragons, but Joe decided he’d have his one built at Denis Doyle’s Crosshaven boatyard by the hugely-skilled George Bushe, who had already built his winning IDRA 14 Mystery.

George Bushe made a very good job of building the new Dragon class Melisande. In fact, he made too good a job of it. When the official measurer arrived over in Ireland to approve Melisande, he pointed out that as the Dragon was conceived as a basic economical boat, the frames were meant to have a simple rectangular section. Yet George in his love of providing a good finish had rounded off the exposed edges of the frames. The measurer was not for turning. Melisande would not be recognised as a true Dragon until the fancy rounded frames were replaced by crude hard-sectioned timbers. It was done. But it took a long time to obliterate the memory of having to do so.

Yet Joe’s time was successful in the Dragons, and he well-represented the Cork fleet in a major international event hosted at Crosshaven in 1962, coming third against the likes of winner Jock Workman from Belfast Lough and runner-up J L F Crean from the Solent.

A photo from the Cork Evening Echo in 1962. The International Dragon Series at Crosshaven, with Joe Fitzgerald sailing for Cork Harbour (foreground) getting the better of eventual overall winner Jock Workman of Belfast Lough at the start

At the 1962 Dragon Open Series are skipper Joe Fitzgerald (left) with his crew of P J Kavanagh and Mick Sullivan

But increasingly he found most pleasure in cruiser-racers, and he teamed up with longtime friend Peter Cagney to order a new Cuthbertson & Cassian-designed Trapper 28, finished on a bare glassfibre hull by George Bushe at his new yard at Rochestown. It was now that Joe Fitzgerald really began to spread his wings, and every possible free moment was used for cruising, though their explorations were not without the occasional mishap.

Approaching Courtmacsherry long before it was a popular port of call, Peter was below and Joe was at the helm when they lightly clipped a rock. In response to the roar from below, the helmsman blithely replied: “Your half of the boat has just struck a rock, but it’s nothing serious……”

Building on experience over the years with his own boats and the larger vessels of friends, Joe Fitzgerald developed an entire philosophy of cruising in which he built up a complete matrix of friendly ports mostly on the Cork coast but also further afield and internationally too, and as well he showed how a place like Cork Harbour meant you could have a cruising weekend of some sort virtually regardless of what the weather might throw at you. And of course, if good conditions arrived, it was amazing what he could achieve by adding a day or two on to the beginning or the end of a favourable weekend.

To do this he maintained understanding friendships which provided lifelong bonds, and if other Cork sailors took to calling them “Dad’s Army”, Joe and his friends in turn showed a level of continuing love of boats and sailing which were inspirational to all. With such an approach, it was only natural that Joe Fitzgerald should be called upon to fill important roles in sailing administration, and while he could have his own way of doing things which was not always the way of other people, the very fact of his many sailing and cruising achievements often gave him carte blanche to continue the Fitzgerald administrative style, while his speeches at formal gatherings were gems to be treasured.

Thus having started at Honorary Secretary of Cork Harbour Sailing Club in 1946, he rose through many ranks, becoming Rear Commodore of the Royal Munster YC as long ago as 1949, and then when the Royal Munster and the Royal Cork merged during the late 1960s, the Royal Cork Quadrimillenial Celebrations of 1970 saw Joe in the key role of the still-extant position of Commodore which gave due recognition to the Royal Munster’s input, and then in 1975 he was RCYC Vice Admiral in support of George Kenefick as Admiral.

But it was in the Irish Cruising Club that the light-touch Fitzgerald management style proved most congenial. For many years he was on the Committee, by 1982 he was Vice Commodore, and he was then elected Commodore by acclamation from 1984 to 1986, heading the club with his calming presence at a time of rapid development.

Meanwhile his boat sizes had gently increased, and they reflected the reality of the needs of a sailor who continued in and around his boats afloat on a virtually year round basis. He moved up to a Moody 33 from the Trapper 28, and he was with that Moody 33 when we happened to drop into Youghal of a Saturday night in 1986 on our way to Cork Week in a 30-footer, and there was the Commodore ICC in fine form for a bit of a party, which duly took place.

By 1990 he’d moved on to a Moody Eclipse with its useful deckhouse, and we found ourselves in our little boat in Crosshaven waiting out a Sunday of filthy weather before better weather settled in to carry us south to Biscay. So Joe suggested that as he’d the deckhouse, we should go and spend the day with him on his boat over in East Ferry, and thus the bad weather was let go through without any interruption to the merriment, and next day we went on our way with a fair wind and sunshine, sustained by the entertaining memories of our thoughtful and imaginative clubmate back in Cork.

That’s the way it was with Joe Fitzgerald. He made the best of the hand that life dealt him. A widower since 1983, he still had 33 years to live, and he lived them with quiet enjoyment. He even decided he’d outgrown the Moody Eclipse, and bought himself a hefty Nauticat 33 which took on the Fitzgerald name of Mandalay, and provided an “all indoors” boat which enabled this most gallant senior sailor to continue his love affair with boats and the sea and boat people.

The “All Indoors” boat. The Nauticat 33 enabled Joe Fitzgerald to continue cruising until he’d become a very senior sailor.It is impossible to do full justice to Joe Fitzgerald in ordinary words. The world has been a much more interesting place for his having been in it. His view of life was unique. And his view of death was unusual. For his funeral service, he requested no more than a simple humanist ceremony. Yet we’re told one of the speakers with fond memories was a good old friend who was a former chaplain to the Naval Service at Haulbowline. In his quiet way, Joe Fitzgerald was beyond mere imagination, and he leaves family and friends with many cherished memories.

WMN

A long rolling sea in Cork harbour and spring tides welcomed today's CH Marine Autumn League at Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Bob Bateman.

After six races sailed Kieran Dorgan's Beneteau 36.7 Altair looks the boat to beat in IRC one. After one discard, Dorgan has a 4.5 lead over Paul & Deirdre Tingle's Alpaca X34. Third is today's first race winner Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold.

Classes one, two and the 1720 sportsboats started beyond Whitegate on the Eastern bank and sailed two races round the cans under Race Officer Peter Crowley. 

In race two, there was plenty of wind from the west south–west but after a deluge wind dropped to five knots. Fleets three and four whitesail started over at the Dognose bank with a beat to Cage mark and a two sail reach to no 3 buoy at the entrance to harbour and a spinnaker run in, not for the faint hearted.

Results are posted here

Racing will be held again next Sunday and concludes the following Saturday with a prizegiving dinner. 

Cork Harbour's own Alex Barry finished on top in the All Ireland Sailing Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club today but not before an exciting duel for the coveted trophy with Rio Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy who finished second overall in the eight boat fleet writes Gail McAllister.

After a frustrating wait in dead calm conditions on day 2 of the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championships sailors were treated to a perfect 20–knots of breeze in the final races. It was thrilling to watch Ireland’s top sailors from each class compete in the latest National 18 dinghies.  

Annalise Murphy and crew gave an outstanding performance with 3 bullets in the final 3 races and the final winner was not clear until judges and race officer had done the maths on discards. RS400 sailor from Monkstown Bay Yacht Club came out top with 11 points, with Annalise Murphy only one point behind on 12 and Darragh O’Sullivan, who had dominated the board throughout the afternoon, came in at 3rd with an equal 3 points, because Annalise had 3 bullets to Darragh’s 2. Race Officer Peter Crowley completed a good series with 20 minute races and a fast turnaround between races keeping everyone on their toes.

This weekend’s top sailors came from a broad spectrum of classes RS400, Laser Radial, Laser Full Rig, National 18, ICRA 1, 2 & 3, 1720, IDRA14, RS200, J24, Mermaid, Shannon One Design and Flying Fifteen.

Top eight results are downloadable below.

Defending champion Anthony O'Leary must win one of two repechage places to earn a place in tomorrow's final of the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The six finalists confirmed for tomorrow are RS400 Sailor Alex Barry with crew Richard Leonard, National 18 Sailor Ewen Barry with crew Stanley Browne, 1720 Sailor Peter O Leary with crew Sandy Remmington, Laser Sailor Darragh O Sullivan with crew mark Hasset, IRC 2 Sailor John Swan with crew Ryan Glynn, Laser Radial Sailor Annalise Murphy with crew Seafra Guilfoyle.

Seeking two two repechage places tomorrow morning are 2015 Winner Anthony OLeary with crew John Durcan, IDRA14 Sailor Alan Henry with crew Simon Revill,  RS200 Sailor Neil Spain with crew John Downey J24 Sailor Cillian Dickson with crew Gordon Stirling, Flying Fifteen Sailor David Gorman with crew Stephen O’Shaughnessy, SB20 Sailor Stephen Hyde with crew Jerry Dowling, IRC3 Paul Gibbons with crew Killian Collins, SOD Sailor Mark McCormick with crew Nicky McCormick.

It has been a golden if sometimes very thin thread running through Irish sailing continuously since 1947. Despite the vagaries of the Irish weather and the increasing complexity of our sailing programme, absolutely every season for sixty-nine years now we’ve managed – occasionally with some difficulty – to create a viable come-all-ye-class-champions national event which rotated the venues and the boat types used. It’s an event which brings together multiple talents from many classes to produce a Champion of Champions after a hectic weekend of racing, and 2016’s edition starts this morning at the Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven. W M Nixon attempts to grasp the will-of-the wisp which is the ideal that was the Irish Helmsman’s Championship and is now the ISA All Ireland Championship, and finds it’s in a bit of bother.

It’s ironic that while the publicity machine beats the drum ever-faster for the annual Endeavour Trophy, the Helmsmans Championship’s British equivalent which is being staged in England in a week’s time, here in Ireland publicity had seemed almost muted in the run-up to this weekend’s All Ireland until the news broke this week that two GP 14 sailors – including the World Champion – had declined an invitation to enter on the grounds that the event has become too out of line with other dinghy events for participation in terms of entry fee and other costs.

It’s ironic that the British Championship should be on a roll, while ours is getting the kind of publicity any iconic event could well do without, because the Irish event was introduced quite a few years in advance of the British one. And when the Endeavour Trophy was up and running properly, didn’t we send over one of our best Enterprise crews to take part, and didn’t they win it overall when Robin Hennessy and Robert Michael of Malahide won the Endeavour Trophy in 1968?

The other RCYC. The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club at Burnham-on-Crough in Essex is hosting the Endeavour Trophy in a week’s time with the lineup including two Olympic medallists, and an event fee of 130GBP includes food and accommodation for the weekend, and the entry fee. The Endeavour Trophy was won by Ireland’s Robin Hennessy and Robert Michael in 1968. Photo courtesy RCYC

These days, the organisers of the Endeavour Trophy lay down the red carpet all the way to the RCYC in Burnham-on-Crouch in order to entice the stars of many classes to come and give of their best in the Endeavour Trophy, and said stars are treated well in the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club with an event fee of £130GBP which includes all food and accommodation in addition to entry.

But in Ireland, the RCYC – aka the Royal Cork Yacht Club - has been left out on a limb in staging the ISA All Ireland Championship 2016, so they’ve had to charge the entrants an entry fee of €220 plus an extra €1000 waiver for insurance requirement.

Now admittedly €90 of that entry fee is to cover for three at the All Ireland Dinner in the RCYC tonight, which seems to me a perfectly justifiable way to ensure that everyone is truly involved in the event in its totality. But nevertheless a modest sponsorship package would take disagreeable financial challenges out of the equation at a time of the season when many amateur sailors are just about cleaned out in the resources department. And though as we’ll see in looking down the list of participants, there are some distinctly top-end sailors involved, the essence of the All Irelands is that it should be a celebration of Irish amateur sailing sport at every level of boat expense to include the less affluent.

There was sponsorship of the event until five years ago, but once that had gone with the recession, costs for participation gradually rose. And this summer with Irish sailing attention at every level increasingly focused on the Olympics and the wonder of Annalise’s Silver Medal, it may well be that insufficient attention was being given to the fact that the up-coming All Ireland is an event which offers a very attractive and compact sponsorship package, particularly with the 70th Anniversary coming up next year.

Annalise Murphy and coach Rory Murphy immediately after winning the Olympic Silver Medal in August. Today she is testing herself in a very different environment – the bear-pit of the two-day ISA All Ireland Championship raced in the new National 18 Ultras at Crosshaven. Photo World Sailing

Let’s hope securing this particular sponsorship package is work in progress. Meanwhile, after a long and exhausting season of many events, your columnist found himself energised by the thought that the All Irelands 2016 are going to staged at Crosshaven in the new Ultra National 18s. This is the next stage in a success story which has its heart and soul in Cork Harbour, and the development of this remarkable class with affordable boats is a credit to all involved, not least the Royal Cork which came up with seed money just when it was needed to bring this new Phil Morrison creation to fruition.

We think we’ve become used to the look of the new National 18s, but the other day I came across this photo of Ewen Barry’s boat in light airs, and you see things you hadn’t noticed before. It’s a timely photo to use, as Ewen has been the tops in 2016, leading the charge to the outright win by a clear margin when nine of the new Cork boats went to the big championship at Findhorn in Scotland, so naturally he’s the National 18 representative in this morning’s all-Ireland lineup, sailing for Monkstown Bay SC.

They don’t have to pretend to be different. The new Phil Morrison-designed National 18s are very different . This is Ewen Barry’s champion D’Good, D’Bad and D’Blaster , and he is representing the class in this weekend’s All Ireland. Photo: Robert BatemanThus he must be a favourite. But National 18 favourites can be beaten when the All Ireland is sailed in the class at Crosshaven, as happened back in 1970 when the 17-year-old Robert Dix, crewed in a very positive manner by Richard Burrows, raced a National 18 to such good effect that he became the youngest-ever Helmsmans Champion, besting the likes of Somers Payne and Harold Cudmore to do so.

He’s still the youngest-ever winner, while the first woman winner was Laura Dillon way back in 1996. But in All Ireland Helmsmans Championship terms, 1996 is only the day before yesterday, for in a series going right back to 1947 when Douglas Heard won, the outstanding feature is the longevity of the winners. Senior of all those very happily still with us is Ted Crosbie who won in 1950, while doubly awarded and still playing around in boats is Neville Maguire, winner in 1952 and 1954. Between those two wins was the still active Johnny Hooper, then in 1955 and 1960 the winner was Clayton Love, who just three weeks ago played a starring role in the IDRA 14 Class’s 70th Anniversary.

Laura Dillon was the first woman winner, in 1996

Ted Crosbie is the senior Champion Helm – he won in 1950. He is seen here with the Boat of the Year award at the Royal Cork in 2015. Photo Bob Bateman

Clayton Love (right) with Jim Lambkin left) and Sean Flood at the recent IDRA 70th Anniversary regatta. Clayton won the Helmsmans Chmpionship in 1955 and 1960. Photo: W M Nixon

So the message is clear and simple. If you want to live long and live well, win the All Ireland Helmsman’s Championship. Here’s the lineup for this morning’s start:

Defending Champion: Anthony O’Leary RCYC; National 18: Ewen Barry Monkstown Bay Sailing Club/ RCYC; RS400: Alex Barry MBSC/RCYC; SB20: Stefan Hyde RCYC; Mermaid: Sam Shiels Skerries SC; Laser Standard: Darragh O’Sullivan Kinsale YC; IDRA14: Alan Henry Sutton Dinghy Club; Flying 15: David Gorman National YC; RS200: Neil Spain Howth YC; Shannon One-Design: Mark McCormick Lough Ree YC; ICRA Division 1: Colin Byrne Royal Irish YC; ICRA Division 2: Jonny Swan Howth YC; ICRA Divison 3: Paul Gibbons RCYC; 1720: Peter O’Leary RCYC; Laser Radial: Annalise Murphy NYC; J24: Cillian Dickson HYC.

If the weather predictions prove correct there’ll be an easing northwest to north breeze today after some early morning rain, then a rising southerly tomorrow with generally good weather, with the event ending before the next lot of wet and windy weather comes in tomorrow night. It could be an ideal mixture of conditions for a remarkable mixture of abilities, as the lineup ranges all the way from helms for the Mermaid and Shannon One Design Classes - Sam Shiels of Skerries and Mark McCormick of Lough Ree respectively – through several former winners including of course the defending champion Anthony O’Leary who is trying to make it three in a row, and on up to the exalted heights of Olympic Medaldom with Annalise Murphy.

Frankly, it’s very courageous of Annalise to let her name go forward, as the begrudgers will be looking for any slip–ups. But we know she’s a genuine sportswoman as her relaxation sailing is buzzing about in a foiling Moth which offers endless opportunities for making a holy show of yourself. So taking herself out of her Olympic Laser Radial comfort zone into a bearpit like the All Ireland race in three-person National 18s undoubtedly has class.

Peter O’Leary representing the 1720 Class, is expected to be among the front runners this weekend
But whether her name will be heading for the famous salver on Sunday evening is another matter altogether. You’d be inclined to expect the name O’Leary to feature in the reckoning, but which particular O’Leary is anyone’s guess. Former winner Stefan Hyde is also a force to be reckoned with when he’s on form. In fact there are maybe seven in that list who are in with a real chance. And if it is someone outside our list who becomes the All Ireland Champion 2016, we’ll be happy to let you know and admit we got it wrong.

Odyssey, the prototype for the new Phil Morrison-designed National 18 Ultra. The use of these fascinating boats for the All Ireland Championship this weekend is the latest stage in a remarkable class development story in which the Royal Cork Yacht Club has played a key role. Photo courtesy National 18 Class

Two invitees have declined their invitations to this weekend's Irish Sailing Association (ISA) All Ireland sailing competition at Royal Cork Yacht Club over an entry fee that the ISA says it is forced to charge in the absence of an event sponsor.

GP14 World Champion Shane MacCarthy says the 'entry fee is too expensive and not in line with dinghy entry fees'. 

Fellow GP14 helmsman Hugh Gill goes further and says the €220 charge is 'an indication of how the ISA is out of touch with how the majority of sailors manage their participation in the sport'. 

Neither sailor is attending the Crosshaven event that is to be sailed in National 18 dinghies.

16 sailors, including Rio Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy, have been invited to attend the annual end–of–season event organised by the national governing body.

Sutton Dinghy Club's Gill wrote to Afloat to say he had declined the invitation due to the insistence by the ISA that all entrants, despite being invited to participate, must pay an entry fee of €220. Gill says' Other participants have entered but have sent correspondence expressing their disappointment regarding the entry fee'.  He adds: 'The imposition of an entry fee is a recent change, maybe for the past 5 years, to what was always an invitational event attended by various Class National Champions and other sailors who had achieved success on the international stage. To impose any fee on this event let alone a charge of €220 for an event comprising a number of short races over two days for 16 invited sailors is another indication of how the ISA has lost touch with the reality of how the majority of sailors manage their participation in the sport'. 

In response, ISA Chief Executive Harry Hermon has described the withdrawal of both GP14 helmsmen as 'most unfortunate'. 

In a statement the ISA says: 'the background to the current situation is that up until 2008, the event was sponsored which enabled the host club to run it without an entry fee. Since that date there has been an entry fee paid to the host club, with the average being in the range of €120 - €150. Last year’s event had an entry fee of €130.

Each year, as part of a review following the event, we ask sailors how it can be improved. These questions produce mostly expected answers, namely dinghy sailors prefer the event to be in dinghies, while keelboat sailors prefer keelboats! In recent years the event has been run in J80 Keelboats, and this year we are delighted to be able to return to dinghies using the National 18’s thanks to the generosity of the National 18 Class in loaning their boats.

Last year, the feedback highlighted the fact, that while the on-the-water format was good, the social side was totally lacking, with a very low turnout for the Championship dinner. In fact, many of the sailors indicated in advance that they would be attending, but on the night very few appeared. This left the host club with a lot of uneaten food and a significant loss on the night. This year in response to the feedback received from the competitors, the ISA decided to try to make it a more sociable event and to promote the dinner as something worth attending, hence the cost of the dinner is included in the entry fee. The fee of €220, is made up of three dinners at €30 each and entry fee of €130, the same as last year. As all event organisers will concur, the costs associated with staging an event with only 16 entrants do not differ significantly from staging a larger event with more competitors enabling lower entry fees. It is also worth noting that the ISA sets the entry fee, but does not get any of the funds generated through the staging of the event.

All the other nominees accepted the nomination and the entry fee of €220. The two competitors who were subsequently invited to take up the slots made available by Shane and Hugh were delighted to accept. It is regrettable that two sailors, who should be sailing in the event have declined their invitation, however in the absence of a sponsor, we do not believe it is unreasonable to ask the competitors to pay for the costs associated with staging the event, and buying dinner for the person lending them their boat.

At this late stage it is not possible to change the format or pricing structure for the event, however the ISA will initiate a detailed review of the event following this year’s championship, and in the improving financial environment specific efforts will be made to attract a sponsor for future championships.

In closing I'd like to express our gratitude to Royal Cork Yacht Club for hosting the event and to thank the members of the National 18 class for facilitating this event by lending their boats, their generosity is acknowledged.

We wish all the contestants every success and hope that all the participants have a truly enjoyable event and a sociable evening' – Harry Hermon, ISA.

South coast youth sailors took to the podium in style at the ISA All Ireland Junior Sailing Championships prizegiving this afternoon securing the top three places overall in the 16-boat invitational fleet.

It is the third year in a row that Royal Cork sailors have retained the youth sailing trophy.

Despite much of the rest of the country being either battered by gales or beset by rain, on the West Cork Riviera they managed to find sailable conditions yesterday and today to put in eight good races rounded out by a Medal Race with the sixteen crew in competition in Fastnet Marine & Outdoor Centre’s special fleet of David Harte-devised competition dinghies.

Youth champions from left – 2nd place James McCann, Geoff Power Waterford Harbour Sailing Club, 1st place Johnny Durcan, Florence Lyden Royal Cork Yacht Club National Yacht Club, 3rd place Harry Durcan, Noah McCarfth Royal Cork Yacht Club3at Fastnet Marine & Outdoor Education Centre. Photo: ISA/Facebook

Crewed by Florence Lyden, the pair give allegiance to both Royal Cork Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire’s National YC, Johnny Durcan was on top of his form in Saturday’s moderate sou’sou’west wind and today’s more challenging gusty conditions.

The cup of success was overflowing and then some for the Durcan family, as the Medal Race was won by Johnny’s twin brother Harry crewed by Noah McCarthy, but Johnny was second and could comfortably carry the double points of 4 as his scoreline in the preliminaries was 2,1,3,1,2,2,1.

Rising Waterford star Geoff Power of Dunmore East, crewed by James McCannn of Crosshaven, was second overall, but fetched up well down as he posted 29 points to the remarkable 16 of the new champion, while Harry Durcan was back at 33.

Kate Lyttle and Niamh Henry – 2016 All Ireland Womens Junior Champions

Overall Results 

1 Laser Radial Johnny Durcan Florence Lyden RCYC & NYC

2 420 Geoff Power James McCann Waterford Harbour Sailing Club
3 29er Harry Durcan Noah McCarthy Royal Cork Yacht Club
4 420 Kate Lyttle Niamh Henry Royal St George Yacht Club
5  Optimist Tom Higgins Henry Higgins Royal St George Yacht Club
6 Topper Jack Fahy Eoghan Byrne Royal St George Yacht Club
7  Laser 4.7 Peter Fagan Ross Morgan Royal St George Yacht Club
8  Laser 4.7 Clare Gorman Ella Hemeryck National Yacht Club
9 Optimist Harry Twomey Charlie Moloney RCYC & CHSC
10 Topper Sophie Crosbie Caoimhe Foster Royal Cork Yacht Club
11  RS200 Junior Toby Hudson Fowler Greg Arrowsmith Royal St George Yacht Club
12 Mirror Sarah White Eoghan Duffy Sligo Yacht Club / Lough Ree Yacht Club
13 RS Feva Henry Start Morgan Devine Royal St George Yacht Club
14 Topaz Adam Byrne Ciaran MacGearailt Dingle Sailing Club
15 Optimist Leah Rickard Luke Rickard National Yacht Club
16 Topaz Dylan Reidy Killian Reidy Foynes Yacht Club

Downloadable scoresheet below

Cove Sailing Club's own Beneteau First 36.7 Altair was the class one winner of yesterday's annual Cobh to Blackrock race writes Bob Bateman. The Cork Harbour fixture that was postponed due to bad weather a fortnight week ago set sail in light westerly winds yesterday with a good turnout of all sorts of cruisers and dinghies that included some local Rankin dinghy entries. 

The course was upriver from the start line at Cobh to the finish line at Blackrock Castle.

Cove Sailing Club Commodore Aidan Mc Aleavey, with support from the Naval Squadron's Soubrette from Haulbowline acting as comittee boat, sent the fleet off with a flooding tide and a beat up to Whitepoint then a reach onwards to Marino Point. 

The dinghy fleet started first then the white sail division followed by traditional craft with racing classes 1,2,3 last to start.

Second in class one was Ria Lyden's X332 Ellida with Paul Tingle's X34 Alpaca from Royal Cork third.

George Radley's Half tonner Cortegada was the class two winner. The race is part of CSC September League. Full results are here

The CH Marine Autumn Series at Royal Cork Yacht Club is rapidly approaching writes Kieran O'Connell. A highlight of the Cork Harbour sailing season the event attracts large numbers of sailors from a wide variety of clubs from around Ireland. Download the event Notice of Race and entry form below.

This year the CH Marine Autumn Series will commence on Sunday, October 2nd with the first two races and will follow with two races Sunday in October finishing on Sunday October 30th. Racing will commence each day at 1055hrs, and will be followed each day by food, music and daily prize giving. Notice of Race and Entry forms downloadable from CH Marine Autumn Series

Over the last few years there has been a great 1720 fleet building for the CH Marine Autumn Series, with 13 boats competing last year. This year is looking like the 1720 class will not disappoint with a large number of early entries.

On the final day of racing the CH Marine Autumn Series dinner and overall prize giving will be held at the club commencing at 19.30hrs. 

Subject to availability, complimentary berthing on swinging moorings or marina berths will be provided to yachts visiting. For berthing arrangements please contact Mark Ring at Royal Cork office +353(0)214831023

Royal St. George Yacht Club Optimist sailor Tom Higgins continued his successful season at last weekend's Munster Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club. The Dublin Bay youth sailor finished the six race series on 14 points, three–points clear of the National Yacht Club's Charlie Cullen.Third in the 35-boat senior fleet was Royal Cork's Rory O'Sullivan. In the junior fleet, Higgins's clubmate Moss Simmington was the overall winner. IODAI Results below.