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As befits such an important fixture on the national racing calendar, the overall results were dependent on the last day’s racing and in some cases by the seventh and final race. And in the case of Class 0, with two boats tying for top slot on IRC, it was only decided on the most race wins.

Class 0

A tie-break decision in favour of Dave Dwyer’s ‘Marinerscove.ie’ pipped fellow RCYC entry ‘Jump Juice’ (Conor Phelan) by virtue of two wins on the second day to the Ker 36.7’s solitary race win on the same day. Ironically, the crew of the Mills 39 thought they had blown their chances, with two of their worst results in the series, a 3rd and 4th on the last day, but after discards the two were level, with the tie-break kicking in for ‘Marinerscove.ie’ by the narrowest of margins. (There was an HYC connection, with Tom Murphy playing a pivotal role on board the winner

It proved a clean sweep for the four Cork boats in Class 0, with ‘Blondie IV’ and ‘Antix Eile’ filling the next two spots, the latter finding it harder to be as competitive as the wind strength increased. For ‘Blondie’, there was some consolation in taking the ECHO title by three points from Howth’s Stephen Harris/Frank Hughes in the First 40.7 ‘Tiger’, helped in no small way by wining the last three races in the series.

On another positive note, it was a good work-out for members of Ireland’s Commodore’s Cup Team before that event takes place later in the summer in Cowes.

Class 1

Tino Hyland and Nigel Biggs of the Royal St.George YC made the most of their J109 ‘Checkmate XII’s performance capability and handicap to win Class 1 on IRC with a string of good results. Their only place outside the top two – a third in the third race – was their discard and the win will give their Sail4Cancer appeal even more profile

It was enough to give them a comfortable five point buffer over the runner-up – their namesake ‘Checkmate’, Mike MacCarthy’s Ker 32 from Royal Cork - with 3rd placed Barry Cunningham in the Corby 33 ‘Contango’ (RIYC) a further three points adrift.

On the ECHO standings, Hyland & Biggs had to play second fiddle to Paul O’Higgins’ new Corby 33 ‘Rockabill V’ which emerged at the head of the 31-boat fleet without a single race win but with consistent scoring in the top ten in each race. Third place went to the sole Rush Sailing Club representative ‘Storm’, the First 36.7 of Pat Kelly.

Class 2

The disappointment of being OCS in the first race was quickly forgotten about on board ‘Kinetic’ (Richard Colwell, John Murphy and crew) as the Howth boat set about winning the Class 1 IRC title in some style. Four firsts, a third and a fifth allowed the Corby 25 to head the single biggest fleet by the single biggest margin (15.5 points) as the only host club success.

It was impressive sailing by any standards but the best results on the last day – two second places – was sufficient to elevate Tim Goodbody’s Sigma 33 ‘White Mischief’ into the runners-up spot, some achievement against very new racing machines. Four points off the pace in third place overall was the defending champion 'Obsession VI’, Barry & David Rose’s Corby 25 from Cork.

On ECHO, it was another case of coming from behind, with Brian Cusack’s veteran half-tonner ‘Dick Dastardly’ from the DMYC notching up a fourth and first on the last day to move ahead of yet another Corby 25, ‘Wil2Win’ from Pwllheli. Howth’s Conor Nolan in ‘Aloha’ actually tied overall with the Welsh boat but lost out on better discard.

Class 3

Arguably the best performance of the entire regatta was in Class 3 where Flor O’Driscoll of the Royal St.George demonstrated just how fast and competitive a J/24 can be. A stunning results card of five firsts and a second with ‘Hard on Port’ provided the lowest tally in any class.

Vince Gaffney’s ‘Alliance’ of HYC was well sailed as always but couldn’t match the O’Driscoll crew as the event progressed. Second place, eight points behind, was reasonable reward over the seven races while another Howth boat, ‘Starlet’ (Fergus O’Kelly et al) was just three points further behind.

Such was the J/24’s dominance that Hard on Port also took the ECHO crown, and it proved to be a ‘J’ double too, with Brian McDowell’s Scandal from Malahide taking second ahead of the Sonata ‘Asterix’ (Counihan/Meredith/Caulfield, DMYC).

Saab Cruiser Nationals - Overall Results (after 7 races)

(Complete results on www.hyc.ie)

Class 0 (IRC)

1. Marinerscove.ie David Dwyer RCYC 13 pts
2. Jump Juice Conor Phelan RCYC 13 pts
3. Blondie Eamonn Rohan RCYC 17 pts

Class 0 (ECHO)

1. Blondie Eamonn Rohan RCYC 23 pts

2. Tiger Hughes/Harris HYC 26 pts
3. Unnamed Glen Ward DLM 31 pts

Class 1 (IRC)

1. Checkmate XII Hyland/Biggs RStGYC 9 pts
2. Checkmate Mike MacCarthy RCYC 14 pts
3. Contango Barry Cunningham RIYC 17 pts

Class 1 (ECHO)

1. Rockabill V Paul O’Higgins NYC 38 pts
2. Checkmate XII Hyland/Biggs RStGYC 43 pts
3. Storm Pat Kelly Rush SC 45 pts

Class 2 (IRC)

1. Kinetic Colwell & Murphy HYC 12 pts
2. White Mischief Tim Goodbody RIYC 27.5 pts
3. Obsession V1 Barry & David Rose RCYC 31.5 pts

Class 2 (ECHO)

1. Dick Dastardly Brian Cusack & others DMYC 48 pts
2. Wil2Win Williams/Partington Pwllheli SC 55 pts
3. Aloha Conor Nolan & Others HYC 55 pts

Class 3 (IRC)

1. Hard on Port Flor O’Driscoll RStGYC 7 pts
2. Alliance Vince Gaffney HYC 15 pts
3. Starlet Fergus O’Kelly & others HYC 18 pts

Class 3 (ECHO)

1. Hard on Port Flor O’Driscoll RStGYC 18 pts
2. Scandal Brian McDowell MYC 21 pts
3. Asterix Counihan/Meredith/Caulfield DLM 24.5 pts