Displaying items by tag: ISORA
Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) Chairman Peter Ryan is urging crews to enter for next month's first race of the Viking Marine Irish Coastal Series 2024 so class rating splits can be evenly prepared.
"Now that rugby is over, it's time to start thinking about sailing", Ryan told Afloat after Ireland secured back-to-back Six Nations titles after a 17-13 victory over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.
The Irish coastal series starts on the 6th of April from Dun Laoghaire Harbour, with four races on the following weekends.
New boats coming to the ISORA line this season are the J122 El Gran Senor that is the new Mojito from Pwllheli in North Wales
The five-race 'Irish Early Coastal Series' features races of three to five-hour duration.
Ryan reminds competitors that 'Courses for races will be decided by time, not distance, to ensure we can have a get-together after each race'.
The final race in the coastal series is the night race in September.
ISORA signed off on a 'final' race schedule for 2024 in February. The version nine calendar released in February is "structured to avoid as many clashes as possible while facilitating boats doing the other events", according to Ryan.
Ryan previously referred to decreasing fleet numbers as 'the elephant in the room' when raising his concerns in the 2023 season. He asked fleet members for possible solutions to the drop in numbers as Afloat reported here.
Big Irish Cruiser-Racer Campaign Revealed as Scottish J122E 'El Gran Senor' Becomes 'Mojito' Under New Welsh Ownership
The potent J122E cruiser-racer Scottish 'El Gran Senor' from the Clyde Cruising Club will be renamed under new ownership when she embarks on her 2024 summer season, which includes next month's ISORA 2024 Offshore Series on the Irish Sea, Cork Week, the J Cup, IRC Europeans, ICRA Nationals, and the Pwllheli Challenge at the end of September.
Jonathan Anderson's navy blue-hulled 40-footer is now owned by former ISORA champions Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox from Pwllheli. They are moving up from their all-conquering J109, Mojito.
The move was prompted by the trend towards an increasingly bigger, faster fleet that makes it more and more difficult to race in the same conditions in the smaller J109.
Anderson's last Irish waters foray in 'El Gran Senor' was his second overall in the offshore class at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 last July, and before that, it was third overall in the Coastal Class at June's Sovereign's Cup off Kinsale in county Cork.
Cox explained it has been a busy start to the 2024 season for the 2022 ISORA Champions in changing boats "All focus has been on selling the J109, getting the J122e up to the spec we are used to on Mojito and of course transferring branding. We couldn’t really race out of Pwllheli with the Saltire emblazoned on the hull could we!"
Cox revealed their new boat will be renamed Mojito in keeping with campaign tradition.
"It has been known for people to wave and hail ‘Mojito’ when they bump into us in town if they only know us through sailing, so we couldn’t really leave that name behind. In fact, the name has moved with us from the start. From a Bavaria 39 Cruiser when we first met, briefly through an Elan 350 to the J109", she explained.
Cox concedes that while she didn’t "personally see the need to change our old friend, the 109, as we know how she works and know what she likes to perform, racing offshore against an increasingly bigger, faster fleet makes it more and more difficult to race in the same conditions".
"I can’t deny that we have benefited many times when winds have died and we’ve found ourselves up level with them on the water and had some fine results in the process" she pointed out.
"Conversely, there have also been times when we’ve been left floating in the bay for the night whilst the crews of bigger boats were all ensconced in the bar enjoying full refreshments before the wind shut off", she acknowledged to Afloat.
"I must admit getting back to the space available on a 40-foot boat is very welcome, and the guys from Scotland have definitely shown us that the J122e is capable of a trophy or two," Cox said.
It will be a busy season for the Mojito crew with the ISORA races starting in April, the IRC Welsh Championships to defend in Pwllheli (17th to 19th May), Cork Week in Cork Harbour, the J Cup, IRC Europeans and the ICRA nationals all from the Royal Irish on Dublin Bay before returning for the Pwllheli Challenge at the end of September.
"There’s no doubt that we’ll be starting on a learning curve this season, but we’re looking forward to having plenty of fun in the process", Cox admits.
Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) has signed off on a 'final' race schedule for 2024
As regular Afloat readers know, the association was quick off the blocks at its agm when it published a draft schedule for its 2024 fixtures last November but has since issued several amendments.
The version nine calendar released in February is "structured to avoid as many clashes as possible while facilitating boats doing the other events", according to ISORA's chair, Peter Ryan.
An early season coastal series will see the Irish fleet's first race on April 6th, a month earlier than previously advertised. The race is part of a five-race 'Irish Early Coastal Series', featuring races of three to five-hour duration.
The first cross-channel race date remains the same on May 11th with a 75-mile Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli fixture.
A highlight of the seven-race offshore season will be the 12th July Kingstown – Queenstown (Dun Laoghaire to Cork) race that carries a weighting of 1.3
Online entry will open shortly, Ryan told Afloat.
Tributes Paid to ISORA's Richard Tudor of Pwllheli
The death of an inspirational figure in sailing, ISORA's Richard Tudor of Pwllheli, has been remembered this week by his North Wales club in a special website tribute to the sailor who was a top sailor across a wide spectrum of interests in boats.
As Afloat reported previously, Richard was a former Commodore and dedicated committee member of Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club for many years, and among many other successful experiences, he was a round-the-world yachtsman.
A dedicated Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association participant, in 2021 he received the CHPSC Lifetime Achievement Award.
Read the full tribute to the ISORA stalwart here
A public service will be held at Capel y Drindod, Pwllheli, on Friday, the 12th of January, at 1 o'clock, and a burial will follow in the Cemetery in Llanbedrog.
Afterwards, a funeral tea will be held at Plas Heli - the home of Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club, and all are welcome.
While sailing in Ireland has its conspicuously attention-getting aspects, the real backbone of the sport continues to be the active club sailor who can quietly keep a usefully large crew panel together in order to have the right mix of talents when taking on any special challenge.
Paul O’Higgins of the RIYC in Dun Laoghaire with the JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI is an excellent example of these quiet enthusiasts, these people who truly enjoy their sport, and his healthy approach was underlined during 2023 when – among other successes – Rockabill VI won the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association Championship 2023 in a cliffhanger conclusion with success in the final race.
Richard Tudor RIP
His many sailing friends on both sides of the Irish Sea have been saddened to learn of the death of Richard Tudor of Pwllheli, an inspirational figure in sailing and across a wide spectrum of interests in boats.
He was a former Commodore and dedicated committee member of Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club for many years, and among many other successful experiences, he was a round-the-world yachtsman.
A dedicated Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association participant, in 2021 he received the CHPSC Lifetime Achievement Award.
Our condolences are with his family, his many shipmates and his wider circle of friends.
'Rockabill VI' Crew Hailed ISORA 2023 Champions at NYC Prizegiving Ceremony (Photo Gallery Here)
ISORA applauded its 2023 overall champion Paul O'Higgins and his Royal Irish Rockabill VI crew at the association's annual sell-out black-tie dinner at the National Yacht Club on Saturday, November 11th.
The winning JPK 10.80 crew and many other prizewinners were saluted at the traditional Dun Laoghaire Harbour venue, typically one of the biggest gala prizegiving nights of the waterfront year.
In a big weekend for sailing prizegivings at Ireland's biggest boating centre, DBSC presented its awards on Friday night.
Before the celebrations, the 2024 ISORA draft calendar was unveiled at the association's agm, as Afloat reports here.
O'Higgins lifted the overall Wolf's Head Trophy again on the evening, an award which he last held in 2020 (not awarded in 2021 due to COVID) after losing out to the North Wales J109 Mojito last season.
O'Higgins also won the Vincent Farrell Trophy for his coastal series victory.
Rockabill VI's crew included Philip Connor, Conor O'Higgins, Paul Gough, James Gunn, Ian O'Meara and John Kelly. Front: Finola Flanagan, Paul O'Higgins, Kieran Tarbett, Anna Walshe, Mark Pettitt, Oisin Collins, Rees Kavanagh, Adam Leddy, Harry Beausang, Graham Curran and Bill Nolan.
ISORA Chairman Peter Ryan used the occasion to honour Welsh sailor Richard Tudor – for services rendered to the association and for being part of ISORA for nearly 50 years.
The guest enjoyed a reception before dinner and finished the night with a Jack Ryan whiskey toast and a live band to round out the Irish Sea's offshore sailing year.
Check out the prizewinners in the ISORA 2023 photo gallery by GP Foto below
ISORA 2024 Season Highlights to Include July Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race
ISORA has published a draft schedule for its 2024 fixtures that starts on May 6th with an early coastal series on both sides of the Irish Sea.
The first cross-channel race is May 11th with a Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli race.
A highlight of the seven-race offshore season will be the 12th July Kingstown – Queenstown (Dun Laoghaire to Cork) race that carries a weighting of 1.3
ISORA 2024 Fixtures (Draft)
- 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th May Irish Early Coastal Series – 4 races
- 11th May Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli 1.2
- 25th May Pwllheli - Dun Laoghaire 1.2
- 8th June Holyhead – Rockabill – Kish - Dun Laoghaire 1.2
- 22nd June Round Ireland Race
- 12th July Kingstown – Queenstown (Dun Laoghaire to Cork) 1.3
- 15th-19th July Cork Week
- 2nd August Holyhead to Arklow TBC 1.3
- 4th August From Arklow – Wicklow Sea Finish TBC 1.1
- 25th August Pwllheli – Kish Light - Dun Laoghaire - James Eadie 1.3
- 20th September Irish Coastal Night Race
It’s prize-giving time down beside the Old Granite Pond. Last night (Friday), Commodore Eddie Totterdell presided over Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s annual re-distribution of their enormous cache of trophies in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire. And tonight (Saturday), the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association are holding their annual black-tie prize-giving dinner (and dance too, if the notion comes on you) just across the road in the waterfront National Yacht Club, the home club – as it happens – of both the DBSC Commodore, and ISORA Chairman Peter Ryan.
The National Maritime Museum is still thought of by more than a few as the being primarily the 180-year-old Mariners’ Church, notwithstanding the fact that the lease for the Church of Ireland to hand it over to the Maritime Institute was signed way back in 1974, making next year the Golden Jubilee of the beginning of the journey to becoming the Museum.
It achieved that status in 1978, when the newly-located museum was officially opened by President Patrick Hillery – as we shall see, he was a sailing man himself. But regardless of the passage of time, and even with the visionary and sympathetic re-purposing within, from the outside there’s no doubting this was originally a church, highly visible from all directions.
In fact, it dominated the view from the harbour such that, back in the day, the crew of any Royal Navy vessel which happened to be anchored or moored in what was then Kingstown on a Sunday would be marched - in uniformed procession - from Traders’ Wharf to Morning Service, following which non-commissioned ranks would return to the ship, but officers might avail of the Sunday lunch options at the waterfront yacht clubs.
THE CHALLENGE OF RE-PURPOSING A CLASSIC CHURCH BUILDING
Traditional churches must be among the most focused buildings ever created. And as they always carry a whiff of their former consecration, the re-purposing of a classic church such as this has only a very narrow selection of options. Indeed, there are those who would argue that becoming the National Maritime Museum was the only acceptable option to give the building any future with which people could feel comfortable.
Certainly most of us find that the re-purposing of classic churches to become something like a restaurant, or even someone’s home, can have a slightly distasteful feeling to it. That said, at tonight’s ISORA silverfest in the National, they’ll fondly remember the late Dickie Richardson (1926-2015) of Holyhead, who brought ISORA into being 51 years ago, in 1972.
HEART OF OFFSHORE RACING IN A FORMER METHODIST CHAPEL
Dickie and his wife Elspeth made their second home in a former Methodist Chapel at Porth y Fellyn, that attractive secluded western end of Holyhead Harbour. But one of the reasons Methodism succeeded so well in Wales was because its Elders did not build their chapels to over-awe the nearby buildings and their occupants. On the contrary, they built them to fit in with the local vernacular street-scape, and thus Chez Richardson had no trouble in being re-purposed as the friendly and hospitable heart of real sailing in Holyhead.
Yet even with the Mariners Church’s suitable fit as the Museum, it has taken time for the general consciousness to become fully aware of the change. But in any case, all museums these days are having to re-think their contemporary relationship with the community they serve, and the Maritime Museum’s growing significance as the focus for contemporary events is something which was foreseen – or more accurately hoped for – by some of those visionaries who saw a new and very useful museum role for the de-consecrated church, and one of them was the ubiquitous Hal Sisk - he played key roles in both the new life for the Maritime Museum, and before that in the up-grading of what had been the Northwest Offshore Association to become ISORA.
But now we’ve reached the happy stage of the Dun Laoghaire sailing community seeing the Museum as the natural location for any major social event which involves the members of all the harbour’s clubs, such as the launching of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta or the annual distribution of the DBSC prizes. But equally there are more specialist events which lend themselves better to a clubhouse hosting, and the ISORA gathering in the National is something of a hot ticket.
DUBLIN BAY’S HOSPITABLE GOVERNING CLUB
Dublin Bay Sailing Club, on the other hand, has prided itself on being a club for everyone interested in all forms of sailing. Yet while it started in a very modest way in 1884, it developed with rocket-like speed to become the overall administrator of Dun Laoghaire racing. Within ten years of its founding, it was the harbour’s central authority for governing new One-Design classes, and less than twenty years after the very first DBSC race, it received the royal seal of approval, so to speak, when the Viceroy Lord Dudley joined the 1898-founded Dublin Bay 25 OD Class with his new boat Fodhla, built by James Doyle in what was then Kingstown.
You might think that this sort of direct involvement by those in power is now a long-lost relic of the rare old times. But under the state’s new management, we’ve seen the Sail Training Brigantine Asgard brought into being thanks to the somewhat unlikely combination - over time - of special efforts by Paddy Donegan and Charlie Haughey when they were in the role of Minister for Defence when their different parties were in power.
PRESIDENT HILLERY'S CALMING PRESENCE
But while both were personally seafaring enthusiasts, they could reasonably be described as representing the most colourful and contentious wings of their respective parties. So it was something of a relief for the more quiet-living section of the sailing community when the calming presence of President Hillery came with his new Ron Holland-designed Cork-built Club Shamrock Half Tonner Corcomroe to Dun Laoghaire, and entered into a friendly and long-standing agreement with leading Royal St George YC member Jack Craig to be his Sailing Master in the same way as – in the 1890s – Willie Jameson of the same club had been persuaded on board as Royal Sailing Master in the Prince of Wales’ mighty Watson-designed new cutter Britannia.
Thus President Hillery’s blessing in 1978 on the inauguration of the process of the Mariners Church becoming the National Maritime Museum carried weight. And it was preceded two years esrlier by his detailed visit to the newly-minted Ruffian 23 at the 1976 Dun Laoghaire Boat Show, so the celebration this year of the Golden Jubilee of the Ruffian 23 Class in Ireland and abroad – with Dun Laoghaire one of its continuing strongholds – is another example of Dublin Bay sailing going right to the top.
But as it is a state of affairs which goes all the way back to the first Dun Laoghaire regatta of 1828, inevitably the end-of-season prize-giving roundup is a massively complex affair. And as with the racing afloat, it is a stress test for DBSC’s “standing army” of volunteers, led by Honorary Secretary Rosemary Roy.
Thus we’ll highlight the premier awards, but getting to grips with the details of the new winners of the many other trophies can be a matter of personal study of the special DBSC Results below
DUBLIN BAY’S TOP PRIZE-WINNERS
Details of the DBSC Premier Awards 2023:
The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Trophy
For the best new boat entered into DBSC Racing
Valentina. John Treanor
The George Arthur Newsome Cup
For the most successful boat in one design racing
White Mischief. Tim Goodbody
The Waterhouse Shield
For the most successful boat in a handicap series
Windjammer. Lindsay Casey
The Dr. Alf Delany Memorial Cup
For the most successful Dinghy in the season
Orion. Noel Butler
The Brendan Ebril Memorial Cup
For the most successful boat that turns out week on week, not winning another trophy
Ruth. The Shanahan Family
The Viking Award
For selflessly giving of time and expertise for the betterment of the standard of sailing in Dublin Bay
Tim Goodbody. for his support of DBSC and mainly for his work on course design for many years)
GOODBODY IN EVERY WAY
The prominence of the Goodbody clan and its Patriarch Tim Goodbody is so right and proper, as he’s a sailing genius both inshore and offshore - he was lead helm when the Dubois 40 Irish Independent was overall winner of the 1987 Fastnet Race and top scorer in that year’s Admiral’s Cup team. Yet he also is an exceptionally talented administrator, having been Commodore of the RAYC in its glory days when it led the sailing world with its innovative Heineken Super-League, he also found time to do his stint as Commodore Royal Irish YC, which is no sinecure, and yet he is happy to turn his talents to the most basic tasks, which for Dublin Bay SC was his massive input into the creation of challenging courses for racing within the relatively limited space which is available to the club.
With the Royal Alfred YC now amalgamated into Dublin Bay SC, the key elements in the overall structure of the sailing for the entire membership of the four brick-and-mortar yacht clubs in Dun Laoghaire is unified, but the success in this arrangement is to be found in the strict restriction of DBSC’s remit to Dublin Bay sailing. This may seem so obvious as not to need clarification, but sometimes a hot-headed senior officer - having gained controls of the levers of power – will have a rush of blood to the head with ideas of geographic expansion.
However, after so many years of steady success, the DBSC administrators are well aware of the dictum that in order for the situation to stay the same, everything must quietly but steadily change. Thus traditionalists in DBSC are happy in the notion that their club is very directly still in the spirit established way back in 1884, yet those desiring innovation will – if their bright idea or new boat type is good – being quietly taken on board in the consistent yet ever-changing organization.
DUBLIN BAY DETAILS
With the nights closing in, an hour and more of a close study of all the DBSC results for 2023 proves to be an absorbing experience, and thanks to the steady collation of multiple reports by Hon.Sec. Rosemary Roy and her team, here they are in list form
2023 | Citation | Trophies | Boat | Skipper |
Premier Award | For the most successful new yacht in DBSC racing | DunLaoghaire Harbour Trophy | Valentina | John Treanor |
Premier Award | For the most successful Dinghy for the season | Dr. Alf Delaney Cup | Orion | Noel Butler |
Premier Award | For the most successful yacht in the Handicapped series | Waterhouse Shield | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
Premier Award | For the most successful yacht in One Design racing | George Arthur Newsom Cup | White Mischief | Tim & Richard Goodbody |
Premier Award | For the most successful yacht frequently participated | Brendan Ebril Memorial Cup | Ruth | The Shanahan Family |
Premier Award | For a notable contribution to Dublin Bay Sailing | The Viking Award | Tim Goodbody | Tim Goodbody |
Combined Cruisers | Tuesdays | Hot Cookie | John O'Gorman | |
Cruiser 0 | Series A Echo Thurs | D-Tox | Kyran McStay Paul Sherry | |
Cruiser 0 | Series A Echo Sat | WOW | Tim Kane | |
Cruiser 0 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Martin Cup | Prima Forte | Patrick Burke, Rigley Lemass |
Cruiser 0 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Knox-Gore Bowl | Prima Forte | Burke Fergus Rigley Lemass |
Cruiser 0 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Knox-Gore Trophy | Prima Forte | Burke Rigley Sean Lemass |
Cruiser 0 | Saturdays Echo Racing | Centenary Trophy | Prima Forte | Burke Rigley Lemass |
Cruiser 1 | Series A Echo Thurs | Ruth | The Shanahan Family | |
Cruiser 1 | Thursdays IRC Racing | West Pier Officer's Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Tim Goodbody |
Cruiser 1 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Tiamat Trophy | Raptor | Denis Hewitt Paul Bradley |
Cruiser 1 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Weir Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Tim Goodbody |
Cruiser 1 | Saturdays Echo Racing | Osterburg Trophy | Bon Example | Colin Byrne |
Cruiser 1 | Thursdays Saturdays Overall J109 | The Goodbody Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Timothy Goodbody |
Cruisers 2 | Series A Echo Sat | Peridot | Jim McCann, Yannick Charrier Paul Caden | |
Cruiser 2 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Lady Shamrock Trophy | Alig8r | Brendan Foley |
Cruiser 2 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Centenary Cup | Alig8r | Brendan Foley |
Cruiser 2 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Silver Salver | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
Cruiser 2 | Saturdays Echo Racing | TP Early Memorial Cup | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
Cruisers 2 | Thursdays Saturdays Overall | The Brendan Briscoe Trophy | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
Cruiser 2: Sigma | Thursdays Series A, B & Overall | JB Stephens Trophy | Rupert | Phillip & Richard Lovegrove |
Cruiser 2: Sigma | Saturday Series A, B & Overall | Rupert Bowl | Moonshine | Ronnie Moloney Fergus O Sullivan |
David O Flynn | ||||
Cruiser 3 | Tuesdays ECHO Racing | (now) Whimbrel Rose Bowl | Jimmy Cricket | Mona Tyndall |
Cruiser 3 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Smalldridge Cup | Elient | Michal Matulka |
Cruiser 3 | Thursdays ECHO Racing | Annette Cup | Saki | Michael Ryan Ben Ryan Paget McCormack |
Cruiser 3 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Jack Kennedy Memorial Cup | Ceol Na Mara | Ed Melvin |
Cruiser 3 | Saturdays ECHO Racing | Mercia Cup | Wynward | Wyn McCormack Declan Collier |
Cruiser 4 | Thursdays & Saturdays IRC & overall | Trevor Wood | Boomerang 1367 | Kirwan Family |
Cruiser 5 a | Series A IRC Thurs | Persistence | Charles Broadhead | |
Cruisers 5 a | Series A Echo Thurs | Just Jasmine | Tim Costello Valda Boardman Walter Tyrrell | |
Cruisers 5 b | Series A Echo Thurs | Menapia | Patrick Madigan James McSweeney | |
Cruiser 5 a | Thursdays IRC Overall Div A | Burford Trophy | Playtime 2558 | Johnnie Phillips Noel Kidney |
Cruiser 5 a | Thursdays ECHO Overall Div A | Peigi Ban half model | Spirit | Colin O Brien Eamonn Gill |
Cruiser 5 b | Thursdays ECHO Overall Div B | Galelleo Cup | Calypso | Howard Knott |
Cruiser 5 | Saturdays A and B IRC overall | White Sail Class Trophy | Playtime 2558 | Johnnie Phillips, Noel Kidney |
Cruiser 5 | Saturdays A and B ECHO overall | Heineken Super League Cup | Deliverance | Pat Martin, Peter Richardson |
B211 | Tuesday ECHO Overall | Optec Trophy | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
B211 | Thurs SCRATCH overall | Facet Jewellers Cup | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
B211 | Thursdays ECHO overall | Beneteau 21 Tray | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
B211 | Saturdays SCRATCH overall | Beneteau 21 Cup | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
B211 | Saturdays ECHO overall | Jimmy Fischer Trophy | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
B211 | Thurs/Sat Combined ECHO | Waterhouse Rose Bowl | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
31.7 | Series A Echo Sat | Extreme Reality | Nicholas Holman | |
31.7 | Series B Echo Sat | Camira | Neil McSherry Brian Geraghty Ken Ryan | |
31.7 | Thursday Racing Scratch | Feanor Trophy | Prospect | Chris Johnston |
31.7 | Thursday Racing Echo | Horrigan Cup | Kernach | Eoin O Driscoll |
31.7 | Saturday Racing Scratch | Arandora Trophy | Prospect | Chris Johnston |
31.7 | Saturday Racing Echo | Long John Silver Cup | Kernach | Eoin O Driscoll |
Dragons | Thursday Racing | Oxford and Cambridge Cup | Phantom | Peter Bowring David Williams |
Dragons | Saturday Racing | The Royal Irish Yacht Club Cup | Serafina | Ronan Murphy Alistair Kissane |
Dragons | Combined Thursdays and Saturdays | Old Time Cup | Sir Ossis | Denis & Joseph Bergin |
Glens | Tuesday Racing | Cut Glass Tumbler | Glenluce 67 | Ailbe Millerick |
Glens | Thursdays Racing | Pterodactyl Cup | Glendun 9 | Alison O Brien Brian Denham David Houlton |
Glens | Saturday Racing | Harry Maguire Memorial Cup | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
Glens | Thurs and Sats combined Combined | The McMullen Cup | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
Glens | Dalkey Island Race (Bobolink) | The HamiltonReid Cup | Glencoe | Rose Mary Craig |
Glens | Crews Race | Mitchell Trophy | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
Ruffians | Tuesday Racing | John Donnelly Perpetual Cup | Carmen | Brendan Duffy |
Ruffians | Thursday Racing | Huet Trophy | Shannagh | Stephen Gill Padraig Mac Diarmada |
Ruffians | Saturday Racing | British Airways Trophy | Ruffles | Michael Cutliffe |
Ruffians | Thursdays and Saturdays combined | J.Lamont Trophy | Ruffles | Michael Cutliffe |
Shipmans | Thursdays Series A | Jo Slim | ||
Shipmans | Tuesday Racing | Cut Glass Tumbler | Gusto | Christine Heath |
Thursdays Series A & Overall | The Midweek Trophy | Twocan | David Freeman | |
Shipmans | Saturday Series B & Overall | The Melindi Cup | Invader | |
Shipmans | Thursdays and Saturdays combined | The Shipman Perpetual Trophy | Invader | Gerard Glynn |
Tuesday racing | The Equinox Trophy | Sneaky B | Charlotte O Kelly | |
SB20 | Women on the water | tba | Sneaky B | Charlotte O Kelly |
Thursdays series A | Seabiscuit | |||
SB20 | Thursday Racing | The Crichton Cup | Carpe Diem | Colin Galavin Richard Hayes |
SB20 | Saturdays series A | Bealtaine Trophy | Leviathan | Tadgh Donnelly |
SB20 | Saturdays series B | Lunasa Rrophy | Black | James Gorman |
SB20 | Saturday Racing overall | Saturday SB20 Cup | Venues World | Ger Dempsey |
Mixed Sportsboat | Thurs Series B & Sat Series B | Ram Jam | Austin Kenny | |
Mixed Sportsboat | Sat Series A | Sea Jade | Olivier Prouveur | |
Mixed Sportsboats | Tuesdays Overall 8 Races | Cut Glass Tumbler | RS 21 291 | Ciaran Georgieff |
Mixed Sportsboats | Thursdays Overall 8 Races | Thursday Sportsboat Trophy | Big Bad Wolf | David Ryan |
Mixed Sportsboats | Saturdays Overall 23 Races | Saturday Sportsboat Cup | Jambiya | Martin Ryan & Vincent Lattimore |
Water Wags | Wednesday 1st Place | Goldsmith Cup | Puffin | Sean & Heather Craig |
Water Wags | Wednesday 2nd Place | Bluebird Trophy | Moosmie | John O Driscoll |
Water Wags | Wednesday 3rd Place | G.Pugin Meldon Trophy | Swift | Guy & Jackie Kilroy |
Flying Fifteens | Thursdays Series A | Ffuzzy | Neil Colin | |
Flying Fifteens | Tuesdays | Snow White | Jill Fleming | |
Flying Fifteens | Thursday Racing | Flying Fifteen Gun | Mr Potato Head | Shane Mc Carthy |
Flying Fifteens | Saturday Racing | Brian S Ryan Trophy | FOMO | David Gorman |
Flying Fifteens | First in the Silver Fleet | Blake Cup | Rockaffellas | Adrian Cooper Joe McNamara |
Flying Fifteens | Thursday Series A | Fifty Something Cup | Ffuzzy | Neil Colin Margaret Casey |
Mermaid | Thursday Racing | Stella Cup | Lively Lady | Geraldine O Neill Mick Hanney |
Mermaid | Saturday Racing | Iolar Trophy | Jill | Pat Mangan Paul Smith |
Mermaid | Thursday Racing(Special Conditions) | Amy Cup | Jill | Pat Mangan Paul Smith |
Mermaid | Saturday Racing (Special Conditions) | J B Kearny Shield | Aideen | Dermot O Neill |
Squibs | Thurs Series A & Sat Series B | Femme Fatale | Vincent Delaney | |
Squibs | Thursdays | Minx Trophy | Perequin | Noel Colclough |
Squibs | Saturdays | Shannon Cup | Perequin | Noel Colclough |
Dublin Bay 21s | Tuesdays | Daisey Picker Cup | Estelle | Sean Doyle |
Dublin Bay 21s | Saturdays Overall | The Carson Challenge Cup | Garavogue | Fionan de Barra |
Dublin Bay 21s | most success in 80% of races | The Inisfallon Cup | Hal Sisk. Most successful Skipper sailing all | |
four boats in turn | ||||
Fireballs | Tuesdays | Nuit St. George Trophy | !4854 | Cariosa Power |
Fireballs | Saturdays | The Fireball Saturday Cup | 14790 | Paul ter Horst |
IDRAs | Tuesdays Overall | Bay Cup | Dart | Pierre Long & family |
IDRAs | Saturdays overall 28 Races | The Kennedy Cup | Dunmoaning | Frank Hamilton |
IDRAs | Special Conditions | The Halfway Trophy | Chaos | Pam McKay |
IDRAs | Special Conditions | Crews challenge Cup | Dart | Pierre Long & family |
IDRAs | Special Conditions | Melampus Cup | Sapphire | Lorcan O Sullivan |
PY Class | Tuesday Racing | Windmill Cup | Orion | Noel Butler |
PY Class | Saturday Racing 27 races | Early Bird Trophy (re purposed) | Orion | Noel Butler |
Laser Standard | Tuesday Racing | Lanavere Cup | Ug! | Ross O Leary |
Laser Radial | Tuesdays | Sailcraft Tray Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
Laser Radial | Saturdays | Laser Saturday Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
Laser Radial | Tuesdays and Saturdays combined | DBSC Challenge Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
Juniors September series | Awarded to:- | |||
PY Series | PY Junior Trophy | Alina Clarke NYC | ||
Topper Series | Lawson Cup | Jamie Kirrane NYC | ||
Optimist Series | Seapoint Cup | Jonathan Dempsey NYC | ||
RS Feva Series | Mitchel Cup | Basile Dion Jacob Brown RSTGYC | ||
Laser 4.7 Series | Jimmy Mooney Goblet | Conor Cronin RSTGYC | ||
Laser Radial | tba | Sam Legge |
ISORA SATURDAY NIGHT CONVIVIALITY
It’s in the best traditions of offshore racing’s proclivity for post-race conviviality that the Irish Sea overall results come to us as the menu for tonight’s ISORA dinner in the National YC. But with a sometimes convoluted history that goes back through several developing organisations to the channel matches of the late 1800s, inevitably some names veer slightly off course.
RIPPLE EFFECT
Thus it takes an old hand of NWOA racing to realise that somewhere along the line, the “Ripple Cruising Club” emerged mistakenly from the Ribble Cruising Club, which since 1950 has been sailing on, and cruising from, the muddy waters of the River Ribble Estuary at Lytham in Lancashire. But as it was only seriously active on the offshore racing scene back in the early days of ISORA and before that in the early days of the Northwest Offshore Association and the Mersey & North Wales Joint Offshore Committee, it is now up there in lights as the Ripple Cruising Club Cup, won for the Class 2 Championship by Mark Thompson’s Jac y Do from the Welsh side.
VIKING MARINE TROPHY
ISORA’s Viking Marine Irish Coastal series was one of the many trophies taken by Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Royal Irish YC) racing in Class 0 - Rockabill also went on to successfully defend the overall trophy, challenged right to the end by Class 1 champions Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop’s immaculate J/09 Mojito from Pwllheli SC, which also won Plas Heili Welsh Coastal series.
ISORA included the well-supported NYC Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, which despite being raced in the 2023 summer’s supposedly only good weather month of June, is recalled as having been tough and cold if you were slugging it out towards Dingle.
It was won by visiting American Cookson 50 Privateer (Ron O’Hanley), with Kinsale’s dynamic duo of Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt racing two-handed in the Sun Fast 3300 Cinnamon Girl coming second, so the first ISORA boat to make the listings was Pete Smyth’s Sun Fast 3600 Searcher from Dun Laoghaire.
Finally, ISORA’s Pen Maen Plate (named for Pwllheli’s historic manor house of Penmaen, home of that heroically hospitable Welsh offshore racing enthusiast the late Anthony Jones) is for the member who best exemplified the spirit of ISORA in 2023. It was Sam Hall who was most personally was responsible for the vintage J/125 Jackknife (which he co-owns with his father Andrew) somehow appearing everywhere.
This was exemplified by the Middle Sea Race from Malta in late October, when Jacknife successfully found herself in a head-to-head with Conor Doyle’s xP50 Freya from Kinsale. They were both well into the top of their class, but at the finish it was Jackknife which was leading this particular duel, spreading the word that in its 52nd season, ISORA is still very much a force to be reckoned with. And who knows, but in these health-aware times, we might actually see some dancing when Dead Ringers start to do their thing tonight, but back in the olden days when ISORA came into being, a dinner dance was usually described as “Drinking to Music”.
"Decreasing Fleet Numbers in 2023 are the Elephant in the Room" - Peter Ryan, ISORA
Decreasing fleet numbers this season is 'the elephant in the room', according to a Dublin yacht racing organiser who wants to raise his concerns before the 2024 season.
Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) Chairman Peter Ryan has asked fleet members for possible solutions to the drop in numbers prior to finalising ISORA's own 2024 fixture list next month.
"At our AGM in November, we must set out our 2024 race schedule. Despite reasonable entry numbers this season, the number of boats racing was disappointing", he told members.
ISORA organises cross-channel racing in Ireland and Wales and also coastal races on each side of the Irish Sea.
The call comes as the 2024 national calendar is already taking shape, as Afloat reported earlier.
The Round Ireland Race from Wicklow is on Saturday, 22nd June, and then Volvo Cork Week from July 15th to 19th to leave a useful gap to get on further west for Calves Week in Schull, which – if tradition is followed – should be from Tuesday, August 6th to Friday, August 9th.
But there’ll be little relaxation among the organising classes after that, as the ICRA Nationals 2024 are scheduled for the Royal Irish Yacht Club on the weekend of August 30th-September 1st, the Key Yachting J-Cup Ireland 2024 is at the same host club on September 7-8th, and then on 10th to 15th September the IRC Europeans 2024 descend on Dun Laoghaire, an event which has the potential to be very big indeed.
Ryan told Afloat, "In setting the ISORA race schedule for the 2023 season, we were asked to provide more coastal races. This was done, but it seemed to dilute the numbers in other races. More events next season will have the same effect".
"I’m concerned about the decreasing fleet numbers. Nobody is talking about the elephant in the room", Ryan says.
Ryan's comments follow a separate survey by the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) this month that also asked members pertinent questions on participation.
ICRA is seeking members’ views on cruiser racing and events during the past year.
ICRA says the feedback will help it ensure that the association represents the views of its members, participants and non-participants alike, and makes targeted efforts to improve cruiser racing in Ireland.
For ISORA, Ryan suggested to members the possibility of "reverting to our traditional race schedule of offshores only and encouraging our host clubs to run the coastal races. What is the answer?
An 'open forum', chaired by Ryan, will influence the final race schedule to be voted on at ISORA's November AGM in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.