#rcyc – A fleet of almost seventy cruisers took to the waters of Cork Harbour today for the opening race of the CH Marine Autumn Regatta writes Claire Bateman.

Competitors travelled from Waterford, Kilkenny, Schull, Cobh and a group of nine very well known and welcome racing boats arrived from Kinsale including Tom Roche's 45ft Salona 'Meridian' and Conor Doyle's X442 the beautiful 'Freya'. All the very welcome boats from other clubs augmented the Royal Cork entry to an excellent number for this very popular event.

Sunday morning's weather was somewhat unkind with rain, mist and a lot of wind. After a short postponement a decision was made to race all the fleets within the harbour. Race Officer Peter Crowley set up Sparetime just north of Whitegate jetty and sent the seven fleets off on various courses in a westerly breeze that started out about 17 to 18 knots but quickly abated to 8 or 9 knots.

The 1720s and the Class One fleet were sent up to No.22 with Whitesail One and Two and Class Four starting with a weather mark that was laid off Spike Island. Classes Two and Three, after an initial beat followed by a run and a Gybe off Cuskinny, arrived at number 20 and on the return leg joined with a convergence of all the boats in the fleets arriving at No. 11 in close proximity to one another. This resulted in a well controlled, and fascinating to watch, Piccadilly Circus like situation. In some instances more than one fleet reached the buoy at the same time with one fleet rounding on Starboard and the other rounding on port.

By this stage the weather was clearing and lightening but it was adjudged too late to start a second race and all the crews returned to enjoy the hospitality of the warm clubhouse.

The event will continue for the next three Sundays and will finish on Saturday October 27th with a prize giving dinner that night. This function is always a heavily booked event so reservations would want to be secured as soon as possible.

#rcyc – Last weekend three Munster dinghy sailing Championships were sailed out of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the 420s, 470s and Optimists writes Claire Bateman. On Saturday the fleets sailed outside the harbour with race officer David O'Brien, using the one committee boat, and starting the 420/470 fleet before starting the Optimist fleet on their trapezoid course.

With a light to moderate wind from the east before turning into the south east during the afternoon there was an opportunity for excellent racing for the 150 competitors that had descended on the Royal Cork the previous evening.

On Sunday with a stronger wind forecast the decision was made to sail on the eastern bank between Cuskinny and Aghada and again it was a day that started with an east wind once again turning more to the south east as the day progressed.

In the 420 class Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove got the better of Patrick Crosbie and Grattan Roberts with Adam Hyland and Bill Staunton taking the third slot followed by Harry and David Whitaker with Peter McCann and Arran Walsh taking the fourth and fifth slots respectively.

In the 470s Rob Lehane and Iarlaith Kennedy took the winning slot followed by Douglas Elmes with crew and mentor Thomas Chaix in second place followed by Diana Kissane and Jenny Andraeson in third place.

In the Optimist fleet Harry Durcan took the title in atightly fought contest that he won on count back from Adam D'Arcy while in the Junior fleet Peter Fegan was the winner. The Regatta fleet sailed on the Curlane bank with OD Grattan Roberts and the overall winner was eight year old Eve McMahon.

#navalrace – The Royal Cork's Annual Navy Race took place in Cork harbour at the weekend by kind permission of the Irish Naval Service writes Claire Bateman.

A light southerly breeze greeted the excellent fleet that turned out for the annual Naval Race. Adrielle, moored off Cork beg, did the honours as Committee Boat sending the three fleets off on a beat to the mouth of the harbour. The name of the game was to start as normal on starboard before tacking quickly on to port to get the best of the ebb tide for the beat and thereafter to hug the shore for as long as possible for the run in the harbour.

In the White Sail fleet Eddie English's Holy Grounder did this to good effect to take the win in White Sail ECHO as did John Hayes in Minstrel in White Sail IRC. However, the two big ketches, the Naval Service Creidne and the beautiful Anna Emily from the Naval Yacht Squadron struggled somewhat in the light conditions.

However, amongst the regular sailing names Vinny O'Shea's Corby 33 Yanks & Francs took the IRC One title with Leonard Donnery in No Gnomes doing the same in IRC Two. However, in IRC Three Kieran O'Connell and Graham Marron showed their National 18 wily skills to take the class in Bandit while Kieran Collins in Tambourine had to be content with second with Finbarr Dorgan in No Half Measures taking third.

The day was also an Open Day at the base for Naval Service family and friends with everybody mingling and having a most enjoyable time.

#rcyc – Good winds and great atmosphere ashore made for an excellent two day Neville Jewellers At Home Regatta for Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour writes Claire Bateman.

Plenty of stories were to be had from the Saturday racing even to one account of a spinnaker being blown to shreds on a Class Two boat and a Laser losing its mast on Day Two and a young competitor going overboard from his Optimist.

The fleets were a little depleted as the Laser National Championships were taking place in Dublin and the Royal Cork was represented in all three divisions, Standard Rig, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7. Nonetheless the turnout at Crosshaven was excellent.

The At Home dinner took place on Saturday night and an excellent evening was enjoyed by all with members enjoying the convivial atmosphere, good food and many exchanges of salty dog stories around the tables.

The Family At Home day ashore on Sunday, in addition to the fleet racing in the harbour, was packed with activities including face painting, bouncy castles, and bubbles floating everywhere from the bubble guns provided for the kiddies. Forty Two children took place in a hard fought tug of war. The famous, or infamous, Optimist Parents race took place at the marina in front of the club and had great racing with even greater encouragement from the spectators, even if it took in some over use of tillers and some ingenuous interpretations of the sailing rules! The eagerly awaited Admirals Boules match had a splendid entry of twelve and a ding dong battle for supremacy took place between former Admirals T.E. Crosbie and Kevin Lane with the latter succeeding by the narrowest of margins.

Throughout the afternoon the admiral's Lady, Judy, and her band of willing helpers kept the hungry hordes supplied with copious quantities of scrumptious sandwiches and cakes supplied by the ladies of the club. The children had their own designated area where they were supplied with delicious treats, goody bags, had their faces painted and received squiggly balloons and had high jinks on the bouncy castles keeping their parents well occupied running around after them.

Finally, the prizegiving took place with the prizes being presented by the Sponsor, John Neville, and the Admiral presenting the trophies. The Admiral having thanked the Sponsor, the day came to a close with unanimous agreement that it had been a wonderful weekend.

#JOBS & CAREERS - The Royal Cork Yacht Club is currently recruiting for a 'Membership Administrator' with responsibility for overseeing the club's front of house operations and administering its social media presence.

Based at Crosshaven in Co Cork, the club's ideal candidate will be capable exhibiting personal initiative in dealing with club members, event competitors, suppliers and the general public.

Coupled to significant interpersonal and social skills, they will also possess advanced levels of computer literacy and be able to demonstrate experience and proficiency in website management, updating weblogs, managing Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

The closing date for receipt of applications is next Friday 31 August 2012. Full details on this position are available HERE.

The Aghada race for cruisers was sailed on Saturday from Royal Cork Yacht Club writes Claire Bateman. It was an all in start and first off the line and, sailing in a purposeful way, was the Deasy/Ivers/Desmond Bad Company followed by Derry Good's Exhale.

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO GALLERY BY BOB BATEMAN

There was a west/north west wind and a lovely clear day with blue skies.The trouble was thunder showers could be seen right around the harbour but more about that later.

The course was a start using Cork Beg, No. 8 starboard, EF2 to port, No. 20 starboard, No. 14 starboard and a finish off Aghada Pier between A2 and and RIB anchored north of Aghada Pier.

Having reached the first weather mark, No. 8, the boats set off on a fetch to EF2 and it was here that the race got interesting. Following that the course effectively took in two windward/leeward rounds. It is said that sailing is not a spectator sport but it was most interesting to watch how the yachtsmen managed these legs. What they had was a tide and fresh water coming from an easterly direction and meeting the tide coming down from the city before joining together and running out the harbour in a southerly sweep. To add to this the wind could be quite light at times and then a gust of 16 or 17 kts would come and it led to crews jumping inboard and then back onto the weather rail in an attempt to keep the boats on their feet. This was very obvious in the case of David Lane and Sinéad Enright's An tOileánach and the same can be said of Kieron O'Connell and Graham Marron's Bandit on the upwind legs.

The final leg was a run to the finish where the hapless Bandit was hit by a shower accompanied by loud peals of thunder with torrential rain that came virtually out of the blue and the crew struggled to get the kite in.

And so on to Aghada where the pier has been closed for quite some time while repairs were being carried out to the stonework, the steps, and to the slipway. Now all is in order again and the pontoons are back in location. Lower Aghada is justifiably proud of its amenities and with a location in the south eastern section of Cork Harbour is available for all seafarers to use and enjoy.

Following a visit to the local hostelry, the finish times having been worked on remotely, the Admiral presented the prizes and Bad Company's endeavours were enough for his own consortium to receive the overall trophy.

#ISAF YOUTH WORLDS – Irish debutantes are off to an explosive start at the ISAF Youth World Championship on home waters this afternoon, with two Irish crews in the top five overall after the first two races of the week-long Dublin Bay series.

Royal Cork's Patrick Crosbie and Grattan Roberts are third overall after two races in the Boys' 420 class, counting a 15th and second placing in their 30–boat fleet.

“It was pretty good - better than we expected,” said 15-year-old sailor Crosbie.

In today’s second race they had managed to get into second on the first upwind leg. “It is hard to tell,” Crosbie admitted of where he expected them to be at this early stage of the regatta. “We didn’t know a lot of the boats or what the level was. We are very happy today.”

The good news for the Irish youth sailing team continues with Dun Laoghaire's Finn Lynch posting fourth overall from 45 starters in the Laser Radial class, a second top class result for the host nation.

Conditions were ideal for the start of the championships off Dun Laoghaire with moderate north-westerly winds, if a little chilly.

The international event kicked off last night with an opening ceremony that has drawn 61 nations to Ireland for the 42nd staging of the world class event.

The balance of the three boat Irish team also took top ten results, except for the Dun Laoghaire based 29er boys Sean and Tadgh Donnelly who lie 11th from 24.

The buoyant Irish results bode well for the young Irish squad. Both Lynch and the Cork 420 pairing are making their international debut this week.

Previous ISAF Youth Worlds competitor Sophie Murphy, who hails from Strangford Lough, also got off to a strong start and lies tenth overall in a fleet of 42 in the Laser Radial Girls division.

Murphy said she was “happy enough with today. With the Youth Worlds the points are so high - last year if you averaged a tenth you would have won overall.”

But this early into the competition, she won’t speculate on the ultimate outcome.

“I'm literally going to take each race as it comes - there's no point not looking at the end result; I really don't want to jinx anything.”

Meanwile, Dublin Bay's Alexander Rumball and Rory McStay are 10th from 15 in the SL16 catamaran class.

“We did better in the first race," said Rumball of their performance. "The second race was really gusty and shifty, as all these gusts kept coming down. We got on the right side of one on the last beat of that race and it brought us up a load.”

The competition continues tomorrow, when more wind is forecast with 15-16 knots from the west. Full results from today are posted HERE.

#corkweek – The penultimate day of Cork Week will be remembered for some seriously feisty weather, torrential rain overnight continued through the morning and a thick sea fog and a building sea state produced what the Crosshaven locals call 'proper weather'. With 20 knots of breeze and Atlantic swell, Cork Week's Race Committee had the option of racing inside Cork Harbour and took it.

All classes bar IRC Zero and One were set a windward leeward course inside the safe confines of Cork Harbour but the visibility around the Moonduster mark ensured a tight course. Outside the harbour the big boat fleet managed to get one race in before the front drove through to leave a sloppy sea state and no wind, scuppering any chance of a second race today.

In IRC Zero, Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens proved unstoppable again today, blasting through the surf to score yet another bullet. "I should buy a lottery ticket today!" Admitted mainsheet trimmer, Dave Lenz. "We had excellent breeze down the run and it literally shut down behind us, stopping all of our competition. The phrase rich get richer certainly applied to today's race." Piet Vroon and his team don't even need to race tomorrow's Harbour Course to win the class but Vroon insisted that Tonnerre de Breskens would be racing tomorrow. Michael Bartholomew's Mills 40, Tokoloshe could only score a fifth today but is still second overall, whilst Jamie McWilliam's Ker 40, Peninsula Signal 8 is third.

In IRC One, Richard Fildes' Corby 37, Impetuous won Race 7 to stamp their authority on the class. Conor Phelan's Ker 37, Jump Juice got the better of Richard Goransson's Corby 36, Inga of Sweden today to leapfrog into second place. However, barring a shocker in tomorrow last race, Impetuous look to have won their class.

Getting IRC 2 away for the first race was not easy, there were hooters a plenty as two general recalls resulted in a third re-start with a black flag. Ian Nagle's, J/109 Jelly Baby nailed the pin end and extended in clear air at the top mark to win the first race of the day with Gilles Caminade's French A 35, Chenapan taking second. However, Hall & McDonnell's J/109, Something Else got buried into the pack and scored a lowly ninth. Donal O'Leary's X-35, D-Tox won the second race of the day but the big story in IRC 2 is that Something Else who have led from the start of the regatta have dropped to third place on countback from Chenapan and local Cork boat Jelly Baby are now top of the class. However, Something Else still leads the J/109s for the Irish title by just a point from Jelly Baby.

In IRC 3, Royal Cork's Admiral Peter Deasy with Bad Company has opened up a seven-point lead after scoring two podium finishes today. Tim Cunliffe's Half Tonner, Insatiable has their best day of the regatta. The Cornish team were spotted 'fuelling up' at the Royal Cork Yacht Club bar last night, obviously with the desired effect! However, Diarmuid Foley's Quarter Tonner was out-gunned by the displacement yachts in today's heavier conditions and drops to third. Brian Goggin's Corby 25, Allure finished the day on a high, winning the last race of the day but by just two seconds.

John Twomey's Sonar Baileen Ban has virtually sealed the win in IRC 4 with a second and first place today, but a battle is raging for second place. Finbarr Dorgan's No Half Measures and Claridge and Fox's Sigma 33, Excelle are on equal points and Nyhan & Buwalda's Hunter 707, Outrigger is just a point behind.

The 1720's were racing outside the Harbour today, which was a full on experience. However, some very experienced crews race the pocket rockets and all was well. Denis Murphy's Aquatack won today's race from close rivals Robin & Ben O'Mahony but there was only 7 seconds between them. Aquatack now have a four-point cushion virtually sealing the class win.

Take That, The Prodigy, Vengaboys, MC Hammer and House of Pain are just some of the top 90s bands that won't be on the main stage tonight but Irish tribute band, Smash Hits will. Delivering a high-energy set to a packed crowd that will be looking to stretch some tired limbs after four days of hard racing at Cork Week.

Full results and much more can be found at www.corkweek.ie

Results:

IRC0:

1 TONNERRE DE BRESKENS 3 Peter Vroon

2 TOKOLOSHE Michael Bartholomew

3 PENINSULA SIGNAL 8 Jamie McWilliam

IRC1:

1 IMPETUOUS Richard Fildes

2 JUMP JUICE Conor Phelan

3 INGA II FROM SWEDEN Richard Goransson

IRC2:

1 JELLY BABY Ian Nagle & Paul O'Malley

2 CHENAPAN Gilles Caminade

3 SOMETHING ELSE J Hall, S McDonnell & B Hall

IRC3:

1 BAD COMPANY Desmond/Ivers/Deasy

2 INSATIABLE Tim Cunliffe

3 ANCHOR CHALLENGE Diarmuid Foley

IRC4:

1 BAILEEN BAN John Twomey

2 NO HALF MEASURES Finbarr Dorgan

3 EXCELLE Toby Claridge & J. Fox

J109:

1 SOMETHING ELSE J Hall, S McDonnell & B Hall

2 JELLY BABY Ian Nagle

3 JALAPENO Baker et al

1720:

1 AQUATACK Denis Murphy

2 IRL1760 Robin & Ben O'Mahony

3 WAHOO Finbarr Jeffers

IRC Non Spinnaker 1:

1 SOMETHING Mike Bailey & Andy Roy

2 XERXES Dan O'Neill

3 DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER Anne O'Sullivan

IRC Non Spinnaker 2:

1 MINX III Tom NcNeice

2 XTENSION Conor O'Donovan

3 AISLING Bryan Heffernan

#corkweek2012 – Last night's Upbeat Opening to Cork Week 2012 took place in a mood of palpable optimism and with the expectancy of a wonderful week ahead writes Claire Bateman. SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE FOR MORE PHOTOS! The buoyant mood had been set and the expectancy raised to even greater heights by the huge success of the Saturday and Sunday All Aboard @ Cork Week open days at the Royal Cork Yacht Club that far exceeded all expectations and resulted in the club being visited by over a thousand members of the public over the two days. It was a phenomenal experience for all involved and great credit must go to all concerned and in particular to the Cork Week Chairman, Pat Lyons, who mustn't have slept for six months at least.

The Official Opening that nearly didn't happen, but that's a story for the end of this paragraph, was performed by one of our own members, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, who received a rapturous welcome. The Minister did indeed deliver a splendid speech that was both uplifting and encouraging. He told us what it felt like to remember being in the club as a child of five years of age and never would have thought in his wildest dreams he would be coming back as Minister for the Marine. He referred to the importance of the loyal sponsors who have remained with the event and named them all, in particular he spoke of the importance of the support from Fáilte Ireland with the publicity garnered by the event. He told of the huge work put in by Pat Lyons, Cork Week Chairman and Admiral Peter Deasy, and was full of admiration for the effort put in by the staff and particular attention was paid to the volunteer input by the club members. He also thanked the efforts put in by the overseas visitors who had travelled to attend and the huge home support. The Minister was so enthused and obviously so much at home in his own club he was utterly relaxed and the enthusiastic audience responded with their applause. In fact, he was so relaxed he was about to leave the podium when he suddenly remembered he had come to open Cork Week and hadn't officially done so and returned again to the podium to loud cheers from the assembled throng as he declared the event officially open.

It was very pleasing to note the attendance of so many Royal Cork former Admirals at the Official Opening Amongst these were Bill Walsh, who sailed Coral in the first ever Cork week in 1978, Tony O'Connor, Paddy McGlade, Anthony O'Leary, Bill O'Mahony and last but certainly not least former Admiral T.E. Crosbie, who, while we were waiting for the Official Opening to take place, regaled your scribe in his own inimitable style with wonderful tales going back to 1938 when the club was the Royal Munster Yacht Club. Now in his eighty second year former Admiral Crosbie will tomorrow (Monday) compete in Cork Week helming his well known 'No Excuse'.

So on that note I return to Cork Week 2012 and wish all competitors and officials an enjoyable week with safe sailing and great competition.

#corkweek – Royal Cork Yacht Club is bracing itself for the arrival of well over a thousand competitors in the next few days and over the past few weeks, local sailors have been working hard preparing their yachts moored in the safe confines of the marina. A steady stream of yachts from overseas has begun to arrive in Crosshaven to get ready for the big event, with many more expected to over the coming days.

Whilst the courses for Cork Week remain in the same likeable format, Cork Week Racing Chairman, Anthony O'Leary has revealed that there are some enterprising changes to the Harbour Course Race. "For the last day of racing, we intend to have the whole fleet in Cork Harbour, which should be a fantastic spectacle," commented O'Leary. "The Race Committee has also decided to award a long standing and very prestigious trophy at this year's event. The Carroll Cup dates back to 1858 and this year it will be the prize for a Harbour Race Time Trial. The Moonduster Mark – Cobh Mark –No.18 buoy section is a distance of 1.8nm and it is our intention to time each boat in the Harbour Race over this distance and apply their IRC handicap, to find the winner of the Carroll Cup 2012. The particular part of the course passes an area known as The Holy Ground and is featured in song and verse and is very much part of the folklore of Cork Harbour."

The Royal Cork is the oldest yacht club in the world and a glittering array of silverware will be awarded at Cork Week. In addition, for 2012 all class winners will also go home with a fine keepsake. The Belleek Group has been making fine china in Ireland for well over a century and overall class winners will receive a Belleek Living Trophy as a memento of their success.

Over one hundred yachts will be competing at Cork Week and the fun-factor looks like it could be at an all time high. Dermot Cronin from the Malahide Yacht Club will be racing his First 40.7, Encore and this is not the first venture to Cork Week for Dermot and his crew, as he explains; "We enjoyed 2010 so much, even though we suffered a badly cracked mast with my old J/35. We did a pub-crawl to 'wake' our lost mast and loved the barbecued cod and black pudding served up by the local pubs. We'll definitely be setting out in search of that this year. I particularly like a smaller regatta at Cork. After top class racing on the water, shoreside has a more laid back feel than past years. In the days of 600+ boats, getting to the bar was like wrestling through rush hour on the London underground!"

The ½ tonner "Insatiable" was built in 1985 and beautifully restored with the help of the Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth. The crew are all friends from Cornwall and include a National and European Laser 4000 champion, Jon Wilson. Skipper Tim Cunliffe explains why the team have decided to bring "Insatiable" to Cork Week for the first time. "Most of the crew have been to Cork Week before and what makes us come back is good racing and on shore entertainment, some provided by our own crew! All of us have sailed to a very high level and we see Cork Week as a major regatta that we hope to do well in and hopefully win.

From the Clyde, Christine and Robin Murray's First 40, "Elf Too" will be competing at Cork Week, "Elf Too" arrived safely in Crosshaven on the 24th June and Christine is really looking forward to Cork Week. "This is the fourth time, I have come for the regatta and I just love it, Crosshaven is where my husband and I confessed our undying love for each other. The racing is so well managed and we all just have such a great laugh. We are also looking for a crewmember for Cork Week to cover for maternity leave for our pit-girl, if you apply you will definitely need a sense of humour." For more information visit: www.corkweek.ie