The continuation of the unseasonal weather conditions forced the postponement of the Friday night Crosshaven–Schull raceas part of Calves Week , which eventually started at 8pm on Saturday morning, with a slight improvement in conditions. Eight boats came to the starting line with others opting to motor west, in a fresh southwesterly and a large leftover swell from the previous days gales.
In class zero, Paul Harris on “Tanit”from the Clyde Crusing Club completed the long slog around the Fastnet, to take line honours and the West End trophy, finishing in Schull in just under thirteen hours
In class one; it was a tight battle to the finish, with Simon Coveneys “Wavetrain” holding off Aiden Heffernans “Indulgence”in the IRC class, with the results reversed in echo. Brian Siggens “Aris Maria”finished third in both classes.
In class two the honours were shared, with the Barrett/Conlon combination in “Y Knot” taking the Echo prize, while the “Bad Company” crew of Desmond/Ivers/Deasy took the IRC trophy.
Sunday’s race to Baltimore started once again in wet conditions, with a building southerly wind.
The majority of the eighty boat fleet had a long beat to the Bill of Cape and an exhilarating spinnaker reach south of Cape Clear and Sherkin islands to finish off the Wallace Buoy in Baltimore Harbour.
In class zero IRC victory went to Kieren Twomeys “Gloves Off”, with “Tanit” taking the echo division.
In class one Simon Coveneys “Wavetrain ”continued on his winning streak, to take the IRC trophy from the Parnell family in “Black Velvet”, with Donal O Leary’s “D Tox” in third, while in Echo “Jelly Baby” had a six second advantage over “Wavetrain”.
In class two it was a clean sweep for “Bad Company”who took first in both divisions from “Y-Knot in IRC with Eoin O Driscoll “Kernach” in third.
In class three, the heavy weather suited Padraig O Donovans “Chameleon”who had a fifteen second victory over Jimmy Nyhans “Outrigger”in IRC, with Paul Murrays “Full pelt” second to him in Echo.
In class four George Radley proved that age is no barrier, when he sailed the restored, one hundred year old “Querida” Cork harbour one design, to victory in both handicap divisions, with the Murphy family in “Shelly D” taking both seconds.
The 1720 sports boat class was dominated by Robert O Leary, ahead of Youen Jacob and the Ben Cooke/Jim Griffin combination.
In White sail one Andrew Lanes “Aisha” held off a late challenge to win from Ken Burkes “”Saverna”,while Shay Roche in “Mischief” dominated White sail two, with Dave Waters “Genaveve” in second.
Following a poor early morning weather forecast on Monday, principle race officer Neill Prenderville decided that it was prudent to keep the smaller classes within Baltimore harbour, while sending the others to the Staggs Bouy.
In class zero Paul Harris in “Tanit” snatched the IRC prize, when Kieran Twomeys ”Gloves Off” had the misfortune to suffer a minor mishap on the Kedges rocks, while the echo prize went to Morgan O Donovans “Loco”.
In class one Simon Coveney continued his good run, with another bullet in IRC ahead of Indulgence who also won echo, while in class two it was another clean sweep for the “Bad Company” crew in both IRC and Echo, with Vinny O Sheas Yanks & Franks and Eoin O Driscolls “Kernach”taking respective seconds.
In class three the Russell/Doyle/Allister combination in “Bedlam”showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet by capturing both divisions with the second places shared between Padraig O Donovans “Chameleon ”and Jimmy Nyhans “Outrigger”.
In the 1720 class Robert O Leary continued to lead the class ,while in White Sail One ,Phil Smith in”Just Jasmin”reveled in the tough conditions to finish first ahead of Andrew lanes “Aisha” and Brian Siggens “Aris Maria”.
In White Sail two Shay Roche continued his fine run to finish ahead of Michael Lynches “Lady T”, with Richard Leonards “Mardi Gras” in third.
Racing continues for the remainder of the week, with an improvement in the weather helping the remaining competitors who were stranded along the south coast ports, to eventually reach Schull
