Friday morning in Schull must have turned into a nightmare for Calves Week Race Officer Neill Prenderville, when he awoke to find the West Cork venue covered in fog and a forecast for further wind and rain. Competitors had previously been advised of the possibility, that not all classes would be sent on a course around the Fastnet, and eventually only class 0/1 were dispatched in search of the famous rock, with the remaining fleets sailing within the confines of Roaring Water Bay in a freshening westerly breeze.
In class 1 IRC it was business as usual for Paul O'Higgins leading “Rockabill V1 around the rock, to score his fourth bullet of the series, while in Echo 1 Gabby Hogan’s local boat “Growler” finished a brilliant week with his third win in a row to take the overall Echo award, together with the best local boat trophy.
Muskateer (Billy Burke) from Cove Sailing Club competing at Calves Week Photo: Bob Bateman
In class 2 IRC “the “Bad Company crew from the Royal Cork completed a fantastic week to score their third win of the week, which guaranteed their capture of the overall trophy, while in Echo their club compatriot Fergus Coughlan in “Jedi” was able to discard a poor final days result to secure the coveted overall silver ware.
In class 3 IRC Dan O Donovan from Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club, sailing his Sonar which was probably the smallest boat of the total Calves week fleet won the overall by virtue of a better last race result, while in Echo the “Muskateer” crew from Cobh SC made up for that disappointment by claiming the Echo class overall, despite a poor Last race result.
Seconds Count (Dan O'Donovan), a Sonar keelboat competitor, from Dungarvan Photo: Bob Bateman
In class 4 it was it was a great day at the office for the Murphy family crew in “Shelly D” Who revelled in the fresh conditions to win both divisions ahead of Richard Hanley’s “Saoirse “in IRC and Simon Nelsons “Witchcraft” in Echo.
In White sail 1 Dennis Murphy’s finished off a fantastic week by taking the overall trophies in both IRC and Echo with his family crew in “Nieulargo”, while in White Sail 2 Andrew Mackey’s “Lornadrew” comfortably won the overall despite coming home second to Debroah Crowley’s “La Perie Noir” in the final race. At the award presentation, the Pearson trophy was awarded to Oonagh Buckley for her work in promoting Calves Week for many years.
