With just four weeks to go to the 2019 ICRA National Championships, the Royal St. George Yacht Club organising committee is busy putting the finishing touches to the preparation work which has been in motion through the winter and spring.

Speaking to Afloat, Event Chairman Ian Simington said, "our focus in the next two weeks leading up to close of entries on May 26th is to persuade the habitual late entries to get going. Many of them are from the Dun Laoghaire fleets so we are particularly grateful to DBSC who have cancelled their regular racing on Saturday 8th of June to allow boats sail the ICRAs and not lose on DBSC. We will have regular communications counting down to the close to get as many of the fence sitters as possible. We think it will be a great event on and off the water and want as many sailors as possible to enjoy it and whet their appetites for the other events of the summer".

"Our focus in the next two weeks is to persuade the habitual late entries to get going"

On the water, Simington says he expects the modified ECHO handicap system to give all sailors a chance of winning, and we are very excited to have 12 U-25 teams who will bring lots of energy to the event. Viking Marine is providing a perpetual trophy in recognition of the importance of this emerging class. We expect them to be keen participants in the post sailing novelty event programme including a Crew Class row off and the Harken Challenge.

The new catering team in the George led by Operations Manager Jamie Egan has put in place a super onshore programme including Mount Gay Rum (with the famous red hats) and Bombay Sapphire promotions; Guinness event tents; dining options of buffet, BBQ and Pizza truck, and top class music from Velvet DJs.

A provisional entry list is here