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Displaying items by tag: Anthony O’Leary

Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Anthony O’Leary’s Bronze Medal in the 20-team New York YC International Invitational at Newport, RI in September is an astonishing achievement when we remember that many of the other top-level Corinthian crews had been practising in the new Mark Mills-designed Melges IC 37s throughout the summer. Yet O’Leary and his Crosshaven squad stepped aboard as strangers to the boat with only a few days to go to the start of a very intense series.

However, his legendary speed abilities with the Cork 1720 Sportsboats under asymmetrics proved to be a great strength, but by the time the series concluded he was steadily climbing the ranks with high-level performance across the board, and the Royal Cork YC’s third overall snatched from the final race was testament to skipper and crew alike.

Anthony OLeary CrewAnthony O’Leary (third from left) with his New York bronze medalist crew – skills he first acquired with Cork 1720 Sportsboats transferred well to the new Irish-designed Melges IRC 37

Published in Sailor of the Month
Tagged under

Anthony O’Leary’s Corby 35 ‘Antix’ won sailing's Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club, and Paddy Gregory’s Elan 31 ‘Benola’ the Portcullis Trophy.  Eamon Conneely’s Transpac 52 ‘Patches’ was the winner in Division 0 IRC, gaining National Champion title for that Division and the Saab Trophy for IRC.

‘Antix’ was the yacht deemed by the organising committee to have put in the best overall performance under IRC across the four fleets.  She and Eamon Crosbie’s ‘Voodoo Chile’ had quite a duelling match in Division 1, with ‘Antix’ emerging as National Champion.  ‘Benola’ finished first overall in both IRC and Echo in Division 2, winning double National Championship titles.  Neil White’s Sigma 400 ‘Barafundle of Mumbles’ was the Division 1 winner and Champion.

Photos of the 2007 event by Bob Bateman BELOW:

Published in Sovereign's Cup

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)