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Displaying items by tag: Gary Horgan

Details of the 2011 Sovereign's Cup were announced at a reception at Kinsale Yacht Club, hosted by Regatta Director, Gary Horgan. The Sovereign's Cup takes place from 22nd-25th June 2011 in the outer harbour of Kinsale which prides itself with excellent sailing conditions, as well as an extensive social programme ashore.
The Sovereign's Cup was established in 1995 as a biennial event and has been a very successful and hugely popular cruiser regatta, with over 140 boats from all over Ireland and the UK competing for the prestigious Sovereign's Cup for best all round score in IRC and The Portcullis Trophy for best progressive handicap.
There are many Classes for entry; including Class 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and two White Sails classes. Also, the Quarter Ton Class Championships will be taking place during the Sovereign's Cup, bringing many new visitors to Kinsale from the South of England and Wales in particular.
Eamonn Rohan in Blondie IV a Mills Design King 40, claimed the 2009 Sovereign's Cup as the 2009 Portcullis Trophy was awarded to Chapman / Reilly's Crazy Horse. Anchor Challenge captured Class 3-IRC and the Quarter Ton Class and was awarded the Keane's Jewellers Quarter Ton Perpetual Trophy.

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The Kinsale Yacht Club committee behind the 2011 Sovereigns Cup

"We have already received a number of entries for The 2011 Sovereign's Cup in June and we will be stepping up our sponsorship and communications programme as the months advance," said Gary Horgan, Race Director. "We are very grateful to Kinsale Yacht Club, the Race Management team and all the volunteers who get involved with the organisation of the Sovereign's Cup as we are working hard to organise an excellent programme both on and off the water. We are encouraging people to start thinking about their travel and accommodation plans and are delighted that the Cork Swansea ferry will enable more sailors to access Kinsale easily from the UK," he added.

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)