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Displaying items by tag: Justin Lucas

Optimist talent Justin Lucas scored three wins out of eight races on his way to a convincing victory at the Optimist Club Netherlands selection event last weekend.

Last year’s Sailor of the Month for April, who sails out of the Royal Cork and Tralee Bay, was part of a small Irish contingent at Heeg along with his brother Emmet Lucas, who finished 83rd, and Alana Twomey who placed 21st.

The result completed a big weekend for Irish Oppy prospects as James Dwyer Matthews and Luke Turvey took two podium spots at the British Spring Opens in Lymington, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

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A stellar international performance in the Magic Marine Easter Regatta in The Netherlands, and an overall victory in the Irish Sailing Youth Pathway Nationals in Dublin Bay in the Optimist, makes Justin Lucas of Tralee Bay SC and Royal Cork YC our “Sailor of the Month” for April.

At 14 years “Optimist age”, he is probably the youngest sailor ever to be on his own on the monthly podium. But with a good second in a ferociously competitive fleet in Dutch waters, and then maintaining his lead in the final day’s incredibly flukey conditions in Dublin Bay, young Lucas is in a class of his own.

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#Optimist - Justin Lucas of the Royal Cork and Tralee Bay placed second at the Magic Marine Easter Regatta in the Netherlands yesterday (Monday 2 April).

A long weekend of sailing on the Braassemermeer northeast of Leiden saw Lucas finish just two points behind the winner, Kerem Erkmen of Turkey, in the final tally.

The two days also saw a strong showing by fellow Team Ireland Optimist sailor Harry Twomey (Royal Cork/Crookhaven Harbour), who was second before leaving early to prepare for trials.

Johnny Flynn, of Howth Yacht Club, came into the final day in third and finished a respectable 15th.

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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)