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Displaying items by tag: Sharkbait

#SB20 – The first SB20 event was held at TBSC over the weekend of June 30th/July 1st. Although the fleet was small the racing under PRO Peter Moore of the host club was of the highest quality. On Saturady the wind blew fro the NW with a vengeance. Gusts of 35 knots were recorded between the race 1 and race 2 but only 25 to 30 knots during the racing.

Race 1 was won by Ben Duncan's Sharkbait with a flawless display of heavy wind sailing. In race 2 however it was Scott McKeown's Magic who won the plaudits and the race. Two boats retired with damage during the race as the wind and waves took their toll. Sharkbait was the winner of race 3 with Magic in second. At this point the race officer decided that the fleet had had enough punishment for one day and even though it was still early sent them to the showers and the bar.

It was obviously a great party as even though one of the damaged boats reappeared on Sunday morning only eight boats made it to the startline. Conditions could not have been more different as a light and shifty SW breeze made for difficult conditions. Once again Peter Moore did an outstanding job and had three good races on the board by one o'clock with less than ten minutes between races.

Sharkbait made light of the conditions to score three bullets and won the last race of the event by an enormous margin to take the title with five wins and a second as a discard. In the Silver Fleet Ronan Downing recovered from a poor first day to take first and fourth overall.

Sail No Boat Owner Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Net Place

3287 Sharkbait B. Duncan 1 2 1 1 1 1 5 1

3490 Dinghysupplies S. Murphy 3 7 3 2 4 2 14 2

3198 Magic S. McKeown 2 1 2 6 6 7 17 3

3 Manamana R. Downing 10 8 4 4 3 3 22 4

3433 Boatmec.com D. Taylor 4 6 5 3 8 5 23 5

3449 Lia D. Barry 5 5 8 5 5 4 24 6

3338 MilvusMilvus R. Howe 8 4 7 7 2 6 26 7

3537 Boomsticks B. Reilly 6 3 6 11 11 11 37 8

35 R. Tate 7 11 11 8 7 8 41 9

3307 Bad Kilcullen J. Dowling 9 11 11 11 11 11 53 10

Published in SB20
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Ben Duncan, Brian Moran and Ric Morris on Sharkbait have eased into an early lead after day 1 of the Investwise SB3 Ireland National Championships in Howth. Sailing on their home waters the Howth Yacht Club team took home 2 bullets and a 6th to lead over night by 4 points from Stefan Hyde, Jerry Dowling and Jimmy Dowling. Brian Reilly, Sam Hunt and Conor Clancey lie 3rd, with Sean Craig, Stepen Boyle and Alan Green in fourth and McCready Gill Racing Team in 5th.

Photos by Gareth Craig on the gallery HERE

Published in SB20

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)