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The Ocean Youth Trust has issued a statement regarding the sinking of their only sail training vessel, the 70-foot ketch the Lord Rank.

Bronagh Cappa, Chief Executive of the trust, said:

“The Ocean Youth Trust is greatly saddened by the loss of our only vessel, the Lord Rank, but is delighted that none of the six people aboard were injured during what was a textbook evacuation.

“The Lord Rank, a 68ft Oyster ketch crewed by a fully-qualified skipper, first mate and crewman, had a perfect safety record over 19 years at sea with the Ocean Youth Trust, working with tens of thousands of young people around Ireland.

“Around 10 o’clock last night the vessel hit rocks at a particularly treacherous part of the North Antrim Coast.  The RNLI and Coastguard responded promptly and the crew and three passengers were safely taken off by dinghy.

“The Lord Rank sank around 4am during a salvage attempt.

“An investigation is underway into the circumstances of the incident and we cannot comment further until that is concluded.  However, we are relieved and delighted that all involved emerged completely unscathed.”

Published in News Update

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)