It’s the peak of the best of the sailing season in the Caribbean, and key Irish crews are making a major impact at the sharp end of the fleet writes W M Nixon. Former All-Ireland Sailing Champion Nin O’Leary of Crosshaven, skippering the 60m sloop Perseus3 of Mark Byrne (a Royal Cork YC overseas member), has recorded a convincing class win at the Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta & Rendezvous, an event so discreet that the precise location is really known only to the participants on the 23 superyachts taking part.

Cork interest in Perseus3 goes beyond the owner and crew, as she is a classic Ron Holland design, a Perini Navi 60. She’s a soncey big animal, even by superyacht standards. Those comfort-loving sailors who get their kicks out of being competitive with a properly-tuned standard cruiser in handicap racing will be fascinated by what’s needed to keep Perseus’s many tonnes of luxury sailing at optimum performance. But Nin O’Leary clearly has what it takes, as this is the first time Perseus has recorded wins.

It takes rare skill, very fine judgement in tight situations where a mistake could cost the equivalent of a small nation’s annual GDP, and a very large crew who know what they are doing, for with the enormous loads that you get on rigging, halyards and sheets on a boat this size, the slightest mistake can result in serious injury or worse.

Ron Holland, formerly of Crosshaven and Kinsale, was involved in the creation of Perseus

Comin’ atcha….that’s an awful of very expensive boat to be racing on port tack

But when it goes right, this is very rewarding sailing indeed, and the crew of Perseus – whose Cork complement also included RCYC members Clive Higgins and James Fagan – overcame problems to with one of the roller-furling systems during one contest to record a clean scoresheet of three wins.

How many does it take to race a boat of this size and type? You count….but that’s Nin O’Leary in the middle, right under the photo of the boat

Back in the day….Nicholas “Nin” O’Leary wins the Helmsman’s Championship at Royal Cork in 2009

Royal Cork Yacht Club will run its fourth edition of the Horizon Energy Group sponsored PY1000 river race on March 25th.

The Portsmouth Yardstick handicap dinghy race takes place on the Owenabue river in Crosshaven Cork, in front of the Royal Cork Yacht Club with a 1430 first gun.

'We already have a large number of entries from many different boats like RS400 & 200, Laser, GP14, Topper, Mirror, National 18 (Ultra, Ultimate and Classic) just to name few', says Royal Cork Rear Admiral, Kieran O'Connell.

In the last three years a vareity of different dinghy designs took home the title: 2014 RS400, 2015 Laser full Rig, 2016 Laser full Rig.

The race will have a prize pool of €1000 with a minimum guaranteed €700 going to first place. The Notice of race is downloadable below.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour achieved second place in a strong international field at the International Marina of the Year Awards and, as previously reported by Afloat.ie, were just pipped to the post by the Karpaz Gate Marina, located in northern Cyprus.

Gavin Deane, General Manager at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, said: “We are delighted to receive this significant award from TYHA. This is as a result of the hard work of the Executive Committee and Club Staff since the Royal Cork attained the Five Gold Anchor Status in late 2011. The award means so much to everyone at the Club as it is voted for by both our berth holders and visiting boats”.

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The Royal Cork Yacht Club achieved second place in a strong international field at the Marina of the Year Awards and were just pipped to the post by the Karpaz Gate Marina, located in northern Cyprus.

The Yacht Harbour Association (THYA) announced the winners of its prestigious Marina of the Year Awards, with proud sponsors GJW at the 2017 London Boat Show. Now in its fourth year, the Awards recognise the best of more than 160 Gold Anchor accredited marinas from around the world. The winning marinas are voted for by their berth holders in the International, Superyacht, UK Coastal and UK Inland categories.

Gavin Deane, General Manager at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, siad: “We are delighted to receive this significant award from the YHA. This is as a result of the hard work of the Executive Committee and Club Staff since the Royal Cork attained the Five Gold Anchor Status in late 2011. The award means so much to everyone at the Club as it is voted for by both our berth holders and visiting boats”

Marina of the Year 2017 winners and runners:

International Marina of the Year 2017
Winner – Karpaz Gate Marina
Runner up – Royal Cork Yacht Club

Superyacht Marina of the year 2017
Winner – IGY Isle de Sol
Runner up – Talise Pavilion Marina

UK Coastal Marina of the Year 2017 (over 250 berths)
Winner – Largs Yacht Haven
Runner up – MDL Torquay Marina

UK Coastal Marina of the Year 2017 (under 250 berths)
Winner – Poole Quay Boat Haven
Runner up – Portavadie Marina

UK Inland Marina of the Year 2017
Winner – Church Minshull Aqueduct Marina
Runner up – MDL Windsor Marina

This year saw the launch of the accolade Marina of Distinction. This honour distinguishes a marina with over three consecutive years of continual customer service excellence, as voted for by its customers in the Marina of the Year competition. To qualify, marinas must rank a category finalist over three consecutive competitions. On the third year, they would automatically receive the title of Marina of Distinction.

To commemorate their achievement, winners and runners up of the Awards, as well as receivers of Marina of Distinction, were presented with laser etched glass trophies and framed certificates by David Perfect, Managing Director of GJW, and Sarah Hanna, Chairman of The Yacht Harbour Association.

Jon White, General Manager of The Yacht Harbour Association, commented: “A huge congratulations to all the winners, runners up and all marinas who were voted for in the 2017 Marina of the Year competition. The array of marinas who stood out in this year’s competition showed how strong the today’s marina industry is at achieving, and in some cases exceeding, the modern consumer’s standard of quality service and excellent facilities.

“The new Marina of Distinction accolade goes one further, honouring outstanding long-term customer service. We are delighted this year to be awarding five marinas from across the world for the first time with the title of Marina of Distinction.”

Marinas of Distinction for 2017:

International Marina of the Year 2017
Marina de Vilamoura

Superyacht Marina of the year 2017
Porto Montenegro

UK Coastal Marina of the Year 2017 (over 250 berths)
Mayflower Marina

UK Coastal Marina of the Year 2017 (under 250 berths)
Southampton Town Quay

UK Inland Marina of the Year 2017
Overwater Marina

Royal Cork's Harry Durcan was back on the water in Crosshaven, County Cork at the weekend with crew Harry Whitaker in advance of their first 29er skiff event of the year in Spain in February.

The first Eurocup of 2017 marks a new chapter for the youth sailing pair who have already notched up an overall win at the UK 29er British Nationals last August.

Meanwhile, Harry's twin brother Johnny returns from Australia today having finished fifth overall at the Australian Laser Youth Nationals in Adelaide on Friday.

Next year's three big Irish sailing regattas have set out their stalls early. The race is on to attract entries for July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta but before that there will be a fortnight of action on the South Coast with the Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale and the ICRA Nationals at Royal Cork both taking place in June.

The ICRA Notice of Race is published here and the Dun Laoghaire NOR is published here. Details on the 2017 Sovereign's Cup are here.

As an extra incentive all fully paid entries for VDLR received by 31st December will be automatically entered into a draw and 10% of these crews will have their entry fee refunded. 

Organisers are expecting up to 31 Classes for the 2017 Regatta at Dun Laoghaire that also celebrates the bicentenary of its famous Harbour with a Classic Boat section. 

Both the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) and the Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC) have just launched their respective websites for the ICRA National Championships which will take place at the Crosshaven club from Friday 9th to Sunday 11th June.

Online entry is now open and available at www.cruiserracing.ie and www.royalcork.com

Along with nine National IRC and ECHO Titles the event will also host the Corinthian Cup and for the first time a new ICRA Coastal Cup. A minimum of six races are scheduled but with the option to sail additional races at the discretion of the RO, determined by factors such as the weather. Racing is scheduled to start at 1400 on Friday 9th. Closing date for the early entry fee is 12th May, 2017. The Notice of Race can be downloaded below.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club have been working closely with Kinsale Yacht Club on scheduling of event dates with Sovereign’s Cup taking place two weeks later, boat storage in between events and even some delivery opportunities. The first 20 o line entries to the ICRA National Championships (non-Munster) will be offered the option of having their boat delivered after the ICRA event by sea from Crosshaven to Kinsale for Sovereigns Cup on June 21st to 24th. Further details to follow. To facilitate planning the organising committee would encourage all boat owners to enter early.

Bright sunshine and a blue sea with an eight to ten knot northerly breeze greeted competitors for the third day of the O’Leary Insurance Group Winter League in Cork Harbour today writes Bob Bateman. The first mark on the Royal Cork Yacht Club course was the Corkbeg buoy. Some competitors chose to sail beyond it to head for the eastern shore. This allowed them to avoid the worst of the ebb tide for the hard beat up to number thirteen, passing the Whitegate Refinery jetty on the way.

Once rounding thirteen it was a slalom course all the way home, a run to number eleven, a gybe and reach to number ten, a further gybe and reach to Corkbeg, more gybing and a reach to the finish between Adrielle and Cage Buoy. Race Officers for the popular winter series were again Clem and Wendy Mc Elligott.

First boat to finish was Denis Murphy’s 1720 Aquatack helmed by Michael Mc Cann followed by True Pennance Martin Darrer and Colman Garvey helmed by Roy Darrer.

Johnny Durcan was the winner of Royal Cork Yacht Club's prestigious Pyewacket Trophy for his results in the Laser Radial class. It's a campaign boost to the Cork youth sailor's winter race preparations as he heads off to New Zealand on December 7th for the World Sailing Youth World Championships where a place on the podium would equal club–mate Seafra Guilfoyle's silver medal of 2014.

Durcan started his season with a third at the Youth nationals and received a place on the ISA academy and from there went on to Hyeres to finish ninth at the biggest Laser Radial Europa Cup of the year. Following that he finished fourth at the Holland Europa cup and then third at the Belgium Europa Cup. At home, the Royal Cork ace won the Leinsters a week before finishing seventh at the  KBC–sponsored Radial Youth World Championships at the Royal St.George on Dublin Bay. From there he travelled to Weymouth and became the British youth champion the following week. The last event of the summer was the national championships in Galway which he also won to earn himself a place at the Youth worlds in NZ next month. To cap off a season of highs he also won the Junior All Irelands in late September in Schull.

Durcan is heading off to New Zealand on December 7th. He has been training every weekend for the past three months. After New Zealand Durcan moves to compete in the Australian Radial Nationals.

In October 2001, the late Roy Disney, widely known American sailing enthusiast who had a home in West Cork, had strong ties with the Royal Cork Yacht Club, and participated in many Ford Cork Week Regattas, presented the club with the Pyewacket Perpetual Cup at a dinner in the club hosted by the then Admiral, Anthony O'Leary. The Pyewacket Trophy is presented each year to the youth sailor, who in the opinion of the Adjudicating Committee, has achieved the best results overall in his or her class.

Johnny's twin brother Harry was a nominee with Harry Whitaker was a nominee for the Pyewacket trophy following their success at the 29er British Nationals in August.

The twin's father Tom, is co–owner of the 1720 T–Bone, the winner of the 2016 Sports Boat Cup and last month's 1720 Class winner of RCYC's CH Marine Autumn Series. 

Read also: Irish Youth Sailing Success Comes Centre Stage

Royal Cork dinghy sailor Seafra Guilfoyle (20) will team up with Belfast double Olympian Ryan Seaton for a Tokyo 2020 Olympic 49er campaign.

The move brings the curtain down on an eight year campaign by Seaton who split from crew Matt McGovern after Rio. Seaton had been trialling a number of crew replacements since Rio, as earlier reported by Afloat.ie. 

McGovern, also from Belfast, is in talks to find a new sailing partner as he intends to continue for Tokyo too.  

According to Royal Cork Yacht Club, Seaton and Guilfoyle will make a formal announcement of the campaign in Crosshaven this Friday. The duo will be looking to build on the Rio top ten finish.

Guilfoyle, an ISAF youth silver medalist in the Laser Radial from 2014, withdrew from the 2016 Mens Laser trial with a back injury.

As Afloat.ie reported in Ireland may field as many as four Olympic 49er campaigns for Tokyo. Read our 49er profile here.