Displaying items by tag: Fergus Coughlan's

27th September 2010

Elida Wins Class One of SCORA Championships

It was one of those weekends in Cork Harbour where the wind refused to play the game writes Claire Bateman. All was prepared and in readiness at Cove sailing Club for the McWilliam One Sail SCORA South Coast Championships on Saturday morning. They had the committee boat, the support RIBS, the marks and last but certainly not least they had acquired the services of the hard working Neil Prendeville as the PRO.

Setting up the committee boat off "Foxes Cover" in about 6 knots of wind the Race Officer sent off the fleets who started with great enthusiasm but alas and alack this wind did not hold but was quite happy to die and fill in again from a different direction only to die once more, making it a frustrating day for the sailors.

Sunday, if anything, was worse with the wind boxing the compass. Despite the lack of wind the fleets did manage to complete one shortened round thus enabling a result for the Championships.

OVERALL RESULTS:

In Class One IRC Ria Lyden in Elida was first with Colman Garvey in True Pennance second. This situation was repeated in ECHO.

In Class Two IRC Vinnie Delaney's Yanks & Ffrancs was first with the other Corby 25 Denis Coleman's Thunderbird second.

In Class Two ECHO Yanks & Ffrancs again prevailed with Leonard Donnery's No Gnomes in second place.

In Class Three IRC Niall Kelly's WOT Like took first place with Dominic Losty's Woody second.

In Class Three ECHO it was Fergus Coughlan's White Knight took the win followed by Liam and Pat Coakley's J24 JAY.

In Class Four IRC Two GK 24s fought it out with Mike Sexton's Granny Knot beating Kevin O'Connell's Gaelic Kiwi into second place.

In Class Four ECHO Granny Knot again took the win with Peter Webster's Thistle in second place.

Published in SCORA

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour