#CruiseSailing – As Serenissima departed scenic Glengarriff, west Cork yesterday evening, the exploration cruiseship shares connections with Soufriere, an entrant in today's start of the three-day ICRA Nationals held off Dun Laoghaire Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.

As W.M. Nixon drew our attention in his Saturday Sailing column of the Spirit 54 sailing classic, Soufriere,  she will clearly have a racier sporting presence among the 100 plus ICRA fleet but also the added allure of her debut appearance in a James Bond film.

It was that scene in 'Casino Royale' which saw Daniel Craig as 007 and his co-star Eva Green at the helm along the Venetian waterway of the Canal Grand.

The glamorous pairing of the silver screen stars set in the jewel of Venice, is from where the name of the cruiseship operator, Serenissima Cruises, that takes its name from 'La Serenissima'. The title given to the 'Repubblica di Venezi' that existed until 1797 and which literally translates to 'the most' or 'very serene'.

Such a description is easily applicable to the Italian city on the Adriatic and the same could be said for those sweeping lines of the cruiseship and that of the stylish yacht-racing boat.

So when Stephen O'Flaherty's Soufriere gathers Dublin Bay wind in her sails, having departed the ICRA Nationals host of the Royal Irish YC, the harbour of Dun Laoghaire is also where as previously reported the Serenissima (photo) too made a visit last summer. For footage of her underway off Sandbanks, Poole Harbour click HERE.

To continue on the theme of royalty, on the same day of Serenissina's debut call, Cunard's flagship, Queen Mary 2 also made her inaugural visit while anchored offshore.

 

The Cruiser Racer sailing event of the season is on June 17th - 19th. There is already overseas interest from Wales and the UK for the ICRA Nationals, and this year the event is also being promoted in France. The Cork-hosted event is timed carefully to co-ordinate with Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race and Sovereigns Cup, offering Dublin boats the opportunity to make one trip south and have potential to compete in all the three.

The Royal Cork is making a special effort to run a great event to follow the excellent ICRA Nationals in 2010 in the Royal St George.

In appreciation of the strength of fleet in Cork Harbour, Class 4 has been added to this year's event in an effort to attract the Cobh and East Ferry fleet and encourage boats in this category in Royal Cork, Kinsale and on the south coast to participate.

The club is also making special arrangements to facilitate boats arriving on trailers by offering reasonable lift in and out fees.

The Corinthian Cup for Non-Spinnaker Classes is being developed further this year, adding a new Corinthian Cup Trophy to cater for fact that there are two classes and both Progressive Echo and IRC results.

ICRA 's all-inclusive policy will apply to this event, welcoming all those who wish to participate and enjoy sailing in the true spirit of what non-spinnaker is all about. A big fleet is expected.

ICRA Nationals has built a reputation as being a high-calibre, well-organised national championships and looks forward with enthusiasm to building on that reputation in the Royal Cork Yacht Club next June. Entries are expected from all coasts of Ireland, including a strong WIORA presence.

Whoever sold their soul for the weather, it was worth it. Three days of consistent sunshine and sailing breeze is nearly unheard of on Dublin Bay, but by whatever means, the Liebherr ICRA Cruiser Nationals went off without a hitch. 

Day three concluded with winds of 10 knots and flat seas providing exciting and tight racing.  After the first race was sailed today the fleets swapped courses and sailed on their alternative course for the second race adding variety and spice to the racing.

Dominating proceedings from before the start gun with a win in the feeder race from Cork, Anthony O’Leary in Antix on 9.5 pts took the Class 0 IRC title by the slimmest of margins. Despite stringing together five winds in a row at the start, just a single point separated them from  Dave Dwyer’s Marinerscove.ie in the end, when Mariners finished with 10.5 pts.  Marinerscove, sailed by Nicholas O’Leary, had two bullets on the final day,  the lighter airs suiting the Mills 39 over the Ker, and with Antix yielding 40 seconds in the hour.  In the strong tides and light winds Antix secured second and third today. Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8, a British Commodore’s Cup Team member, had a third and second today but was very consistent throughout the event and was able to discard a 6th and this cemented his third place on 16 points.

On the whole there were no major surprises in the IRC results with just a couple of changes in placings, with a notable exception in Division One IRC, with the emergence of Tony Fox’s A35 Gringo to take second place.  Gringo, who was lying in sixth place yesterday, today scored two seconds and with a discard of 19 this was enough to bring him to second place. The winner, Rockabill, sailed by Mel Collins, had five firsts and a second in the series in what was possibly, with 29 boats, the most competitive of the classes. The best of the J109s, Joker 2, was third.

In Class Two an interesting fact is that Corby 25s took places one, two and three. The pre-race favourites the Colwell/Murphy Kinetic, took the trophy from two Cork boats, Denis Coleman in Thunderbird second and Vinny O’Shea in Yanks and ffrancs third.

In Class Three Flor O’Driscoll in Hard on Port lost his crown to the Faroux Quarter tonner Tiger of Joxer O’Brien and the Kenefick father-and-son pairing followed in third place by the quarter tonner Supernova from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The non-spinnaker Division 5 sailed only five races for the series and Vincent Farrell in Tsunami took the crown here followed by Philip Dilworth in Orna  and Liam Coyne in Lula Belle.

Non spinnaker Division 6 was won by Joe Carlton in Voyager, followed by Peter Dunlop from Wales in Mojito with Howth Yacht Club Brazen Hussy of J.Barry and M. Stirling in third place.

All in all it was an excellent series with strong competition in all fleets and will be a hard act to follow for the hosts of 2011, the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Blue skies coloured Dublin Bay again yesterday with a sea breeze of 12 knots providing perfect sailing conditions for the ICRA Nationals, writes Claire Bateman. The results illustrate the closeness of the competition in most divisions. Anthony O’Leary in Antix is leading IRC 0 after five races and indeed had the unusual situation today of having a tied result with Dave Dwyer’s Marinerscove.ie on corrected time each receiving 1.5 points in Race four. This is keeping it very much in the O’Leary family as it is Anthony’s son Nicholas is helming Mariners cove. Antix is very much the dominant force in Class zero, discarding a fifth after yesterday's racing to leave her with four wins on the scorecard. 

ICRA members will be interested to know that Mariners had a better day scoring a total of 4.5 from the three races and as the defending champion is now a mere three points adrift of the leader. It is great to see Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8 competing and he is now lying third on 17 points.

In Class One IRC the O’Higgins Rockabill V appears to be walking away with the series having scored three wins and two seconds leaving him with seven points. Currently following on Rockabill’s heels, is a plethora of J109s led by J.Maybury’s Joker 2 followed by Jalapeno and Jelly Baby. However, should there be a discard tomorrow Jelly Baby could come up the leader board and it is all to play for here.

In Class Two IRC the pre race favourite, Kinetic, the Colwell/Murphy well sailed Corby 25 and defending title holder, has built up a good lead and is currently on 12 points followed by Denis Coleman’s Corby 25 Thunderbird from Cork with Anthony Gore Grimes in the X302 DUX just one point adrift. Things are very tight with the top two boats in Class Three IRC with just one point separating the current leader the O’Brien, Kenefick and Kenefick, Tiger, from the defending title hoilder Flor O’Driscoll in his J24 Hard on Port.

Currently lying third is Supernova and it most def initely is all to play for in this class.

In the Non Spinnaker Division Five IRC four races have been sailed and they have already received a discard. Counting the discard and leading on 4 points is Tsumnai, one point ahead of Orna followed by Lula Belle on 7 points. 

In the Non Spinnaker Division 6, again with one discard applied, the Howth Yacht Club Dehler 34 Voyager is on four points, two points ahead of fellow HYC yacht Brazen Hussy, and a Welsh raider from Pwllheli SC, Mojito, who is on equal points with Brazen Hussy.

In Class 0 ECHO Marinerscove.ie continues to hold her lead followed by Tiamat and Antix respectively. In Class One ECH0 Rockabill V leads Joker 2 with Donal O’Leary’s D- ‐Tox in third position. In Class Two ECHO Kinetic leads Thunderbird Page 2 followed by Indigo who is on equal points with Thunderbird. Class Three ECHO has very tight results to date at the top with only one point separating the leading three boats.

The current leader is Jibberish on 33 points, followed by Tiger and Supernova both on 34 points. However, it is Tiger has the more consistent results which could stand to her in the case of a discard. Class Five ECHO Adelie is on 7 points, Lula Belle also has 7 points and the Sigma 38 Persistance is just one point adrift on 8 points. Class 6 ECHO is currently led by Voyager on 5 points followed by Brazen Hussy on 7 points and Mojito on 8 points.

 

A lot at stake for today in many classes.

As thoughts turn towards weekend boating fixtures, it looks like winds – or the lack of them – will be the deciding factor for sailing events. On Dublin Bay forecasters are holding out the prospect of afternoon sea breezes for the weekend's National Cruiser Racer Championships as gradient winds remain light and variable. This morning the meteorological situation is that a light to moderate and moist southwesterly airflow covers the country as high pressure continues to build from the southeast. Met Eireann are giving the following Sea Area forecast. 

Forecast for coasts from Mizen Head to Slyne Head to Bloody Foreland 

Wind: South to southwest force 3 or 4. Decreasing variable mainly southerly force 2 to 4 this evening or early tonight, strongest for southwest coasts. 

Forecast for coasts from Bloody Foreland to Carnsore Point to Mizen Head and the Irish Sea 

Wind: South to southwest or variable force 2 to 4, strongest along the east coast and on the Irish Sea. Decreasing variable force 3 or less early tonight. 

Weather for all sea areas: Patches of mist, drizzle and fog. Becoming mainly fair later today. 

Visibility for all sea areas: Moderate or poor at times, improving mostly good. 

Outlook for a further 24 hours until 0600 Saturday 22 May 2010: Light to moderate southerly or variable winds. Fair, apart from drizzle, mist and fog patches.

ICRA members sailing in Dun Laoghaire will be interested to know that North Sails Ireland have announced they are to run an overnight sail repair service during the Liebherr Cruiser Nationals. The service will be run out of the Stena Line ferry terminal in Dun Laoghaire.

Contact details for the North Sails Ireland are available on their website: www.northsails.ie