We hear so much about the “New Normal” in everyday life ashore that it’s becoming difficult to remember what the Old Normal was like, as employers resort to bribery (“Special Bonuses” if you insist) to entice WFH employees back into the office. Equally in sailing, while there were always hyper-keen types who made sure that all compliance was in place to enable racing to be possible within the pandemic limits - with Dublin Bay SC setting the pace with weekly turnouts of 142 boats in times of lockdown lifting - there were those who felt that a restrained involvement was the only way to go.

So after two to three years of control at varying levels, it’s welcome to notice a growing and familiar buzz in the new season’s sailing scene as we finally approach May. And equally, it was reassuring to note that God is clearly in his heaven and results were as they should be in last weekend’s two major cruiser-racer happenings on the east and south coasts, with Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC) winning the brisk opening race from Dublin Bay of the Golden Jubilee season of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association, while in Kinsale Denis & Annamarie Murphy’s Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo likewise did the business in robust breezes and offshore conditions in Classes Zero and 1 in the Axiom Private Spring Series, which concludes today.

Both Nieulargo and Rockabill VI are quite hefty boats which enjoy a breeze, which means that in somewhere like Long Island Sound they’d be regarded as distinctly under-canvassed. But in Ireland, they’re just about spot-on for most of the time, even if the idea that Ireland always provides good sailing breezes is a rose-tinted fantasy.

The Vice Admiral Royal Cork YC shows the way off Kinsale. The Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (RCYC Vice Admiral Annamarie Fegan & Denis Murphy) on the way to success at Kinsale in the Axiom Private Spring Series. Photo: Robert Bateman

Be that as it may, another example of a return to normality of sorts was in evidence with the 1898-vintage Howth 17s starting their 122nd season on Tuesday with current champion, the 1907-vintage Deilginis (Massey, Toomey & Kenny) still on the pace with 2022’s first win.

EVERY CLASS NEEDS A DILIGENT RECORD-KEEPER

Those with the ability for instant calculations might wonder how we come up with the figure of 122 seasons, but some racing seasons were lost during the Great War of 1914-1918, and for years the Howth 17s’ Keeper of the Records was TCD engineer-mathematician Gerald FitzGibbon, who typically insisted that the class’s 75th Anniversary be celebrated in 1972. This was even though they weren’t 75 years old until 1973, for in Gerald’s precise class recording terms, the season of 1898 was Year 1, and thus last night’s Howth 17 Annual Dinner, hosted in HYC by Class Captain David O’Shea and the first to be held for a couple of years, was also the Golden Jubilee of the 75th Anniversary.

It may seem pernickety, but every venerable local one design class needs its Gerald FtzGibbon. For among other things, such folk keep the history in proper order, and as things settle down and it becomes clear that to maintain cross-class enthusiasm, a parallel set of results based on performance handicaps is required, when the FitzGibbons of this world become indispensable for its successful implementation.

For those who would argue that handicaps are against the spirit of OD racing, I’d reiterate that it’s a parallel system, not a scratch-racing replacement, which is used. And as for it being un-Irish, I’d suggest you reflect on where local golf would be without it, and remind you that the very idea of golf handicaps was first floated globally in 1897 by George Combe, Honorary Secretary of the Golfing Union of Ireland.

Thus by Gerald’s fastidious standards, the Shannon One Designs should actually be celebrating their 101st Anniversary this year, but as it happens Centenaries and Anniversaries are two different things, and when the Howth 17s’ Centenary came up in April 1998, a flotilla of the class was in Carrickfergus to celebrate. The first five boats to the design (there are now 20) were built by Hilditch of Carrickfergus, who four years earlier had built what is now Hal Sisk’s award-winning 36ft G L Watson cutter Peggy Bawn. 

AN EXCESS OF HISTORY UP NORTH

There was an excess of history going on up north at the time of the Seventeens’ return to Carrickfergus, as the Good Friday Agreement was being signed on the same day in Belfast. So while everyone was watching that, the Seventeens - having visited various places around Belfast Lough – cheekily took advantage of a strong and very cold nor’easter to sail overnight along the 90 miles to Howth, as one does.

Ian Malcolm’s 1898-built Howth 17 Aura off Carrickfergus Castle, celebrating her Centenary at her birthplace in April 1998. Photo: Damian Cronin

Some of the 22 Dublin Bay Water Wags which mustered for their first race of the 2022 season on Wednesday. Photo Wag Association

Ian & Judith Malcolm’s 1915-vintage Water Wag Barbara winning the first race of the 2022 season

A fondness for classic boats and yachts can become multiply-addictive, for one of those boats making the scene back in Carrickfergus in 1998 was Ian Malcolm’s Aura. While he may have been bested in Tuesday’s race at Howth by Deilginis, on Wednesday evening this week he and Judith were across Dublin Bay racing their 1915-vintage Water Wag Barbara in Dun Laoghaire in the 22-strong turnout (a record for the Wags’ first race of the season), and they duly won, with second place going to Guy Kilroy with Swift. He’s another classics multiple-enthusiast, as he also owns the 26ft 1896 Herbert Boyd jackyard topsail gaff cutter Marguerite, restored by Larry Archer.

WATER WAGS ATTRACT THE STELLAR SAILORS

In fact, it rather looks as though cutting the mustard with an immaculate Water Wag of whatever vintage (the current design goes back to 1900) is increasingly expected for stars from other classes, for the word is that tomorrow (Sunday), former Helmsmans Champion, Laser ace and RSAero winner Sean Craig is going to be arriving in Dun Laoghaire with his recently-acquired Water Wag.

Laser Masters Champion and former Helmsman’s Champion Sean Craig is the latest star helm to join the Water Wag class

What with folk like the Craigs involved with the Wags, and the Hal Sisk/Fionan de Barra restoration of the Dublin Bay 21s moving steadily along, the classics scene in Dun Laoghaire is looking much rosier. So who knows, it may yet be the case that in the fullness of time the historic Dublin Bay 24s may find their way back from their various projects on both sides of the Atlantic involving Boat Building Schools, but at present the only one in full sailing trim in Dun Laoghaire is Periwinkle (David Espey & Chris Craig).

At moments of optimism all things seem possible, but even in sunny places they’re finding a challenge in restoring normal rhythm. Thus in the Caribbean, there has been no Antigua Week for three years, but this morning they’re having a re-launch, starting today with the Round Antigua race. In the big winds of this time of year, it can be quite a challenge, so to make it more user-friendly there’s an alternative race partially round Antigua.

HOW CAN YOU HAVE A SHORTER VERSION OF RACE ROUND AN ISLAND?

But quite how they’ll organize that remains to be seen, for a race or voyage round anywhere inevitably reaches a Point of No Return – for instance, if you’ve sailed from Dublin and you pass the decidedly obtuse Slyne Head in Connemara, you’re almost inevitably going to sail round Ireland whether you meant to or not.

Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia (RStGYC) has been entered for Kinsale YV’s new Inishtearaght race

Whatever, the feeling is that if you can somehow temporarily compartmentalise the current events in Eastern Europe, then the prospects for the 2022 Irish sailing season are looking good. The news that Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia (RStGYC) has signed up for Kinsale YC’s new Inishtearaght Race on May 20th is adding spice to an already intriguing challenge, as for the dedicated offshore types, the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow a month later has now broken comfortably through the 40 entry mark with the latest batch led by RORC Commodore James Neville with his HH42 INO XXX. For regatta racing both inshore and offshore there’s the Wave at Howth at the beginning of June and Bangor Town Regatta at the end of the Month, and then in July Volvo Cork Week is spreading its wings with the addition of a Classics Division.

GP14s at Sligo in times past – Curly Morris chasing Ger Owens. The GP 14s are in Sligo this weekend as the countdown to their 2022 Worlds in Skerries in Augst gets under way

There are at least three World Championships, with the countdown towards the GP 14 Worlds in Skerries (from 14th to 19th August) getting under way today with the season’s first Open Meeting at Sligo, and then in a week’s time at Dromineer on Lough Derg, the Fireball 2022 Worlds there on 20th to 26th August are being anticipated on May 6-7th with an intensive training weekend by Thomas Chaix for the growing Irish class.

ILEN FOLLOWS THE MONEY IN LONDON

Meanwhile in London, the Ilen from Limerick berthed at St Katharine Dock yesterday, having overnighted on Thursday at a handy pier in Gravesend in a place which, despite the modern installations across the river, had something of the flavour of the scene-setting in a Conrad novel.

It could be the setting for the start of a Conrad novel – Ilen finds a handy overnight berth in the River Thames on Thursday night

Then yesterday (Friday) it was a case of follow the money, as inevitably her long bowsprit - with sails set – found itself pointing at the finance machine which is Canary Wharf as the flood tide swept her up the Thames. And for those who have been wondering on Afloat.ie’s Facebook page about how Ien could be described as “a Limerick ketch” despite being built and then restored in West Cork, having spent her working life in the Falklands, the explanation is that by “Limerick” we incorporate the entire Shannon Estuary, Ilen was designed by Conor O’Brien of County Limerick in a cottage on Foynes Island (as had her small predecessor-sister Saoirse), and she is of course owned and run by the Gary Mac Mahon-directed Ilen Marine School of Limerick, all partially in celebration of the comparable sailing traders of the Shannon Estuary, which used to depart from Limerick city with each ebb tide, laden with goods for all the small ports on both sides of the estuary as far west as Ballylongford and Kilbaha.

A long way from Ballylongford and Kilbaha……Ilen’s long bowsprit headed for the money-towers of Canary Wharf yesterday (Friday).

Outward voyage completed - Ilen at Tower bridge yesterday (Friday evening)

 Job done - Ilen below Tower Bridge in St Katharine Dock Waiting Berth

Preparations for Volvo Cork Week continue apace for the July regatta in Cork Harbour.

Royal Cork organisers say teams are coming from all over the world racing in celebration of the club's 300^th birthday.

To this end, RCYC has just announced its social calendar at Crosshaven for the July 11-15 event.

Cork Week Social Calendar

Saturday 8th July: Cork300 Gala Dinner, tickets on sale in June.

Sunday 09th July: Family Fun Day 12:00 – 17:00 followed by Opening Ceremony at 18:00.

Monday 11th July: Welcome party, music & prizegiving from 17:00. White Claw & Island’s Edge reception.

Tuesday 12th July: Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Mount Gay reception. 1720 & Cape31 dinner. Marquee band.

Wednesday 13th July (Ladies Day): Ladies' lunch from 12:00 (sold out). Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Jagermeister reception. Marquee band from 19:00, DJ from 21:30.

Thursday 14th July (Bastille Day): Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Heineken reception. Marquee band from 21:30, DJ from midnight till late.

Friday 15th July: Music, prizegiving & closing ceremony from 17:00. White Claw & Island’s Edge reception. Marquee band from 21:30, DJ from midnight till late.

The Cork Week entry list for July's regatta stands at over 110 boats with 17 weeks still to go before the first gun. 

The biggest class so far is the 33-boat 1720s that have their roots in Crosshaven. Royal Cork organisers say entries for this sportsboat division show 'no sign of slowing'.

There are 30 IRC boats already entered and ten boats have also entered the coastal offshore discipline.

As Afloat reported earlier, the recently announced Classic Boat division has 25 boats with a promise of 20 alone coming from France.

RCYC say "we are now seeing the U25 entries come in across the IRC and 1720 classes".

"The IRC entries are building throughout the classes and no doubt the growing Quarter Tonner movement in the Royal Cork will draw in top-class racing for smaller boats too", Royal Cork state.

In what will be one of the first showings of the new class in Ireland, three Cape 31s are also listed in the one-design entry; RCYC's own Antix together with Blast from the Royal Irish and Valkyrie from Howth.

The ICRA Boat of the Year, Nieulargo, is entered in the Beaufort Cup Photo: Bob Bateman

Cork yachts are early entries into the Beaufort Cup, the regatta within Cork Week designed for emergency services. The ICRA Boat of the Year Nieulargo is entered along with the Royal Navy's Jolly Jak Tar and Kinsale's Meridian.

Download the latest entry list (to March 13) below

Royal Cork's Paris Boat Show announcement last December that there is to be a dedicated Classics Class at Volvo Cork Week has been receiving a steady uptake of entries.

As Afloat reported earlier, a former famous Morning Cloud yacht from the UK will compete in Cork Harbour and more recently, the club has announced it is expecting up to 20 yachts from France. 

Last December, Pascal Stefani, President of the Atlantic Yacht Club, with the support of the Yacht Club de France, announced that they were arranging "Goto Cork 2022", a movement which will entail up to 20 yachts heading to Cork via the Scillies to participate.

A delegation from AYC has since been to Cork to prepare for their visit in July.

Local classics are also entered, including Terry Birles' 'Erin' who was one of the first entries for the new Classic division.

As regular Afloat readers will know, Birles and Erin took fifth in their class in the St. Tropez classic regatta last September. 

The RCYC has also revealed the series will be conducted using the Jauge Classique Handicap (JCH) system to allow classic boats with very different characteristics to race together and other handicapping systems as appropriate.

It’s good news that a proper Classics Division is going to be included in Volvo Cork Week in July, and it’s even better news that one of the first to step up to the plate is Opposition, the gold standard classic 40ft S & S design which Ted Heath raced to outstanding all-round success in 1971. For although Ted Heath owned five Morning Clouds in all - with the first being the little S&S34 which won the 1969 Sydney-Hobart Race – we need to know which is which, and the 51-year-old boat now known as Opposition was arguably the sweetest of them all, as Olin Stephens took this high-profile opportunity to show what an attractive boat the new International Offshore Rule could create.

But unfortunately, the international offshore scene was expanding at an unhealthy pace, and the backroom number-crunchers in yacht design offices were soon finding that by producing rather extreme and deeply heavy boats with unattractively pinched sterns, you could get a very favourable rating. The third Morning Cloud (mistakenly used to illustrate Opposition in a recent press release) was built expressly for the 1973 Admiral’s Cup, and proved to be quite an extreme example of this less healthy hull type.

The 44ft Morning Cloud III of 1974 was a race winner, but her pinched stern - distorted to fit in with exploitation of the IOR rule -created a much less attractive boat than her predecessor

Of course the 44ft Morning Cloud III was a race-winner under the rule of the time, but as a boat she compared very unfavourably with the Morning Cloud II of 1971. And the life of Morning Cloud III was short and tragic. In 1974 in line with Heath’s policy of being seen at other regattas, late in the season she was taken to the Thames Estuary for his participation in Burnham Week. In hurrying back from that with a delivery crew, she was caught out in an extreme westerly gale in the English Channel with wind over tide conditions while trying to reach the shelter of the Solent.

When two crew were lost overboard in a knockdown, the boat suffered structural damage and eventually, the remaining crew had to take to the liferaft and Morning Cloud III was wrecked on the Sussex coast. It was a grim moment when the retrieved remains of the boat were later brought ashore at the port of Shoreham.

The remains of Morning Cloud III are brought ashore at Shoreham in Sussex in September 1974 after two crew had been drowned during what should have been a routine delivery trip from the Thames Estuary back to the Solent.

Classic boats from across Europe will take part in July's Volvo Cork Week Regatta for the first time as they join the celebrations of the Royal Cork's Tricentenary.

Sir Edward Heath's Morning Cloud, since renamed Opposition, is amongst one of the early entrants in the historic boat fleet.

Morning Cloud was the name given by the former British Prime Minister to a series of five yachts that he owned between 1969 and 1983.

Royal Cork organisers have also confirmed The Atlantic Yacht Club of France will be strong supporters of the event, committing 20 boats through their GoToCork campaign.

The Notice of Race for the Classic fleet is currently being finalised.

 

Entry is open for 2022 Volvo Cork Week, celebrating the tricentenary of the world’s oldest yacht club, the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Since 1978, Cork Week has been the venue for many epic battles on the water and legendary craic ashore. The 300^th birthday celebrations for the Royal Cork add a unique dimension.

July's Volvo Cork Week features up to five days of world-class racing in Cork Harbour from 11-15th.

As Afloat previously reported, Cork Week has a huge diversity of competing boats, including inshore racing for keelboats for the ICRA Nationals, and one-design racing for the 1720 Europeans, the SB20 Grand Slam, Cape 31s, and the Dragon South Coasts.

Volvo Cork Week will feature a variety of courses both inside and outside the Harbour.

Over 60 boats have already signed up and the Royal Cork Yacht Club is preparing for over a thousand sailors from around the world to take part. All boats already entered, and who enter before Easter Sunday, will be in with a chance of winning a maximum of eight branded crew jackets from Musto.

Enter your team here 

Classic yacht owners in France have been encouraged to join Volvo Cork Week 2022 with the introduction of a dedicated class at next summer’s regatta.

Royal Cork Yacht Club Admiral Colin Morehead made the announcement at the 2021 Paris Boat Show last week along with President Pascal Stefani, Yves Lambert and Yves Gaignet of the Atlantic Yacht Club.

The two clubs have entered into a collaboration — Goto Cork 2022 — aimed at attracting classic yacht owners in France to participate in Cork Week when it returns in July 2022 after a pandemic-enforced absence in 2020.

COVID restrictions also delayed celebration of the Royal Cork’s reciprocal agreement signed with the Yacht Club de France in March 2020.

While in Paris, Admiral Morehead took the opportunity to exchange burgees with Yacht Club de France President Philippe Heral at its clubhouse in the city.

Earlier today, Afloat.ie noted the inclusion of a Cape 31 fleet in next summer’s regatta comprising boats from both the UK and a burgeoning Irish fleet.

The Royal Cork Yacht Club has confirmed that two Irish Cape 31s which are currently in build, one from Cork and one from Dublin, have now entered Volvo Cork Week 2022.

The entry form and advance notice of regatta are live on the RCYC website.

It’s expected that the Irish fleet will have grown to four of five boats by next July when the Cork Week regatta returns for a delayed Cork300 celebration after its pandemic-enforced absence in 2020.

And it’s also hoped that they will be bolstered by visiing Cape 31s from the UK for five days of championship racing in the waters surrounding Cork Harbour.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie back in August, plans are afoot to build a sportsboat fleet here from the South African racer-inspired design by Wicklow-based Mark Mills.

Last week's club talk by Royal Cork Yacht Club helmsman Harold Cudmore on the exploits of the Cork Harbour One Design classic yacht Jap at St. Tropez in October gave details of the 1897-built yacht's recent performances on the continent but also revealed details of 2022 plans to bring a classic boat division to Cork Week Regatta next year.

As regular Afloat readers will recall, the restored Jap skippered by Cudmore and with a crew that counted club Admiral Colin Morehead among its number won Le Voile Saint Tropez Classic Regatta in the South of France.

In a great result for Cork Harbour classic boat enthusiasts, Royal Cork member Terry Birles and his yacht Erin took fifth in their class in St. Tropez too.

Royal Cork member Terry Birles (left) with a half model of his yacht Erin and RCYC Admiral Colin Morehead Photo: Bob Bateman

During the club talk, Birles presented a half model of the classic yacht Erin for display at the Crosshaven clubhouse.

Details of Cork Week's Classic Division are to be announced at the Paris Boat Show on 4th December.

Jap, built in Carrigaloe in 1897 and fully restored and sailing again (pictured here in Cork Harbour) as part of RCYC's 300th celebrations, took an unassailable lead in her class at the important classic regatta in October. Olympic helmsman Cudmore was on the tiller of the oldest and the smallest yacht at the classic yacht Centenary Trophy fleet in St. Tropez. Photo: Mary Malone