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Displaying items by tag: Irish Cruiser Racing Assocation

We've added more photos from today's opening races of the ICRA Championships to the Afloat Gallery. Click here to see more from photographer Bob Bateman.

Published in ICRA

Yacht designer Mark Mills of Wicklow, the Irish Sailor of the Year, will be represented by at least five sailing designs on three different teams at the next Commodores Cup to be held off Cowes in August. It will be of interest for ICRA members to know that  with some teams still being finalized, the tally so far includes the custom IRC 39 Mariners Cove in the Ireland team, Hong Kong returning with the Summit 40 Blondie and the custom 40 Mandrake II (ex Ngoni), and the South Africans joining the event with the Landmark 43 Windpower and the Summit 40 Tokoloshe.

Published in ICRA

Buoyed up by Friday's bumper entry the forward thinking Irish Cruiser Racer Association is forging ahead with preparations for the next national sailing championships by announcing venues up to four years in advance. Next year the event is heading south to Royal Cork, the second time it will be staged there. In 2012 it will be staged by Howth Yacht Club. In 2013 it will be held at Tralee Bay SC in Fenit and in 2014 it comes back to Dun Laoghaire, to the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Published in ICRA
Page 3 of 3

About the 29er Skiff Dinghy

The 29er is a one-design double-handed, single trapeze skiff for youth sailors.

There is an active class in Ireland, just one of the 38-countries from across all continents now racing the high-performance skiff.

The 29er is one of the latest dinghy classes to arrive in Ireland and has a 50/50 split between boys and girls.

The class like to describe the boat as "The most popular skiff for sailors who want to go fast!".

Derived from the Olympic class 49er class and designed by Julian Bethwaite the 29er was first produced in 1998.

Two sailors sail the 29er, one on trapeze.

The class is targeted at youth sailors aiming at sailing the larger 49er which is an Olympic class.


The 6.25-metre high rig features a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker; a self-tacking jib decreases the workload of the crew, making manoeuvres more efficient and freeing the crew to take the mainsheet upwind and on two-sail reaches.

The 15.00 m2 spinnaker rigging set-up challenges crews to be fit and coordinated, and manoeuvres in the boat require athleticism due to its lack of inherent stability and the high speed with which the fully battened mainsail and jib power up.

The 74kg weight hull is constructed of fibreglass-reinforced polyester in a foam sandwich layout.

The fully battened mainsail and jib are made from a transparent Mylar laminate with orange or red Dacron trimming, while the spinnaker is manufactured from ripstop Nylon.

The mast is in three parts - an aluminium bottom and middle section, with a polyester-fibreglass composite tip to increase mast bend and decrease both overall weights, and the capsizing moment a heavy mast tip can generate. Foils are aluminium or fibreglass.

About the ILCA/Laser Dinghy

The ILCA, formerly known as the Laser, is the most produced boat in the world, with 220,000 units built since 1971.

It's easy to see why the single-handed dinghy has won the title of the most widely distributed boat of all time.

The Laser is a one-design dinghy, the hulls being identical but three rigs that can be used according to the size and weight of the sailor.

The class is international, with sailors from 120 countries. The boat has also been an Olympic class since 1996, being both the men's and women's singlehanded dinghy.

Three rigs are recognised by the International Laser Class Association (ILCA):

  • ILCA 4: sail of 4.70m2
  • ILCA 6: sail of 5.76 m2
  • ILCA 7: sail of 7.06 m2

29er skiff technical specs

  • Hull weight 74kg (163lb)
  • LOA 4.45m (14.4ft)
  • Beam 1.77m (5ft 7in)
  • Crew 2 (single trapeze) 
  • Spinnaker area 15.00 m2 (181.2sq.ft)
  • Upwind sail area 12.5 m2 (142.0 sq.ft)
  • Mast length 6.25m (20.5ft)

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