The Fastnet 450 starts today (Saturday) at 1300hrs in Dublin Bay, and sends the fleet on a 270-mile course southward, taking them all the way to the Fastnet Rock before finishing back at the entrance to Cork Harbour, clear of the coast and shoreside communities throughout the race. The 450 comes from the combined ages of the Royal Cork YC and the National YC – 300 and 150 years respectively. As both have been prevented by the pandemic from implementing anything but the most basic parts of their planned celebrations, there's an impressive amount of pent-up energy going into this one permissible pop-up offshore event, which is COVID-compliant with designated Crew Pods.

This event has come to mean so much for the ultimate well-being of Irish sailing in this frustrated season of 2020 that it would surely be for the best if we could somehow – for the time being at least - set aside the burden of expectation which many are putting on it as primarily an icon of hope, and see it instead as just a uniquely historical challenge which will provide an enthusiastic group of Irish sailors with a very welcome sporting challenge, in which everyone will live for the moment and seize the day, without risking anyone's health.

In hoping to achieve that attitude this weekend, we are helped by that sometimes much-maligned yet ever-present element in our sport, the Irish weather. After a week of some of the grimmest weather - by any metric - in Irish meteorological history, whether summer or winter, our climate seems to have decided that a few light-hearted days won't go amiss. 

Grzegorz Kalnecki's First 31.7 More Mischief from Dun Laoghaire is the smallest boat in the Fastnet 450. Her successes this year include an ISORA Race overall win. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O'Brien

Admittedly we are not going to have a high-summer weekend of firmly settled weather. And by the time the fleet are getting themselves past Hook Head tomorrow morning after a fast reaching-to-close-reaching passage in an "off the grass" southwest to west wind down the east coast, they'll know for sure that they've put in some real offshore slugging to windward from the Tuskar out past the Coningbeg, particularly when the ebb is running against the big leftover swell which – for a while – will be one of the legacies of the now well-gone Storm Ellen.

But through Sunday there'll be a modest attempt at a pet day as a weak ridge builds, and they may even get the breeze drawing off the land before the wind starts to back on the west side of the ridge, when the leaders may well be closing towards the handbrake turn at the Fastnet. The way that plays out – coupled with the inevitability of local breezes or even calm spots - is going to make for a fascinating comparison of the racing benefits or otherwise of different boat sizes and types.

The 270-mile course. The most rugged section is likely to be off southeast Ireland getting past the Tuskar Rock, Carnsore Point and the Saltee Islands. See race tracker embedded below,

For although it may seem to be a very compact fleet, with all 20 boats in the 31ft to 40ft LOA range, the difference in performance possibilities increases exponentially. And while it may not be so extreme as the variations in wind power, where a Beaufort Force 6 of 25 to 32 knots is actually exerting 200 times the pressure of a Beaufort Force 2 of 5 to 8 knots, nevertheless the windward potential of a 40 footer such as Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, or Chris and Patanne Smith's J/122 Aurelia, is in a different category completely to the upwind speed ability of little 'uns like Grzegorz Kalnecki's First 31.7 More Mischief from Dun Laoghaire, or Conor and Derek Dillon's Dehler 34 Big Deal from Foynes.

Simon Knowles Indian (Howth YC) is the only J/109 entered in the Fastnet 450. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O'Brien

That said, offwind flying machines like Cian McCarthy's new Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl from Kinsale – which will have the formidable talents of Mark Mansfield on board - and her larger older sisters, the Sunfast 3600s YOYO (Brendan Coghlan, RStGYC) and Hot Cookie (John O'Gorman, NYC, with Maurice "The Prof" O'Connell on the strength), will be hoping that the effect of the run back from the Fastnet is maximised to optimise their gains from their startling offwind performance, captured here (yet again) in this now-famous vid of Cinnamon Girl making hay off the Old Head of Kinsale. We run it for the umpteenth time in the hope that somebody will finally reveal the names of the auteurs, for crediting it to "A Couple of Kids in a RIB" really won't do.

That famous Cinnamon Girl vid recorded by "a couple of kids in a RIB". If the "couple of kids in a RIB" could identify themselves, we'd be delighted to credit this super bit of work to them. (Update: Vid by Jack & Robert Carroll)

However, as revealed in the Kinsale-Fastnet-Kinsale race a fortnight ago, the overall winner Nieulargo (which once again has Nin O'Leary and Killian Collins on board) sails to a rating of only 1.023 when she limits herself to her non-overlapping headsail, which had her level-pegging rating-wise with Cinnamon Girl, yet The Girl finished half an hour astern on the water. And though Nieulargo may be sailing with full headsail which would put her rating up to 1.035 this time round, it still keeps her below the Sunfast 3600s around the 1.040 mark, so both Sunfast marques will have their work cut out, and Nieulargo remains a good sensible wager.

Yet, Aurelia, the Golden One should never be under-estimated, even if she is the highest-rated boat in the fleet at IRC 1.076. In the last big fleet offshore race in Irish waters – the 2019 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race – she was in consistent form to finish second overall. In fact, consistency is an Aurelia hallmark, and if ever a boat deserved an outstanding win such as the Fastnet 450 offers, then she is that boat.

Chris and Patanne Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia is one of Irish offshore racing's most consistent performers

But then, the crews of the 19 other boats all think exactly the same way about their craft, and while the compact fleet of 20 boats may be in line with COVID-19 compliance, between them they manage to represent 16 different yacht and sailing clubs, which for a race which has been put together in a fortnight, really is a remarkable achievement, and different clubs will be rooting for their own sailing gladiators.

Thus through being among the lowest-rated boats in the fleet, it's conceivable that More Mischief and Big Deal could have their day in the sun. Equally, the highly competitive racing among J Boats has really sharpened their game in the Dublin area, and there are those punters who would support the potential of Alan Algeo's J99 Juggerknot from the Royal Irish with dinghy champ Conor Kinsella in the crew, or Simon Knowles' well-prepared J/109 Indian from Howth.

Derek & Conor Dillon's Dehler 34 Big Deal from Foynes. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O'Brien

Either way, it's little short of miraculous that a competitive fleet has been recruited in such a short time. But as we've pointed out already in Afloat, the granddaddy of them all, the Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour or Kingstown to Queenstown Race of July 1860 was also a pop-up event, put together in the days beforehand by the 80-year-old Admiral of the Royal Cork, T G French, who recruited his 16 entries among the yacht racing in a week of regattas in Dublin Bay staged by the Royal St George YC.

So ad hoc was it all that the "fine old Admiral" (as Hunt's Yachting Magazine described him in its August 1860 issue) confirmed entries by visiting each of the 16 interested yacht on the morning of the start in order to confirm entries by collecting the entry fee, which was based on the size of the yacht being entered.

Admiral Colin Morehead of the Royal Cork Yacht Club will be following the example set 160 years ago by his predecessor Thomas G French through being in Dun Laoghaire for the start of the race to Cork Harbour, where he will greet them as they finish Photo: Bob Bateman

The total amount collected was a tidy £60, which was a very substantial sum of money in 1860. But instead of augmenting club coffers, it became the prize purse which went to the crew of the winning boat. And as the winner by matter of minutes was one of the smallest competitors, the 39-ton cutter Sibyl skippered by the noted amateur Henry O'Bryen, her relatively small professional crew will have hit the inns of the Holy Ground like a tsunami with their newfound personal wealth.

The fine young Admiral of today's Royal Cork, Colin Morehead, is in Dun Laoghaire this (Saturday) morning to see the fleet on its way, just as his predecessor did 160 years ago. But whether he and his host - NYC Commodore Martin McCarthy – can arrange contactless payments from entries to make up a prize purse for the winning crew is something else altogether, and in any case when the fleet reaches Crosshaven, there'll be no way that financial tsunamis of any size can hit the local hostelries under lockdown rules.

Commodore Martin McCarthy of the National Yacht Club, which is 150 years old in 2020.

For as Mark Mansfield, one of those who have determinedly put together this one and only chance of a decent mid-length offshore race in 2020 has bluntly put it:

"This is pure racing, boy. Forget about your parties before and after. This is all about those who really care very deeply about their sailing – that's the beginning and the middle and the end of it all." 

Thanks to the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association, all competitors have been provided with a Yellowbrick tracker below

The 1 pm race start may also be visible on the Dublin Bay webcam here

 

Fastnet 450 Race Entry List @ 20/08/20

First Name	Last Name	Club	Boat Name	Boat Type	Sail Number	class	IRC TCC	Echo
James	Tyrrell	Arklow Sailing club	Aquelina	J-112E	IRL 1507	1	1.061	1.055
John	Harrington	RUYC and BYC	eXcession	IMX38	IRL1880	1	1.014	No ECHO
John	O'Gorman	NYC	Hot Cookie	Sunfast 3600	GBR7536R	1	1.037	1.035
Brendan	Coghlan	George	YOYO	Sunfast3600	IRL3618	1	1.036	1.035
Rónán	Ó Siochrú	Irish Offshore Sailing	Desert Star Irish Offshore Sailing	Sunfast 37	IRL1455	2	0.952	0.97
Cian	McCarthy	Kinsale yacht club	cinnamon girl	Sunfast 3300	IRL1627	1	1.023	1.025
ROBERT	RENDELL	Howth	Samatom	XC45	GBR1345R	1	1.074	1.075
Simon	Knowles	Howth Yacht club	Indian	J109	IRL1543	1	1.007	1.015
Derek	Dillon	Foynes Yacht Club	Big Deal	Dehler 34	IRL3492	2	0.928	0.93
Grzegorz	Kalinecki	ISA	More Mischief	first 310	IRL966	2	0.911	0.92
Peter	Coad	Waterford Harbour Sailing Club	Blackjack	Pocock 37	IRL1988	2	0.917	0.92
Andrew	Algeo	RIYC / BSC	Juggerknot 2	J/99	IRL3990	1	1.01	1.02
Rupert	Barry	Greystones Sailing Club	Red Alert	JOD35	IRL6036	2	0.993	1
Flynn	Kinsman	NYC	A plus	Archambault 31	IRL977	2	0.978	0.98
John	Conlon	Arklow	Humdinger	sunfast 37	IRL1357	2	0.98	0.97
Coleman/Coleman	David/Noel	RCYC	Blue Oyster	Oyster 37	IRL3852	2	0.93	0.932
Denis & Annamarie	Murphy	Royal Cork Yacht Club	Nieulargo	Grand Soleil 40 B+C	IRL2129	1	1.023	1.035
Riome (skipper)/ co owner Leonard	David/ Mark	Kinsale Yacht Club	Valfreya	Sigma 33	IRL 4297	2	0.912	0.915
Power Smith	Chris	Royal St George Yacht Club	Aurelia	J112	IRL35950	1	1.076	1.08
dMiller	Keith	Kilmore quay	Andante	Yamaha 36	IRL375	2	0.95	0.935

Track Ireland's newest offshore race, the Fastnet 450 Race, below as a 20 boat fleet races 270-miles from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour commemorating the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th birthday of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Read all the latest Fastnet 450 Race News including our race preview here 

Race start may be visible at 1 pm from the Dublin Bay webcam here

Fastnet Race 450 Tracker

 

There is still time to enter the newest race on the Irish Sailing calendar and join the 20-boat Fastnet 450 fleet racing fro Dublin to Cork next Saturday via the famous Fastnet Rock.

At least twenty boats representing sixteen different Irish yacht clubs - including a Northern Ireland entry - will compete.

A fast race is predicted as boats will benefit from a moderate west/southwesterly for the first eight hours or so next Saturday, then veering westerly and veering further towards the north-west. That might mean a fetch or close reach down the east coast. 

As Afloat reported previously, the idea behind the race is to celebrate the Royal Cork Yacht Club’s 300 th anniversary and the 150 th anniversary of the National Yacht Club.

Race trackers

It has been confirmed that the race will benefit from the support of the leading Irish offshore sailing body, ISORA, who will supply race trackers for the inaugural edition. 

Fastnet Race 2021 Qualifier

The pop-up IRC race, which is in association with SCORA, will start in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 22nd August and will pass the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour past the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches’s Point bears due East. 

The course is specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.

RCYC 'At Home'

Competing boats are also invited to take part in other upcoming events at the Royal Cork Yacht Club to celebrate their 300 th anniversary, including the prestigious Tricentenary At Home Regatta, which sees racing for IRC classes from the 28th – 30th August and will be one of the highlights of the club’s 300th celebrations.

At least twenty boats representing sixteen different Irish yacht clubs will contest what forecasts suggest will be a fast inaugural edition of the Fastnet 450 Race next Saturday from Dublin to Cork via the Fastnet Rock.

The mixed cruiser fleet hit the big 20 this morning when County Wexford skipper Keith Miller from Kilmore Quay entered his Yamaha 36, Andante.

With the entry capped at 25 and entries closing on Monday, organisers believe there may yet be some late entries this weekend with current weather forecasts showing a fast race to Cork starting of Dun Laoghaire Harbour next Saturday lunchtime. 

As Afloat previously reported, the newest race on the Irish sailing calendar celebrates the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club.

Nicholas O'Leary, Annamarie Fegan and Daragh Connelly Rear Admiral Keelboats at RCYC adding the final touches to the Sailing Instructions for the Fastnet 450 race

Indications are a moderate west/southwesterly for the first eight hours or so next Saturday, then veering westerly and veering further towards the north-west. That might mean a fetch or close reach down the east coast, then on the wind for a few hours until wind frees then a close reach to the rock.

The leg back from the rock will be a beam/broad reach back, so should be a fast race with leaders maybe making it to Cork around midnight on Sunday.

Race entry form here Notice of Race here Download the latest entry list below

John Harrington will carry the flag again for Royal Ulster Yacht Club, as he is off again south in the IMX38 eXcession! In a racing schedule arranged with military precision, John and a football team sized crew will tackle the Fastnet 450 and then the Royal Cork for the Cork 300 inshore events which include the official parade of sail and Admiral's 300th-anniversary salute to celebrate the founding in 1720 of the oldest yacht club in the world.

The boat departs for Dun Laoghaire tomorrow (Saturday) to take part in the Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Cork Harbour race that incorporates the Fastnet Rock as part of the course. As reported on Afloat.ie on 13th August, the 'pop-up' race commemorates the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and has been arranged in jig time by the South Coast of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (SCORA).

For the delivery to Dun Laoghaire, eXcession will be crewed 'en famille' by Ruan and Frances O'Tiarnaigh with their daughters Reb, Tash and Becca and the 'racing' crew will join the boat on Friday 21st.

For the 450 the crew will be John, Ruan O'Tiarnaigh, Ken Sharp, Stuart Ogg, John O'Connor, Jim Tennyson, Greg Bell, and two young enthusiasts, 16-year-old Gabriel Walker from Bangor, with 17-year-old Ballyholme Sailing and Power Boat Instructor, Josh Reddy as a reserve.

Then for the Royal Cork At Home 300 inshore events some will depart and Ruan, John, Ken and Jim will be joined by Jonny Mulholland, the O'Tiarnagh family as well as Mags, Madeline and Francesca Harrington. After the event, two others, Ines Costa and Daryn Alderson from Lough Neagh will join John and Ruan for the delivery back home and to do some mile building for their RYA qualifications. A round trip for eXcession of about 840 miles.

In this venture, John will be revisiting what many Northern boats used to do to compete in the legendary Cork Week - setting an example for others to follow in the coming years?

Ireland's newest offshore race, the Fastnet 450, looks like getting its full quota of 25 boats even though details of the 270-mile fixture were announced less than a fortnight ago.

19 race-boats - drawn from as many clubs - are now entered with a cap on entries now in place and eight days to go to the first gun.

The Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Cork Harbour race that incorporates the Fastnet Rock as part of the course, sets sail next Saturday lunchtime, August 22nd. 

The 'pop-up' race commemorates the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and has been arranged in jig time by the South Coast of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (SCORA) as Afloat's WM Nixon's describes here.

Third in the Round Ireland, second in the D2D; could Aurelia top the podium of the inaugural Fastnet 450? Photo: Afloat

According to the skipper of the latest entry, Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia, "the allure of any race around yacht racing’s iconic Fastnet Rock is always hard to resist". The Dublin Bay skipper explained why the new race was an easy choice for him and his Royal St. George Yacht Club crew here.

Top DBSC performer Andrew Algeo is racing to Cork in his J/99 Juggerknot II Photo: Afloat

The Race Officer will be the National Yacht Club's Larry Power who is also in charge of the regular ISORA starts. The Warning Signal is 12.55 hrs on August 22.

The closing date for entries is next Monday, August 17th. The Notice of Race is here

Fastnet 450 Entry List at August 13

James	Tyrrell	Arklow Sailing club	Aquelina	J-112E
John	Harrington	RUYC and BYC	eXcession	IMX38
John	O'Gorman	NYC	Hot Cookie	Sunfast 3600
Brendan	Coghlan	George	YOYO	Sunfast3600
Rónán	Ó Siochrú	Irish Offshore Sailing	Desert Star Irish Offshore Sailing	Sunfast 37
Cian	McCarthy	Kinsale yacht club	cinnamon girl	Sunfast 3300
Robert	Rendell	Howth	Samatom	XC45
Simon	Knowles	Howth Yacht club	Indian	J109
Derek	Dillon	Foynes Yacht Club	Big Deal	Dehler 34
Grzegorz	Kalinecki	ISA	More Mischief	first 310
Peter	Coad	Waterford Harbour Sailing Club	Blackjack	Pocock 37
Andrew	Algeo	RIYC / BSC	Juggerknot 2	J/99
Rupert	Barry	Greystones Sailing Club	Red Alert	JOD35
Flynn	Kinsman	NYC	A Plus	Archambault 31
John	Conlon	Arklow	Humdinger	sunfast 37
Coleman/Coleman	David/Noel	RCYC	Blue Oyster	Oyster 37
Denis & Annamarie	Murphy	Royal Cork Yacht Club	Nieulargo	Grand Soleil 40 B+C
Riome (skipper)/ co Leonard	David/ Mark	Kinsale Yacht Club	Valfreya	Sigma 33
Power Smith	Chris		Aurelia	J122

Chris Power–Smith's J122 Aurelia ('The Golden One') from Dublin Bay is the latest entry for next weekend's inaugural Fastnet 450 Race from Dublin to Cork.

The skipper of the potent ISORA performer says the decision to enter the race first announced a fortnight ago was a very easy one to make given 'the allure of any race around yacht racing’s iconic Fastnet rock is always hard to resist'.

Power-Smith believes the race is a "nice length" and with the home port start attraction of Dun Laoghaire Harbour where most of the fleet is based, he says he could see it having "a regular place in what normally would be a very crowded calendar".

Chris Power Smith (pictured centre kneeling) on his J122 Aurelia is racing the first Fastnet 450 Photo: Afloat

The Royal St. George Yacht Club helmsman, who finished third overall in the 2018 Round Ireland Race and second in the 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race, says he is delighted that in addition to the ISORA series another premier offshore event has been added to the otherwise very scant  2020 sailing calendar.

'the allure of any race around yacht racing’s iconic Fastnet rock is always hard to resist'

With a distance of 260 miles and an expected duration of around 36 hours in normal conditions, Power Smith says it has been relatively easy to organise from a logistics and crew point of view. "This is helped by the start in Dun Laoghaire which makes it like a home game for us".

While some of his more experienced crew had made alternative holiday plans after the cancellation of Round Ireland, Power-Smith says he is using the opportunity to test new crew and roles on a longer offshore race.

"I am at the point where I have nearly assembled a full crew. I have a couple of technical issues to sort out with a fault on my navigation PC and a new prop to be fitted next week, I am hoping to have the boat in reasonable racing condition, if not up to full Round Ireland level of preparedness".

The J122 skipper says it is usually a struggle to organise delivery crew for the trip back to Dublin but with "more people hanging around than usual, I have had a good response". The proximity of Crosshaven to Cork and it’s good transport links are a good help, he says.

The race starts off Dun Laoghaire Harbour at 12.55 on Saturday, August 22nd. More Fastnet 450 Race news here.

 James Tyrrell's J-112E Aquelina is the latest entry into SCORA's Fastnet 450 Race from Dublin to Cork on August 22nd.

The Arklow Sailing Club entry joins a growing fleet - now at 17 boats - for the 270-mile race that marks the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.  

The Tyrrell family crew are hardened offshore campaigners with both Dun Laoghaire Dingle and Round Ireland races under their belts.

John O'Gorman's Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club is the latest entry into Ireland's newest offshore sailing race.

With 12 days to go to the start of the inaugural Fastnet 450 Race from Dublin to Cork via the Fastnet Rock, SCORA organisers are reporting a 16-boat fleet already assembled since entry opened at the weekend.

The fact that there has been such disappointment over the cancellation of the Round Ireland Race, WAVE Regatta and the ICRA Nationals may attract more entries to August 22nd's novel event that does not feature any shoreside activity. As a result, it is certainly living up to its 'pop-up' moniker with the National Yacht Club and Royal Cork all behind the SCORA efforts to launch the race in record time.

Andrew Algeo's J99 Juggerknot II is among the ISORA entries from Dublin entered into the Fastnet 450. Also in is the weekend ISORA Race five winner More Mischief (Grzegorz Kalinecki) Photo: Afloat

As Afloat's WM Nixon related at the weekend, the Fastnet 450 is a modern-day re-enactment of a Victorian race in a year that marks special 150th and 300th anniversaries for the NYC and RCYC respectively.

Some of Ireland's top offshore boats were early sign-ups after 21 registered an interest when news of the new race broke last week on August 2nd.

Ronan O Siochru's (pictured centre) Sunfast 37 Desert Star from the Irish Offshore Sailing School Photo: Afloat

The top four overall from the weekend's ISORA race from Dun Laoghaire are all now racing to Cork, one of the latest entries also being Ronan O Siochru's Sunfast 37 Desert Star from the Irish Offshore Sailing School.

As Afloat previously reported, Cian McCarthy's 3300 Cinnamon Girl from Kinsale Yacht Club plus, Howth's Samaton and the J109 Indian are also now officially entered.

Download the Notice of Race here and entry form here.

It’s called the SCORA Fastnet 450 which is a zinger of a name, whatever it means, and right now it’s taking shape as we go along in best pop-up style, having come centre stage after the Round Ireland Race was COVID-cancelled last week. And for those who would complain that it’s all much too short notice, at variance with the best traditions of sensible sailing organisation, well, they’re wasting their breath. For as we shall see in due course, the daddy of them all, the Kingstown to Queenstown or Dun Laoghaire to Cobh Race of July 1860, was something of a pop-up event too, all of those 160 years ago.

But to return to the here and now, the Fastnet 450 starts off Dun Laoghaire under the auspices of the National Yacht Club in two weeks time on Saturday, August 22nd, and the race begins with 150 years in the kitty, as that’s the anniversary the National YC is marking this year.

Busy times at the National Yacht Club, 150 years old this year

The course then zaps southward down the East Coast leaving the Tuskar Rock to starboard before heading on out past the Coningbeg for the long haul (it’s not always to windward) along the south coast to the Fastnet Rock, which is then left to starboard in a handbrake turn as the fleet heads back up the coast to finish at Roche’s Point at the entrance to Cork Harbour, and the social-distance complying welcome of Royal Cork Yacht Club at Crosshaven.

Where it all began, and still at the heart of it. Crosshaven with the Royal Cork YC in prime position Photo: Bob Bateman

The RCYC then nonchalantly pops its cool 300 years of existence into the shared temporal pot, and bingo, we’ve the Fastnet 450, which somehow manages to seem right up to the minute and yet properly historical a well.

South Coast Offshore Racing

Clearly there are some very innovative and energetic minds in the South Coast Offshore Racing Association at work here, with SCORA Commodore Johanna Murphy of Cobh and Royal Cork YC’s Rear Admiral Annamarie Murphy working with Olympian Mark Mansfield. Speed is of the essence, and they managed to get the officially-vetted details in proper form up on the Royal Cork YC website at noon yesterday (Friday), so if this alleged Sailing on Saturdays seems to be hitting your screen well before Saturday in Ireland, please loosen up a bit – it’s already Saturday in Ulan Bator……

The Notice of Race for the Fastnet 450 - download the full document below as a PDF attachment

In the meantime, some targeted marketing (i.e. ringing around likely runners and putting up a click spot for expressions of interest on Afloat.ie on August 2nd) was extremely encouraging, with 22 boats very strongly interested even before it went official. Being quite late in the season, those who think it’s a good idea were nevertheless a bit concerned that Irish Sea boats mightn’t want to end up positioned in Cork in late August, but these fears were groundless, as the preliminary indications showed a skewing of two-thirds East Coast, and one-third Cork.

Of course, with this emphasis on the ability to accommodate late entry decisions, some boats may wait until they see what the ten day forecast looks like before committing, but it is highly likely that the Cork fleet will be into double figures by the time the boats are being positioned to Dublin Bay. And though some of them will leave that to the delivery crews in the days immediately prior to race, if enough are planning to do it over the weekend beforehand (i.e 14th to 16th August) maybe they could make a little race out of that too, for people are just gasping for any sport they can get.

SCORA’s Fastnet 450 team are Johanna Murphy (Commodore), Mark Mansfield, and Annamarie Murphy (Rear Admiral, Royal Cork YC)

As it is, for now on Friday, August 7th it’s a list good on quality and quantity, with the pace-setters from the south coast inevitably being the top boats from last weekend’s Kinsale-Fastnet-Kinsale Race, where Mark Mansfield guiding Cian McCarthy’s new Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl found himself sailing on the same IRC rating of 1.023 as Denis & Annamarie Murphy’s Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, which had the formidable talent of Nin O’Leary on the strength to provide an Olympian contest.

As reported, Nieulargo made a breeze of it, finishing five minutes after noon on the Saturday to take line honours, and though Cinnamon Girl was next in half an hour later, those rating figures were inescapable, and Finbarr O’Regan’s Artful Dodger (KYC) and Stephen Lysaght’s Reavra Too, also KYC, slipped into second and third on CT before Cinnamon Girl came home on fourth overall.

Sandwiched…..Cian McCarthy’s Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl finds herself being squeezed between eventual overall winner Nieulargo (Grand Soleil 40, left) and Tom Roche’s Salona 45 Meridien as the Kinsale-Fastnet-Kinsale fleet makes its way down Kinsale Harbour. Photo: Robert Bateman

However, it’s early days yet, and the paid-up within two hours listing (in arrival order) for the Fastnet 450 already shows plenty of talent for form spotters and results-predictors to pick over as we go through the stages of the growing entry list and developing weather towards the start.

As of 3.0pm Friday, the boats are Red Alert (Rupert Barry), Aplusd (Flynn Kinsman), Humdinger (John Coleman), Blue Oyster (Mark Coleman), Nieulargo (Denis & Annamarie Murphy), YO YO (Brendan Coughlan), Valfreya (Mark & David Leonard, Juggerknot 2 (Andrew Algeo) and Blackjack (Peter Coad).

Andrew Algeo’s J/99 Juggerknot Two is in the first wave of entries for Fastnet 450. Photo: Afloat.ie

Some people find the speed of development of this race unsettling, others find it stimulating, but either way we’re inevitably reminded of the great General Dwight D Eisenhower, who gave traction to the military theory that ultimately plans are worthless, but planning is everything. He never claimed it as his own original idea, but after he’d enshrined it, its apparently almost vulgar dismissal of accepted establishment beliefs came to be seen as disguising the brutal truth.

For if ever there was a peacetime period when set plans are useless, but continuous planning is essential, then we’re living through it right now in sailing as in everything else. For sure, you have to set out fixed times for races starting and the other event-planning paraphernalia. But both organisers and participants now have to realize that it all may have to be changed at very short notice, and then maybe changed again.

The SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow was one of the last major offshore races scheduled for 2020 which involved a significant shoreside element, for it is inextricably associated with the town and club which has been running it for forty years.

It was that indispensable shoreside element which was its undoing. But even as the cancellation of 2020’s Round Ireland was moving remorselessly up the agenda, the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association was demonstrating that it was possible to stage offshore events of limited scope by running races aimed separately at its fleets on each side of the channel, with the courses set within national territorial waters, and virtually no direct shoreside involvement at all - they were races for sailors run by sailors, but using robots and trackers

However, the clear boundaries to this approach became evident as we neared the date for the first cross-channel foray, which would have raced the combined fleet race from Dun Laoghaire in Ireland to Pwllheli in Wales this weekend. But the different regulatory systems in each jurisdiction raise difficulties which would have been exacerbated if an international entry gathered for the Welsh IRC Championship in Tremadoc Bay, and in a sudden yet inevitable announcement last weekend, those plan were abandoned.

A superb all-rounder – the Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (Denis & Annamarie Murphy) will be looking to make it the double for August with the Fastnet 450 after winning the Kinsale-Fastnet-Kinsale Race every which way. Photo: Robert Bateman

Thus would-be organisers have had to stand back and assess what has or has not been permissible in the developing situation. And that hardy perennial of our sport in Ireland – straightforward club racing with known personnel involvement – is proving to be the backbone of our sailing in 2020.

And in the coastal and offshore scene, as it’s clear the only racing permissible has to be within Irish territorial waters, so the raw logic of a race from Dublin Bay to Cork with a Fastnet-rounding extension was inescapable if there was going to be any meaningful event before the season was out.

It’s essentially the basic race of the absolute essentials. The boat numbers are in Cork Harbour and the greater Dublin area, so boat movement prior to the event is minimized. Autumn will be just around the corner, so Dublin owners will be appreciative of having their boats no further from home than is absolutely necessary.

So how can we claim that the glaringly pop-up element of it all is nothing new, in fact it’s positively historic. Well, back in 1860 the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dublin Bay had organised a week of regattas in early July, and the dedicated Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the remarkable Thomas G French of Cuskinny in Cobh - still going strong at the age of 80 years - saw an opportunity for implementing his long-held dream of a distance race from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour.

But instead of having a great blaring of publicity beforehand for this then-novel idea, he quietly circulated the idea in what we now think of as pop-up style among those owners and skipper – they came from many parts of Ireland and from England too – in the days before the week in Dublin Bay, and during the course of the regatta socialising ashore, he continued to quietly press the idea.

Destination for July 1860….the members of the Royal Cork YC at Cobh (now the Sirius Arts Centre) expected to be able to witness the finish of the race from Dublin Bay close at hand and in comfort, regardless of the flukey winds sometimes found within Cork Harbour

After the regattas had concluded, no less than 16 boats – of very varied size and type – had accepted Admiral French’s challenge of racing the 130 miles to Cork, and it started on the 14th July. But it was still very informal, with those entries only being finally firmed up on the morning of the race as the Admiral visited each boat in turn as they lay anchored, and personally collected the entry fees based on boat size, while wishing owners and crews the very best of luck and encouragement.

That year, Admiral French didn’t sail the race himself, as he wanted to get to Cobh to be sure the Royal Cork YC in its impressive premises (now the Sirius Arts Centre) was ready to receive the finishing fleet in appropriate style, a journey which in itself must have been quite an effort for an 80-year-old, as the railway system wasn’t to be extended to the Queenstown waterfront until 1862.

The Entry List for the second race of 1861 was very much an ad hoc affair, with RCYC Admiral Thomas French encouragingly visiting each boat pre-start in Kingstown, and confirming their entry and the fee paid on this list, believed to be written in his own hand. He also competed personally in this second race – aged 81 – with his 61-tonnner Spell (top of list). Image courtesy RCYC

Printed version of the entry list for the first race of 1860 as it appeared in H P F Donegan’s History of Yachting in the South of Ireland, published 1908. Sir John Arnott certainly hedged his bets – he had two entries, and one of them, Sibyl helmed by the amateur Capt. Henry O’Bryen, was the winner

Before travelling back to Cork, the Admiral supervised the start of the race and saw it well on its way. Much of it was sailed in rugged windward conditions, but light airs prevailed at the finish off the Cobh waterfront for a real knife-edge conclusion, with Sir John Arnott’s 39-ton cutter Sybil – designed and built on Cork Harbour by Joseph Wheeler of Lower Glanmire – winning line honours and the race by three minutes from J.W.Cannon’s 40-ton cutter Peri, with Cooper Penrose’s 90-ton schooner Kingfisher another two minutes astern of Peri.

Sybil was skippered by the amateur ace Captain Henry O’Bryen, who had reputedly relinquished the helm for a total of only one hour during the race, a triumph for Corinthianism before it had became profitable or popular, if we may mix metaphors for a moment.

The hand-written Start Instructions for 1860 were also on a “make it up as you go along” basis. It reads: “Ocean Race. A flag boat will be moored off the harbour, and no yacht may pass between her and the Light House on the East Pier until 11 am, when a gun will be fired from “Urania” as the signal for starting. The yachts may lie where they please provided they do not pass between the Light House and flag boat before the gun fires”

You would have thought Admiral French would have received eternal credit and respect for inaugurating this first recognisably modern offshore race. But Sybil’s owner Sir John Arnott (1814-1898) was something else, a real go-getting Scottish-born entrepreneur who’d arrived into Cork in 1837 aged 23 and launched himself into a sometimes rocky commercial career which at various stages involved heavy investment in department stores in Ireland and Scotland, horse racing both as an owner of thoroughbreds and of noted race courses, steamship companies, railways, and for a while the inevitable newspapers, in his case The Northern Whig in Belfast and The Irish Times in Dublin.

Victorian entrepreneur Sir John Arnott, who had two yachts entered in the first Kingstown to Queenstown Race of 1860.

Arnott was always a man in a hurry, so it’s possible that he thought the distinguished flag officers of the Royal Cork were a bit conservative in their management. Thus he was one of a bunch of shaker-uppers who set up a new club in Cobh, the Queenstown Yacht Club, which they cleverly up-graded by taking on the tattered-remains of the old Royal Western of Ireland YC, founded in 1828 in Kilrush by Maurice O’Connell and his nephew Daniel of Derrynane among others, but wandering more or less homeless after the horrors of the Great Famine of 1845-47 had wiped out fripperies like yachting on Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard.

After a vague period in Dublin, suddenly the old Royal Western emerged re-born in 1861 in Cobh with Sir John Arnott as Commodore, and Henry O’Bryen – in a shrewd bit of window-dressing worthy of Arnott’s at their best - drafted in as Vice Commodore of the Royal Western of Ireland despite his family’s connections with the Royal Cork going back to the original Water Club of 1720.

However, all these seemingly-rebellious Young Turks in the re-born RWIYC had retained their membership of the Royal Cork YC and would in time become part of its establishment lineup. But everything seemed up for grabs in the early 1860s, and though the Kingstown to Queenstown Race was sailed again in 1861, the management at either end was less clear.

Be that as it may, the 1861 race was started in Dublin Bay on 19th July, and once again mustered 16 starters with the winner being Colonel Huey’s slippy 62-ton cutter Osprey, with designer-builder Joseph Wheeler’s own 48-tonner Avalanche having to make do with second despite having led into Cork Harbour in light airs, while E J Saunderson of Lough Erne YC was third with another even smaller and slippy craft, the 34-ton cutter Phasma.

Admiral French’s own 61-ton yawl Spell took part this time (see first name on written entry list above), but although he was to continue as RCYC Admiral until his death in 1866, he’d already been 77 when he took over as Admiral in 1857, and his enthusiastic promotion of the Kingstown-Queenstown race’s first staging in 1860 suggested an old man in a hurry to promote an idea which he’d been carrying for some time.

Certainly, at the Kingstown to Queenstown Race’s third staging on July 11th 1862, there’s a clear impression that others had taken it over, as the host club on Dublin Bay has become the Royal Irish YC from their impressive 1851-completed clubhouse, while the trophy is an expensive bit of silver plate presented by the Royal Western of Ireland YC.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club hosted the start of the third and final Kingstown to Queenstown Race in 1862.

For anyone seeking abstruse historical connections, it’s of interest that The Liberator, Daniel O’Connell of Derrynane (1775-1847) had been present at both the foundation of the Royal Western in Kilrush in 1828, and the meeting in Dublin on July 4th 1846 when the 1831-founded Royal Irish YC had been revived. Meanwhile, in 1862, the third Kingstown-Queenstown Race once again attracted 16 starters (though there’s no note of any entry limit), and they ranged in size from three 35-ton cutters – Ariadne (G Higgins), Coolan (G Robinson) and Glance (A Duncan – to two 130-ton schooner, Galatea (T Broadwood) and Georgiana (Capt Smith Barry).

The clear winner was the 50-ton cutter Phosphorous owned by W Turner - who is doubtless immortalized in modern Cork by Turner’s Cross - while C J Tennant’s 90-ton cutter Clutha was second on the water, but Galatea won the schooners and was reckoned second on handicap.

They arrived into the finish at Cobh where the Royal Western of Ireland was now well-established as the second club with premises at Westbourne Place next the Queen’s Hotel, and a membership which by 1863 included the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carlisle, as well as Sir Robert Peel, at that time Chief Secretary for Ireland. So heaven only knows what politicking was going on behind the scenes, for the Royal Cork, still with T G French as Admiral, had been well settled into its purpose-designed new clubhouse in Cobh since 1854, and no-one doubted its claim of seniority in its descent from the Water Club of 1720.

As it happened, 1863 was probably the high point of the RWIYC’s time in Cobh, for the rest of the decade saw a period of economic decline, and the Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race wasn’t staged again until 1888. While the Royal Cork came through the thin times as it had come through many others, in 1870 the Royal Western of Ireland YC was quietly wound up at Cobh. But in the west of Ireland, and particularly with the Glynn family of Kilrush and the The Knight of Glin across the Shannon Estuary, enough of its memorabilia, artefacts and records survived for it to be revived with the opening of Kilrush Marina, with the club’s greatest modern success being Ger O’Rourke’s overall victory with the Cookson 50 Chieftain in the RORC Rolex Fastnet Race 2007.

The Royal Western of Ireland lives again – Ger O’Rourke’s Cookson 50 Chieftain on her way to winning the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race overall. Photo: Rolex

Meanwhile, after the race of 1888, this fascinating course lay unused until 1937, when it was reinstated by the Irish Cruising Club. Naturally, Harry Donegan’s famous 18-ton cutter Gull led the contingent up from Cork to do the race, though she was under the command of Harry Donegan Jnr – “Young Harry” – as Skipper Donegan was already unwell. But he was delighted to see his beloved ship come into the harbour well in the lead approaching the finish at Cobh, until in a calm at the Spit Light within a short distance of the finish the tide set her onto the spit to the mortification of her young crew, as she dried out completely while John Kearney from the National YC in his own designed and built 38ft yawl Mavis took line honours, with the corrected time win being taken by one of the smallest boats in the fleet, Francis Cobbe’s Scandinavian built 6-ton Bermudan sloop Curlew from Malahide.

Waiting for the breeze – John Kearney aboard his own designed and built 38ft yawl Mavis in Dun Loaghaire Harbour. In the 1937 ICC Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race, Mavis took line honours at Cobh after Harry Donegan’s Gull had gone aground at The Spit.

When racing from the Irish Sea to Cork was revived after World War II, it was in the form of the RORC Beaumaris to Cork Race, but with the folk memories still there of hard won places being lost in the flukey conditions within Cork Harbour, the finish was moved to Roche’s Point, while race from Cowes insisted on being even further from land influences – they finished at the Daunt LV.

The biennial Beaumaris-Cork Race was kind to Irish boats, with winners including John McConnell’s hefty Bermudan cutter Susannah (National YC) in1964, and Johnny Pearson’s 8 Metre Cruiser-Racer Orana (Howth YC) in 1966. But with boats becoming faster and mileage demands rising, in the 1970s it became the Holyhead-Fastnet-Cork Race, and it had a real buzz about it during the great days of Irish campaigning towards an Admirals Cup Team, with a startling new 40ft boat – a Two Tonner called Irish Mist II designed for Archie O’Leary by Ron Holland – setting a scorching pace.

So now, with racing restricted to territorial waters, we’ve come full circle and then gone beyond it, with the Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour theme restored, but with the 1970s addition of the Fastnet loop brought back to give it a bit of bite. This Fastnet 450, it’s quite the business – it has something for everyone who is serious about offshore racing, and is a beacon of hope for everyone who tries to keep sailing alive through this weird year.

That was then…..Crosshaven in the summer of 1975, without a Travelhoist about the place. It’s the day after the RORC/ISORA Holyhead-Fastnet-Cork Race, and Otto Glaser’s McGruer 47 Tritsch-Tratsch II from Howth is dried out (with some difficulty) at the little quay for some necessary work, while beyond in style on their moorings are (left to right) Archie O’Leary’s new Irish Mist, a Holland 40 which was overall winner, Clayton Love’s Swan 44 Assiduous, and Denis Doyle’s S&S 47 Moonduster. Also in the photo are three Cork Harbour One Designs in their cruiser version with masthead Bermudan rigs.

All the Fastnet 450 Race news is here. Notice of Race downloadable below. Race entry form here.