After five races were sailed up to the final weekend in October – with two days of racing lost to weather – the final two races for the 29-boat cruiser-racer fleet were sailed on Sunday, (October 27th) to bring the total to seven in Royal Cork Yacht Club's Autumn League 2024
In medium south-westerly winds, Race Officers Anthony O'Leary, Sally O'Leary and Eddie English started in White Bay, on the east side of Cork Harbour near Roches Point.
Admiral's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo Tops IRC and ECHO in Class One
By winning the final race, Kinsale's Artful Dodjer (Finbarr O'Regan) ruined a perfect scoreline for RCYC Admiral (Annamarie Murphy) in her Grand Soliel 40 Nieulargo who topped a six-boat class one fleet with six victories on IRC.
In their overall performance so far in 2024, Murphy tops ICRA's mid-season national Boat of the Year rankings, and as RCYC's Autumn League counts for overall points in the annual ICRA competition, the final ICRA tally is anxiously awaited.
The Jones family's J122 Jelly Baby finished second, but the gap to first place was a big eight points. Paul and Deirdre Tingle's X4 Alpaca was overtaken for third place by Finbarr O'Regan's J/109 Artful Dodger from Kinsale on 17. The top three was repeated on the ECHO handicap.
McCann's Etchells 22 Dominates Class Two IRC
With seven wins from seven races, the one design Etchells 22 Don't Dilly Dally sailed by Michael McCann eclipsed the Farr half-tonner Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer) in Class Two IRC, who finished on 18. Finishing third in the nine-boat division were Colman Garvey and Kieran Kelleher in the Dubois Quarter Tonner Diamond, five points behind on 26, discarding a retiral on October 13.
Lysaght's Elan 333 Reavra Too from Kinsale is ECHO Two Winner
On ECHO, Stephen Lysaght's Elan 333 Reavra Too from Kinsale on 21 points won from Diamond in second on tie break with Swuzzlebubble third, both finishing on 26.
'Cavatina' Wins Non-Spinnaker Fleet in IRC
In the league's biggest fleet of 14 boats, Ian Hickey's Granada 38, Cavatina, a double Round Ireland Race winner and recent ECHO RCYC Naval Race winner, was the overall winner on nine from the McGrath family's Dehler 34, Big Mc on 18 points. Prince of Tides (Frank Caul/John Molloy) were third on 19.
Prince of Tides won on the non-spinnaker IHS 1 handicap. Cavatina was second with Sean Hanley's HB 31, Luas third.
Folkboat 'If' wins in non-spinnaker 2 IRC division
In the non-spinnaker 2 IRC division, Kieran Collins' Folkboat If won in a four-boat race from Alan Mulcahy's Albin Express Apache from Kinsale. Tom, Donal and Declan O'Mahony's Hanse 311, Loch Greine was third.
In the seven-boat Non-Spinnaker 2 IHS Fleet, Apache won from If with Conor Hanlon's Sun Odyssey 34.2 Lapwing third.
Royal Cork Yacht Club's Autumn League 2024 Final Races Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman
Results in all classes are below.