The Kinsale Keelboat Regatta for one design fleets took place in Kinsale Yacht Club this weekend and Kinsale was delighted to welcome visiting Dragons from Glandore Harbour Yacht Club writes Michele Kennelly

Nine Dragons and twelve Squibs took to the waters on Saturday under grey skies and extremely blustery easterly winds. RO John Stallard made the wise decision to keep the fleets within the outer harbour. With winds peaking at 21 knots and choppy waters the 3 races provided a challenging day for the fleets.

Little Fella with Cameron Good, Simon Furney and Henry Kingston mastered the heavy conditions to take line honours in all 3 races. New to the fleet Serafina with Daniel Murphy, Brian Goggin and Mathias Hellstern were hot on their heels and were 2nd for all three races. Tenacious with Anthony O’Neill, Albert O’Neill and Eoghan O’Neill put in a very solid performance of 3, 4, 3 to end the day lying 3rd overall.
In the Squib fleet Allegro with Colm Dunne and Rob Gill were also masters of the waves to take 1st in all three races. Sensation, Denis and Brid Cudmore, Breakaway, David Matthews and Elizabeth Bond and Flora, Dave Ross and Bobby Nash battled it out on the course with Sensation just 1 point ahead of Breakaway at day’s end to lie in 2nd place overall.

Day two and conditions could not have been more different. Blue skies and no wind greeted the fleets as they rigged for another 3 races. With most of the fleet under tow by the Committee Boat and supports RIBs they arrived to the outer harbour to 5 – 6 knots out of the South East. RO John hopped aboard a RIB and went outside the harbour to see if there was more wind outside to discover there was none so he very wisely made the decision to stay in the outer harbour and take advantage of the local sea breeze.

In the Dragon fleet Race 4 saw Little Fella continue to his run of 1st’s with Mar J, Adrian Bendon, Eoghan O’Mahony and Bill Applebe in 2nd and Grey Hare, Shawn Kingston, Tony Kingston and Luke Kedney in 3rd. With the wind shifting to the east the Committee Boat moved and reset the course. Race 5 saw Mar J get off to a flying start which they capitalised on and they took line honours with Serafina in 2nd and

Aphrodite, John Wyles, Peter Hayes and Arthur Mehigan in 3rd. The light airs were bouncing all over the harbour and the Committee Boat had to move again to reset the course for the final race. Race 6 started under very light airs and Aphrodite took advantage of the middle of the course to take control from the start. Little Fella took 2nd and Mar J came 3rd.

In the Squib fleet Allegro continued her dominance in Race 4. Breakaway came 2nd and Pulpo, Julie Silfverberg and Commodore Tom Roche were 3rd. Race 5 saw three boats OCS and all returned. Those who decided to sail up the right side of the harbour made huge gains on the fleet and dominated the race from the first rounding of the windward mark. Sensation took the line with Bateleur, John & Mary Stanley, in 2nd and Allegro 3rd. Race 6 saw Pulpo coming down the run with Allegro closing in, Breakaway was lying in 3rd and Sensation was 4th. Though the title was secure the minor placings were still all to play for. Allegro won with Breakaway in 2nd and Pulpo in 3rd. Breakaway and Sensation finished the Regatta on equal points but Sensation came 2nd overall on count back.

Many thanks to RO John Stallard who provided excellent racing in very challenging conditions, Ger Grant for providing Loa Zour as Committee Boat and being an excellent Flag Raiser, Michele Kennelly timing and results, Mark Layers Mike, Finbarr, Tony and Luca and Barry Ryan Civil Engineering for the sponsorship.

Kinsale Keelboat Regatta overall results:
Dragons:
1st Little Fella – Cameron Good, Simon Furney & Henry Kingston
2nd Serafina – Daniel Murphy, Brian Goggin & Mathias Hellstern
3rd Mary J – Adrian Bendon, Eoghan O’Mahony & Bill Applebe
Squibs:
1st Allegro – Colm Dunne & Rob Gill
2nd Sensation – Denis & Brid Cudmore
3rd Breakaway – David Matthews & Elizabeth Bond

With winds blowing up to 30 knots to close out its Spring Series the Kinsale Yacht Club season on Saturday, the south coast club's season is off to a great start with both the Sovereign's Cup in June and the Half–Ton Worlds in August in prospect reports Bob Bateman 

Busy pro–sailor Maurice O'Connell steered the JPK10.80 Rockabill to victory in DBSC's first Thursday night (with Mark Pettit on tactics) on Dublin Bay before joining Jump Juice (Ker 37) on mainsheet for the final race in Kinsale on Saturday. See Afloat.ie's photo gallery here.

Jump skippered by Conor Phelan had to come from behind as she missed first two races so had to win. 'We got the old girl up to 17.9 knots with our new S3 kite up, O'Connell told Afloat.ie

Rival Freya (X442) Conor Doyle was going well at the windward mark at Black Head but then lost her boom in the blustery conditions. Boomless Freya still managed to finish and did enough to win class one on ECHO handicap and to be second on IRC.

The White Sail division had two races starting inside the Harbour such were the blustery conditions. 

One of the smallest boats in Class 3, White Magic (Alan Mulcahy) clocked 14.3 knots on a downwind leg. James Matthew was showing real ability in flyng a kite on the downwind (see our photo gallery here), also achieving some great speeds on the new–to–Kinsale quarter–tonner, Diamond.

Early indications indicate a buoyant entry for June's Sovereign's Cup with up to ten J 109's planning on doing the three day event, Up to 15 1720s and up ten half tonners who will be gearing up for their worlds in August also in Kinsale. The biennial event may also benefit from the timing of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race which allows Dublin race partcipants to stop off and do the Sovereigns Cup on the way north.

Full results on the KYC website here

Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring League closed out yesterday in fine style in strong southerly winds on the South Coast.

Bob Bateman captured the action and his photo gallery is below:

Saol Eile's Paraic O’Maolriada and wife Myra sailed around the world under the Kinsale Yacht Club burgee writes Bob Bateman. It took the couple six years returning late last season. They picked up an Afloat Sailor of the Month Award for their endeavours and an Irish Cruising Club trophy earlier this month. Last week KYC members got a fascinating insight into life onboard their 63-footer with a detailed lecture from the couple at the West Cork club house.

On the same night, Deirdre Lane of Irish Lights Navigation Services took club members on a journey around Irish lighthouses, Navigation aids and weather buoys.

Exciting racing is anticipated in next Saturday's Kinsale Yacht Club Spring Series Class One IRC with only one point separating the top four boats writes David Sullivan. Justus and EOS on 12 points followed by Jump Juice and Freya with 13 points. Only one long coastal race is scheduled.

Artful Dodger holds a three-point lead over Slack Alice in Class Two IRC with Bad Company Third.

Sponsor James Matthews, sailing his Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond, is making a clean sweep of Class Three IRC with five bullets placing him in an almost unassailable position.

The Spinnaker Fleet on the W/L course saw a SE Zephyr build to a slight breeze. The Race Officer got fleet away to a windward mark just south of Sovereigns. Calm seas downwind saw the fleet keeping north out of the flood tide on the run to leeward mark near Hake Head. Two laps were sailed in the first race with a shortened one-lap course sailed in race two.

Class 1
Jump Juice (C Phelan) got two bullets with Justus (D Buckley) Freya (C Doyle) sharing six points each.

Class 2
Artful Dodger (F O’Regan) got two bullets Slack Alice (S Strathem) second with five points and Bad Company (Desmond/Ivors/Deasy) third on six points.

Class 3
The Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in IRC and is now first overall with Flyover (D Marchant) second and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.
The seven boat White Sail fleet White Sail had two excellent races on a Matthews, Kieran Electrical, Bulman Triangle.

White Sail: The McCarthy Brothers are now in first place overall on Baccarat with eight points, Crosshaven boat Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) second and Paragon (D Ackerlind) third.

Full Results here

Racing continues on Saturday 29th FG 11.55 HRS

Race Officers – Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Michele Kennelly & Seamus Caher.

James Matthews, sailing his Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond, made a clean sweep of class three at the Kinsale Yacht Club Spring Series and is now leading by two points writes David Sullivan. Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice pulled out all the stops winning both races in class one IRC.

Calm seas with light NW winds made cool heads and smart tactics the order of the day as the twenty boat spinnaker fleet set off on a beat to Bulman and long downwind leg to the O'Leary Life mark. The second race, in even lighter winds, had a W/L loop between Matthews and Kiernan Electrical with the finish just south of Bulman.

Class 1
Jump Juice (C Phelan) got two bullets on the day with EOS (C McCarthy) now in first place overall in IRC.

Class 2
Bad Company (Desmond/Ivors/Deasy) also got two bullets with Slack Alice (S Strathem) in first place overall in IRC.

Class 3
The Ed Dubois quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in IRC and is now first overall with Flyover (D Marchant) second and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.

White Sail The seven boat White Sail fleet sailed to Matthews mark with a beat to a shortened course finish in the harbour mouth. The second race saw the fleet tacking in and out of the tide on an Axiom / Bulman loop.
Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) won the day with the McCarthy Brothers now in first place overall on Baccarat.

Full results here

Racing continues on Sunday 23rd FG 11.55 HRS
Race Officers – Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Michele Kennelly & Denis Cudmore.

The Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club will have an afternoon start for all cruiser–racer fleets on the first day of racing on June 21st.

The first gun for the biennial cup has been pushed back to 1355hrs to make it easier for sailors travelling down to Kinsale on the Wednesday morning. 

The move is designed to save on a nights accommodation costs in the West Cork port and assist sailors in having to take one day less off from work. Organisers say they hope the move will attract an 'even bigger and better fleet from around the east and west coasts'. 

KYC says an amendment to the Notice of Race for the O'Leary Life sponsored event will be published shortly to reflect these changes.

Sponsor James Matthews of the Matthews Centre sailing store leads his own sailing event after he topped a six boat class three of Kinsale Yacht Club's Spring Series yesterday. Matthews is sailing his newly acquired Diamond, an Ed Dubois designed quarter tonner.

The opening day saw the twenty boat spinnaker fleet under the AP flag for 20min until the wind settled. It was well worth the wait however, as the fleet sailed an excellent offshore W/L course. The sun came out for race two which had the weather mark in Bullins Bay providing a steady strong breeze with a long downwind leg towards Sovereigns.

Class 1
EOS (C McCarthy) swapped places with Justus (D Buckley) in race two with Freya (C Doyle) in third place overall in IRC.

Class 2
Artful Dodger (F O’Regan) and Slack Alice (S Strathem) swapped first and second in race one and two with Rhett Butler (T Kingston) third overall in IRC.

Class 3
The quarter tonner Diamond (J Matthews) dominated both races in ECHO and IRC with Flyover (D Marchant) and No-Gnomes (L Donnery) third overall in IRC.

White Sail
1st race started in light winds with a fetch to Bulman. The McCarthy brothers dominated the seven boat fleet coming in first on corrected with Magic Elfin (P Kelly) second and Sweet Dreams (B&H O’Leary) third. The 2nd race was sailed in brisk conditions finished at Charlesfort with LaoZour (G Grant) leading the way followed by Paragon (D Akerlind) and Bacaret (McCarthy Bros). Overall standings are 1st Baccaret 2nd LoaZour 3rd Magic Elfin.

The omens are good with many more boats being launched and fetching up in Kinsale for day two on Easter Monday April 17th.

Race Officers were Siobhan Keane Hopcraft, Denis Kieran, Seamus Caher & Michele Kennelly

Full Results here

Kinsale Yacht Club has announced O’Leary Life & Pensions as headline sponsors of its 2017 Sovereign’s Cup regatta.

June's biennial event has a good number of spinnaker and white sail cruisers entered as well as 1720 sportsboats, a class that is holding its European Championships during the event from June 21–24.

Another vintage Quarter Tonner will be joining the Irish fleet with the news that the Ed Dubois designed Diamond (GBR 6498) has been bought by a well known Dragon sailor from Kinsale Yacht Club.

The Quarter Tonner, built by John West of Lymington in 1984, looks to be a top notch addition to the local fleet with a hull faired by Ovington Boats in 2006 and dry sailed since.

Her rig was redesigned by the Dubois office in 2009 and structural work by Ian Lovering of Ashdown Marine.

A new single spreader Z Spar rig was added in 2010.

She has a complete suit of North 3DL sails, new in 2011 with only six regattas of use. The boat was advertised for sale at £15,000