New Royal Cork yachts for the 2022 season enjoyed debut success in the first race of Kinsale Yacht Club's Axiom Private Clients Spring Series on Sunday (April 3). 

Cork Harbour sailor Brian Jones took victory in his new Jelly Baby in Class One while clubmate Conor Phelan topped Class Two in his new Quarter Tonner, Anchor Challenge.

The J122 Crosshaven entry beat an impressive seven boat fleet at the first attempt. Second in the race was the host club's Finbarr O'Regan in the J109 'Artful DodJer'. The recent Frank Godsell Series winner Reavra Too, an Elan 333 skippered by Stephen Lysaght, was third. 

As regular Afloat readers will know, this Jelly Baby is the former Greystones based Kaya and current Class Zero ICRA champion.

Brian Jones new J122, Jelly Baby

In Class Two, Royal Cork entries also topped the top three places in the six-boat fleet with the Farr Quarter Tonner beating Fiona Young's Alin Express North Star. Kieran Kelleher and Colman Garvey were third in the Dubois Quarter Tonner, Diamond. 

As regular Afloat readers will know Anchor Challenge only recently rejoined the Cork fleet after some years in Cowes. 

Conor Phelan's new Quarter Tonner, Anchor Challenge Photo: Bob Bateman

Sunday's series also saw the launch of Kinsale Yacht Club's Under 25 Team J24 named ‘Kinsailor.’ The boat is the last J24 to have been built by Jeremy Rogers, who also built Contessas, on the Isle of Wight as Afloat reported previously here. The crew finished fifth in their first race.

Results here

Bob Bateman's Kinsale Yacht Club  Axiom Private Clients Spring Series Photo Gallery Race One

With 50 days to go to the start, Kinsale Yacht Club in West Cork has opened the online entry for its inaugural Inishtearaght Race.

The new Irish offshore fixture race will take place on Friday, 20th May with a first starting gun at 08:55 hrs. 

"We are confident this race will become a regular feature in the offshore racing calendar, we are planning to run the race every second year", Honorary KYC Sailing Secretary Michele Kennelly told Afloat. 

Inishtearaght is the westernmost of the Blasket Islands pictured below and hence the westernmost island of Ireland Credits: via Wikipedia

The race will take the fleet along the coast of West Cork and Kerry, around Inishtearaght and return to finish in Kinsale.

The starting times are planned so that boats would stand the best chance of rounding the island in daylight.

As Afloat reported previously, the race was formally launched last December by KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern. The first race will be sponsored by Matthews of Cork.

The course will be approximately 240nm long and will run along the spectacular coast of West Cork and Kerry, round Inistearaght and back to Kinsale. 

Enter online here and download the Notice of Race here

A nice east south-east sailing breeze brought this year's two-day Frank Godsell Mixed Cruiser League to a conclusion in Kinsale Harbour on  Sunday.

In the IRC Handicap division, first overall was the Carroll Brothers Elan 40 Chancer. Second was the Elan 333 IRC Reavra Too (Stephen Lysaght) with third place going to Colman Garvey's quarter tonner Diamond. 

On ECHO, which reflected the overall results, Lysaght was the winner with Diamond second and Chancer in third.

Anthony Scannell, Vice Commodore KYC (right) makes a presentation to sponsor Frank Godsell, a sailing enthusiast, who has sponsored the series for the last forty years Photo: Bob Bateman

As it was the 40th year of Frank Godell's sponsorship of the Kinsale Yacht Club event, the sponsor presented a gift of wine to all the competitors.

Colman Garvey, skipper of Diamond Photo: Bob Bateman

The Carroll Brothers Elan 40 Chancer was presented with third overall Photo: Bob Batemans

Results are here

Entry for the Axiom Private Clients Spring Series in Kinsale Yacht Club is now open online.

The series starts on Sunday 3 April and runs for five weeks, finishing on Saturday 30 April. One race per day is scheduled for both Spinnaker and White Sail classes.

This series is a SCORA event and KYC says it’s looking forward to welcoming participants from other South Coast yacht clubs.

The club is also delighted to welcome Axiom Private Clients once again as title sponsor for the series for 2022.

Former KYC commodore Tom Roche is director of the company, which was founded in 2004 and specialises in dealing with clients with unique circumstances who wish to take control of their personal or corporate finances.

Tom and his wife Ursula look forward to seeing all competitors on the water from their own Solona 45, Meridian, and Axiom wishes all competitors a very enjoyable sailing season.

Kinsale Yacht Club's first cruiser race of 2022 was won today on IRC rating by the host club's Elan 333 Reavra Too (Stephen Lysaght) in the opening race of the Frank Godsell sponsored March League. 

Scheduled as a three-race event, last Sunday's racing was cancelled due to weather but the fleet got away today in a 12 knot south easterly.

The West Cork race attracted boats from Cork Harbour with Frank Garvey and Kieran Kelleher's quarter tonner Diamond from Royal Cork Yacht Club competing and finishing second on IRC.

In the ECHO division, the top two results were the same as IRC with the Carrol Brothers Chancer, an Elan 40, third on IRC and Cian McCarthy's Cinnamon Girl, a Sunfast 3300 third on ECHO.

Full results are here

The Squib Outlaw sailed by Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan were the overall winners of the Custom Rigging Frostbites at Kinsale Yacht Club yesterday in a mix of conditions that included some heavy squalls. 

After 12 races sailed, and with a four-point winning margin, Travers and O'Riordan beat clubmates Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward sailing Allegro for victory in the 13-boat fleet. 

Third was Fifty Shades sailed by KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly

There was no Topper or March league racing at Kinsale yesterday.

Results here

Bob Bateman's Squib Frostbites Photo Gallery

After a difficult two years when sailing activities were restricted by the Covid pandemic, the Commodore of Kinsale Yacht Club on the southern coastline of County Cork, Matthias Hellstern, says the ”main focus this year is club racing and getting the whole club side of things moving again.”

“We have a number of projects underway, refurbishing and upgrading the older part of the club premises is one, the Under 25 programme is another.”

The launching of the KYC’s J/24 Kinsailor Photo: Bob Bateman

Last week was marked with the launching of the club’s J/24 Kinsailor, intended to bridge the gap that has affected sailing when younger sailors leave dinghies. “We are dealing with that problem. The members of Kinsale are very conscious that young sailors are the future of the club.”

Squib racing in Kinsale Harbour Photo: Bob Bateman

The current dinghies Frostbite series, in which he is sailing himself on a Squib, has got the season started. This month cruisers begin racing. Their March League for the Frank Godsell Cup, first presented back in 1982, will start on Sunday of next week, March 13. There will be further races on March 20 and 27, for spinnaker and white sails classes. That will be followed by the Spring Series, starting on Sunday, April 3.

Topper dinghy racing at Kinsale Photo: Bob Bateman

The big event at the club this season will be the Squibs Nationals, incorporating both the Irish and UK Championships. Cancelled due to Covid in 2020, “it’s exciting to have an international event back at the club again,” Commodore Hellstern tells me on this week’s Podcast. We also discuss the club’s new race around the Blaskets this year and the Dragon Gold Cup. He is also a Dragon sailor.

Kinsale Yacht Club has launched its Under 25 Team’s J24 and named it ‘Kinsailor.’

The boat is the last J24 to have been built by Jeremy Rogers, who also built Contessas, on the Isle of Wight.

“At 31 years old she is in fine condition. When she emerged from the mould it went to Slovenia. She will give our Under 25 Team great racing here in the club and at events in other clubs,” said Dave O’Sullivan, the former club Commodore, who led the project to acquire the boat.

Dave O’Sullivan, (pictured centre) the former club Commodore, who led the project to acquire the U25 boat Photo: Bob Bateman

Members of the Under 25 team are looking forward to club racing next month and have a list of events planned for the season.

Tom MacSweeney (left) poses the questions to Kinsale Yacht Club U25 sailors at the launch of the new club J/24. Listen to the podcast below Photo: Bob Bateman

I was at the launch and naming ceremony at the club where I spoke to Under 25 Team members for this week’s Podcast, which you can hear here.

Race Officers John and Valerie Stallard and Michele Kennelly got the first races of the Custom Rigging Kinsale Yacht Club League off to a gentle start in a patchy 10-knots on Sunday. 

The first day of scheduled racing was last Sunday but was blown out so 11 eager crews were keen to get in practice for the Bandon Co-Op Squib National Championships. 

Racing was also provided for Topper dinghies.

Photo gallery below

The much-anticipated return to the water for Kinsale Yacht Club's mixed dinghy and one design keelboat scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled due to the weather forecast. 

The Custom Rigging Frostbite Series was due to start for Lasers, Squibs, Toppers and Mixed Dinghies with a First Gun at 11.55.

The series will continue every Sunday until March 13. Three back-to-back races are scheduled each day.