George David’s Rambler 88 has taken line honours for the owner’s third time in the 608-mile Rolex Middle Sea Race currently finishing in Valetta writes W M Nixon. But Nin O’Leary and Alex Thomson in the IMOCA 60 Hugo Boss have turned in a virtuoso offshore performance to be third home across the line, bested only by the significantly larger Rambler and the 100ft Leopard.

Unlike the Fastnet Race 2017, where Hugo Boss suffered from having to beat the whole way from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock, thereby leaving inadequate space and distance to demonstrate her formidable offwind capacity, in this race the “lovely black boat” was able to lay the course – albeit in often very light winds – most of the way on the anti-clockwise circuit towards the most northerly turning point, the volcanic island of Stromboli.

Hugo Boss gets smoothly away from Valetta at the start. Although winds were light all the way to the northerly turn at Stromboli, they were seldom dead on the nose and the specialised IMOC 60 was able to stay well placed. Photo: Kurt Arrigo

There, with a west to nor’westerly filling in to eventually become a classic Mistral-generated Mediterranean gale, most of the fleet elected for long tack/short tack progress towards Sicliy’s decidedly rugged northwestly coast’s series of massive headlands. But Hugo Boss’s crew chose to continue to lay on port tack far offshore, accepting the reality that right-on windward work is not their boat’s strong suit.

Thus they found both a slightly more favourable slant of wind well offshore, and a more regular sea state. The northwest corner of Sciliy is notorious for its confused back-wash ridden sea, and when Hugo Boss closed with the fleet again yesterday morning, they were already approaching Sicily’s most westerly race turn at Favignana island, finding themselves in company with the larger boats, and now well ahead of 50ft to 65ft craft which had been hassling them earlier in the race.

The Botin 65 Caro (Maximilian Klink, Germany) kicks her heels in heavy winds in the backwash-plagued rough seas off Sicily’s northwest coast. Boats that gave much of this coast a good offing, such as XP-ACT and particularly Hugo Boss, benefitted from more regular seas Photo: Kurt Arrigo

With Favignana astern, it was all systems go, and at the front of the fleet while Rambler 88 – which was to cover the final 300 miles in 14 hours – was unassailable, for a while Hugo Boss looked as though she might be able to pip Leopard for second place on the water.

It was not to be, as things were easing slightly as the leaders came into Valetta late last night and in the small hours of this morning. With the pace dropping. Rambler 88 was able both to finish first and beat Hugo Boss on corrected time, albeit by just 5 minutes and 26 seconds. But O’Leary and Thompson and their crew of Will Jackson and Jack Trigger (there’s only room for two extra on the very purpose-designed IMOCA 60) were able to beat Leopard (Pascal Oddo, France) by 55 minutes on CT, while Udde Ingvall’s super-skinny Maxi 98 CQS from Australia has finished fourth across the line, almost ten hours astern of Hugo Boss on corrected time.

The severe conditions north of Sicily have taken their toll of the fleet and Irish entries, with Two-Handed favourites Brian Flahive of Wicklow and Sean Arrigo of Malta with the J/122 Otra Vez an early retiral, while Conor Doyle of Kinsale with the DK 46 Hydra had managed to get as far as the great headlands of northwest Sicily before pulling out.

He’s done it again. George David (left) receives the line honours flag for the third time from Royal Malta YC Commodore Godwin Zammit

But Ireland’s most experienced participant, Middle Sea Race 14-times veteran2012 Barry Hurley, is sailing a really cool race with Shane Giviney and other noted talents on the Xp44 XP-ACT. Having given those bouncy northwestern headlands a decent offing to get them quickly clear while maintaining a good fleet place, they’ve just passed Pantellaria and are lying fourth overall on corrected time.

Current handicap leader is the 2012 Swan 53 Music (James Blackmore, South Africa) while the Russian JPK 10.80 Bogatyr (Igor Rytov) is second and the former Round Ireland star Tonnere de Breskens, the Ker 46 now known as Tonnere de Glen and owned by Tian Domonique of France, is third, with XP-ACT in fourth overall and well clear of the next boat.

Speeds are still well up, but with the wind easing it’s going to be a long day getting past Lampedusa and across to the finish at Valetta.

Race tracker here

In the penultimate day of racing of the CH Marine Chandlery Autumn League, Conor Phelan's  Ker 37 Jump Juice holds a commanding lead of six points writes Bob Bateman.

Phelan's class one lead is over Royal Cork club–mates Paul & Deirdre Tingle in the X34 Alpaca on 12 points overall with K Dorgan/J Losty in the Beneteau 36.7 Altair third on 15 points.

Winds for today's two races were westerly starting at 14–knots but falling all the time. The second race started in eight–knots.

Jump (Conor Phelan) leads eight boat class one. Photo: Bob Bateman. Scroll down for gallery

A strong ebb tide of about two to three knots made it a hard beat for competitors (a Spring tide coupled with a lot of freshwater in the harbour after the last few days of rain). 

There were many groundings as competitors looked for slacker tide by sailing on the edge of Spit Bank where some of the groundings occurred. 

The first to ground was Jump Juice in the first race, hence their poor score (nine points) and one they are able to discard.

Full results here.

With nine confirmed entries already for the 2018 edition of the Beaufort Cup, Cork Week Chairman Kieran O'Connell of Royal Cork Yacht Club says it promises to be a great event. '2016 was the inaugural event and we saw 12 different services compete for the title. We are set to have a significant increase on that number in 2018,' O'Connell told Afloat.ie

The Beaufort Cup invites sailing teams from associated national services, 50% of each team must be active in the service they represent.

Racing will take place over five days in a mix of offshore and inshore racing.

Teams will get the chance to enjoy the 'renowned social experience' of Volvo Cork Week and the winning team will also have €10,000 donated to a nominated charity of their choice while the winner will also be eligible for the Volvo Cork Week Cup (Boat of the Week across the full 5 days) at Cork Week 2018.

Download the Notice of Race below.

Drifting conditions in Cork Harbour may have appeared beautiful to the onlooker but to the crews of the 52 boats competing in Royal Cork Yacht Club's CH Marine Autumn League it was very frustrating writes Bob Bateman.

Outside Cork Harbour Race Officer Peter Crowley managed to get one race for classes 1, 2 and 3 completed.

Inside the harbour it was a different story with the whitesail fleet getting a start outside White bay giving the fleets a beat into number 10 buoy.

Cork Harbour stalwart Michael Murphy (flask in hand) who is sailing in the same boat for 38 years. Photo: Bob Bateman

Bandit sailed by Richard Leonard got a great pin end start and led as far as Fort Carlisle where the Foul spring tide coupled with the fickle north west breeze put a stop to progress for everyone and Race Officer John Downing abandoned racing for the day.

The sportboat fleet fared no better using a laid windward leeward course and they also had to abandon racing.

Ted Crosbie's X302 No Excuse took an early lead in the nine boat IRC two class of Royal Cork Yacht Club's CH Marine Autumn League in Cork Harbour writes Bob Bateman.

A grey, damp morning gave way to more pleasant conditions this afternoon for the first races where three race courses were set in ten to 15–knot winds, mainly from the west, with neap tides and high water about 15.00 hrs.

Sports boats (five 1720s and two J80s) sailed windward–leeward courses across the channel starting at Corkbeg buoy. 

The white sail divison had a round the cans course while classes 1,2,3 started down off Cuskinny to a laid weather mark off Cobh (passing "the Holy Ground") effectively a W/L course.

There were three rounds for class 1 and two rounds for classes 2 and 3.

As Afloat.ie reported previously, this year's league features a 'North Sails Ireland' team on the water before and during racing. The aim is to offer trim and set up advice before the start and then once the flag drops to film the racing and debrief in full in the clubhouse.

Results are posted here.

Last Friday evening saw the last races of the National 18 season that consisted of two races in front of Royal Cork Yacht Club and with buoys at the rear of the RCYC marina for an unusual course configuration on the Owenabue river in light winds and officiated by race officer Tommy Dwyer. 

The evening also served as the National 18 crews race with some familiar faces in some unfamiliar roles. Tom Crosbie was sailing a borrowed boat as he had sold his beloved 'The Good Wife'. RCYC General Manager Gavin Deane was also helming an entry as was forthcoming Junior All Ireland finalist, Chris Bateman.

Scroll down for photo gallery below by Bob Bateman

470 Olympic helmsman Ger Owens, sailing under the Swords Saliing Club burgee, continued his winning run in the GP14 Autumn Open at the weekend when he topped the 19–boat Autumn Open event sailed for the first time in Cork Harbour.

The GP14 fleet, who declined this year's Dinghy Fest invite due to calendar constraints, made good on their commitment to come to Royal Cork Yacht Club this year when they sailed their popular 14–foot dinghy in a two day event at Crosshaven, sailed on the Eastern Bank well out of the shipping lane.

Second overall was East Antrim Boat Club's Curly Morris with Sutton Dinghy Club's Conor Twohig third overall. Youghal Sailing Club's Jack Buttimer was the winner of the 13–boat youth championships.

Download full results below.

Winds ranging from 5 knots to 27 knots provided a thorough test of competitors at this year's Coutts Quarter Ton Cup. Few teams were able to maintain consistent performance across such a wide range of conditions and for most it was a very high scoring series but Royal Cork's Anchor Challenge skippered by Paul Gibbons was among the top boats that did coming in forurth overall, missing out on the pdium by jusat three points after seven races sailed. Download results below.

Sam Laidlaw's Aguila dominated the front of the fleet throughout the championship and put up an impressively flawless performance today, winning all three races. Laidlaw's team of Brett Aarons, Dan Gohl, Tom Forrester-Coles and Robbie Southwell, finished the series as overall winner, counting just nine points from seven races.

Speaking after racing Sam Laidlaw was delighted to have finally got his hands on the legendary Quarter Ton Cup, "I'm really excited, because we've had a number of attempts at this and been in the top three on several previous occasions. The crew have been fantastic. Brett has done a great job of looking after and preparing the boat and has been sailing with me for a long time now. With Dan on the bow, Tom on the jib and Robbie too we've got a very solid team.

"We couldn't have had two more different days. It's been a really well run regatta. It was a pity there was no racing on Wednesday, but I think it was the right call. The courses were very good and Rob Lamb did a great job, particularly in getting 4 races in on Thursday which was a real triumph.

"We haven't really made any changes to the boat for this season. We lost our mast in Cowes last year so had to replace that, but otherwise we've just had a lot of time in the boat, working on our crew work and making small tweaks rather than anything major. It's the crew who do all the work, I just sit at the back and steer!"

Apart from a shocker in the final race, Ian Southworth's Whiskers also sailed a consistent regatta, counting predominately first and second places to finish in second overall on 14 points. Third overall was taken by Mark Richmond's Cote on 29 points and fourth by Gibbons' Anchor Challenge on 32 points.

Race detail

The first start today (for Race 5) was postponed at the last minute when it became clear, in the words of principal race officer Robert Lamb, that: "...there was way too much interest in the port end of the line." The pin was moved six lengths downwind for the next start, but the fleet was still very keen to approach the line, with a couple of mid-line boats over with 20 seconds still to go, and a big bunch of boats rapidly piling into the pin end. Now confident that the line was fair, Lamb called a general recall and a black flag for the next start.

This time the fleet was much more line shy, getting away cleanly, with Mark Richmond's Cote winning the pin end, ahead of Whiskers. Richard Fleck's Per Elisa was also well placed, on the windward hip of Whiskers, while Louise Morton's Bullit looked good ahead of the other boats starting mid-line.

In the early part of the first beat Whiskers, Mike Daly's Cobh Pirate, Blackfun and Peter Morton's Innuendo all went well left. At the first windward mark, however, William McNeill's Illegal came out with a commanding lead ahead of Cobh Pirate, with Aguila and Per Elisa rounding in unison in third and fourth places on the water. Aguila regained the lead on the second lap, while Whiskers crept up to second place both on the water and on corrected time on the run to the finish.

Further back in the fleet, two of the favourites for winning the Quarter Ton Cup - Tony Hayward's Blackfun (who started the day second overall) and Peter Morton's Innuendo - had a very disappointing start to the day, languishing in 16th and 17th places respectively.

Race 6 started cleanly, with the fleet much more spread along the line than in the first. Aguila led the fleet around the first mark, an impressive 40 seconds ahead of Whiskers.

While yesterday's downwind legs were a high-adrenaline battle to stay in control, today's were much more gentle tactical affairs in which gybing on the biggest windshifts, while staying in the favourable tide in the North Channel for as long as possible, was critical.

At the end of the second windward leg, Whiskers had narrowed Aguila's lead to less than three lengths. The former gybed at the spreader mark, with Illegal following in her wake, while Aguila continued on starboard for 150 metres. The two leaders then closed each other, before Whiskers gybed onto starboard, and forcing her opponent to gybe almost simultaneously.

They crossed the finish overlapped, with Whiskers taking line honours, barely the length of the foredeck ahead of Aguila. However, with the latter rating three points less than Whiskers, Aguila won on corrected time by 10 seconds. Illegal took third place, her first podium result of the event, while Tom Hill's newly restored Belinda showed excellent promise, finishing fourth.

Race 7 saw three premature starters, and a number of boats that returned unnecessarily. Aguila again showed excellent speed in the softening breeze, but behind her there was a major shake up in positions. At the end of the first leg, Per Elisa was second on the water, ahead of Cote and Cobh Pirate, positions they all held to the finish.

Whiskers and Blackfun, the top two boats at the end of yesterday's racing, both had a shocking race, well buried in the fleet and with the former almost failing to weather the spreader mark having hoisted the spinnaker prematurely.

Multiple prize winners

As well as the main prize for the overall winner of the Quarter Ton Cup, the event also awards a raft of other prizes. The Roger Swinney trophy for boats other than the winners of the Open and Corinthian Divisions rating lower than 0.910 was won by Whiskers.

Terence Dinmore's Captain Moonlight won the prize for the oldest crew, with a combined age of 334 years, and Willie McNeill's Illegal the youngest (167 years). The oldest bowman, winning the walking stick, is 59-year old Led Pritchard of Whiskers. The concours d'elegance for the best-presented boat went to Lincoln Redding's Lacydon Protis.

Royal Cork Yacht Club is running an ICRA training initiative at its forthcoming CH Marine Autumn Series commencing on October 1st.

ICRA announced the availability of this grant at their annual conference earlier this year and it has enabled the Royal Cork to partner with sailmakers North Sails Ireland to run an on–the –water race training programme during their Autumn Series that is previewed by Afloat.ie here.

RCYC's Kieran O'Connell gave a brief outline 'North Sails Ireland will be active on the water before and during racing. The aim is to offer trim and set up advice before the start and then once the Flag drops to film the racing and debrief in full in the Club house the same day'

O'Connell added that 'this will be a great addition to this year’s CH Marine Autumn series at the Royal Cork and we would like to thank ICRA for their support and North Sails Ireland for working with us on this exciting new addition to the series'.

Royal Cork's Anthony O'Leary tumbled down the leaderboard at the New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup yesterday. After a promising first day on Wednesday which saw the Cork Harbour team in fourth overall, O'Leary now lies 11th overall after nine races in the 14–boat fleet. There are three more races left to sail in the Cup. Full results are here.

To describe the tactical approach which led Eastern Yacht Club to the low-point score of Day 3 of the 2017 Cup, Ben Richardson used a word not often associated with successful big-boat sailing: reactionary. "You had to be pretty reactionary," said Richardson, a former Laser Masters World Champion and Pan Am Games competitor. "We never went into any particular race saying, 'Oh, you've got to go left,' or 'You've got go right.' You had to continually adapt up the beat and see where the pressure was. There were pretty big pressure differentials and you had to connect the dots up the beat, and on the run."

Eastern Yacht Club moved from fourth to third in the overall standings and now has a 15-point advantage over a pack of boats clumped in fourth to ninth. Southern Yacht Club finished third on the day, but only two points behind Eastern, and leads the regatta by 9 points over Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, which won two of the day's three races.

The 2017 Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup takes place September 9 to 16 at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court, in Newport, R.I. Amateur sailors representing 14 yacht clubs from around the globe have converged on Newport to race in the ultimate one-design, big-boat competition. The boats and sails are provided and the rig tune is standardized across the fleet. The Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup is sponsored by Rolex, Porsche, Nautor’s Swan, AIG and Helly Hansen and is being broadcast live via the web.

One of the key calls of the day came well before the first start. Principle Race Officer Ron Hopkins initially sent the fleet to the offshore course, but when the fog rolled in he reversed coursed and moved the fleet north of Gould Island, inside Narragansett Bay, where the water is flatter, the wind is a little less predictable and the racing is more frenetic.

Not surprisingly, some teams that had struggled offshore came alive on the "inside" course, including the Japan Sailing Federation, which scored a third, fifth and seventh on the day and moved from 10th to seventh in the overall standings.

"For us, the outside course was not so good," said Yasutaka Funazawa, the skipper for the Japan Sailing Federation. "So we have to change something. We are getting better. Today was more the team working well."

Also making the most of "moving day," as the middle day of a long regatta is often known, was the host New York Yacht Club, which found its rhythm after a string of tough races to start the regatta and moved from 11th to sixth on the strength of a fifth and two fourths.

"I went to school at Boston University and sailed in the Charles River, so shifty conditions have always been good for me," said tactician Brad Read. "We’re starting to get more confidence. We’ve been working really hard, out there between races we’re doing timed runs at the start. We just haven't been very good at it [during the first six races]. So practice makes perfect, and we're practicing really hard between races to get our time and distance right.

"Our motto going into today was: it's the start of the fourth quarter and its 28-9," Read added, referencing the New England Patriots' improbable comeback last February in Super Bowl 51. "It's just picking away, every tack is important, every jibe is important, every mark rounding is important. We’re doing the little things now and it's making it more fun to go sailing."

Not surprisingly, however, the teams that were really strong on the first two days, continued to shine. Great teams transcend the conditions. Southern Yacht Club and Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron combined to win all three races and take four of nine podium positions today. The Australian team knocked a point off the 10-point lead Southern enjoyed in the overall standings to start the day and both boats, along with Eastern, moved further clear of the rest of the fleet.

"Two years ago we got off to a similar start," said Richardson. "[In 2015] once we moved inside during the last few days of the regatta, we really turned a corner and came right back in it. The same thing happened today. Our starts were improved, but as everybody knows, getting away from other boats makes a huge difference."

Richardson also noted that after six days of practice and racing, each team has found its comfort zone in the Swan 42s.

"If you give away a little bit, that’s something you’re not going to get back," Richardson said. "We've all been sailing for six days, and some teams came more prepared than others. But every team is getting it down now."

The race for first has really come down to three boats, and two of them will need some help from the current leader if they want to hoist the Rolex New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup trophy on Saturday. Another strong day by Southern tomorrow may well sort out the overall podium. The most interesting racing may focus on the battle for fourth, with six teams all within 8 points of that spot. Those positions are unlikely to be decided until the final beat of the final race.