Displaying items by tag: Cork Week
Volvo Cork Week Social Programme Announced
Preparations for Volvo Cork Week continue apace for the July regatta in Cork Harbour.
Royal Cork organisers say teams are coming from all over the world racing in celebration of the club's 300th birthday.
To this end, RCYC has just announced its social calendar at Crosshaven for the July 11-15 event.
Cork Week Social Calendar
Saturday 8th July: Cork300 Gala Dinner, tickets on sale in June.
Sunday 09th July: Family Fun Day 12:00 – 17:00 followed by Opening Ceremony at 18:00.
Monday 11th July: Welcome party, music & prizegiving from 17:00. White Claw & Island’s Edge reception.
Tuesday 12th July: Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Mount Gay reception. 1720 & Cape31 dinner. Marquee band.
Wednesday 13th July (Ladies Day): Ladies' lunch from 12:00 (sold out). Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Jagermeister reception. Marquee band from 19:00, DJ from 21:30.
Thursday 14th July (Bastille Day): Music & prizegiving from 17:00. Heineken reception. Marquee band from 21:30, DJ from midnight till late.
Friday 15th July: Music, prizegiving & closing ceremony from 17:00. White Claw & Island’s Edge reception. Marquee band from 21:30, DJ from midnight till late.
Cork Week's Latest Entry List Swells to 110 Boats
The Cork Week entry list for July's regatta stands at over 110 boats with 17 weeks still to go before the first gun.
The biggest class so far is the 33-boat 1720s that have their roots in Crosshaven. Royal Cork organisers say entries for this sportsboat division show 'no sign of slowing'.
There are 30 IRC boats already entered and ten boats have also entered the coastal offshore discipline.
As Afloat reported earlier, the recently announced Classic Boat division has 25 boats with a promise of 20 alone coming from France.
RCYC say "we are now seeing the U25 entries come in across the IRC and 1720 classes".
"The IRC entries are building throughout the classes and no doubt the growing Quarter Tonner movement in the Royal Cork will draw in top-class racing for smaller boats too", Royal Cork state.
In what will be one of the first showings of the new class in Ireland, three Cape 31s are also listed in the one-design entry; RCYC's own Antix together with Blast from the Royal Irish and Valkyrie from Howth.
Cork yachts are early entries into the Beaufort Cup, the regatta within Cork Week designed for emergency services. The ICRA Boat of the Year Nieulargo is entered along with the Royal Navy's Jolly Jak Tar and Kinsale's Meridian.
Download the latest entry list (to March 13) below
Up to 20 French Classic Yachts Expected for Cork Week 2022
Royal Cork's Paris Boat Show announcement last December that there is to be a dedicated Classics Class at Volvo Cork Week has been receiving a steady uptake of entries.
As Afloat reported earlier, a former famous Morning Cloud yacht from the UK will compete in Cork Harbour and more recently, the club has announced it is expecting up to 20 yachts from France.
Last December, Pascal Stefani, President of the Atlantic Yacht Club, with the support of the Yacht Club de France, announced that they were arranging "Goto Cork 2022", a movement which will entail up to 20 yachts heading to Cork via the Scillies to participate.
A delegation from AYC has since been to Cork to prepare for their visit in July.
Local classics are also entered, including Terry Birles' 'Erin' who was one of the first entries for the new Classic division.
As regular Afloat readers will know, Birles and Erin took fifth in their class in the St. Tropez classic regatta last September.
The RCYC has also revealed the series will be conducted using the Jauge Classique Handicap (JCH) system to allow classic boats with very different characteristics to race together and other handicapping systems as appropriate.
Shining a Light on Cork’s Morning Clouds
It’s good news that a proper Classics Division is going to be included in Volvo Cork Week in July, and it’s even better news that one of the first to step up to the plate is Opposition, the gold standard classic 40ft S & S design which Ted Heath raced to outstanding all-round success in 1971. For although Ted Heath owned five Morning Clouds in all - with the first being the little S&S34 which won the 1969 Sydney-Hobart Race – we need to know which is which, and the 51-year-old boat now known as Opposition was arguably the sweetest of them all, as Olin Stephens took this high-profile opportunity to show what an attractive boat the new International Offshore Rule could create.
But unfortunately, the international offshore scene was expanding at an unhealthy pace, and the backroom number-crunchers in yacht design offices were soon finding that by producing rather extreme and deeply heavy boats with unattractively pinched sterns, you could get a very favourable rating. The third Morning Cloud (mistakenly used to illustrate Opposition in a recent press release) was built expressly for the 1973 Admiral’s Cup, and proved to be quite an extreme example of this less healthy hull type.
Of course the 44ft Morning Cloud III was a race-winner under the rule of the time, but as a boat she compared very unfavourably with the Morning Cloud II of 1971. And the life of Morning Cloud III was short and tragic. In 1974 in line with Heath’s policy of being seen at other regattas, late in the season she was taken to the Thames Estuary for his participation in Burnham Week. In hurrying back from that with a delivery crew, she was caught out in an extreme westerly gale in the English Channel with wind over tide conditions while trying to reach the shelter of the Solent.
When two crew were lost overboard in a knockdown, the boat suffered structural damage and eventually, the remaining crew had to take to the liferaft and Morning Cloud III was wrecked on the Sussex coast. It was a grim moment when the retrieved remains of the boat were later brought ashore at the port of Shoreham.
Classic boats from across Europe will take part in July's Volvo Cork Week Regatta for the first time as they join the celebrations of the Royal Cork's Tricentenary.
Sir Edward Heath's Morning Cloud, since renamed Opposition, is amongst one of the early entrants in the historic boat fleet.
Morning Cloud was the name given by the former British Prime Minister to a series of five yachts that he owned between 1969 and 1983.
Royal Cork organisers have also confirmed The Atlantic Yacht Club of France will be strong supporters of the event, committing 20 boats through their GoToCork campaign.
The Notice of Race for the Classic fleet is currently being finalised.
Entry is open for 2022 Volvo Cork Week, celebrating the tricentenary of the world’s oldest yacht club, the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Since 1978, Cork Week has been the venue for many epic battles on the water and legendary craic ashore. The 300th birthday celebrations for the Royal Cork add a unique dimension.
July's Volvo Cork Week features up to five days of world-class racing in Cork Harbour from 11-15th.
As Afloat previously reported, Cork Week has a huge diversity of competing boats, including inshore racing for keelboats for the ICRA Nationals, and one-design racing for the 1720 Europeans, the SB20 Grand Slam, Cape 31s, and the Dragon South Coasts.
Volvo Cork Week will feature a variety of courses both inside and outside the Harbour.
Over 60 boats have already signed up and the Royal Cork Yacht Club is preparing for over a thousand sailors from around the world to take part. All boats already entered, and who enter before Easter Sunday, will be in with a chance of winning a maximum of eight branded crew jackets from Musto.
Enter your team here
French Involvement Encouraged as Classic Yacht Class Is Announced for Volvo Cork Week 2022
Classic yacht owners in France have been encouraged to join Volvo Cork Week 2022 with the introduction of a dedicated class at next summer’s regatta.
Royal Cork Yacht Club Admiral Colin Morehead made the announcement at the 2021 Paris Boat Show last week along with President Pascal Stefani, Yves Lambert and Yves Gaignet of the Atlantic Yacht Club.
The two clubs have entered into a collaboration — Goto Cork 2022 — aimed at attracting classic yacht owners in France to participate in Cork Week when it returns in July 2022 after a pandemic-enforced absence in 2020.
COVID restrictions also delayed celebration of the Royal Cork’s reciprocal agreement signed with the Yacht Club de France in March 2020.
While in Paris, Admiral Morehead took the opportunity to exchange burgees with Yacht Club de France President Philippe Heral at its clubhouse in the city.
Earlier today, Afloat.ie noted the inclusion of a Cape 31 fleet in next summer’s regatta comprising boats from both the UK and a burgeoning Irish fleet.
Royal Cork Confirms Cape 31 Fleet for Volvo Cork Week 2022
The Royal Cork Yacht Club has confirmed that two Irish Cape 31s which are currently in build, one from Cork and one from Dublin, have now entered Volvo Cork Week 2022.
The entry form and advance notice of regatta are live on the RCYC website.
It’s expected that the Irish fleet will have grown to four of five boats by next July when the Cork Week regatta returns for a delayed Cork300 celebration after its pandemic-enforced absence in 2020.
And it’s also hoped that they will be bolstered by visiing Cape 31s from the UK for five days of championship racing in the waters surrounding Cork Harbour.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie back in August, plans are afoot to build a sportsboat fleet here from the South African racer-inspired design by Wicklow-based Mark Mills.
Half Model of 'Erin' is Presented to Royal Cork Yacht Club as Cork Week Classic Boat Plans are Revealed
Last week's club talk by Royal Cork Yacht Club helmsman Harold Cudmore on the exploits of the Cork Harbour One Design classic yacht Jap at St. Tropez in October gave details of the 1897-built yacht's recent performances on the continent but also revealed details of 2022 plans to bring a classic boat division to Cork Week Regatta next year.
As regular Afloat readers will recall, the restored Jap skippered by Cudmore and with a crew that counted club Admiral Colin Morehead among its number won Le Voile Saint Tropez Classic Regatta in the South of France.
In a great result for Cork Harbour classic boat enthusiasts, Royal Cork member Terry Birles and his yacht Erin took fifth in their class in St. Tropez too.
During the club talk, Birles presented a half model of the classic yacht Erin for display at the Crosshaven clubhouse.
Details of Cork Week's Classic Division are to be announced at the Paris Boat Show on 4th December.
Cork Week 2022 Boost with Early Register of 57 Boats
Cork Week Regatta at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour has received a 57 boat registration for its 2022 Regatta just a week after the booking system went live for its 300th-anniversary regatta rerun.
Royal Cork's Alex Barry says there is 'huge interest' with 30% of those are from the UK and interest registered from Spain, Germany, Hong Kong and France too.
As regular Afloat readers will know, Cork Week 2020 was one of the big COVID-19 casualties of Royal Cork's Tricentenary celebrations last year.
Barry says the 2022 fleet is showing great signs of diversity from a Gunboat 68 and Swan 62 to 2 x Fast 40s, 15 x 1720s.
In the IRC ratings, there are now "15 boats registered are over 1.000, seven boats under .900 and everything in between", he adds.