Americans Stuart Mcnay and Caleb Paine have won the first race of the 505 World Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork Harbour.

Best of the Irish in the 77-boat fleet was recently crowned national champion, Monkstown Bay's Chris Bateman sailing with Paul O'Sullivan in 14th place.

The first day of racing continued the challenging conditions seen at last week's Pre-Worlds.

Racing was postponed with sailors held ashore in anticipation of an afternoon sea breeze. Competitors launched around midday with the hope of two races with a 2 pm start. There were early signs of good breeze on the sail out, but once competitors exited the harbour the wind faded away. Eventually, a light sea breeze crept over the horizon and a two-lap course was set. The wind fluctuated between 4-6 knots throughout the race but was reasonably steady in direction.

Soon after the gun, the pathfinder (lead boat who sails from a pin on port and all the other boats sail behind her in a gate start) started to lift. The phases looked long and slow, plus there was the potential of slightly more wind to the right, so a lot of the fleet headed that way. Stuart McNay and Caleb Paine USA 9245 jumped from the gate early tacked onto port crossing the fleet and then brought the fleet pack from the right, at the top mark they lead and right behind them were Nathan Batchelor and Sam Pascoe GBR 9240. The top boats from the Pre-Worlds continued their form in the light winds. Right there also were youngsters Morgan Pickney and Garrett Brown and European Champions Roger Gilbert and Ben McGrane.

Position held on the run, but at the gate, an incident saw Batchelor and Pascoe doing a turn.

For the next leg,  the top mark was moved and the course shortened to ensure a finish in the light breeze. So Batchelor and Pascoe dropped to fourth, Gilbert and McGrane climbed to second with Pickney and Brown finishing third.

From there, with no prospect of any more wind, the fleet were sent home. Racing resumes tomorrow. The wind again looks light, but with the expectation of some in the morning, the fleet will be on the water early.

Kieran Collins’ Coracle IV, an Olson 30, won the July Thursday League IRC spinnaker division at the Royal Cork with a hat-trick of first places for a total of three points overall. Second was the Sunfast 32, BAD COMPANY (Desmond/Ivers/Keane), on 15 points and third Anthony O’Leary’s Cape 31, Antix, on 23. 

Coracle also won ECHO handicap. Second here was Billy Campion’s 1720, Wight Hare and third the Alpaca (Paul and Deirdre Tingle). Fifteen yachts raced.

Kieran O’Brien’s Magnet, an MG, won IRC Whitesail with a trio of first places, for a total of three points. Second was BG MC (McGrath family) on 13 and third Paul O’Shea’s Sun Odyssey 36, Elegance, on 15 points which took first place under ECHO, with BIG Mc second and Magnet third. Eleven boats sailed.

Friday evening Whitesail League was combined for June and July, with six races and was won by the Sigma 33, Scribbler, Tom and Cormac MacSweeney on 18 points. Second was Peter Webster’s Thistle on 24 and third the Impala, Fast Buck, John O’Connor/John Hanley, with 36.

Twenty yachts raced the series.

Measurement and registration is underway at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven today (Weds) and tomorrow (Thursday) for the 505 World Championships, in which racing gets underway on Monday.

This is the fourth time the Championships will be held at the RCYC.

“80 boats, now fully carbon, have travelled from across the globe to compete,” say the RCYC organisers.

12 Irish boats are entered, including three Barry brothers under the Royal Cork & Monkstown Bay burgees; Peter Scannell and John Dunlea who currently live on the East Coast of the US but return to Cork for the event; Monkstown Bay Commodore Sandy Rimmington teams up with John Downey and an unmissable name on the list is Denis O’Sullivan with crew Jan Van Der Puil. The Irish fleet will be under pressure to beat Harold Cudmore and Chris Bruen’s podium finish in the 1969 Worlds in Argentina.

The entry list is a who’s who of World Sailing; Luke Payne of Australia joins us fresh from the Sail GP event in the UK, multiple World Champions and Rolex Yachtsmen of the year Mike Martin and Adam Lowry are here along with fierce rivals and fellow multiple World Champions Mike Holt and Rob Woelful, all round sailing legend Howie Hamlin has come from California, Olympic medallist Caleb Paine teams up with Olympian and Melges 24 World Champion Stu McNay from the USA.

There will be pre-Worlds sailing on Friday and Saturday.

The Championships will be raced on Monday and Tuesday, there is a Lay Day on Wednesday and racing will continue on Friday and conclude on Saturday of next week.

At the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour, after three races sailed and three to count in the July League, Kieran Collins’ Coracle leads the Cruiser IRC SPIN Division from Antix (Anthony O’Leary), with Miss Whiplash (Ronan and John Downing) third.

Magnet (Kieran O’Brien) leads Whitesail IRC with Big Mc (McGrath family) second and Prince of Tides third.

Royal Cork Yacht Club Vice Admiral Anna Marie Fegan was the visiting speaker at Sunday's Sea Sunday celebration at the Holy Trinity Chruch in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour.

The joint parishes and community service celebrated the work of the mission to seafarers, Seaman's Christian Friend Society. It also paid tribute to the activities of the Coast Guard, RNLI, RCYC, sailors, scouts, anglers and fishermen and all who 'enjoy the sea for leisure'.

Fegan, a keen sailor, is also chair of the fundraising of Crosshaven RNLI.

Coastguard personnel at the Sea Sunday service in Crosshaven Photo: Mary Malone

The special service was given by Rector Isobel Jackson and the Special Preacher was the Very Rev'd Pat Stevenson

Rector Isobel Jackson and the Very Rev'd Pat Stevenson Photo: Mary Malone

You could be forgiven for thinking that Newport Harbor Yacht Club was the home team at the 2022 Global Team Race Regatta. There's the name, for starters. But also the comfort level displayed by the eight-person team during the three-day event. Newport Harbor looked right at home winning 23 of 25 races, including its final nine in a row, to claim the third edition of this international two-on-two team race championship. In fact, Newport Harbor Yacht Club hails from the other coast, from Newport Beach, Calif. The home team was the New York Yacht Club, which hosted the event and finished second. The Corinthian Yacht Club of Marblehead, Mass., defeated St. Francis Yacht Club from San Francisco in the battle for third. The top international team was Royal Cork Yacht Club of Ireland in fifth.

"For us, it’s huge," says Justin Law, team captain for Newport Harbor Yacht Club. "Newport Harbour Yacht Club is very much a team-racing club. We put our heart and soul into two-on-two, 3v3, 4v4 and basically our entire calendar year is built for team racing. Coming here and winning is fantastic."

The Global Team Race Regatta was conceived by the New York Yacht Club, which hosted the first edition in October 2018. A second edition of the Global Team Race Regatta was held in England in 2019. The third edition was scheduled for Italy in 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-10 pandemic, and eventually rescheduled for this summer in Newport, R.I., where it was held July 22 to 24 out of the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court.

Team Racing, which features two teams of two of four boats each sailing against one another in a close-quarters win-or-lose format, is popular around the world. World Sailing ran the Team Racing World Championship 10 times between 1995 and 2015. That event featured three-on-three competition in two-person dinghies, which favored teams of younger and lighter sailors.

While the fundamentals are very much the same, the Global Team Race Regatta uses the two-on-two format, making the competition easier to follow. The team with the last boat across the finish line in an individual race loses the race. The Global Team Race Regatta also uses keelboats instead of dinghies, making the competition accessible to a wider variety of sailors—both from a size and age perspective—and brings the added complexity of spinnakers into the mix.

According to Law, it was the use of spinnakers that helped Newport Harbor get off to a strong start in the round-robin portion of the regatta.

"The first two days, [it was] very much boathandling [that gave NHYC an edge]," says Law. "In that medium-light air, if you can just keep the spinnaker full, keep your boat moving, things are a lot simpler."

Newport Harbor won all 10 races in the initial full-fleet round robin and then dropped just two of 10 races in the Gold-Fleet double round-robin, which included the top six teams. Momentum can be fleeting in team racing, and this is especially true when, as was the case today, the top four teams are seeded into a knock-out tournament. A dramatic change in the wind conditions, and the race committee prohibiting spinnakers due to the increased breeze, only added to the sense that the regatta was effectively starting over for the top four teams.

"We weren’t really sure what was going to happen today," says Law. "Once you took the spinnakers down, it kind of reset the racing, and with knockouts you can never be too comfortable."

Any fears of a letdown were largely unfounded. Newport Harbor dispatched St. Francis Yacht Club 2-0 in the semifinal round and then did the same with the team representing the host New York Yacht Club in the finals.

"Today, with the breeze on, it was just keeping things simple," says Law. "There wasn't a race today where we felt we were faster than a team. Today was matter of hanging on and choosing your moments."

In the final, the key moment in both races was the start. Newport Harbor wanted to start to the right of their opposition as they felt it gave them a small advantage at the first windward mark. In both races, Newport Harbor rounded the first mark in first and second.

"It's really hard in these [windy] conditions for someone to overtake you downwind and really mix it up," says Law.

One of the missions of the Global Team Race Regatta is to foster growth of team racing around the world, particularly outside the traditional power centers, the United States and Great Britain. While the top four teams all hailed from the United States, Phil Lotz, the event chair and a past commodore of the New York Yacht Club, was encouraged by the enthusiasm displayed by teams from places like Japan and Belgium, where team racing isn't as common.

"We believe we’re making progress," says Lotz, citing the popularity of team racing events in the Optimist class, the continued growth of two-on-two adult keelboat racing in Europe and the growing activity in the U.S. "We want to increase the international competitions at a high level to the point that all regions of the world are represented."

While most U.S. team racing uses the three-on-three format, Lotz remains convinced the decision to run this event using the two-on-two model is correct.

"There are fewer boats required, and it’s a little easier to learn the skills," says Lotz. "The two-on-two format has contributed to the growth in Europe and even some growth in the U.S. and outside the traditional team-race locations. We'll continue to focus on two-on-two for this regatta as it seems to be the platform that supports the most growth."

The 2023 edition of the Global Team Race Regatta is tentatively scheduled for the Solent in England in September. Additional details will be forthcoming in the near future.

Newport Harbor Yacht Club: Justin Law (team captain, skipper), Jake LaDow, Haley Dahl, Chris Segerblom, Alex Curtiss (skipper), Kayla LaDow, Andrew Person, Colin Voight (with New York Yacht Club Commodore Paul Zabetakis, far right)

2022 Global Team Race Regatta results

Finals (Best of 3): Newport Harbor Yacht Club def. New York Yacht Club, 2-0

Petit Finals: The Corinthian Yacht Club def. St. Francis Yacht Club, 1-0

Semi Finals (Best of 3): Newport Harbor def. St. Francis, 2-0; New York def. Corinthian, 2-1

Gold Fleet: 1. Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Newport Beach, Calif., 18 points; 2. Corinthian Yacht Club, Marblehead, Mass., 16 points; 3. New York (N.Y.) Yacht Club, 13 points; 4. St. Francis Yacht Club, San Francisco, Calif., 12 points; 5. Royal Cork Yacht Club, Cork, Ireland, 8 points; 6. Sorrento Sailing Couta Boat Club, Sorrento, Australia, 6 points.

Silver Fleet: 1. Royal Thames Yacht Club, London, Great Britain, 12 points; 2. Japan Sailing Federation, Tokyo, Japan, 11 points; 3. Bayerrischer Yacht Club, Starnberg, Germany, 4 points; 4. Royal Belgian Yacht Club, Zeebrugge, Belgium, 3 points; 5. Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, Great Britain, 2 points.

Volvo Cork Week kicked off with a fun-filled Family Day on Sunday that was preceded by an official opening by Royal Cork Yacht Club Admiral Kieran O'Connell and Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney TD.

The regatta takes place in Crosshaven from 11-15 July.

According to Afloat's WM Nixon, one of the reasons people are coming from far and wide - in addition to many ports nearer the venue - is because the international sailing community was very impressed by the dignified, exemplary and innovative way in which the Royal Cork Yacht Club under Admiral Colin Morehead dealt with the seemingly total setback of not being able to stage their long-planned Tricentenary in 2020

After a four-year hiatus, guests eventually gather for Cork Week 2022 and RCYC's tricentenary celebrations Photo: Bob Bateman

There was fun and adventure for families across the whole village of Crosshaven, from the Royal Cork Yacht Club to Camden Fort Meagher and everywhere in between, including the famous Pipers Fun Fair and boat trips from Hugh Coveney Pier on the Cailin Or.

Cork Week enjoys events both on and off the water events, as they celebrate the tricentenary of the oldest yacht club in the world after events were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic Photo: Bob Bateman

This year's emphasis is on sustainability with coastal walks, competitions, games, and a new coastal market in the Marquee at the Yacht Club. A children's workshop with Marine Scientist and Volvo Car Ireland Brand Ambassador Finn van der Aar also took place, and RedFM will broadcast live from the event.

The biennial Cork Week regatta draws spectators from far and near, and the atmosphere in Crosshaven, home of the Royal Cork Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

As Afloat previously reported, the fleet is in. This morning (Monday, July 11th), the action on the water gets underway for the event that incorporates three championship events - the 1720 European Championships, which will include 47 1720 boats that were designed in Cork, the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) National Championships and the Dragons South Coast Championships – in addition to the renowned Beaufort Cup for international uniformed service personnel, which encompasses a race around the Fastnet Rock and back to Cork.

Royal Cork Yacht Club will host a Classic Yacht Regatta for the first time this year as part of Cork Week. It promises to be a fantastic viewing spectacle with some famous classic racing yachts on display  Photo: Bob Bateman

Classics at Crosshaven: Cork Harbour one designs Jap and Elsie alongside the just restored Lady Min, and coming up river is the 1919 Erin Photo: Bob Bateman

The 37-foot classic yacht French yacht Persephone on her berth at Crosshaven Photo: Bob Bateman

At least one competing boat only arrived at the Crosshaven venue this morning, having had success in the UK at the weekend.

There will be a Ladies' Day charity lunch in aid of the Crosshaven RNLI on Wednesday, July 13th, with Volvo brand ambassadors Amy Huberman and Brendan Courtney, which is a total sell-out.

Anna-Marie Fagan, Vice-Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and Co-Chair of Volvo Cork Week and David Thomas, Managing director of Volvo Car Ireland

Anna-Marie Fagan, Vice-Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and Co-Chair of Volvo Cork Week, said, "I'm looking forward to welcoming sailors from around the world back to the stunning Cork Harbour. It will be an exceptional week of sailing, and we have a fantastic family day planned for everyone in Cork to enjoy. We have a packed schedule on and off the water".

Royal Cork Yacht Club will host a Classic Yacht Regatta for the first time this year as part of Volvo Cork Week Regatta starting next Monday.

The 37-foot classic yacht Persephone, the 1919 classic Erin, the famous Opposition (Ex Morning Cloud), and Cork Harbour One Designs Jap and Elsie are among the famous classic racing yachts making their way to Cork Harbour.

The first yacht to step up to the plate to join Cork Week's Classic Division was Opposition, the gold standard classic 40ft S & S design which Ted Heath raced to outstanding all-round success in 1971.

It’s the first year that a dedicated Classic Yacht Regatta will be hosted by the Club, and it will be a fantastic viewing spectacle for shoreline onlookers over the week (Monday-Friday).

The 37-foot classic yacht Persephone

Recommended viewing points include Camden and the Church Bay in Crosshaven, the new Haulbowline Island Amenity Park, Ringaskddy as well as the promenade in Cobh. Classic French boats will also arrive as part of the Bastille Day celebrations.

The 1919 classic Erin

Yachtsmen and women from around the globe are expected in Cork next week to enjoy both the on and off-the-water events, as they plan to celebrate the tricentenary of the oldest yacht club in the world, after events were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Cork Harbour One Designs Jap and Elsie. Photo: Bob Bateman

Yves Lambert from the Atlantic Yacht Club in France, who will be participating in his yacht Persephone, a 37-foot Tina designed by Dick Carter, said, “In 2020 we had plans to attend and help the Royal Cork Yacht Club celebrate its Tricentenary, enjoy some Irish beers with our Irish friends and everything else Cork has to offer. Sadly, Covid put stop to our plans in 2020 and indeed the Royal Cork’s Tricentenary celebrations. When we were advised of a classic class at Volvo Cork Week in 2022, we had to come. A 302-year-old birthday does not happen so often I guess, so if we were looking for a good reason to come, it arrived just in time!”

The regatta will incorporate four championship events - the 1720 European Championships which will include over 40 1720 boats that were designed in Cork, the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) National Championships, the Dragon South Coast Championships, and the SB20 Nationals– in addition to the renowned Beaufort Cup for international uniformed service personnel, which encompasses a race around the Fastnet Rock and back to Cork.

The final night of Royal Cork Yacht Club's Friday, June League for white sails was cancelled tonight.

The decision was taken due to prevailing weather conditions in Cork Harbour.

It is the second time the Friday racing has had to be cancelled this month.

At the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Fiona Young’s Albin Express, North Star, is leading the IRC Spinnaker Division of the June League, with Michael McCann’s Etchells, Don’t Dilly Dally second and the Sunfast 32, Bad Company, of Desmond/Ivers/Keane, third.

The Club ECHO Spinnaker Division is led by Wan and Eric Waterman’s X37 Saxon Senator, with North Star second and Bad Company third.

IRC and ECHO White Sails leader is Pat Vaughan’s Contessa 33, Aramis, with Sean Hanley’s HB 31 Luas second and also holding third place in ECHO.

Kieran O’Brien’s Magnet is third in IRC. In ECHO White Sails Paul O’Shea’s Elegance, a Sun Odyssey, is in second place.