Bob and Bairbre Stewart's new Dubois 40 footer, Azure, claimed its first major event of the season when the Sovereign's Cup was presented in Kinsale YC late on Saturday evening.

A windswept four-day series proved eventful for the overall, plus numerous other entries in the 124-boat fleet.

Although competing with a race to spare, Azure found herself forced to retire early when the rudder started to part company with the boat. The incident prior to the start of the final race allowed Jim Grealish and the crew of Joggernaut from Galway to concentrate on holding onto second overall and keeping John Godkin's VSOP in third place.

Class Two saw another mighty battle between Howth's Anthony Gore-Grimes and local class supremo Barry Rose. Having taken the lead early in the series, the visitor was narrowly beaten by Rose in the last two races to relinquish the win after a tough duel.

Almost 15 points separated the two boats from the rest of that 37-boat class, pointing to a highly consistent performance by the two.

Meanwhile in Dublin on Saturday, a large fleet turned out for the Royal Irish YC Regatta sponsored by Black Tie.

Fresh winds, gusting to 30 knots at times, brought a fair share of equipment damage to the three fleets with regular and spectacular broaches in all classes.

Boat-handling and crew experience paid dividends all round, but the conditions weren't so extreme as to prevent a great showing by the Howth 17 class who pounded their way across the bay and raced home again yesterday.

At Wicklow Sailing Club yesterday, Laura Dillon, with Ben O'Donoghue, emerged overall winner of the Laser 2 Eastern Championship after a testing 10-race series. The Athens 2004 Olympic hopeful hadn't every race her own way, however, with good performances from several boats including former class champion Noel Butler.