Expectations were again on the rise at Wicklow Sailing Club last night as the first of the mid-sized boats approached the finish of the Cork Dry Gin Round Ireland Race.
In stark contrast to the progress enabled by heavy conditions earlier in the week, headwinds and foul tides on the Irish Sea hampered progress and the race for the overall title, based on Channel Handicap, was in full swing.
Competition was wide open, with any of a dozen pressing claims for victory.
The battle for the overall win has assumed a classic Round Ireland scenario: big boats lead the way, take line honours and wait to see what happens to the smaller boats on handicap time. Once the bigger boats have finished, the smaller boats truly race against the clock, and any delay could prove fatal.
This was the situation on the Irish Sea yesterday evening.
With the two heavily handicapped big boats finished more than 24 hours before the third boat, their handicaps were gradually narrowing on the smaller craft. Third on the water, Cracklin' Rosie, had to finish by 8.30 p.m. yesterday to better Jeep Cherokee's time, but having checked in at the Rockabill off north County Dublin only at 4.30 p.m., it appeared certain that the Howth 40 footer would fail.
Among the other yachts hoping for success are Cork boats Imp, from Kinsale, and Quest, from the Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Tom O'Connor's Air Corpscrewed entry The Sunday Times is also in close contention while the current leader, based on the Mew Island results, is Tim Little's Keep On Smiling, the well-campaigned Sigma 400 that has been at the front of the handicap leaderboard from the outset of the race.
The smallest boats in the fleet, which have survived weather far worse that experienced by the biggest boats, are continuing to make steady progress around the coast and were last night passing the Innistrahull checkpoint off the Innisowen peninsula in Donegal.
John McGowan's Camper & Nicholson 48 Norvantes, the only classic entry in the fleet, is expected to reach Wicklow late tomorrow or early on Saturday.
The race record has been secured by Colm Barrington and his crew, but the race committee protest against the yacht for alleged failure to comply with the safety check-in requirements may complicate the Channel Handicap result.
If Jeep Cherokee and other yachts in a similar position are penalised by a protest committee, the final winner can be confirmed only after the penalties have been factored into the finishing times.
Meanwhile, in the first Grand Prix Figaro Solo event in the south of France, Irishman Damian Foxall has been finding the competition extremely tough. Following his excellent result in the two-handed transatlantic AG2R last month, the fickle winds of the Mediterranean have proved harder to master.
Having led the fleet for the first part of the first race, he fell into a big "hole" in the wind, and only managed a mid-fleet finish alongside Englishman Marcus Hutchinson.
There are no surprises at the head of the fleet, with Frenchmen Michel Desjoyeaux and Jean LeCam sharing first place, Eric Drouglazet finishing third and Philippe Poupon finishing fourth.
The next stage of this demanding single-handed sailing regatta is a 200-mile race down to the island of Calvi and back to Porquerolles. The forecast is for Force 7 winds, so there will be some interesting solo surfing! Damian Foxall is hoping to take advantage of these more physical conditions to move up the fleet.
