SAILING: With more Irish yachts entered than in the 2004 Round Ireland Race, Irish offshore racing continues its resurgence this Sunday lunchtime with the biggest turnout for the Pierse Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race that starts in Scotsman's Bay off Dun Laoghaire's East Pier.
Twenty-five entrants in the main IRC division include Eamonn Conneely's new Transpac 52 Patches from Galway Bay SC as the largest in the entire 34-boat fleet.
The event, run jointly by the National Yacht Club Dun Laoghaire and Cumann Bádóirí Naomh Bhréanainn of Dingle, is over a distance of some 300 nautical miles and has evolved from little more than a cruise in company when it first started in 1993 to become the only long-distance offshore event in the Irish calendar this year.
As a result the organisers Brian Barry and Martin Crotty have ceded part of its strict Corinthian ethos and this year have allowed sponsorship and professional crews.
Undoubtedly buoyed up by its change of date from July to June the fixture now benefits also by becoming a feeder race for July's Sovereign's Cup regatta at Kinsale.
"The more the race developed the more evident it became that there was a need to include top racing boats who were looking around for new offshore challenges," Crotty said yesterday.
Oliver Sheehy's White Tiger, a Beneteau 44.7, will be making a strong attempt to retain the title which she took at the last event in 2003 but there are many newcomers who have proven track records on inshore courses now heading for Kerry.
Cork week class champion George Sisk's J133 Wow (RIYC); Roger Bannon's Di Anna, a newly converted Frers 45 (RIYC); Megalopolis, a Rob Humphries OD entered by Matt Davis and Andrew Comrie (Skerries SC); and Patrick Levin's Beneteau First 42s7 Whistleralong with Vincent Farrell's Beneteau 40.7 Tsunami, both of the host club.
Going again is Adrian Lee (Irisha, Beneteau 47.7, RStGYC), Kieran Jameson and Aidan McManus (Changeling, Sigma 38, HYC), Paul Kirwan (Errislannan, Sigma 38, NYC/RStGYC) and John Hughes (Rebellion, Tam Bay 60, NYC) as well as Ged Pierse and Liam Shanahan who have all competed in the event almost from the beginning.
The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2005 starts in Scotsman's Bay, Dun Laoghaire on Sunday. The large Cruiser division starts at 12.30 and IRC division at 1pm.
In one-design news there are those in the Mermaid class who are consumed only with the impending legal battle over the copyright to the Mermaid design that has come out of Roger Bannon's fibreglass experiment so it is refreshing to report that, in spite of a decline in numbers in their home port of Dun Laoghaire, the class appears to be thriving in the midlands.
Mermaids descended on Lough Ree in early June for their first inland championship.
The event was organised by the local yacht club in company with fellow clinker boats, the Shannon One Design, and attracted Mermaids from Skerries, Rush, Clontarf, Dun Laoghaire and Wexford.
Four races were sailed for the Mermaid Leinster Championship, three on Saturday in blustery conditions and one in extremely light airs on Sunday. Jim Carthy of Rush took the honours, ahead of the National Yacht Club's Roger Bannon and Niall McGrotty from Skerries.
Both fleets raced on separate courses but combined for the Lough Ree Challenge races on Sunday.
WEEKEND FIXTURES DETAILS (June 11th/12th): The Liffey Cruise in aid of RNLI and St Vincent de Paul - Sunday www.cruising.ie; Sigma Irish Nationals - Royal Ulster Yacht Club http: www.ruyc.co.uk; 1720 National Championship - Crookhaven Harbour Sailing Club www.1720sportsboat.com; Laser ll Western Championship - Lough Ree Yacht Club irishlaser2.com; Multihull Western Championship - Galway Bay Sailing Club www.gbsc.ie; Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race - National Yacht Club www.nyc.ie.
