SAILING CORK WEEK PREVIEW:FOREVER THE bridesmaid and never the bride. Is there an unwritten rule we just haven't read that Ireland must always be second in the Commodore's Cup?
After a series of near misses, there were many reasons that last weekend would have been wholly appropriate timing for an Irish win on the Solent.
Third time lucky is how it was scripted, but after first being jilted by the French and now by the English (for the second time), it's easy to be haunted by pre-wedding nerves.
Regardless, the Irish love affair with a team trophy they have never won looks set to continue.
Ireland must wait two years for another chance, so it is a measure of Irish talent and confidence that campaigns for 2010 are already forming, buoyed by the fact that, in the closing stages on Sunday, Ireland White held the lead.
This is a significant point, not least because it reinforces just how quickly this event can turn, but mostly because it shows Irish cruiser pro-am racing is on the world stage.
But a White wedding was only a dream because Britain Red - it has been fairly acknowledged - were the most consistent performers of the 15 teams last week.
Post-regatta analysis here will focus on how the teams got hitched at all and how that can be improved for an event that tests teams over a variety of courses.
There can be little disappointment for Ireland when two teams return home with second and third overall in a competition that resembles, in so many ways, the Admiral's Cup of years ago.
By all accounts, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) ran a professional event that was sailed in championship conditions. From a lacklustre start in 1992 and well documented errors in 2006, the event has come of age; but the club are not resting on their laurels.
RORC are evaluating a proposal from Cork that the biennial team trophy should no longer be squashed in between the Round Ireland and Cork Week. It is understood that the 2010 event will most likely be staged in August, a week after Cowes Week.
American involvement is a possibility too, and competing countries have gone as far as to ask a pertinent question: if you are changing the timing why not the venue? Crosshaven and Dún Laoghaire would be obvious hosts for the Commodore's Cup, but Royal Cork Yacht Club have another event to consider in the immediate future.
In recent times, far from being Royal Cork's cash cow, staging next week's 400-boat Cork Week event has put a strain on resources. The resignation of both the regatta chairman and racing director in recent times indicates the pressure associated with running such a large event.
But what has never been called into question is the pioneering effort to showcase Cork harbour; the regatta, in sailing terms at least, is a worldwide brand.
Yet for all the high-tech publicity machinery of this event, the club are still an organisation powered largely by the parish pump.
Over 100 volunteers spend months performing mind-numbing administrative tasks, an effort that displays a passion for their club that is an example to all.
And it is for these reasons that Irish sailing needs to get behind Royal Cork, to give every possible support and help ease the burden of transforming a sleepy fishing village into a hotbed of Irish summer sport every two years.
Criticism centres on the cost of entry compared to similar events in Ireland and Britain. It is cited as one reason entries are down.
Critics say €1,100 for a 40-foot boat in the Gentleman's Class is excessive compared with Dún Laoghaire regatta at approximately €300. The Cowes Week entry fee is less than half that of Cork Week.
Of course, numbers attending regatta weeks are down across the board, but addressing entry fees would go a long way to dealing with critics who must still acknowledge that, whatever Cork lacks in numbers this time, it has a knack of making up for in quality boats.
Rambler, a 90-footer skippered by George David from the US, along with Moneypenny and Numbers, both from the US, both 52 feet long, and skippered by James Swartz and Dan Myers respectively, are moored in the harbour this morning, an impressive sight and an indication that Cork Week is still a player on the world stage.
By all accounts, a great week of racing lies ahead. Of course, it would have been the perfect reception for a victorious Commodore's Cup homecoming, but this will have to wait until 2010.
