ENJOY would have been an appropriate name for the winning yacht in the opening race of Ford Cork Week at Crosshaven yesterday, where fun is the stated aim. But when handicaps and computers get in the way even enjoyment can be shattered.
There was elation followed by disappointment for the 12-man crew of Enjoy, who were provisionally awarded first place as a result of a handicap hiccup in Class 0. But after a further check on the Northern Ireland J120's handicap, the elated crew, skippered by Barney Isherwood, were pushed well down the 24-boat fleet.
In near perfect conditions the Class A fleet raced a coastal course to the Sovereigns, and it was on the two-hour approach to the rock on a beam reach in Is knots of breeze that the J120 maximised her potential under Assymetric Spinnaker.
At the Sovereigns, a game of rock-hopping began as crews edged closer to the rocks for tactical advantage: "We were reading 1.4 metres on the echo-sounder and there were boats still trying to get inside us," said Enjoy crew member Elaine Firth.
The eventual winner was the host club's Cracklin Rosie, skippered by Roy Dickson, which has brought her winning performance from Dublin Bay to the 487-boat Cork Regatta Gordon Maguire, helming Silk, II, was second on channel handicap, with Nigel Bramwell's Hawk of the UK, a Bashford 41, in third position. The lone maxi entrant, Sorcery (Jake Woods from Hawaii), was seventh, despite her lengthy and expected lead on the water.
Inshore, the proud showing of Cork's own 23 sports boats, the 1720 fleet, may have reduced the numbers by two after a dismasting and collision in two separate incidents forced the retirement of two entrants.
Ford Racing, who was the winner of Round the Isle of Wight race in the past month, was reduced to 21st position, and Douglas Deane's Cork Dry Gin edged ahead of Joe English's Eko to finish first and second respectively.
In Class 5, a determined effort by former GP 14 world champion Simon Relph of Manchester, who has current lSA helmsman champion Ruan O Tiarnaigh on board his half-tonne Demolition, produced a second and third in the 23-boat fleet to lead in the opening two races over an outer loop Olympic course.
