SAILING:RACE READY Record fleet turns out for national championship
THE RECORD fleet that turned out for the BMW ICRA National Championship at Howth over the weekend was rewarded with close racing and glorious racing weather.
Five national titles were decided in a broad range of wind conditions.
Anthony O’Leary retained his Class Zero champion status on Antix from the Royal Cork Yacht Club but was under severe pressure from Richard Fildes’ Welsh entry Impetuous that eventually tied with the Crosshaven crew after seven races.
Their duel at the front of the 10-boat class was settled on the tie-break by counting their race wins and O’Leary shaded it by one result; each counted first and second places only for the series.
Munster eyes were smiling in Class One where Pat Kelly’s Storm II, from Rush Sailing Club, was deposed of his national title on local waters by Ian Nagle and Paul O’Malleys’ Jelly Baby, also from the RCYC.
Twenty boats turned out for this class that enjoyed some of the closest racing of the 123-boat fleet and the leading four boats sailed ashore uncertain which of them had won overall.
Storm II placed fourth while Colin Byrne’s Xtravagence from the Royal Irish YC was joined by club-mate Paul O’Higgins who returned with former champion Rockabill V and ended up tied for second place.
Visitor Nigel Biggs on Checkmate XV won class two, leaving local Anthony Gore-Grimes of the host club in second place on Dux in this 29-strong class though Team Toy Yot did lift the silverware for Howth in Class 4.
The annual showdown in Class 3 between defending champion Neil Kenifick of the RCYC and Flor O’Driscoll was interrupted this year by Tim Goodbody on White Mischief who threatened the pair’s usual dominance of the class.
Kenifick retained his national title but the newcomer revelled in Friday and Saturday’s breezier conditions and may well have delivered a closer result had yesterday not been a light airs affair.
Ashore, the event was marked by a relatively unusual occurrence when a crew-member on one entry was brought before the jury under Rule 69 – Gross Misconduct Unsportsmanlike behaviour. A formal warning was issued in place of a sanction which would otherwise have triggered a tribunal hearing leading to a possible ban.
It is understood that the incident involved a heated exchange during racing between two boats that continued ashore.
Meanwhile, in mid-Atlantic, Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team finally found the favoured conditions they have missed for the last six months of the race and pulled into the lead of the seventh leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Miami to Lisbon.
Overall race leader Iker Martinez on Telefonica was in fifth place for the leg last night and, as result stood then, the top four boats were almost tied on points with just 2½ stages remaining before the final in-port race in Galway at the beginning of July.
The current leg is expected to finish in Lisbon at the end of this week.
