SAILING:In the myriad of choices facing Irish sailors in recent times, two classes stand out for popular response and meet highly defined needs that have resulted in seemingly overnight growth of numbers.
Less than 10 years ago, the collapse of Offshore Racing resulted in the birth of Sportsboats and the Cork 1720 class has become arguably the most popular of its kind in Irish and British waters.
The latest twist to the one-design phenomenon is the growth of the Sigma 33 foot class. Although well-established in Britain, the Irish fleet grew from six boats in 1998 to 34 boats just five years later. As a one-design cruiser-racer, it has found its niche among club level sailors who retain a love of racing but also need a cruising option that offers some level of comfort.
Feeding in from all-out racing classes such as the Ruffian 23 and Dragon, the Sigma has also attracted several 1720 owners who perhaps found the jump into the highly physical and Olympian dominated Sportsboat scene a little too wide a gulf to cross.
This weekend sees the first of two important events for the Irish class in the 2003 season. Dun Laoghaire plays host to the Chubb Insurance International Team Racing Challenge where 250 crew from both sides of the Atlantic have gathered for what is hoped will become a regular event on a well-established inter-club circuit.
Three teams from Newport Rhode Island's New York Yacht Club, Ida Lewis YC and Storm Trisail YC are selected through the auspices of the prestigious Patriots Cup event organisation. Another team from Hamble River SC plus two teams organised by the Sigma class association complete the line-up.
Billed as a "Team Racing Masters", the event is ideally suited to the older profile of the Sigma 33 class and while this may fly in the face of the collegiate image of Team Racing, the leading contenders have well-proven sailing credentials. Leading skippers from the European side of the field are all former class champions across a range of disciplines while the Newport visitors count numerous Americas Cup veterans in their panel as their port was the permanent home to that event until 1983.
Then later on this summer, the Sigma 33s gather for the Alfa Romeo European Championships although this relatively new event for the class has still to garner signifcant continental support. In fact it was Cork Week in 1998 that inspired many Irish owners to look at the class when 70 boats decided the inaugural title.
A similar turnout is again expected at the Royal Irish YC in June with boats sailing from Scotland and the South Coast of England to compete. The regular leading pack from Dublin Bay Sailing Club's weekly series are expected to put in a strong challenge. Meanwhile, the Royal Ocean Racing Club this week announced two further entries for this year's Admiral's Cup event in Cowes. British Americas Cup backer Peter Harrison's twin "Sailability Team" will be crewed by top professionals along with disabled sailors. The announcement brings the line-up to five British teams plus one French, Spanish, Australian entries and two unconfirmed teams from New Zealand and Spain.
