The latest International Sailing Federation world rankings indicate continued consistent performances in the final countdown to Sydney 2000, now just six weeks away. The four athletes are now in Australia and starting final training and acclimatisation.
Baltimore's Maria Coleman in the Europe class remains unchanged at fifth in the world as does David Burrows, ranking 12th overall in the Finn. The latter's slippage from his previous high of seventh is explained by a wrist injury for two key events earlier in the summer.
Veteran Olympian Mark Mansfield and Irish Times sailing correspondent David O'Brien improved from 15th to 13th having rocketed up the rankings list after starting their Star keelboat campaign just 14 months ago. Expectations of the three boats are riding high on the strength of the best ever set of pre-Olympic results from Irish sailors though team officials remain cautious about making medal predictions.
Meanwhile, John Twomey's Irish Disabled Sailing Team from Kinsale will ship their new Sonar keelboat to Australia next month while their final event will be in Connecticut for the Atlantic coast Championship in early September. "Cool Runnings Too" had an impressive debut regatta at Ford Cork Week when the three-man team ended second overall in Class Seven.
"Cash-strapped and in hock" is a mild description of his campaign finances according to Twomey. His team has received £15,000 from the Sports Council carding scheme and £1,600 from the Irish Sailing Association for the 1999 World Championship entry fee. Corporate sponsorship has come from ICC Bank, Church & General and Aer Lingus. Disabled sailing falls between two stools in the ISA Olympic scheme although Twomey is hopeful that this will be changed for future campaigns.
Progress towards completion of the 680-berth marina at Dun Laoghaire took a further step this week with the confirmation that marketing of the facility is about to start. The management company have written to a large number of individuals that have already made contact in keeping with the stated policy of allocating berths on a first come, first served basis.
Construction of the breakwaters is on target according to Marina Marketing & Management Ltd. with the company expected to be on site at the beginning of September when preparations for the marina furniture installation will begin. The final price has also been confirmed at £245 per metre applying to all sizes of craft. No preferential treatment will be given although requests to locate groups of boats close together will be accommodated.
On this basis, the cost of berthing a 10-metre compares approximately as follows: Summer mooring: £640 and winter storage: £550. Slippage and craning costs are required in both cases and club membership at around £600 in the bigger clubs is needed for the launch access required to get to the moorings. The final difference between mooring versus marina of close to £1000 is balanced by year round access to the sea.
Meanwhile, this weekend sees one of the biggest fleets of one-design boats gather in Howth when up to 50 crews are expected to attend the Esat Digifone Squib National Championships. The local fleet will be boosted by 20 boats from Northern Ireland and racing will continue into Monday. And in South Africa, Sean Craig and Heather King lead the six-boat Irish contingent at the GP14 World Championships in ninth place. Britain's Ian Pinnell leads narrowly from Richard Rstaugh at the front of the 90-boat fleet.
This weekend will also be a telling time for Colm Barrington's Gloves Off from Dun Laoghaire. The new Corby 38-footer won Class One at Cork Week but has also been leading her class at Cowes, holding a six-point lead with two days remaining. Interestingly, Barrington is also beating Harold Cudmore's Barlo Plastics who was a Class Zero competitor in Cork. Victory in Cowes for Barrington will confirm him as one of the most prolific owner/skippers to come out of the Irish big boat scene in recent years.
