SAILING: The Irish-built 1720 Sportsboats can be seen on continental motorways this weekend as a fleet of 35-boats converge on Lake Garda in northern Italy for the class European Championships next week. More than half a dozen Irish crews will be competing and hopes are high that one of these can secure a win at the first major event for the fleet outside Irish and British waters.
Unsurprisingly, Cork sailors dominate the class founded in honour of the Crosshaven club that is the now the undisputed oldest yacht club in the world. Former Admiral Anthony O'Leary is a firm favourite and will be keen to add this trophy to his season wins that include the Irish National Class One Cruiser title.
Olympic hopeful and 1720 "ace" helm Maurice "Prof" O'Connell will also be action on Aquatack while Martin Byrne's Key Events is another promising candidate from these waters.
But since the class switched its marketing focus from Ireland to Britain and Hamble-based Key Yachting, the main following for the 1720 is in Britain, which provides the most active fleets.
Holding the event in Italy is a further brave move to invigorate interest at this famously windy and challenging venue. Racing at Riva Del Garda begins next Tuesday and ends on Friday when a late-night mini-exodus of top Irish helms will begin to return to Howth for another important series.
The Anglo Irish Bank Helmsman's Championship is being billed as the "All-Ireland" of sailing and will have junior, senior and women's titles decided from racing in Etchells and Fireflies over the weekend. Details will be announced next week when the qualifying skippers confirm their nominations and the boat draw takes place.
Meanwhile in France, with just today's long-offshore race remaining in the Ecover Half Ton Classics Cup in Dinard, Ireland's Blue Berret Pi is poised to win in a 30-plus fleet drawn from five countries. The Royal St George YC team, led by skipper Shay Moran with co-owners Enda Connellan and Terry Madigan, have a 22-point lead after six races that count three first places.
Wednesday saw a mini-offshore course intended to be around six hours long but ended up lasting about 12 hours and saw the Dún Laoghaire boat finish first on the water with a comfortable handicap lead. But not for the first time this summer in an offshore race, after being becalmed for almost five hours, the breeze filled in from behind bringing the slower boats home quicker and Moran's team were lucky not to lose their overall lead.
Barry Cunningham's Dick Dastardly from the Dun Laoghaire Motor YC lies 18th overall after experiencing technical problems and is reported to be steadily improving in the ranks.
With a bonus points multiplier of two times for today's final, consistency for Blue Berret Pi should deliver the trophy that was first awarded in 1965 as the heyday of the International Offshore Rule (IOR), to which these boats were first designed, was approaching.
Meanwhile, Allianz Direct has launched an online quote service in response to the growing marine leisure sector. An estimated 22 per cent of incidents involve collisions in the country's combined fleet of 50,000 leisure craft and, at an average craft value of €40,000, owners risk financial exposure if they do not hold sufficient cover. Full details at http://www.allianzdirect.ie
