SAILING JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:THE COUNTRY'S biggest dinghy class will not take part in next week's All Ireland Junior Championships because it says the boat selected for the event is "not suitable" for its class champion.
The Optimist class rounded off the 2009 season in Dun Laoghaire with a massive fleet of 243 boats for its national championships, the winner of which was Seafra Guilfoyle, a Royal Cork teenager who showed significant promise by lifting all four provincial championships this season.
The event is being sailed in Guilfoyle’s club for the first time in a decade, but the 13-year-old has been judged too light to be able to handle the selected Laser Radial dinghy.
“On health and safety grounds the Radial is just not suitable for the Optimist sailors,” its class president, Fred Campbell, said yesterday. “The championship has turned in to a Laser event.”
The remarks emphasise the need for the Irish Sailing Association (ISA) to try to pick a boat that spans age groups from 13 to 19.
There is no doubt boat selection is a difficult task for invitational events, but any reasonable procedure must consider a two-handed boat too. Events could also be broken down into junior and youth categories.
The overall winner of the event will become the All Ireland Junior Champion 2009. The honour comes with financial support towards attending top-class regattas.
All Ireland invitees for both the junior and senior event at Crosshaven are expected to be announced this weekend.
British visitor Charles Apthorp lifted the Irish Flying Fifteen title at the National YC last weekend following a light air series when winds on Dublin Bay never exceeded six knots.
Apthorp, of Hayling Island SC, a former world champion in the keelboat class, did not have things his own way, though, with the five-race series producing a different winner each race. The title was decided in the final race when the Londoner, crewed by the National’s Alan Green, outwitted Malcolm Crichton and Orla Lawson of Strangford Lough. Third in the 30-boat fleet was Crichton’s club-mate Brian McKee.
Also on the Bay last weekend, only one point separated Martin Byrne from Andrew Craig after a light air East Coast Dragon Championships. Third was Neil Hegarty. The top three competitors, in a fleet of 13, all hailed from the host Royal St George Club.
Royal Cork’s Cian McCarthy has launched his Class 40 yacht in preparation for the Route de Chocolat, a transatlantic race from France to Mexico. After initial trials, the boat, the first of a new design from Merfyn Owen, will be positioned to Cork this month as part of his 1,000-mile qualification sail prior to the transatlantic race.
Ireland’s entry in the Clipper Round the World Race, Cork, finished second after the first leg of the race to La Rochelle ended this week, but a protest against them and the first place boat from Finland looms for an apparent infringement of the sailing instructions. Orla Mellett from Galway, Ireland, a crew member on Cork, said, “We’re just hoping we don’t get too much of a penalty to take away from our second place”.
The 30th anniversary edition of the Round Ireland Race is to get a shake-up next summer with Wicklow organisers set to run an inshore race for competitors prior to the 704-mile circumnavigation on Sunday, June 20th. The change in format has been announced on the club website here along with a plea for a new race sponsor.
The European Speedsailing Championships will take place in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, from October 17th-23rd. A week in November has been allocated should suitable winds not be available next month. A prize fund of €10,000 is up for grabs.
A new record has been set for the circumnavigation of Ireland by motorboat at the weekend. The fine weather gave the perfect weather window for a three-man crew from Cork to set out from Mizen Head and complete the journey in 19 hours, nine minutes and 50 seconds. The crew was Justin McInerney, Derek Stanley and Gregory Marsden who made the journey in a 10-metre rib.
