Dun Laoghaire's Gerbil Owens is hoping history won't repeat itself a 10th time in Crosshaven today when he attempts to shake off the tag of runner-up in nine regional events during his junior dinghy career.
The second discard of the Mirror National championships will be crucial when it comes into effect later in the day, with Owens and crew Spener Mitton (14) only having a 0.5 point lead over his nearest rivals and club-mates Roger (18) and Nick Craig (18) of the Royal St George YC. A Kinsale challenge from Matthias Hellstern and Cathal O'Donovan remains a threat with the pair anxious to carry the mantle of top-ranked Irish boat through to next week's Eagle Star class European championships at their own club.
In tomorrow's final two races of the UK Optimist championships at Pwllheli, North Wales, Lorcan Lennon's two first-place results have kept the East Antrim sailor inside the top 10 of the senior fleet from the 10 races sailed so far with Dylan Gannon of Howth lying in seventh. In the 94-boat junior fleet Nicholas O'Leary is in third place.
At Fenit, Percy Boyle of Skerries, sailing Innocence, reaped the rewards of a well practised crew, Aine Carroll and Stephen Costelloe, to show spectacular speed under spinnaker to take the Mermaid class title from Wexford's Derek Joyce. Boyle scored 1,1,1,1 and 2 in a six-race one discard series, with Roger Bannon of the National Yacht Club, who capsized while leading the final race, third.
Damian Foxall's wish for stronger breezes was only partly fulfilled in the start of the second leg of the Figaro race from Howth to Ile de Groix (off the west coast of Brittany) yesterday morning after strong sun and tidal currents made the leg to north Dublin this week a mentally demanding one for the solo skippers.
Foxall (Barlo Plastics) was the first non-French entry to finish in Howth after one of the most gruelling races in the history of the event. Foxall (13th) trailed the favourite, Michel Desjoyeaux, who came through in the final 24 hours to take first place, after shadowing Pascal Bidegorry for most of the 385-mile leg from Cherbourg. Bidegorry finally took sixth place, behind Eric Drouglazet (second) and Roland Jourdain (third).
After the first finisher, once again the tide turned against the remaining boats, thereby increasing the time difference from the leaders. It was the longest leg in Figaro history, 109 hours for Desjoyeaux with an average of 3.58 knots over the water. This compares with 46 hours for the same course in 1992.
Staying on the east coast, a race area close to Lambay island is the venue for the Carlsberg-sponsored Malahide five-class regatta tomorrow for Cruisers I, II, III, Pupetteers and Squibs. A turnout of 40 boats is expected.
Nine national championships and one world championship follow the arrival of the Tall Ships in Dublin next Wednesday. In what can only be described as the worst example of clashing fixtures, the Irish Sailing Association calendar offers the choice of the Flying fifteen, 1720, IDRA 14, Laser, 420, Topper, GP14 and Multihull championships over an eight-day period.
Topping the bill is Bray's staging of the Enterprise world championships. There are 100 entries to date and though up to half of the fleet will be made up of local boats, there is a large British contingent and also entries from Hong Kong, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Tomorrow's penultimate round of the Carlsberg Superleague at Howth - which is being led by Max McMullan's Mustang Sally in class zero - will also double as the last warm-up for Dublin Bay Sailing Club's popular end-of-season race series. The Stentor Challenge, which is expected to attract an entry in excess of 60 boats, has again been promoted in Britain as well as throughout Ireland.
Comprising two back-to-back races on August 29th and 30th, racing will be provided under both Channel and ECHO handicap systems and there is also a team trophy on offer.
Max McMullan, who won Class 0 and the event overall last year, has confirmed that he will defend his Irish CHS title against the likes of Roy Dickson's Cracklin' Rosie and Cormac Twomey's Sarah J. Other leading contenders are likely to include Tom Murphy's Midnight Express from Waterford (the Class 1 winner last year) and the Stewarts' Little Bear from Dun Laoghaire, while in Class 2, a number of Howth-based Impalas, led by Michael Guinan, will be keen to impress again.
