Sailing: The arrival of the autumn leagues around the coast signifies the culmination of the main sailing season in Ireland, though with winter series and frostbite events at all major venues it seems the former "off-season" is very much on.
But the season just ending has been both a roller-coaster and a two-sided coin for the cruiser-racer section of the sport.
On one side, this year started off with much excitement surrounding Ireland's team pulling together for the Admiral's Cup. This undeniably optimistic campaign faced a challenge securing sufficient sponsors but reality hit home with the news that the Royal Ocean Racing Club was to cancel the event due to lack of interest.
Eamon Conneely's new Transpac 52 Patches was effectively to be the flagship of Irish offshore hopes and indeed lived up to all expectations by wiping the boards of various IRC handicap fleets at home and in Britain.
Indeed, the Galway yacht, with its mix of club sailors and some of the best professional sailors available, went on to put paid to the begrudgers that privately predicted its demise when racing against its sistership one-designs on the Mediterranean circuit this autumn.
Not so as last week's result from the Audi Cup proved. In a fleet of 10 TP52's, Patches placed fourth in the last event of the series on her first outing in a one-design fleet race.
Being used to taking an early lead and sailing a lonely race up front, the boat-on-boat action in the Med proved both exhausting and exhilarating.
But the season highs were not just restricted to Patches. She was joined in Cowes by Colm Barrington's Flying Glove and Tim Costelloe's Tiamat. All three staged the finest performance of an Irish squad in Cowes by taking the premiere class trophies on the doorstep of British yachting.
And the highlights aren't just restricted to these elite performers. At club-level events around Ireland, boats such as Anthony O'Leary's Antix, Paul Hyde and Simon Coveneys' Dark Angel, Paddy Gregory's Benola, the Tyrell's Aquelina from Arklow, George Sisk's Wow to mention but a few, are consistently featuring or winning outright their classes.
Their common ingredient is crew and effective teamwork brought on by consistency. As events such as the autumn league at Howth demonstrate, demand and participation is as strong as ever.
Indeed, at 185 boats, this is some 20 boats fewer than the same league 10 years ago. But the Dún Laoghaire Motor YC series has started since then and with several dozen entries, overall numbers are up in the Dublin area.
But if crew is the common winning ingredient, it also forms the other side of the coin apparent from reviewing the 2005 season.
Undoubtedly, turnouts are as strong if not stronger than ever. Privately however, many owners complain of being unable to keep regular crew for a variety of reasons. Lack of regular crew familiar with working together leads to a drop in performance. A drop in ability on board inevitably leads to lower expectations in a competitive race - for example, in windy conditions on a downwind leg, greater numbers of skippers are opting not to fly spinnakers to minimise risks that would be taken as normal by regular crews on the leading boats.
Such a drop in seamanship is just one outcome. Another is the loss of regulars from one fleet and the case of the decline of the 1720 Sportsboat is a vivid example. Conceived and built in Ireland, this five-person one-design is exciting and appealing to race.
Its following has spread to Britain but in spite of attempts to revive its fortunes at home, the class has lost its popular status as the national "grand prix" one-design. Agreeing a precise cause of the decline is next to impossible to determine though the most common reason cited seems to be crew commitment.
From five crew to just three is one explanation for the growth of the Etchells fleet that has sprung up in Howth over the past two seasons.
Dubbed the "Northside Dragon", in reference to its cost at less than half that of the International Dragon that is well established in Dún Laoghaire and elsewhere, many of the current Etchells sailors would formerly have been found within the ranks of the 1720 class.
But is the question of regular crew simply a cop-out? Traditional crews are drawn from owners' circle of friends but this model appears now to have failed.
Oliver Sheehy, owner of the 44.7 footer White Tiger reckoned he had a crew pool of 20 for the Dún Laoghaire Regatta in July, several of whom he never got to meet before coming on board. His boat has its own website that usually co-ordinates 30 sailors via email to secure a crew of 12 for each race. But in seeking to fill his crew list for next season, Sheehy plans to cast his net wider.
"Relying on the recognised club members simply isn't satisfactory any longer," he commented.
