SAILING:SPRINGTIME MAY be the start of the season but Irish sailors were back on the waterfront in force this week to applaud Ger O'Rourke when he lifted the Cork Dry Gin Sailor of the Year award, while abroad, Dubliner Ciara Peelo secured a place for Ireland in the Laser Radial class at this summer's Olympic regatta.
Cruiser racing's dominant position in Irish sailing was reconfirmed when Limerick's O'Rourke became the first sailor to retain the sailor of the year trophy.
O'Rourke's victory in last year's Fastnet Race was applauded at the Morrison Hotel in Dublin where 23 dinghy and offshore competitors were in the running for the prize (see list below).
Abroad, Sarah Steyaert of France won the 2008 Women's Laser Radial World Championship after a sensational finish to the regatta when Lijia Xu of China was disqualified from the final race.
The six-day regatta concluded off Takapuna, Auckland yesterday and with it Ireland, in the form of Howth's Ciara Peelo, finished 29th to secure the last nation place for Ireland on the start line of the women's radial class in Beijing.
Selectors must now decide to send either Peelo or Debbie Hanna of Belfast Lough, who finished 52nd, to the Games.
At home, the a much talked about French armada scheduled to drop anchor off Ireland's Eye has so far failed to materialise. But even if the prospect of a French attack at the Irish championships in May was just sabre-rattling, Irish Cruiser chief Fintan Cairns has sent out an alert for Géry Trentesaux's team who plan to use several regattas in these islands in the build up to their defence of June's Commodore's Cup at Cowes.
Radio silence from across the channel has done nothing to dent preparations for the SAAB-sponsored Cruiser National championships on May 9th-16th at Howth, with boats from O'Rourke's home port of Kilrush and the Western YC also expected to push the fleet over the 100-mark.
This year the emphasis is very much on all-comers, with racing provided for classes zero, one, two and three. Although class zero may yet have international participation it is certain to feature Ireland's Commodore's Cup entries, but it will also be possible to race for championship honours without an endorsed racing certificate under ECHO handicap.
There are 40 entries to date and Cairns expects a rush before the March 29th deadline for skippers (even French ones) to avail of a 30 per cent discount on entries at www.hyc.ie.
There will be at least three Irish boats at this weekend's Red Funnel regatta in Cowes, all sailing Jason Ker-designed boats - Anthony O'Leary on the 39ft Antix Eile, Conor and Denise Phelan's 37ft Ker Jump Juice and Eamon Crosbie's 32ft Voodoo Chile. The regatta is seen as an important preparation for the Commodore's Cup in which Ireland will have three teams.
Wicklow Sailing Club say Colm Barrington's 76-hour record in the BMW Round Ireland race - set in 1998 - will be challenged again in June 21st, by Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard 3, which holds the Fastnet race record.
2007 MONTHLY AWARD WINNERS
January:Colm Barrington, Royal Irish YC, Dublin; February:Carmel Winkelmann National YC, Dublin; March:Pat and Olivia Murphy, Howth YC, Dublin; April:David Harte, Schull SC, Cork; May:Conor Phelan, Royal Cork YC, Cork; June:Tyrrell family (Arklow SC) and John Twomey (Kinsale YC); July:Vincent Gaffney (Howth YC, Dublin), Ted Keelan and Fergus O'Sullivan (Royal St George YC), Dublin; August:Ger O'Rourke Western YC, Kilrush, and Eric Lisson, Royal Cork YC, Cork; September:Capt Michael Coleman, Cobh, Nicholas O'Leary, Royal Cork YC, Cork and Eamon Conneely, Galway Bay SC; October:Stefan Hyde, Royal Cork YC, Cork; November:Con Murphy and Cathy MacAleavey, National YC, Dublin; December:Ron Holland, Kinsale YC.
