SAILING: Grand prix sailing took a nosedive off Cowes yesterday when the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) scrubbed its so-called "world championship of offshore sailing" planned for July and, with it, died another Irish love affair with the Admiral's Cup.
Having nailed its colours on three designs that RORC organisers believed would be an easy formula for the team event, the British club boasted a dozen interested parties from seven nations a month ago, but yesterday its commodore Chris Little was forced to reveal that only two countries had paid the entry fee in what many commentators predict will be the final death throw for the Admiral's Cup.
Yesterday's write-off will be a bitter pill to swallow for offshore enthusiasts around the world, but in reality it is only the latest farce in a chequered history for the Admiral's Cup circus.
"It is a great disappointment to us to have to take this decision. Realistically we needed a minimum of five competitive international teams to guarantee a meaningful series for all concerned. Sadly, we have not been able to attract enough teams," said Little.
Two years ago, after attracting over €1 million in sponsorship, Ireland succeeded in bringing the cup to Dublin Bay, the first time in its history that it moved from Cowes, only for a unilateral RORC decision to pull out of the Dublin deal as reported in this column.
This time round there was good support for the 2005 format and Ireland were one of the first nations to declare an interest in the boats chosen for the regatta, a Mumm 30, a Swan 45 and a big IRC handicap boat.
Ireland were one of up to 10 other teams attempting to assemble a team for what many had seen as a resurgence in interest after Australia's win in the 2003 event that went ahead in Cowes.
And in many respects Team Ireland was ahead of the game and dreams of fielding Ireland's first team in over a decade in the event looked a real possibility.
Howth skipper David Nixon organised three boats, spearheaded by Galway's IRC racer, the TP 52 Patches, owned by Eamonn Conneelly that included two British Olympic medallists among its crew.
The prospect of an Irish team sponsor, however, to the tune of €250,000 for a fledgling team, looked increasingly remote since Christmas despite an intense boat-show sponsorship drive in February.
But despite the lack of cash, pioneering efforts continued regardless and yesterday, by coincidence, Nixon announced in a press release that although the event was cancelled, he had in fact landed the necessary funding for participation in July.
Last night Conneelly confirmed to The Irish Times that sponsorship would have been in place if the event had gone ahead.
But it was not only Irish efforts that were dogged with the rising costs of Admiral's Cup participation. Others faced big costs in shipping; the Australians need to ship boats from Sydney this month. But in truth the cancellation is a combination of factors not only costs, not least the lack of clarity coming from RORC headquarters over the past six weeks. Confidence issues with the handicap rule itself are also in the mix, and something RORC now cite as a contributory reasons for the cup's demise.
Little says RORC will continue to discuss the new grand prix rule to ensure there is a clearer and more competitive rule for the Admiral's Cup in years to come, but it may now be too little too late.
