The sixth annual conference of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association took place last weekend in Athlone. Barry Rose of the Royal Cork YC was elected Commodore of the Association which represents cruiser racing in Ireland.
Outgoing Commodore of the Association, Fintan Cairns of the Royal Irish YC, welcomed the large attendance and outlined details of some of the major events of the season.These included the National Championships in Howth, the Commodores Cup at Cowes at which the Irish teams finished second and third this year, and the successful development of a National White Sail class.
The principal guest speaker was international sailor and author Bill Gladstone of North Sails who discussed the latest rule changes and gave an interesting overview of sail trim and racing tactics.
Anthony O’Leary of the Royal Cork YC reviewed the performance of the Irish Commodores Cup teams and presented a list of goals for future events including more emphasis on offshore races and heavy weather sailing which could help with the goal of securing the coveted trophy in 2010.
Francis Ennis, Vice Commodore of Howth Yacht Club, presented a revised and simplified list of White Sail Rules which were compiled following extensive consultations with the national clubs.
Liam Lynch, Commodore Elect of Tralee Bay Sailing Club, gave an illustrated talk on the facilities available to competitors hoping to compete in next years National Championships in Fenit from June 11th to 13th of June, together with a variety of offshore races from Dublin, Cork and Galway.
Prior to the presentation of the boat of the year award, newly elected Commodore Barry Rose, confirmed that the nominated list had been reduced down to two outstanding boats, and despite the best efforts of the selection committee, they had been unable to separate them as both had a similar number of impressive results. As a result, a break with tradition was made and the ICRA National Award was presented jointly to Roy Dickson’s “Rosie” from Howth YC and Dave Dywer’s “Marinerscove.ie” from the Royal Cork YC.
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