A quality fleet is lined up for what promises to be a great weekend of racing for the ICRA National Championships in the Royal Cork Yacht Club this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Royal Cork is gearing up to welcome all competitors to the event. Many boats have already arrived.
Coffee, tea, breakfast rolls and sandwiches will be available each morning before sailing. There will be music each evening after racing and each night. When the fleets come ashore there will be a special offer of beef/chicken burger, chips and a pint available for €10. Sailing suppers will be available from 6pm on Thursday and Friday in the Clubhouse.On Saturday night there is an informal function in the dining room. This will be a buffet comprising a main course, dessert and coffee or tea for €25. Most of you have already reserved places for this, and your tickets can be collected and paid for at registration. Anyone who has not already reserved tickets can do so by calling Marina Rose on 086 2628712.
There will be prize giving each day, and the final prize giving will take place after racing on Sunday. Day prize sponsors Dubarry have come up with the innovative idea that each crew on the winning boats in IRC and ECHO each day will receive a prize in reward for their efforts. Two styles of Dubarry sailing hats and custom sailing socks will be included in this effort to recognise crews and offer variety each day. This is a welcome development from Dubarry and ICRA.
In Class 0, local boats Antix (Anthony O’Leary), Jump Juice (Conor Phelan) and Gloves Off (Kieran and Brian Twomey) will be challenged by George Sisk’s new Wow, Norbert Reilly’s Crazy Horse, and Richard Fide’s Welsh entry Impetuous, which is a former Blondie.
Class 1 sees a fine Class where last year’s ECHO winner Ian Nagle and Paul O’Malley’s Jelly Baby will be challenged by sister ship Peter Reddan’s Jetstream, Denis Hewitt and friends on Raptor, and local boats Donal O’Leary’s D-Tox and Robert O’Leary’s Antix Beag.
Class 2 will see a battle between Corby 25s: SCORA Commodore Vinny O’Shea’s Yanks $ Ffrancs, Brian Goggin’s new Allure, and Denis Coleman’s Thunderbird. These will be tested by the likes of Conor Ronan’s Ruthless, Shane Stratham’s Slack Alice, Kieran and Liz O’Brien’s Magnet, and the Desmond Ivers Deasy team on Bad Company.
Class 3 has a backbone this year of state of the art Quarter Tonners. ICRA are delighted to welcome Black Fun (Jamie Mc Dowell) all the way from New Zealand. He will be challenged by Neil & George Kenefick’s Tiger, and Eamonn Rohan’s Anchor Challenge among others.
Making its debut in the ICRA National Championships, Class 4 will see Kevin O’Connor’s Gaelic Kiwi take on likes of Alan Mulcahy’s Sundancer and Michael Sexton’ Granny Knot.
The Non Spinnaker Corinthian Cup sees a fine fleet where Billy and Hilary Duane’s Expression will compete against Clive Doherty’s Phaeton, Bill O’Mahony’s Julia B, and Seamus Gilroy’s Split Point. John Downing’s Samba and Conor O’Donovan’s X-tension will also be in contention.
The Royal Cork have laid on high standard racing on the water under Race Officers Peter Crowley and Richard Leonard and crews will be warmly welcomed ashore to a carnival type atmosphere with music and casual food on the go immediately after racing.
Further details can be found on the event website https://www.royalcork.com/icra2011/
No comments yet.