A full programme of races started the biennial Volvo Cork Week yesterday as strong winds gave way to moderate offshore breezes for the 100-boat fleet competing around the harbour.

High winds might have forced the cancellation of yesterday’s practice race, but the forecast for this morning’s official start to Volvo Cork Week is promising and the weather is predicted to steadily improve as the series progresses.

Nearly 90 yachts are already confirmed to enter this year’s Volvo Cork Week — a noticeable increase on when the event was last held two years ago.

Following last weekend’s victory for Crosshaven’s Peter McCann in Kinsale at the ISA Junior All-Ireland Sailing Championships, attention switches to Dun Laoghaire this morning where Anthony O’Leary is set to defend his 2014 title at the National Yacht Club.

Sailing: It was the title defence that should have been two years earlier but the weekend nevertheless brought Ireland’s second victory in Cowes at the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup-

After 40-mile partial round the Isle of Wight race yesterday, Ireland’s team in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup enter today’s single final with their overall lead shaved by just five points.

No races were completed despite nine hours at sea in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup at Cowes yesterday due to light and unsettled breezes.

Ireland’s team in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup retained first overall in the week-long series after a triangle-shaped, 118-mile course that lasted just over 16 hours.

A game of tactics and steady nerves was being played out on the English Channel last night as the high-scoring offshore race in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup was fought out.

Light airs again played games with the racing schedule at Volvo Cork Week yesterday and though further tricky conditions are expected today, clear leaders have emerged across the fleet.

Light winds at times led to delays off Roche’s Point yesterday as day three of Volvo Cork Week saw most of the fleet only return to shore nearing 6pm, but with three races completed.

A marathon end to the ICRA National Championships kept the 115-storng fleet at sea for eight hours yesterday as slightly fresher winds arrived to permit a four-race programme.

I was slightly bemused when I read Anthony O’Leary’s letter to the editor (Aug 7) entitled “What we really need is another Churchill”.

Michael Clifford deplores Enda Kenny’s supposed lack of vision.

If the first two days of the Covestone Asset Management Sovereigns Cup were branded “champagne sailing”, yesterday was the cork being firmly shoved back into the bottle as fresh to strong winds took their toll across the 90-strong turnout.

A second day of superb sailing conditions graced the 90-strong fleet competing in the Covestone Asset Management Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale yesterday.

Racing at Cork warmed up with the improved weather yesterday as a full programme of competition was completed in all nine events under IRC and again under ECHO handicaps.

Dutch entry Tonnerre de Breskens, owned by Piet Vroon, continued its foray into Irish waters this week by opening class zero at Cork Week with two emphatic race wins.

RACING at the Royal Cork drew to a close with the culmination of the CH Marine Winter League.

WHAT a difference a few hours can make to winter sailing.

THERE was no doubt it was November as Jack Frost appeared for the first race of the CH Marine winter league at RCYC.

LIGHT winds on Dublin Bay ended the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in marked contrast to Thursday’s opening race near gale conditions and left close results across the fleet before the overall prize was awarded to the class two entry Supernova from the host port.

AN opening day set-back now appears to be a passing headache for Anthony O’Leary and his team on Antix Beag after day two of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

FRESH or possible near-gale conditions are expected for tomorrow afternoon’s opening race in the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta as the fleet of 400-plus entries gather for the largest sailing event in Ireland this year.

THE Sovereigns Cup was lifted by Anthony O’Leary at Kinsale on Saturday after his Class Zero entry Antix was judged best of the 101-boat fleet for the series that featured a full range of conditions.

ONE lucky sailor was rescued after falling overboard during the Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale yesterday.

STRONG winds forecast for today’s third and penultimate day of the Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale could yet prove as decisive as yesterday’s light and extremely fickle conditions off the Old Head of Kinsale.

A drifting mark off the Old Head of Kinsale upset the opening day of the Sovereigns Cup yesterday where 101-boats have gathered to decide the biennial trophy event.

WITH just a little luck, this morning’s first race in the biennial Sovereign’s Cup will have sunshine and breeze marking a return to last weekend’s champagne sailing conditions at Crosshaven during most of the ICRA championships.

A FULL RANGE of sailing conditions on Cork Harbour delivered a complete test to the combined fleet of more than 60 boats for the annual Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) national championships that ended yesterday.

A “well known drug dealer” who was jailed for 20 years last year for possessing over one million euro of heroin has been sentenced for an earlier drugs offence.

A garda bullet was fired through the hand and stomach of a man waving a loaded sawn-off shotgun in a Cork city pub last April and today this man was jailed for five years.

THE penultimate day of the Rolex Commodore’s will be staged today with a 50-mile Round the Isle of Wight race, in which Ireland will face a significant challenge to maintain its overall lead of the event that has eluded Irish victors for almost two decades.

DAVE DWYER’S marinerscove.ie led the Irish charge for the offshore race of the Rolex Commodores’ Cup in Cowes yesterday, winning Class 2 in the 180-mile race that lasted more than 24 hours.

A GAME of offshore snakes and ladders was underway in the English Channel last night as the fleet in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup negotiated their way along a 180-mile course that is expected to last up to 36 hours and finish sometime early this afternoon.

AS Cork Week enters its finale today, the traditional programme of races has been altered by yesterday’s near gale conditions off Roche’s Point.

CORK WEEK 2010 passed its halfway mark with sunshine and light winds mixed with rain and a slow, rolling seaway off Roche’s Point as the results closed up in most of the 13 classes.

A CHANGE of pace saw standings across the 13 classes tighten into two distinct groups: the outright battles for first place in some, and clear favourites in others. Light winds are again expected today while there will be possible near-gale conditions tomorrow.

Gardaí arrested a man today and charged him with having a loaded sawn-off shotgun at a pub in Cork two weeks ago.

A MAN who was shot by gardaí after he entered a Cork pub brandishing a shotgun and threatened staff is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

A “major player in the heroin trade” has been jailed for twenty years for possession of over a million euro of the drug while his “lackey” has been given a six-year sentence.