Hearts race as the sun appears

Chasing the big boys on a 32-foot sailboat can be as much of a challenge as racing at Cork Week. That wasn’t the plan.

Plan A consisted of spending the morning in contemplative serenity, meandering on the water with only the gulls and the dolphins for company, as the two racing fleets skidded out of Crosshaven for the third day of competition in what is recognised as one of the finest regattas in the world.

That was judged a little boring. Better to get the adrenalin flowing and follow the fleet to catch the excitement offshore. Time for Plan B, but we were not alone. Motor launches, RIBs, dinghies, fishing boats — sail spotters in anything that could float had the same idea on what promised to be the sunniest day of the week.

Mother Nature did not disappoint and the sun peeped through the leaden clouds as the two racing fleets set off for the morning’s sport.

On the third day of competitive racing in Crosshaven the wind and sun were still playing tricks, though, testing the mettle of sailors afloat and landlubbers ashore. Without so much as a by-your-leave, there was a major wind shift to the west which led to one of the courses being reset for the morning’s racing. Not a bother to the skilful competitors, but they didn’t like hanging about and were anxious to get into the thick of things.

Once out of harbour, boats begin to take their positions, gathering abreast like racehorses before the ‘off’, their sails, akin to a line of washing dancing in the breeze, reveal a brisk wind. Among the racing braves, Corkman John Twomey, who is competing in the Paralympics in London in September, is playing a blinder, leading the Class 4 competition and gaining the respect and admiration of all sailors at Cork Week.

Having just turned 57, an age when many sportsmen would have been long retired, John is about to compete in this tenth Paralympic Games as part of Ireland’s sialing time, along with fellow Corkonian Anthony Hegarty and Kerryman Ian Costelloe.

On optimistic onlooker shouts across the fray from his boat: “The dolphins are here. Yahoo! That means that summer has finally arrived.” Yeah, right.

* Go online to www.corkweek.ie for the latest on events in Crosshaven.