Maximus gives massive boost to Cork Week

NEW Zealand Supermaxi, Maximus, one of the most technically-advanced monohull racing yachts in the world, is to compete at the Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Cork Week, which begins on Monday.

RCYC stalwart Donal McClement, says that the late arrival of Maximus was something of a surprise, although the organisers had put in a lot of work to get the boat to come to Cork.

Said McClement: “We had talked to the owners of the boat, Charles Brown and Bill Buckley, some time ago to see if the boat was available to come, but it appeared its schedule had already been fixed. It was due to take part in the centenary Newport to Bermuda classic and was then scheduled to compete in the Mediterranean.

“Apparently, it got caught up in light airs on the way back from Bermuda and was making slow progress when the decision was made to come to Cork. This is a very technically advanced racing sailboat and its arrival here really adds spice to the regatta.”

Organisers, led by chairman Ian Venner, race committee director David Meagher, and event secretary April English, are determined “quality, not quantity” is the order of the day.

According to McClement, apart from the Kiwi yacht, others that will attract much attention will be the Philippine Swan 82 Malagai, as well as Oystercatcher XXV, owned by legendary luxury yacht builder Richard Matthews, and 70-year–old Piet Vroon from Holland in his 50-footer Formidable. Many of the Irish Commodore Cup team will be on hand, including Colm Barrington’s Magic Love, Conor and Denise Phelan’s Jump Juice, Eamonn Rohan’s Blondie and Anthony O’Leary’s Antix, which will be helmed by his father-in-law, Sir Robert Aisher.

Also included will be Ger O’Rourke’s Chieftan — the only Irish boat to win it’s class at the Sydney-Hobart race.

Mr Meagher emphasises the quality of yachts on hand will be much greater than in the past.

He said: “In this business you find that certain classes of boats will decide that they will sail at certain regattas, so they move around a lot and don’t simply turn up religiously. That has affected entries a little, but we’ve noted a similar trend across many regattas in recent times, so we’re pleased with the quality we will have next week.

“We started organising immediately after the last Cork Week and a tremendous amount of work has gone into every aspect of the event because it is something we want to build all the time. In that regard we are really lucky to have the numbers of volunteers we have, such is the size of the event.”

With six different courses, the logistics are massive and huge numbers of people and boats are needed to cope with the different fleets racing over different courses.

With the forecasters predicting glorious weather over the coming week, Meagher is hopeful this will translate into healthy offshore breezes to provide the necessary wind to make the regatta a real spectacle.

With the traditional onshore revelry adding to the unique atmosphere at the self-styled “most welcoming regatta in the world”, Cork Week looks set for some very fair sailing.