VOLVO CORK WEEK: O’Leary falls victim to conditions
Irish Commodores’ Cup team captain Anthony O’Leary on Antix fell victim to the conditions in the second race yesterday when the breeze died for almost 20 minutes in Class One.
“We were heading nicely for the mark then the breeze died and there was a big park-up for the entire fleet,” he said. “With class one and two starting together, it’s almost a mirror of what we can expect on The Solent in two weeks time.”
Antix placed fifth of five boats in the class while team-mate Catapult, owned by American Marc Glimcher, was third but leads the class overall with a brace of race wins. Up to three races could be sailed today to finish off the series and while O’Leary lies fourth overall, a podium result is still possible.
Their third team boat is proving almost unbeatable in Class Two where there is a larger entry at 13 boats. Michael Boyd and Niall Dowling have chartered Quokka 8, a Grand Soleil 43 footer and have won five races so far with a fourth place discarded as their only bad score.
Current ICRA national champion Jump Juice, skippered by Conor Phelan, lies third behind Welsh entry Dark Angel and a two points will be today’s target to close to take the runner-up place behind Quokka.
Meanwhile, former national champion Pat Kelly on Storm from Rush Sailing Club continues to hold sway over the class three fleet, the largest division this week.
In a twist to the class outcome, Storm’s helm is Marty O’Leary who had been expected to compete on a Commodores’ Cup boat so was unavailable for his regular position on Paul O’Higgins’ Rockabill V, currently in second place but a long way clear of the class leader.
As O’Leary was apparently unavailable, O’Higgins brought former Olympian Robin Hennessey in as a replacement until O’Leary’s plan for the Commodores Cup changed. With his place committed on Rockabill, he was snapped up by Kelly and appears set to deliver the result.
Meanwhile, Class Four appears to be wide open as Wednesday’s overnight leader, Paul Tingle, on Alpaca had a mixed day yesterday with a second, sixth and fifth place which handed the lead of the 12 boat fleet over to Tim Cunliffe’s Insatiable.
Only two points separate the pair so today’s racing will decide this two-way battle for the class.
Jason and Dominic Lostys’ quarter tonner Illes Pitiuses continues to deliver the best scoreline of the entire event, now with seven straight wins to lead Class 5 outright.
