Choppy seas change Kinsale picture

A penultimate day to be remembered for all the best and not so good reasons was the hallmark of the ICRA Nationals Sovereigns Cup sponsored by Cork County Council at Kinsale yesterday.

After two days of light winds and thick grey skies, a windy and sunny day surfaced for the 109-strong fleet.

And the wind and choppy seas caught the less prepared unawares.

The list of casualties grew as the day progressed but the only injury concern was limited to a precautionary Medivac by the Kinsale RNLI lifeboat after one crew-member had a bang on the head from his boat’s boom.

Otherwise, there were numerous soakings from man-overboard incidents and loss of places in the races.

At least four incidents are known to have occurred though the same number again may also have been unreported.

But there were racing casualties too.

By the far the most significant damage came in Division 0 where the class favourite has withdrawn from the event despite a string of first places in the series.

Bad form, like bad luck comes in threes apparently and Andy Williams Keronimo from Plymouth opted to retire after winning the first race yesterday.

A significant broach in the second race cost the Ker 40 footer valuable ground but also gear damage.

The retirement meant that the discard that had been used to eliminate an earlier maximum points score for sailing the wrong course on Thursday meant their domination of the class had ended.

There was damage too for local entry Jump Juice from the Royal Cork YC that suffered steering failure in race one and had to head ashore under emergency tiller.

Conor Phelan’s Crosshaven boat had a maximum score day and an overnight rush to make repairs to return for this morning’s first start.

East Down Yacht Club’s Forty Licks suffered a broken boom in a broaching incident and without a replacement available at such short notice has also retired from the event.

That leaves the class reduced in size and the overall lead still with Norbert Reilly’s Crazy Horse from Howth YC that becomes the favourite for the class – barring further incidents today though last night the 36-footer was undergoing repairs for their own problems yesterday.

Meanwhile, the leaders in other divisions appeared to revel in the breezy conditions.

Reilly’s clubmate Ross McDonald on Equinox had straight wins for the day, repeating his Thursday performance in Division 2 where he enjoys a six point lead over the three half-tonners – also from Howth – that had dominated the 17-boat class earlier in the series.

Domination was the name of the game in Class 4 where Tony Hayward’s Blackfun from New Zealand and sailing from Cowes has a ten-point lead from Howth’s Under 25 crew on their J24 Kilcullen.

In the biggest fleet of the event, the 23-strong Class 1 John Maybury’s Joker 2 from the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire dropped their fourth place from the opening race yesterday and won the afternoon course when conditions were strongest.

That result appears to either settle the standings for the J109 championship as Ian Nagle’s Jelly Baby from the Royal Cork had a discarded sixth and a counted fifth place yesterday.

Rob McConnell’s Fool’s Gold from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club has now overtaken the Crosshaven boat for second place in the class though with strong winds forecast again for today, the event is far from settled.

Today’s final races will decide five ICRA national championship titles, the Portcullis Trophy for best boat under ECHO handicap and the Sovereigns Cup itself for the best boat under IRC handicap.