Third time lucky as ‘Alice’ finally in Crosshaven Wonderland

Spare a thought for the visiting boats and crews who have tried — or in some cases attempted to try — to reach Crosshaven for their week of racing at the home of the world’s oldest yacht club.

Simply put, not everyone made it. Last weekend’s strong winds took their toll on the 106 entries.

While two Dun Laoghaire boats were previously known to have pulled out even before leaving due to injury and gear damage, the delivery team on Alice from the UK safely reached Crosshaven last week only to suffer serious damage trying to berth in the fast-flowing Owenbue River.

With no time to effect repairs but sufficient opportunity to have a charter boat delivered from the south coast of England, this too ran into problems early on Sunday when it started taking on water.

It was a case of third time lucky when, to avoid disappointing the visiting crew already gathered in Crosshaven, Anthony O’Leary loaned his 1720 Sportsboat that was renamed Alice for the duration of the week.

To prove that persistence does actually pay off in the end, Chris Le Prevost and his crew won all three races in the Mixed Sportsboat class racing under IRC handicap yesterday.