Cork all set for exciting finale of Roche's Point

By David Branigan

Glorious conditions marked the penultimate day of Volvo Cork Week off Roche’s Point, where the full fleet competed on four different course areas.

The conditions were somewhat tardy in their arrival, however, as the fleet was held ashore, enjoying the race village facilities at Crosshaven for two hours before the forecasted breeze arrived. Even then, starting at 1pm was optimistic for some classes, but soon, all 100 boats were enjoying ideal racing conditions.

However, the delay prevented completion of the full, three-race programme for all classes and similar conditions are forecasted for today.

An added problem is the 2.30pm time limit for starting-races to facilitate travel plans for the many visiting crews and boats who will begin the trip to home ports by this evening and over the weekend. A likely scenario is that the final day will feature a single race for many classes, but missing the additional races will prove frustrating for several crews, who have found better form with the switch from coastal to inshore course.

Even so, in the scenario of a single final race, Barry Byrne’s Joker 2 team for the Irish Defence Forces look certain to retain the Beaufort Cup title they won in 2016 and with it the €10,000 charity purse at stake. The J109 hasn’t been off the podium since winning the opening Fastnet Race at the start of the week.

Like the first race, the final race of their series also carries a 50% bonus weighting and, even with this, they can afford to finish third and still retain the trophy in the single final-race scenario.

But a single race day would certainly be frustrating for the Crosshaven RNLI crew racing on the Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo of Denis and Annamarie Murphy after winning both races yesterday.

Clearly, the switch from coastal to inshore racing suits them.

With that result, the lifeboat team replaced Simon Coveney’s Defence Forces team on the overnight podium just two points behind Youen Jacob’s Baltimore RNLI team in second place.

The change from coastal to inshore also worked well in Class 1 IRC, in which Greystones entry Eleuthera also won both races and moved into the top three.

Jay Colville’s Forty Licks from East Down holds the top place after second and third places yesterday, enjoying a five-point lead over Jonathan Anderson’s El Gran Senor in second.

The three-way tussle for the lead of Class 2 IRC continues between the trio of J109s, as Ronan Harris’ Jigamaree from the Royal Irish YC holds a slender lead thanks to two wins yesterday.

Johnny Swan on Harmony from Howth YC also has a slim lead, following two close races with Kieran Collins Coracle IV from the Royal Cork YC at the front of Class 3 IRC, with both boats having a consistent day.

One of the classes with the smallest boats is also one of the biggest and it has a runaway leader, thanks to a second and two firsts yesterday in one of the fleets that did manage three races for the day. Fn’Gr8, skippered by Rory Fekkes from Carrickfergus Sailing Club, leads Class 4 IRC, 13 points up on the closely matched bunch in second place.

Another class with a runaway leader is the Coastal IRC class, the only boats that continue to race offshore. Denis Hewitt’s Raptor from the Royal Irish YC has a commanding 10-point lead after taking a third race win yesterday.

Both Hewitt and Fekkes may yet be contenders for the overall Volvo Cork Week trophy, awarded to the best performing boat in the series, based on a mathematical formula to decide the winner across all 120 boats in the week. Meanwhile, the move to the inshore courses also saw the inclusion of the 1720 Sportsboats and International Dragon one-design classes that are both racing for their respective South Coast Championships. The Dragons have a three-way tie for the overnight lead, with Denis Bergin’s Sir Ossis of the River from the Royal Irish YC holding first place on tie-break, while Daniel Murphy’s Serafina and Cameron Good’s Littla Fella, both from Kinsale YC, hold second and third places.

In the 1720 class, few will be surprised that Anthony O’Leary on Antix won both races to take an early overall lead for the championship, which continues tomorrow.