Hannon battles back and sails Plumbat to victory

THE mid-summer interlude in West Cork over for another year, racing is back to full swing along the coast and this weekend will be particularly hectic in Cork Harbour, with the Royal Cork holding its annual two-day At Home Regatta.

The RCYC last week held the third race of its HM Yachts August-September League with a 22-boat fleet having good close racing and lots of action on an in-harbour course with fresh breeze and glorious sunshine. There was fierce competition between Plumbat, Bedlam and Fast Buck in Echo and after many changes in the lead, Roy Hannon’s Plumbat fought back to win by 20 seconds from Pat Vaughan’s Bedlam. In IRC 1 there was no stopping Aidan McSweeney’s Felix while in IRC 2, Paul O’Shea continued his winning ways on Wicked.

The following day, the Crosshaven fleet raced its annual Naval Race, with the crew from the Waterman’s Next Senator picked up the Naval Artillery Trophy by winning overall in Echo. The RCYC Champagne Pursuit Race took part in strong breeze and blue skies, with Shauna O’Sullivan’s Ragtime winning from Aidan McSweeney’s Felix and the John and Fiona Murphy partnership on Fast Buck coming third.

The RCYC also hosted the Musto Irish Open Optimist Championships over four days and it was quite a spectacle with 115 boats joined by 50 juniors on the water each day. They faced everything from light and shifty conditions to 22 knots of wind and rough seas but all 12 scheduled races were held. The home sailors did well, with Katie Tingle third overall in the Gold Fleet and winning the best girl award as well. George Kennefick and Jack Crotty brought their Optimist careers to an end and finished 11th and 12th overall. Brian Vaughan won the Silver fleet, was 18th overall and was also the best 12-year-old. Jack Costigan was second in Silver, 27th overall and was the best 11-year-old.

Kinsale YC had its Matthews-sponsored Daunt Race with 22 boats reaching to the Bullman Buoy in an easterly of 15 knots. The filling tide made the beat to the Cork Buoy a little easier, although the swell was rising.

Spinnakers were up for a short reach to Daunt where gybing set up the boats for the long run back during which petitions were changing quickly, going into a final leg fetch to the finish in strong gusty winds. In Echo, just one second seperated the Murphy-O’Riordan partnership on X-Dream and the McCutcheon family on Time Trapp, victory going to the former. In IRC, the Carroll Brothers on Chancer took the win from X-Dream.

X-Dream also featured in the third race of the Brideview Developments mid-week league at Kinsale, winning Class 1 Echo, with John Downing’s Tango taking IRC. The McCarthys on Mac Magic on Class 2 IRC and Pádraig O’Donovan’s Chameleon, won Echo. Time Trapp won both handicaps in Class 3.

Radio personality Tom McSweeney, on his aptly-named Seascapes, was winner of the Monkstown Bay SC Arethusa Trophy at the weekend, the cruiser fleet meeting the RCYC Naval Race fleet which was under spinnakers at number 20 buoy off the Cobh Promenade. The Monkstown entry was clear evidence of increased cruiser sailing interest at Monkstown.

Cove SC is also getting increased levels of participation in its events and the Night League is no exception. In the latest race, the spinnaker fleet saw the Dorgans on Merlin winning again, with Bright Wings second. In the non spinnaker fleet, victory went to John Doyle’s Atonic with Damien Ahern’s Re Eile second. There will be two spinnakers for Class 2 and Class 3 IRC prizes in their annual Cobh-Blackrock race on September 7.

On the East coast, Dun Laoghaire’s waterfront clubs, the NYC and the Royal Irish, jointly hosted the three-day Citroen Dun Laoghaire Cruiser 3 Championships. Howth YC boats took the major honours with Relativity, owned by R. Colwell and S. and A. Wallace, counting three firsts and discarding a fifth in the four race series and winning the overall Helly Hunter Trophy. Fellow Howth boat Wild Mustard, owned by David Cullen, was second in IRC and helped secure the team prize for the North Co. Dublin club. Both boats had their performances closely scrutinised. Wild Mustard won the first race but retired from that race two days later at the request of the race committee because a professional sailor had been on board.

The Dublin Bay Cruiser challenge attracted one south coast entry, Tom Brennan’s Corby 25 Respect, which finished a very creditable fourth overall in the event hosted by the Royal St George and run by Dublin Bay SC. Helmed by Brian Goggin and managed by Harvey Tucker, Respect opened with a fifth and then won the second race, beating rival Corby 25 Phantom. The Cork boat’s three-points overall lead vanished in little or no breeze in race three and when thick fog cancelled the last day race, their chances of victory were gone. On board Respect also were Martin Darrer, Tom Brennan, Sinéad Crowley and Susie Elliott.

Howth YC will host the 1720 European Championship September 3-7, sponsored by the Fáilte Irelands international sports tourism initiative and a fleet of 60 boats is anticipated.