With speculation mounting that Ireland increasingly looks like the venue for the 37th America's Cup in Cork Harbour, boosted by some positive Irish Government cost analysis this week, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron (RNZYS) and Defender Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) along with the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd (RYSL) and Challenger of Record INEOS Team UK have announced exciting initiatives to be included as part of the Protocol for the 37th America’s Cup due to be published November 17th.

With the AC75 remaining as the centrepiece of dramatic America’s Cup racing for at least the next two editions, a new class of boat, the one-design AC40 foiling monohull, is being introduced as a new multipurpose class which will help expand pathways into the main event.

The AC40 will be a dynamic, powerful, and super-fast scaled-down version of the AC75 that will see it reach similar speeds to its big sister at times. The intention is for the new class to be the catalyst to accelerate participation in the America’s Cup from the global talent pool of female and youth foiling sailors via separate AC37 Women’s and Youth America’s Cup regattas as part of the overall 37th America’s Cup event schedule at the Host Venue.

RNZYS Commodore Aaron Young said, “Creating pathways and increasing participation for women, youth and emerging nations is something that has been a priority since winning in 2017. In fact, universally it is seen as something that will only benefit everyone in the sport of sailing and was illustrated in the 20 entries, we received to our mixed crew Youth AC that was initially planned for 2021, prior to COVID19.

To now be announcing the AC40’s as the exciting class that will be used by AC teams for their scale testing and development, Match Race training, Preliminary Regattas and then for the Women’s and Youth events makes complete sense.”

Emirates Team New Zealand CEO Grant Dalton explains the detail behind the class and the regattas, “All of the competing teams must purchase at least one AC40 which will be used in the Preliminary Regattas, and then made available for the respective and independent Women’s and Youth regattas to be held at the venue of the AC37 Match.”

“The yacht clubs of competing AC teams must enter both the Women’s and Youth events, however entries will also be open to other countries and yacht clubs.

We would certainly anticipate an entry from the Host country if in fact they do not have an America’s Cup team”.

Furthermore, once the teams AC40’s are delivered by the end of 2022 and early 2023 our hope is that private owners will purchase their own AC40’s as we start to build an exciting and accessible class for the future.”

INEOS Team UK Team Principal Sir Ben Ainslie said, “The America’s Cup has an important role to play in expanding access and inclusion for all athletes into sailing. The Women’s and Youth America’s Cup regattas are an important move forward and a much-needed platform that enables all nations to improve diversity and inclusion in our sport.

We look forward to creating a pathway in Britain that will support both programmes on and off the water, giving our athletes opportunities for success in competition, whilst also helping to bridge the gap into professional sailing."

Over recent months The Defender and Challenger of Record have been working to agree the Protocol for the next America’s Cup which is due to be published on November 17th. The detailed document takes mutual agreement between both parties in creating the rules and parameters of the next event that all teams must accept as a condition of their entry into AC37. Both parties can confirm the next event will be a multi challenger event and not be a one on one event that has been speculated.

The final sixth race of Royal Cork Yacht Club's August and September Thursday League 2021 was a light air affair in Cork Harbour that saw Ria Lyden's X332 Ellida emerge as the overall winner in both IRC Spinnaker and ECHO divisions.

In second overall on IRC rating was the Sunfast 32 Bad Company (Desmond/Ivers/Keane) and in third place, the Bolero Bandit (Richard Leonard).

Overall results are here.

A photo gallery of the light air last race where Cork Harbour dolphins joined the yachts is below. 

Remedial and strengthening works to the steel piles and concrete deck are underway at the Spencer Jetty at the Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork Harbour.

As Afloat reported last October, the upgrade at the Haulbowline Naval Base includes the construction of a raised turning area/parking zone and access ramp to the jetty.

The project provides for an investment of some €1.4m (excl VAT) to provide for the berthage needs at Haulbowline.

The plan is to stabilise the currently unusable Jetty structure and protect the sea entrance to the Naval Service Dockyard and Basin. The upgraded facility will also provide the Naval Service with an additional short term berth.

The project is part of the Plan to increase berthing capacity for the current fleet in three distinct standalone infrastructural projects, with the Spencer Jetty Upgrade delivered as Phase 1. All of these projects are included in the 5-year Infrastructure Development Plan.

When announced in October 2020, it was expected construction would take one year to complete.

The massive North Sea Giant ship that berthed at Marino Point in the Port of Cork at the weekend is among the largest and most advanced subsea construction vessels ever built.

The Norwegian flagged offshore supply ship docked over the weekend and at 153 metres long and a sight to behold. 

Today, the North Sea Giant is heading north up the Irish Sea to perform demanding roles in a wide variety of marine operations in deep and ultradeep waters.

Its carrying capacity is 12705 t DWT and her current draught is reported to be 7.2 metres. Her length overall (LOA) is 153.6 meters and her width is 30.6 metres.

Celebrations of 75 years of the Irish Navy continued in Cork Harbour this afternoon with the annual Naval Race run under the burgee of the Royal Cork Yacht Club. 

It followed yesterday's successful Cobh to Blackrock race organised by Cove Sailing Club as Afloat reported here.

The Naval Race was started at Weavers Point on a line between the RCYC starting hut and the LE William Butler Yeats that stood off Roches Point to provide a transit.

The Race Officer was RCYC's Rear Admiral Keelboats Daragh Connolly who set the competing yachts a course that took in Ringabella, the Harp mark and a spinnaker run.

The patrol vessel's horn was used as a starting sound signal.

In the IRC spinnaker division, Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Nieulargo was first and Tom and Cormac MacSweeney's Scribbler II second. Full results are here

Commodore Michael Malone Flag Officer commanding the Naval Service presents the winning Trophy to Denis Murphy of "Nieulargo" watched by Colin Morehead Admiral Royal Cork Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

It’s arguably the oldest surviving inter-provincial sailing contest in Ireland. For although once upon a time there was an annual race for the Elwood Salver between Trinity College Dublin and Queen’s University Belfast which reputedly dated back to the 1930s or even the 1920s, it seems to have long since faded in the face of larger inter-varsity competitions. But the annual race between teams from Royal Cork (and Royal Munster before that) and Sutton Dinghy Club dates back to 1944, and it survives and thrives for the very good reason that the prize is The Book, a proper volume of vellum in which the winning team is obliged to record the outcome of each year’s series.

There are only two years in which it hasn’t been sailed. One was 1957 when the vigorous remains of a hurricane moving across Ireland caused two days of continuous storm at Sutton. And the other was 2020, when it was to be staged at Crosshaven as an historic highlight of the Royal Cork Tricentenary, but we all know only too painfully well what happened to that and other long-plannned 2020 events.

All things considered, wipeouts only by either a hurricane or a plague is surely an honourable state of affairs. And now, in a symbol of returning normality, The Book will be raced for at Crosshaven on Saturday September 4th, with both junior and senior teams.

The Book has been reposing at Sutton Dinghy Club through the plague years, but it will be in Crosshaven tomorrow (Saturday), and a day’s team racing will decide whether it stays there. 

The sailing communities in Cork and in Ireland generally are assessing and modifying their responses towards Cork Harbour’s developing and very active proposal to stage the America’s Cup.

It is a hugely complex subject and a massive and costly project, which nevertheless could have many significant beneficial side-effects - both immediate and long-term - for the area.

Sail World, the international network of sailing news and opinion, has published this comprehensive view of the Cork bid to give us an informed international perspective here

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin joined the club’s Admiral Colin Morehead earlier today to salute 300 years of sailing in Cork at a Tricentenary Maritime Parade across Cork Harbour. They reviewed a stunning spectacle of 100 colourful yachts on board the LE Roisin, after greeting the sailors and families on the water. The naval vessel was anchored alongside the Irish Naval Headquarters at Haulbowline Island, where the Water Club of the Harbour of Cork (now the Royal Cork Yacht Club) was founded back in 1720.

The Taoiseach and Admiral were joined by a host of dignitaries to mark the momentous occasion, including the Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr. Gillian Coughlan, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence Simon Coveney TD, the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr. Colm Kelleher, Flag Officer Commanding Naval Service Commodore Michael Malone, Ann Doherty, Chief Executive, Cork City Council, CEO of AIB Colin Hunt, the premier sponsor of the Regatta and Cork300, and key sponsors.

The Maritime Parade was followed by the biggest sailing event of the year in the Royal Cork calendar, the AIB RCYC Tricentenary Regatta, with racing officially started by the Taoiseach, after which an Admiral’s Lunch was held at the Crosshaven club. The Regatta will continue for the rest of the weekend and can be viewed across the harbour.

Over 100 participating boats lined up at Cage buoy off Crosshaven at 10 am  and assembled at No 18 buoy before the fleet made its way past the L.E. Roisin  berthed at the berth off Haulbowline for the official salute and the lowering of the Cork300 pennant (below) Photo: Bob Bateman

The Clayton Love skippered Golden Apple led the parade of sail. This was the the former Coveney family ketch that sailed round the world on an 18-month voyage to raise funds for the Cork-based Chernobyl Children's Project in 1997 Photo: Bob Bateman

The tricentenary events were originally scheduled to take place in 2020 as part of a phenomenal Cork300 celebration across Cork Harbour to celebrate the sailing club’s 300th anniversary and heritage as the oldest club in the world. However, they had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and many of the larger high profile international events, such as The Great Gathering, the Powerboat Festival, and Volvo Cork Week, which were set to attract thousands of sailors and competitors from around the globe, could not be rescheduled.

Dick Gibson's Mandalay is dressed overall for the special occasion Photo: Bob Bateman

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin said, “This is a truly significant historic milestone for the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Cork Harbour, and the sailing community worldwide, so it is truly an honour to celebrate where it all began. Although many events to mark the milestone were cancelled or postponed over the last year, the legacy from Cork300 will live on. The Royal Cork has positioned Cork Harbour as one of the most desirable locations in the world for sailing events, and hopefully, this will help secure Ireland’s bid to host events like America’s Cup here.”

Former RCYC Admiral Bill Walsh and his wife participated in the Parade of Sail Photo: Bob Bateman

Admiral of the Royal Cork Yacht Club and Chairman of Cork300 Colin Morehead said, “The Royal Cork is delighted to be in a position to put on a weekend of celebratory events to mark the club’s tricentenary one year on. We are of course disappointed not to be joined by our international comrades and thousands of spectators as originally planned, but we hope we have left them with a desire to visit Cork when life returns to normal.”

At the end of parade was another round the world yacht Saol Eile with former RCYC Admiral Ted Crosbie at the helm Photo: Bob Bateman

Also commenting, Minister Coveney said, “It’s a privilege to be here today to celebrate this historic event with the Royal Cork, the Taoiseach and the naval service.”

Yachts racing in the 'At Home' regatta assembled a second time for a starting gun opposite the Naval base. Initially proceedings got under way in light winds but a second race started off the no. 8 buoy in perfect sailing conditions in Cork Harbour Photo: Bob Bateman

The tricentenary celebrations were supported by the premiere partner for the Regatta and Cork300, AIB, the Irish Naval Services, and other Cork300 partners Volvo Car Ireland, Port of Cork, Cork County Council, Cork City Council, Heineken, Musto and Doyle Shipping Group.

RCYC 300th Celebrations Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

The Royal Cork Yacht Club fleet is gathering for this morning's club tricentenary celebration in Cork Harbour.

A parade of sail past Haulbowline Island, where the oldest yacht club in the world was founded in 1720, is being held.  It will be followed by two days of 'At Home' racing.

RCYC is holding its deferred Tricentenary Regatta today and tomorrow.

It will start with a parade of sail and motor off Haulbowline Island on Saturday, which was the first location of the Waterboys Club of Cork in 1720, from which the present RCYC evolved to become the oldest yacht club in the world.

Original Tricentenary plans had to be postponed due to the Covid pandemic.

Special trophies have been commissioned for the Regatta. "As always, the At Home' is open to members of visiting clubs," says the RCYC.

The Tricentenary sailing programme is here.

More here from Afloat's W M Nixon this morning, and check back for photos from Afloat's Bob Bateman as celebrations unfold on Afloat's dedicated Cork300 section here.

John Ryan's planned arrival into Dublin Bay this evening by high speed RIB was scrubbed shortly after his UIM record bid started at Cork Harbour this morning.

Ryan told Afloat "We lost the middle engine, we'll be a no show today".

It's a frustrating scenario for the record-breaker given the current favourable weather forecasts and flat seas.

As Afloat reported earlier, the Royal Cork skipper was due to depart Cork Harbour at 11 am in the 85-mph RIB.

As regular Afloat readers will know, Ryan broke his own existing Cork Fastnet Cork speed record in a time of 1 hour, 47 minutes and 7 seconds (Subject to ratification by UIM) last week as reported here.

The Zerodark team are expected to set a new date for the Cork-Dublin run and other Irish powerboat record attempts too.