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Rapid Repairs for Ker 37 Jump Juice to Make the ICRA Championships Start This Morning

3rd September 2021
County Wicklow master boat builder Graeme Noonan worked overnight to repair Jump Juice in time for the first race of the ICRA Nationals at Dun Laoghaire

It's been a busy 24 hours for Royal Cork Yacht Club Cruisers Zero favourite Jump Juice since arriving in Dun Laoghaire Harbour for this weekend's ICRA National Championships.

The 80-boat Championships starts this morning but hull damage discovered on the Ker 37 during a routine pre-race check has meant rapid repairs for Conor Phelan and his crew.

The situation is now reported to be very much under control and the former Irish IRC champion yacht and RORC Easter Challenge winner is on schedule to be on the line for this morning's first coastal race but only after the 'all-nighter' intervention of County Wicklow boatbuilder Graeme Noonan with his infrared lamp and mobile epoxy pack.

In Afloat's pre-championship prediction, the crew are expected to perform well in the 13-boat cruisers Zero fleet where the competition includes ISORA Champion Rockabill VI and Greystones Calves Week winner, the J122 Kaya. 

 hull damageThe hull damage

infrared lampRepair made and drying under infrared lamp

As good as new - Graeme Noonan applies the finishing touches As good as new - Graeme Noonan applies the finishing touches to Jump at 0730 this morning...

Published in ICRA, Boatyards
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The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)