#Kinsale - Kinsale Yacht Club has not been resting on its laurels since being awarded the Mitsubishi Motors Sailing Club of The Year gong.

The KYC Marina recently attained the 5 Anchors Award acknowledging the major improvements that have been made to its facilities.

KYC's many visitors can now avail of the club's new laundry, which is equipped with a commercial washer and dryer.

The gate to the marina has also had a makeover, thanks to the wonderful craftsmanship was executed by KYC member Shawn Kingston.

The clubhouse underwent a major refurbishment in 2013, and a new improved layout meant that a gym could be incorporated. The fully equipped facility is available for use by club members and is proving very popular.

KYC member Eddie Nicholson also recently presented the club with a splendid pool table in memory of his late father, David Nicholson, a former Commodore of Kinsale Yacht Club.

The table now proudly stands in a dedicated room upstairs in KYC, and many members are relishing the thoughts of many winter evenings spent in the new pool lounge.

The new KYC pool lounge with its table dedicated to former Commodore David Nicholson Photo: Gill Good

#dragonsailing – Lawrie Smith showed his mettle to take the 2014 Irish Dragon Nationals at Kinsale YC today writes Claire Bateman. Britian's Smith with crew Adam Bowers and Jack Wilson and sailing under the Burgee of the Glandore Harbour Yacht Club won today's two races to take the title on a day when the wind never went above 8 knots from the south east. It was a close run thing with two other boats on similar points and it went to a tie break to decide the winner. Neil Hegarty's Phantom with crew David and Peter Bowring from RStGYC were second and first Corinthian entrants. Martin Payne and crew Dominic and Olivia Bakker in Little Hooka from Salcombe Yacht Club were third overall.

Due to lack of wind no racing took place on Friday. An early start was made on Saturday in an attempt to get in three races but this was not to be and two races were sailed in a breeze of about six knots. A patient Race Committee waited about an hour after the second race to watch an approaching shower in the hope there would be some wind following but this did not happen and racing finished for the day. However that being said six of the seven races scheduled for the event were sailed.

Results HERE.

#glandore – South coast yacht clubs are seeking to breathe new life in to Glandore Harbour Regatta this June Bank Holiday weekend. In a combined effort between Glandore Harbour Yacht Club, Kinsale Yacht Club and the Royal Cork Yacht Club a drive is being made to to revive Glandore Regatta.

Berthing will be provided on Glandore Harbour Yacht Club's summer moorings at Union Hall. The club is providing a ferry service to and from the moored boats. There will also be limited mooring at Union Hall Pier available.

Glandore Harbor Yacht Club are organizing a Barbeque on the pier at Glandore at 1700 hours attendee are invited to bring their own preferred drinks. Prize giving for the races into Glandore will take place at 19:00 hours on Glandore pier.

Glandore Harbor Yacht Club ere providing a ferry service to Union Hall after the prize giving for those wishing to socialise in the village. 

Schedule of racing

Friday 29th May. Fastnet Race from Kinsale around Fastnet and finishing in Glandore (Sponsored by CH Marine). 

Saturday 30th May. Crosshaven to Glandore. The race is open to all Cruisers/Sports Boats and White Sail fleets. This race commences: at the Revised First Gun of 0855 hours from Weavers point.

Note that there is also a race from Kinsale to Glandore on Saturday.

Sunday 31st May. Race from Glandore to Kinsale first gun 10:55. This race is open to all cruiser and white sail fleets. Marina berths will be offered to competing visiting boats in Kinsale on Sunday. Food will be served in the club house from 1700 hours with prize giving at 18:30. There will be a time limit cutoff of 1800hrs for this race.

#kinsale – The May bank holiday event saw the inaugural 'Axiom sponsored One Design keelboat Regatta' held in Kinsale YC. Twelve Squibs and five Dragons came out to do battle for the very generous prizes and newly commissioned trophy.

PRO Tony Ireson and his team provided great racing with 6 races held over the two days on a windward leeward course. Saturdays racing was held in 12-18 knots from the south west with the opening races in Dragons been taken by Little fella sailed by Cameron Good/Simon Furney and Henry Kingston.

The Squibs were having a fierce battle with places at the top constantly been swapped with National Champion James Mathews in Mucky Duck, Colm Dunne and Rob Gill in Allegro and Finbarr and Cian O'Regan in Fagin. Kevin Downey knocked in a great day with 4, 4, 5 in his new squib Grey Matter.

Day two saw the wind blowing from due south so Tony Ireson set his line at the mouth of the harbour. Lumpy seas and slightly lighter winds made for difficult sailing but Colm Dunne and Cameron Good found the groove and extended their leads with both finishing as overall winners.

At the prize giving there was great excitement as to which boat would win the newly commissioned trophy and after the criteria was spelt out by sailing secretary John Stallard the first name to go on the trophy is Allegro sailed by Colm Dunne and Rob Gill.

Such was the success of the event club Commodore Finbarr O' Regan was able to announce that Axiom Private Clients are to come on board for 2015 as the main sponsor and the dates were announced as May 2nd &3rd 2015.

#kinsale – Kinsale's magnificent harbour provided the protection required to get the penultimate day of the MMD Spring Series underway as winds reached gale force along the souith coast. It proved to be the wildest day so far with several dramatic broaches on the race course. Fortunately all returned to shore safely with nothing more serious than a few ripped sails. The Committee boat remained inside the harbour for some shelter which was a wise decision as some competitors recorded gusts of 34 knots.

Meridian (Tom & Ursula Roche ) is holding the lead in Class 0 Echo with Freya (Conor Doyle) taking the honours in IRC, Godot (Godkin & O'Donovan) currently lies second in both classes.

Fool's Gold ( Rob McConnell) has an outstanding result in Class 1 IRC with an unbeatable full stack of bullets, Justus ( Dan Buckley) is holding second place. Fool's Gold has also managed to be placed second overall in Class 1 Echo with KYC's Joker (Broderick & Gibbons ) leading by 2 points.

Results in Class 2 Echo and IRC are almost identical with Bad Company (Desmond, Ivers & Deasy ) leading in both followed by The Main Four (Salter & O'Regan)

Class 3 Echo is being hotly contested with Chameleon (Padraig O'Donovan), Gunsmoke (Sammy Cohen) and Powder Monkey (Liam Lynch) all tying on 13 points ! Chameleon is clinging to the lead with the best combination of placings. Bandit (Marron & O'Connell) still leads Class 2 IRC with another good day on the racecourse despite a spectacular broach.

Once again results are mirrored in both IRC & Echo in Class 4 with KYC's Sundancer (Alan Mulcahy) proving to be unbeatable. RCYC's Thistle (Peter Webster) lies second in both Classes.

The sponsor of today's prizes was Cheeky Cherubs Childcare, with the proprietor Michelle Akerlind presenting the prizes.

The Spring Series finishes on Saturday 26th with a prize giving dinner after racing in the Club House of Kinsale Yacht Club. Full results here

#kinsale – Sunday's racing at Kinsale Yacht Club in County Cork was overshadowed by the sad passing of former Scora Commodore Vinnie O'Shea. Vinnie had been a great supporter of Kinsale Yacht Club and was well known as the Skipper of Yanks & Francs. A minutes silence was held as a mark of respect prior to the start of racing in the MMD April league.

KYC Commodore Finny O'Regan extended his sympathy to Vinnie's family on behalf of all the members of Kinsale Yacht Club.

While last Sunday's conditions may have brought many thrills and spills, today's proved to be much calmer with winds of around 10 knots. However conditions were described as tricky with frequent wind shifts. Competitors were also treated to glorious sunshine throughout the day.

Freya (Conor Doyle) and Godot (Godkin & O'Donovan) are both tying on 9 points in Class 0 IRC with Freya taking the lead due to a better result in the last race. Meridian (Tom & Ursula Roche ) lead Class 0 Echo by one point, with Godot currently in second place.

In Class 1 IRC Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold has a full row of bullets to give him a resounding lead over Dan Buckley's Justus. In Class 1 Echo, Joker ( Broderick & Gibbons ) has a lead of 2 points over Fool's Gold ( Rob McConnell ).

In Class 2 IRC, Bad Company (Desmond, Ivers & Deasy ) with 3 bullets out of a possible 4, has a lead of one point ahead of The Main 4 (Salter & O'Regan ). Bad Company also tie on points in Class 2 Echo with Silkbreeze ( Ernie Dillon). Silkbreeze takes first place having won the last race of the day.

The lighter winds seemed to suit Bandit ( Marron & O'Connell) well, and resulted in 2 bullets giving them the lead in Class 3 IRC over the Sigma Flyover (David Marchant). KYC are dominating Class 3 Echo with Chameleon (Padraig O'Donovan) taking a one point lead over Sammy Cohen's Gunsmoke 2.

Sundancer (Alan Mulcahy) has pulled ahead in both Echo and IRC in Class 4. The White Sail Classes had 2 late entrants today making Class 1 White Sails now the largest class in the MMD Spring Series. KYC's Reavra (Stephen Lysaght) has a commanding lead of 5 points over clubmate Peter Kelly's Magic Elphin. Michael Lynch's Lady T has the lead in Class 2 White Sails over Kevin Murray's Objection.

Racing continues next Sunday.

#kyc – Kinsale Yacht Club got the 2014 sailing season off to a dramatic start today for the first two races of its MMD Construction sponsored Spring Series for cruisers. It was John Godkin's Dufour 44 Godot that took advantage of the big seas and gusty south westerly winds to lead in IRC after two races in Class zero from Tom Roche's Salona 45, Meridian in a four–boat fleet writes Claire Bateman.

In a five boat fleet Dan Buckley's J109 Justus has the lead in IRC one from Diarmuid and Hilda Good's Exhale, an X362 Sport .

In Class One Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold leads in ECHO and is on equal points with the Broderick and Gibbons Joker

The 2014 Sailing Club of the Year Award winner has organised racing for four separate classes in the April series with today's racing sponsored by Des McWilliam of UK Sails. Class three has the marginally biggest fleet with six starters. Flyover, the well campaigned Sigma 33 ood skippered by David Marchant from Waterford holds the early lead in class three from Bandit, the modified Bolero of Kieran O'Connell and Graham Marron.

A mild day and a 15 to 20 knot breeze provided the spinnaker fleets with great racing with two races on windward/leeward courses and organised in such a way that classes Zero, One and Two sailed longer courses but were able to finish at approximately the same time as Classes Three and Four thus enabling the second race to get under way promptly. The White Sail fleet which started in off Charlelsfort blew away the cobwebs after the long winter recess. The fleet totalled thirty one boats, ten of which came from the Royal Cork Yacht Club, and three from Waterford Harbour Sailing Club.

Racing will continue next Sunday with FG 11.55a.m. for spinnaker fleets and 12.55 p.m for White Sail.

Full results by class here. More photos below.

#cluboftheyear – Kinsale Yacht Club have been confirmed as the Mitsubishi Motors "Sailing Club of the Year" for 2014 in celebration of an outstanding year during 2013, in which Commodore Cameron Good led his enthusiastic membership through a busy programme of activities, innovations and improvements. There was top sailing achievement afloat, too, both in hosting a remarkable series of major events – regional, national and international – and in the members' own winning of trophies afloat.

In the pretty south coast sailing and fishing port of Kinsale, KYC is one of the major focal points in the town. It interacts vigorously with its community, while at the national and international level, it has set the pace in communication and image projection through an excellent upgrade of its website, which saw it being the winner of the Afloat.ie Club Website award.

Domestically, the club initiated a major upgrade of its harbourside premises which was project-managed with exceptional skill – the builders moved in at the beginning of March, and the job was completed on time in late June ready for Kinsale YC's hosting of its biennial major regatta, the Sovereign's Trophy.

Racing for the Sovereigns Trophy 2013, with Kinsale YC organising the event, their own boats getting into the frame, and the superbly re-vamped clubhouse waiting to welcome everyone back to shore. Photo: Bob Bateman

Very deservedly, the KYC team got the weather they needed to make the Sovereigns one of the highlights of the Irish sailing year, with strong sunshine and fine sailing breezes ushering in the proper summer after the unsettled weather of June.

(Above and below) Kinsale Yacht Club's sailing waters and the race area for both the IFDS worlds and Sovereign's Cup in 2013. Photo: Bob Bateman

One of the great strengths of Kinsale sailing is that, in addition to cheerfully fulfilling their hospitality duties in having a popular marina which is the key port for hundreds of cruising boats coming to Ireland every year, plus the club's ready ability to provide a top class race management team when visiting classes request it, the club also has its own very active local racing fleet. There's a strong out-turn of cruisers augmented by a growing fleet of the Squibs which have proven to be ideal for Kinsale's needs, while the keen fleet of Lasers is another part of the Kinsale fabric, balanced in turn by the heritage represented by the International Dragons in which, over many years, Kinsale has sent forth teams to win at global level.

A sailing club's achievement would be hollow if it only hosted major events. Kinsale's strength is under-pinned by its strong inshore racing classes, with the Squibs – seen here racing in the current early-season series – developing into one of the strongest fleets in the country.  Photo: Aidan McLaverty

The club also plays an active role in providing talented administrators for national and international sailing bodies. David Tucker of Kinsale completed his tour of duty as Commodore of the Irish Cruising Club just last month, while KYC's former commodore John Twomey was elected President of the International Federation for Disabled Sailing in November 2012, a position he continues to fill with energy, enthusiasm, and a great ability to get things done.

Thus it was John Twomey's unrivalled prestige in the international world of disabled sailing that saw Kinsale hosting the highlight of its 2013 season, the IFDS Worlds in August. This was a very major event, an exceptionally international series in which the large fleet required the dedicated effort of something like 120 volunteers drawn from the KYC membership, while the club spread its community involvement beyond the confines of the town by bringing in Cork County Council as the main sponsor.

Summertime off Kinsale. KYC's staging of the IFDS Worlds in August 2013, with Cork County Council the main sponsors, achieved global recognition and was one of the highlights of the Irish season in 2013. Photo: Bob Bateman.

The outcome was a hugely successful event in which a genuine dynamic interaction between land and sea was played out every day. And it was all of a piece with KYC's very positive attitude to its role in sailing, in its own town, in Cork County, and in Ireland and the world. Kinsale Yacht Club is indisputably Ireland's Mitsubishi Motors "Sailing Club of the Year" for 2014.

#kinsale – Well it proved to be a Lose Lose day in Kinsale. Ireland lost in Rugby and the KYC Frostbite Series lost to the Gales!

The wind at 11.00 am was recorded at a mere 10 knots so the Committee boat headed out to set a course. However as the windward mark was about to be set some 30 minutes later, the wind reading had increased to 26 knots so racing was abandoned in the interests of safety.

Several Squibs and Lasers had launched so enjoyed a blast around the harbour before heading back to the Clubhouse for the presentation of prizes for the series.

Kinsale Yacht Club Commodore Finny O'Regan gave an opening address thanking Seamus McLaverty of ASM marine for his continuing support as sponsor for the Frostbites.

He also thanked Bruce Matthews for his involvement in and support of the Frostbites going back 25 years.

Thanks were also expressed for all the Club members who helped make the Frostbites possible, from the mark-layers and safety boat personnel to those ashore in particular Caroline Forde who did sterling work on the results and weekly race reports.

June Matthews (pictured below left) presented the prize winners in each class with their trophies.

June Matthews, Rob Gill , KYC Commodore Finny O'Regan, Colm Dunne. Rob Gill & Colm Dunne receiving 1st place prize in the Squib Fleet.

The Prize winners were as follows:
Squib Class:
1st Allegro, Colm Dunne & Rob Gill KYC 2nd Lazurus, Colm Daly & Marcus Hutchinson KYC 3rd Fagin, Colm & Finny O'Regan KYC

Laser Full Rig Class:
1st Sean Murphy KYC
2nd James Long, Inniscarra
3rd Ian Travers KYC

Laser 4.7 Rig Class:
1st Billy Duane RCYC
2nd Ben Hunt KYC
3rd Jamie Tingle RCYC

Laser Radial Class:
1st Sorcha Ni Shuilleabhain KYC
2nd Cliodhna O'Regan KYC
3rd Sean Gambier-Ross KYC

#kinsalesailing  – Wild conditions for the penultimate day's racing have will bring Kinsale Yacht Club's Frostbite Series to a fitting climax next Saturday.

Yestrerday, for the ASM sponsored series, the wind was steady South South West and varied in strength from 14 to 25 knots. The Race Committee reported that competitors were extremely eager on the start line resulting in several individual recalls.

Colm Dunne & Rob Gill (KYC) are runaway leaders in the Squib fleet in Allegro with a current total of a perfect 9 points for 9 races after discards are applied. The next closest Squib is Lazurus with Colm Daly & Marcus Hutchinson (KYC) on a total of 21 points. Finny and Colm O'Regan (KYC) are in third place with 24 points in Fagin. These 3 boats have broken away from the rest of the fleet with a gap of 19 points between the 3rd and 4th boats. The real battle at this stage is for 4th place with Breakaway (Julie Silfverberg & Liz Bond KYC) on 43 points, Espresso ( Ruth Ennis & Victor Fusco KYC) on 44 points and Pulpo ( Tom Roche & Bobby Nash KYC) also on 44 points.

A similar trend has emerged in the Full Laser fleet with KYC Sean Murphy taking a resounding lead on 12 points followed by Inniscarra James Long on 26 points. Ian Travers (KYC) is in third place with 29 points, Monkstown's Paul O'Sullivan is in 4th with 32 points which is some 30 points ahead of the 5th boat.
The Laser Radials competitors stayed at home today and only two 4.7's came to the race area. Despite not racing today, Billy Duane (RCYC) still holds first position on 10 points. Ben Hunt (KYC) is in second position on 17 points followed by Jamie Tingle (RCYC) on 41 points.
The series ends next Saturday with the final 3 races, there will be a prize giving in the Club House afterwards.