It’s more than 18 months now since Michael O’Suillebhain did some skilled helming to bring Kinsale YC’s J/24 Kinsailor onto the podium in the J/24 Europeans at Howth. But his skills were as sharp as ever as he led the Kinsale squad to victory in the hard-fought intervarsity Keelboat Championship this Easter weekend at the same venue, even if this time they were racing the host club’s multi-purpose flotilla of J/80s.

The overall memories of the 2023 season are of general recollections of June’s good weather being virtually completely blotted out by the foul conditions that prevailed in July, August and September. But though we went into the 2024 Easter Weekend with mostly pessimistic weather forecasts, things were much better than expected, and University College Cork gallantly led the charge at Howth in making the best of them.

If you accept that West Cork begins at Kinsale, then West Cork has made a clean sweep of Irish Sailing’s All-Ireland Titles for 2017. Before Fionn Lyden of Baltimore put his stamp on the Seniors’ historic silver salver at Mullingar in the second weekend of October, a week earlier as the new month was being ushered in, young Michael O’Suillebhain of Kinsale was successfully dealing with a wide variety of conditions in Schull to clinch the Junior Title.

Crewed by Michael Carroll and racing in the Fastnet Marine & Outdoor Education Centre’s TR3.6 dinghies with the Centre’s own David Harte as PRO, the event logistics were supported by an enthusiastic team of helpers who kept the show on the move through wind, rain and mist - a marvellous community effort, typical of the Schull spirit.

And for those who would argue that West Cork doesn’t really begin until you’re west of the Old Head of Kinsale or even further down the coast, we hear what you’re saying, but would point out that O’Suillebhain is one of the great West Cork family names.