Royal Cork's Daragh Connolly is the new SCORA Commodore annual after his election at an online AGM held via Zoom on Thursday 18th February.

The large online attendance includes members of the Royal Cork, Cove, Monkstown, Kinsale, Dunmore East, and Schull Harbour.

Outgoing Commodore Johanna Murphy opened the meeting with a brief report on the seasons restricted sailing activities, highlighting the successful running of the Fastnet 450 pop-up offshore race with the cooperation of the National Yacht Club and the Royal Cork.

SCORA's agm was held online via Zoom

Daragh Connolly of the RCYC was confirmed as the incoming commodore for a two-year period and laid out a proposed framework of activities, subject to government regulations, that included races to Dunmore East, Glandore and Schull, together with further promotion of the combined Cork Harbour combined leagues, and an online series to encourage newcomers to the offshore sailing scene.

The remainder of the executive committee was confirmed, with David Cullinane of Kinsale filling the Vice Commodore role, while Chris Granby of Monkstown takes over as Sailing Secretary and Michael Murphy of Schull continues as Financial Officer.

It is intended to co-opt additional representatives from the remaining South Coast Clubs.

"Offshore racing and club inclusion" will be the main themes for South Coast Offshore Racing Association (SCORA) in the year ahead according to the Commodore of SCORA prior to its annual general meeting which will be held this Thursday night.

Commodore, Johanna Murphy, says that there is a big demand for racing offshore and this will be an important part of the future focus for sailing on the south coast.

She has called this year's agm for Thursday and, like most such meetings during the present pandemic, it will be on Zoom.

The structure of the Association will move to appoint a Commodore, Vice-commodore, Sailing Secretary and Treasurer, bringing more people into the organisation and strengthening its administration.

The outgoing Commodore, having completed her term in office, will not be going forward for re-election, but said that the focus of SCORA should increase concentration on the inclusion of all clubs on the South Coast.

There will be an annual gathering, she said, which will, when the pandemic allows, increase the social contact of sailors along the coast and the promotion of the sport.

The AGM will start at 8 p.m. Members are invited to join the Zoom meeting here

The Commodore of the South Coast Offshore Racing Association (SCORA) has been elected President of Cobh and Harbour Chamber in Cork.

The Chamber, which has been in existence for 60 years, is composed of local business representatives and works to promote the economic and social development of the Cork Harbour community. It is the primary business representative organisation in the greater Cobh area.

Johanna Murphy, an auctioneer, has been leading the development of yacht racing on the South Coast and introduced several new developments since she was appointed Commodore of SCORA.

She was previously Vice-President of the Business Chamber which, she said on taking office as President, will be announcing a two-year plan in January.

"We have set up Team Cobh, which is a coming together of the Chamber, Cobh Tourism and Cobh Tidy Towns Committee. We aim to work together in the best interests of the harbour town."

The winner of last weekend's Kinsale Fastnet Race is among the first entries for SCORA’s new Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour race.

Denis and Annamarie Murphy’s Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo that showed a clean pair of heels to the 11-boat fleet at Kinsale last Saturday is one of 21 expressions of interest received so far for the newest race on the offshore calendar that is scheduled to sail on August 22nd, the same date as the now-cancelled Round Ireland Race.

The new race is approximately 270 nautical miles (300 miles).

Cian McCarthy's Sunfast 3300 'Cinnamon Girl' from Kinsale is signed up for the new race Photo: Bob Bateman

As Afloat reported previously, the Cork offshore sailing body announced the new race that it says will be run in association with Dun Laoghaire Harbour's National Yacht Club and the Royal Cork Yacht Club. The 'pop-up' race is from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock.

A Notice of Race for the 270-mile fixture is downloadable below. The race will be started by National Yacht Club Race Officers at Dun Laoghaire Harbour and finished by the Royal Cork Yacht Club Race Committee and it will be run under the auspices of SCORA.

Race entry form here

W M Nixon will be examining Ireland’s newest yacht race this weekend in his Sailing on Saturday blog (August 8) here.

Royal Cork's Denis Murphy and Annamarie Fegan sailing Nieulargo were the winners of the IRC All In Fleet in Kinsale Yacht Club's Fastnet SCORA Race sponsored by UK Sailmakers Ireland.

The Grand Soleil 40 crew that included former All Ireland Sailing champion Nin O'Leary and 2004 Olympian Killian Collins were winners of KYC's will Fastnet Trophy awarded to the yacht with the lowest corrected time on IRC rating.

Onboard the winning Grand Soleil 40

Second overall was the race organiser Finbarr O Regan of the host club for his performance in the Elan 333, Artful Dodger.

Third was another Elan 333 Stephen Lysaght Reavra Too also of the host club.

Tom Roche (pictured centre in green top) and the Meridian Crew return to the Kinsale dock after the race. Among the Meridian crew (pictured right) is Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, DSM, the current Chief of Staff of Ireland's Defence Forces Photo: Bob Bateman 

Racing began on Friday evening at 6.30 pm and the nine boat fleet raced through the night over the 100-mile course. 

As Afloat reported previously, Nieulargo was first out of the harbour after the start and one of the first to return just after mid-day.

Reaching home under spinnaker along the Kinsale coast Photo: Bob Bateman 

Winds were westerly and averaged 10-knots.

Prizes were presented in IRC and ECHO. Full results are here

KYC adds: Glorious conditions greeted the nine Cork & Dublin boats that came to the start line for the McWilliam Sailmakers sponsored annual Kinsale-Fastnet race. While the present Covid conditions may have affected the numbers those that turned out were well campaigned ensuring a very competitive event. The race was a fantastic tactical challenge working the tides in and out of the bays with a beat to the rock & run home. The sail to the rock was a fantastic offshore experience with a full moon, shoals of dolphins and even a meteorite shower to entertain the crews.

Meridian rounded the rock in first place with Nieulargo hot on her heels but the AIS positions & quick calculations showed Artful Dodger & Cinnamon Girl were proving difficult to shake off. The run home was nearly direct downwind bar the reach from the Old Head to the finish which didn’t suit the new Sunfast 3330 but both Niulagro & Artful Dodger relished those conditions. While Meridian took line honours and Nuilargo came home second it was impossible to know who was going to win the IRC Fastnet Trophy with all boats bringing home fresh breeze.

Prize giving was on the club balcony with Denis Murphy’s Grand Soleil 40 Nuilargo taking the Fastnet trophy after nineteen hours IRC racing by a mere three minutes from Finbarr O Regan’s Elan 333 Artful Dodger who won the newly presented Ocean trophy. Cian McCarthys Cinnamon Girl took the Echo trophy.

Slideshow of KYC Fastnet Race below by Bob Bateman

Cork offshore sailing body SCORA has announced a new race that it says will be run in association with Dun Laoghaire Harbour's National Yacht Club and the Royal Cork Yacht Club. The 'pop-up' race is from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock.

The IRC race will start in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22 which would have been the date of the Round Ireland Race start.

It will pass the Muglin, Tusker, Conningbeg and Fastnet lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches’s Point bears due East.

National Yacht Club - celebrating 150th anniversary in 2020

The course is specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.

The clubs have combined forces to mark their anniversary celebrations, it being the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Competing boats are invited to take part in the Tricentenary At Home Regatta of the Royal Cork Yacht Club which sees racing for IRC classes from the 28th – 30th August and will be one of the highlights of the club's celebrations.

The race will be governed by the COVID-19 guidelines as laid out by Irish Sailing and organising clubs.

Interested parties are asked to complete an expression of interest form here and a Notice of Race will be available in the coming days.

The Notice of Race for the 2020 SCORA Fastnet Race, sponsored by UK Sailmakers Ireland, is now available to download.

No class divisions apply in this all-in IRC race, which sets off from the Kinsale Yacht Club’s Charles Fort Line with first gun at 5.55pm on Saturday 1 August. For more see the NOR attached below.

The run to the Fastnet, as noted in Tom MacSweeney's podcast earlier today, will be the highlight of a weekend of sailing in Kinsale that also includes the Open Keelboat Regatta, sponsored by Barry Ryan Civil Engineering Ltd.

This one-design for regatta is open to Dragons and Squibs, with six races over two days outside of Kinsale Harbour and an entry fee of just €40.

See the Kinsale Yacht Club website for further details including entry forms and sailing instructions.

The South Coast Offshore Racing Association and Kinsale Yacht Club have agreed to run a SCORA-based race from Kinsale to the Fastnet Rock and back to Kinsale which will act as a qualifier for the Round Ireland Yacht Race in August.

As sailing resumes on the South Coast, SCORA Commodore Johanna Murphy says this will be the Association’s only offshore race this season.

There will be two other SCORA events for its annual League this season, “a shortened one,” she says – the Cobh-to-Blackrock Race in Cork Harbour and the RCYC Autumn/October Regatta.

She is the guest on this week’s AFLOAT Podcast where she also says that members should support their clubs. “If clubs can’t continue, if they don’t exist, then you won’t be able to go sailing,” she says in response to concerns that members have been slow to renew club memberships.

This follows last week’s Podcast when the CEO of Irish Sailing, Harry Hermon, emphasised the importance of renewing club memberships.

The Kinsale/Fastnet/Kinsale race will start on the Saturday of the August Bank Holiday, August 1, at 1800 and return the following morning. There will be two trophies – The Fastnet Trophy and the Minahan Trophy.

This week’s Podcast is below

I attended the SCORA annual meeting this week. I was seeking a particular answer about boats. The attendance at the meeting was the biggest in some years, a tribute to the work which the South Coast Offshore Racing Association’s Commodore has put into the organisation.

Who says women can’t lead the men?

Johanna Murphy from Great Island Sailing Club has been doing a pretty good job at SCORA, where the main decision at the agm was that the combined Cork Harbour Clubs League will run next year in May/June and September, but not in July. The turn-out on Saturdays in July this Summer was regarded as not big enough in comparison to the Friday nights, to continue with it. August is a holiday month when many boats head west. On Friday nights in July the clubs can resort to their own events.

SCORA prizewinners with Commodore Johanna Murphy (centre) Photo: Bob Bateman

Handicapping was a usual topic, ECHO handicaps are open to question. Not everyone is pleased with the current ones. The restoration of a handicapping committee is on the cards, The Queenstown Race from Dun Laoghaire for the RCYC Tricentenary was mentioned with detailed arrangements and the South Coast Racing Calendar to be drawn up in a few weeks.

So, with the meeting over I go to my purpose for being there – to ask the stalwart of the Association, its Secretary and Treasurer for many years, Michael Murphy, what is the attraction of a 40-year-old boat?

A few weeks ago at the RCYC there was a bit of celebration about his ownership of Shelly D for that length of time but no one got him to explain why he’s been a one-boat-owner for so long. I was curious, so I asked him and his answers are fascinating, worth listening to, because what he says and how he puts it, could not be conveyed adequately, solely by the written word.

So listen to him on the Podcast below.

The 19th AGM of SCORA, the south coast racing association, was held on Tuesday at the Royal Cork Yacht Club Crossshaven writes Bob Bateman

The well-attended meeting included representatives of all the Cork harbour clubs in addition to Kinsale, Waterford and Schull.

SCORA Commodore Johanna Murphy reported on a successful sailing season particularly with the introduction of the combined Cork harbour club leagues, together with the successful reintroduction of additional offshore races.

A great turnout for the SCORA prizegiving at Royal Cork Yacht Club

A discussion on handicaps and the new club class bands concluded that the system appeared to be working well, and it was agreed to reform the south coast handicap review committee.

A slide show of the season's action on the water was provided for members and fourteen of the overall league winners were presented with framed photographs taken during the 2019 events.

See prizegiving photo gallery below by Bob Bateman

Cathal Condon receives the prize on behalf of Bad Company (Desmond, Ivers and Deasy) from SCORA Commodore Johanna Murphy

David Marchant of Waterford Harbour Sailing Club, Flyover

Denis Byrne, Cracker

Denis Ellis, Mazu

Denis Murphy, Nieulargo

Finbar O'Regan, Artful Dodger

Aidan Heffernan, Indulgence

John Murphy, Esme

Kieran Dorgan, No Half Measures

Kieran O'Brien, Magnet

Mary Jones, Jelly Baby

David O'Sullivan who received the prize on behalf of Tom Roche, Meridian