The weather might have thrown four seasons at the O'Leary Life Sovereign's Cup this week but it was no match for the organisers or competitors who successfully completed the penultimate days racing albeit in fog off Kinsale today.
It leaves overall victories either still to be decided going into the final day tomorrow or the prospect of clean sweeps in some divisions.
Following the cancellation of Thursday's programme due to gale conditions, racing resumed today with the weather again attempting to get the upper hand.
Dense fog covered the course area for the entire day while a moderate breeze kept the left-over swell from the previous day's gale towards the challenging end of the scale at around three metres for the most part. Race management teams opted to sail round the cans courses for the cruiser racers while one-designs were given a short windward-leeward course.
However, the poor visibility meant the one-designs could only have one race while the remainder of the event completed the programme for the day.
Wow on Top in Coastal Races
Two wins from two races puts George Sisk's XP40 Wow from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in pole position for the Coastal Class Title after he beat Conor Doyle's XP50 Freya on home waters. Doyle is second with clubmate Thomas Roche third on Meridian.
Eleuthera Leads Class Zero
In Class Zero, Greystones Sailing Club's Eleuthera (Frank Whelan) also continues her lead and the Grand Soleil 44 is four points clear of Conor Phelan's Jump Juice Royal Cork YC.
Outrajeous is Five Points Clear
Division One will come down to the final races as Richard Colwell and John Murphys' lead on the J109 Outrajeous from Howth YC on five points comes under pressure from Brian Jones sistership Jelly Baby from the Royal Cork YC on eight points. Update: A protest room decision is awaited in this fleet.
Checkmate XVIII v Mata in Half Ton Battle
In the largest fleet of the event, Nigel Biggs Half Tonner Checkmate XVIII leads Division 2 on IRC but Half-Ton national champion Michael Wright on Mata from Howth Yacht Club won both of the day's races and can draw level on the final day.
Little Fella Leads Dragons
Cameron Good of the host club has broken the points tie in his favour in the Dragon class and now leads overnight leader Martin Byrne and the Jaguar Sailing Team as the 16-boat national championships heads for a conclusion tomorrow.
Twomey Looks for Home Victory
Amongst the White Sails classes, John Twomey from Kinsale YC extended his lead on Shillelagh with another race win for the day. Summing up the series so far, he said: "The weather is boss!" See Afloat's White Sails photo gallery from today's racing here.
Fine and light conditions are forecast for the final day when the 1720 Sportsboat will be hoping to add more races to their single result that saw Ross McDonald on Ropedock Atara from Howth YC take the lead over Anthony O'Leary's Antix from the Royal Cork YC.
Full results here. All subject to protest.
The 2019 Sovereign's Cup will be reviewed later today by WM Nixon in his Sailing on Saturday blog here