Light Winds to Start Kinsale's Sovereign's Cup Regatta But More Breeze on the Way

23rd June 2021

John Murphy and Richard Colwell's Howth based J109 Outrajeous that missed out on the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race earlier in June will be on the Sovereign's Cup starting line in Kinsale this morning Credit: Afloat

Sovereign's Cup competitors can expect a mix of light to medium conditions over the next four days at Kinsale Yacht Club tempting pundits to predict that it might be the all-round performance of cruiser-racers types such as the J109 (that make up 15% of the fleet) that might come out on top by Saturday.

Light winds for this morning's opening day of the O'Leary Life & Pensions Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club looks like a tricky scenario but fresher conditions with sun and breeze from Thursday offer the prospect of some 'champagne sailing' for the fleet of 62 boats now gathered in the West Cork port.

As Afloat reported previously, the event is split across five divisions with the biggest boats competing in the Coastal series which also features the biggest turnout.

In the Sovereign's Cup offshore line-up is Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Champion Grand Soleil Nieulargo from the Royal Cork Yacht Club

Included in the offshore line-up is Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Nieulargo from the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven and Kinsale's own Conor Doyle on Freya. George Sisk's WOW! from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire is also back as one of the original entries for this course.

George Sisk's WOW! from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire is competing in this week's Sovereign's Cup at Kinsale Yacht Club

The four-day series is being staged at nearly half its normal size due to the Covid-19 pandemic and no indoor activities have been organised with restrictions on numbers ashore in place. Overseas entries are unable to attend due to travel restrictions.

"While we are unable to have festival conditions ashore this year, there's still a mood of celebration as we're all set for great racing afloat," commented Anthony O'Neill, Regatta Director at Kinsale Yacht Club. "The competitors have closely followed the Covid guidelines and our precautions have been widely welcomed; people just want to get out sailing at last."

The four-day O'Leary Insurance Group Sovereign's Cup is the first of the regular Irish regattas on the national fixtures list to resume.

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