With one day left until registration closes for the ICRA Nationals, over 70 boats are now registered with strong fleets taking shape across all classes writes ICRA's Dave Cullen

The event will take place at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th September, and promises to be one of the highlights of the sailing calendar this year.

In the White Sails division, boats will be challenging for the ICRA Corinthians Cup on both IRC and ECHO giving a great opportunity to all yachts at different levels.

Great racing planned is planned for the fleet and we would encourage any more White Sail yachts to enter the event. The fleet will be well looked after to provide an enjoyable weekend of racing, with a balance of round the cans and windward-leeward racing.

Plans have also been made to provide results separately for boats with furling and non-furling genoas.

"Plans are made to provide results separately for boats with furling and non-furling genoas"

Plans are currently underway to deliver as great a social occasion as possible within Covid guidelines, utilising outside space to ensure that the après sail part of the event is provided for all competitors and crew.

Sailing instructions are currently being finalised, but in the meantime, competitors should take note of the ICRA General Rules which form part of the SIs.

These were previously debated and agreed by members at recent ICRA Conferences. These general rules provide a blueprint for regatta parameters with some of the key ones including:

• Crew limits – agreed and voted by members to be IRC Cert +1 for the prestigious national championships event.
• Cert Dates – need to be at least 5 days before the first scheduled day of racing, and must be endorsed for those racing in ICRA groupings A to H in spinnaker divisions (August 27th in practice)
• Safety equipment - OSR Appendix B shall be complied with

The ICRA General Rules also give guidelines to boats grouping and divisions, which will be used to finalise classes for the event.

The full ICRA General Rules can be found here

We look forward to seeing as many boats as possible what we hope will be a great event.