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Displaying items by tag: September Series

The September Series of racing continued at Foynes Yacht Club last Sunday, where a record entry of craft 'took to the water' in their respective classes.

In class 1 Battle stands as the leader so far, closely followed by Hello and Golden Kopper.

In the white sails division Marengo is heading the group, who is beating stiff competition from the other yachts, and in the Mermaid division, Sea Fox and Argo are also battling for line honours.

The weather conditions were a force 4 to 5 westerly wind, with quite a large swell pertaining for most of the race.

The Officer of the Day, Ray McGibney sent class 1 down to the Loughill buoy and back up the Clare shore to round the Sturamus mark and finish at the clubline.

In a keenly contested race in class 1, Donal McCormack and John-Paul Buckley on Battle, fought off Liam Madden on Hello, who was closely followed by John and Edward Conway on Golden Kopper.

The white sails division raced down to the Loughill mark and back to the club finish line, and this is being led by Pat Finucane on Marengo, who has two wins so far. In second place is Dave Bevan on Mariposa.

In a very exciting race between Mermaid class captain, Conor Roche on Sea Fox and Darragh McCormack on Argo, who were literally 'neck and neck' for all of the race, but in the end the tactical skills of Conor took the better of Darragh at the finish line.

So far, the series has been well supported by all members, who are also vieing for the laurels in their divisions. Racing next Sunday starts at 1pm.

Published in Shannon Estuary

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)