Cork Dry Gin Calves Week at Schull, West Cork, certainly kept the best til the last writes Claire Bateman. Scroll down for Photos.

Given the fog and poor visibility experienced during the early part of the regatta week, the organisers made the wise decision to switch the Fastnet race to Friday and what a day it turned out to be. There was a beautiful warm easterly breeze force 4/5 with non stop sunshine. Race Officer Neil Prendeville reversed the order of the start so that the lower handicapped boats started first and off went all the classes of the sixty boat fleet to enjoy a day the like of which has not been experienced for a long, long time and certainly not this year. The wind, which was coming from the east, meant that instead of a start directly into the wind what they had was a reaching start and by the time it came to the Class Two and Three start they charged the line some believing that the buoy safeguarding the stern of the committee boat was an inner distance mark.

Both the Corby 25 Allure and the quarter tonner Per Elisa returned to start again before proceeding on a course that took them up Long Island Sound under spinnaker, seven and eight abreast, and what a sight that was, before taking Goat Island to port and then a fetch to the Fastnet which course was also followed by the Class One boats. Being a Fastnet race with the magnet of rounding the famous rock, the boats as usual were packed with not only racing crews but there were also a lot of families on board from Grannies and Grandads to babies and even some canines, all having the time of their lives in the brilliant sun and white capped seas.

In a race like this taking in the Fastnet with the tidal sweep around it throwing up a lumpy sea it was inevitable there would be one or two incidents and one of these saw the Travers/Rohan quarter tonner Per Elisa doing a pirouette much to the astonishment of her helm and crew only to find their rudder had loosened and one of the other boats came to her assistance. There were one or two other coming togethers in the tight racing and Pat Barret/Cathal Conlon in Y knot came in to the finish on a tight spinnaker reach and experienced great difficulty in dropping their big red kite trying everything from going backwards and forwards and even sending a crew member up the mast to try to free it which they eventually succeeded in doing.

In the midst of all this enjoying the glorious weather and sailing spectacle of the sixty boat fleet the cruise ship Hebridean Princess was arriving in Schull Harbour and the gentlemanly Master called the Race Officer to ascertain the situation and having it explained to him the race would last approximately anther hour, brought his ship around Long Island through the Gascanane Sound to anchor at the mouth of the harbour thus enabling his passengers to have the unexpected treat of viewing the racing in the unbeatable scenic surroundings.

In Class One IRC Kieran Twomey's "Gloves Off" returned to her winning form with a tight twenty second victory over Martin Breen's "Lynx Clipper.This result confirmed " Gloves" as IRC One overall boat of the week.

In Class One ECHO it was another popular win for Gabby Hogan's "Growler" that also saw him take the overall trophy.

In Class Two IRC Jason Losty finished a fantastic week in runaway style with a comprehensive victory to take both the day prize and overall trophy, when his closest competitor the Travers/Rohan "Per Elisa" had to retire due to the already mentioned gear failure.

In Class Three IRC Derek Dillon posted another perfect score to comfortably win the overall from Dan O' Donovan's "Second Count",while in ECHO victory went to local Schull boat Paul Murray's "Full Pelt".

In Class Four it was a clean sweep in both divisions for the Murphy family in "Shelly D" while the overalls went to Richard Hanley's "Saoirse"in IRC and the Molloy/O' Shea duo on "No fixed Abode", who despite a disqualification in the final race, won the ECHO trophy.

In White Sail One Michael O Leary's "Act Two" revelled in the fresh conditions to win in both divisions and also took the ECHO overall while William Lacy and Charles Blandford in "Sojourn" collected the IRC trophy.

In White Sail Two Michael Hearn in "Summerfly" had a brilliant trip around the rock to win from Brian Ronan's "Kopper Too" with the overall going to Peter Morehead of the sponsor company, Cork Dry Gin, in "Giggles".

All in all a perfect ending to Cork Dry Gin Calves week 2012.

#calvesweek –The new compact format for Calves week 2012 did not have much help from the weather on day two of the regatta today writes Claire Bateman.

With a continuation of light weather and poor visibility, Calves Week Race Officer Neil Prendeville, must be wondering how he had upset the Weather Gods as he struggled to lay his start line off Copper Point, having had to fly the postponement flag for the second day.

After a short delay, the fleets disappeared into the fog all heading for the No 4 offshore mark in Long Island Bay. As the race progressed, the eerie silence of the fog was occasionally broken by the cheers of the crews, listening to the results of Katie Taylor's Olympic boxing results on their radios.

In Class One IRC Kieran Twomey's "Gloves off" had a comprehensive victory with more than five minutes to spare over Paul O Higgins "Rockabill V" while the ECHO prize went to Barry Heskins "Now What" ahead of Leslie Parnell in "Black Velvet"

In Class Two IRC it was a dramatic day for Jason Losty in "Illes Piteuses" who reversed yesterday's results by beating the Rohan/Travers "Per Elisa" into second place, while the ECHO result went to William Despards "Obsession" with Ernie Dillions "Silk Breeze" in second.

In Class Three it was a clean sweep for Cove sailing club boats, with the Allister/ Kenny /Kavanagh combination winning IRC ,while the ECHO result went to the Ryan/Tyler duo in "Away on Business" .

In Class Four Richard Hanleys "Saoirse" took the IRC trophy, while in ECHO the Molloy/ O'Shea crew in "No Fixed Abode" took the spoils.

In White Sail One the prizes all went to Dublin crews, with "Empress 111 owners Tom Fitzpatrick and Des Glennon winning IRC, while Phil Smiths "Just Jasmin"won in ECHO and Class Two White Sail produced a very popular local winner when event secretary Dave Waters in "Genevive" took first place, ahead of Michael Hearns "Summerfly" and Peter Moorheads "Giggles".

Racing will continue tomorrow with first gun at 12 noon.

#COASTGUARD - A crewman on a French trawler off West Cork has been airlifted to hospital by coastguard helicopter, as RTÉ News reports.

The fisherman is understood to have suffered head injuries on the fishing vessel some 240km off the Beara Peninsula in the early hours of this morning Tuesday 7 August.

The Irish Coast Guard's Valentia unit co-ordinated the airlift, dispatching the Shannon rescue helicopter to the trawler. The injured man was winched on board and taken to Cork University Hospital. His current condition is not yet known.

#calves week – With over 40 confirmed entries at present, the 2012 Calves Week in Schull is again expected to top the 60 boat mark for the annual West Cork festival of sailing.

This year's event will incorporate a race in the Scora Offshore Series and will feature racing for six classes with the ever growing white sail class split into two fleets and with a cut-off point of approximately 34ft.

The traditional overnight Offshore Scora race starts from Crosshaven on Friday night, August 3rd, while on Sunday the Schull/Baltimore regatta feeder race will provide ample opportunity for skippers and crews to familiarise themselves with Roaring Water Bay where principal race officer for Calves Week, Neil Prendeville, has drawn up a new course card featuring over forty courses taking in the many islands and natural marks.

The opening reception and skippers briefing takes place at the Fastnet Marine Centre on Monday August 6th with the first "Round the islands" race starting at 12.30pm on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the fleet will sail two races on an Olympic type course in Long Island Bay, while Thursday will see the boats head for the Fastnet Rock .

The series will finish on Friday with racing in Roaring Water Bay followed by the overall presentation of prizes and closing ceremony on Schull Main Street.

#RESCUE - Brave volunteers from the Baltimore RNLI saved the day when they jumped aboard a runaway speedboat heading for a busy pier last Friday.

As the Irish Examiner reports, it was one of four dramatic rescues made by the West Cork lifeboat crew in a single 24-hour period.

Pat Collins and Tadhg Collins were the plucky duo who attempted the daring feat from their inflatable boarding boat launched from the all-weather lifeboat.

They manoeuvred their boat close enough to the runaway RIB - which was circling at speeds of up to 20 knots ever closer to the pier after its pilot and passenger were thrown overboard - to allow Tadgh to leap on board and turn down the engines.

The RIB's crew were unharmed in the incident, swimming away and finding shelter on a ketch anchored at Sherkin Island.

Baltimore's busy 24 hours continued with call-outs from three yachts during Saturday's force 7 easterly winds.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

#COASTAL NOTES - A 17th-century merchant vessel recently discovered off West Cork could have carried Ireland's first coconuts, the Irish Examiner reports.

The shipwreck near Schull was discovered embedded in silt 30ft below the surface by workers laying pipes for the town's new waste treatment plant.

A diving exclusion zone has since been established in the area to protect the site from looters and allow marine archaeologists to investigate the wreck undisturbed.

Coconuts found in the wreck indicate that the vessel was returning to Irish waters from the Caribbean.

Experts are hoping to establish the cause of the shipwreck, which may have been due to dashing against rocks in bad weather.

It is also speculated that the ship went down around the same time of the Sack of Baltimore in 1631, when North African pirates from the Barbary Coast attacked the area, kidnapping hundreds of locals.

The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.

#COASTAL NOTES - A number of West Cork piers have been included in the current round of funding under the 2012 Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Capital Programme, according to the West Cork Times.

Keelbeg Pier at Union Hall will receive €48,750 for the next stage in the completion of new facilities for parking, access and storage.

Elsewhere, Pallas Pier at Ardgroom and Schull Pier will receive €35,250 for repairs to sheet piles after a condition survey for accelerated low water corrosion (ALWC), while also in Schull, Dooneen and Skeaghanore West piers will get €37,500 to pay for redecking and slipway repair.

The funding announcement comes some months after Cork's county mayor and council manager launched two major reports on Cork's coastal areas, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

It also follows the commitment last December by Marine Minister Simon Coveney, who is TD for Cork South-Central, to underline the importance of Ireland's coastal communities in the allocation of Government funding.

#CALVES WEEK – Sailors from Kinsale Yacht Club, Royal Cork Yacht Club as well as West Cork clubs Baltimore and Crookhaven joined with Schull Harbour Sailing Club yesterday (SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS) to toast Cork Dry Gin Calves Week 2012 new compact format which will consist of a four day racing series, including a race around the Fastnet Rock.

Alan Dwyer, Commodore of SHSC raised a glass to the new sponsorship and among others invited to the Cork Gin reception at Blackrock Castle in Cork Harbour was ICRA's Michael Murphy, Gail McAllister of ISA and West Cork Sailing Centre, Alan Dwyer, Tom Kirby,  Bryan Cahill of Schull, Ritchie Hanley from Kinsale and Aidan Heffernan skipper of Indulgence from Royal Cork. Sailing writers Dermot Russell of the Irish Examiner and Claire Bateman of Afloat.ie also attended.

Speaking about Cork Dry Gin's sponsorship Alan Dwyer saays says "we are thrilled to have such a prestigious brand as Cork Dry Gin sponsoring this year's event, the new series will create a real buzz around Schull with a prize giving every night in the village"

The event will take place from Aug 7th - 10th to allow for visiting yachts to take part in the local regattas of Baltimore, Crookhaven and Schull.

#MARINE WILDLIFE - Another humpback whale sighting off West Cork has been confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) - and it could be a new arrival to these shores.

The humpback was encountered some seven miles southeast of Galley Head near Clonakilty Bay on Wednesday 16 May by local whale watch operator Colin Barnes.

A tell-tale series of three blows and a tail fluke were enough for Barnes to confirm the species, but unfortunately its identity could not be confirmed, which means it could be a newcomer to Irish waters or one of two humpbacks sighted in the same area in earl April, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

"If it is a new animal, this will bring to 21 the number of recognisable humpbacks recorded to date in Irish waters," said IWDG sightings co-ordinator Pádraig Whooley, who noted with interest that while the group is concluding its field work in the seasonal feeding grounds around Cape Verde, there are "also humpbacks present at higher latitude feeding grounds".

Whooley commented at the time of the April sightings: "Why these two young humpbacks are here during spring, when years of data shows them to be absent in these months, is a mystery."

The IWDG has more on the story HERE.

#CALVES WEEK – The new compact format for Cork Dry Gin Calves Week 2012 will consist of a 4 day racing series, including a race around the Fastnet Rock. As previously reported on Afloat.ie the event will take place from Aug 7th - 10th to allow for visiting yachts to take part in the local regattas of Baltimore, Crookhaven and Schull.

Speaking about Cork Dry Gin's sponsorship Alan Dwyer, Commodore of Schull Harbour Sailing Club says "we are thrilled to have such a prestigious brand as Cork Dry Gin sponsoring this year's event, the new series will create a real buzz around Schull with a prize giving every night in the village".