Cork Dry Gin Calves Week at Schull Harbour Sailing Club
by Claire Bateman 13 Aug 2012 10:00 BST
7-10 August 2012
Kieran Twomey's 'Gloves Off' battles it out with Conor Phelan's 'Jump Juice' during the Cork Dry Gin Calves Week © Robert Bateman
West Cork kept the best 'til last!
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 (10th) and what a day it turned out to be. There was a 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. The wind, coming from the east, meant that instead of a start directly into the breeze, 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. This 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 also a lot of families from grannies and granddads 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. 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 crewmember 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 and surely tourism in the area could hardly have had a better boost.
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 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 overall win 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 win overall while William Lacy in "Sojurn" collected the IRC trophy.
In White Sail Two, Michael Hearn in "Summerfly" had a fantastic trip around the rock to win from Brian Ronan's "Kopper Too" with the overall win going to Peter Morehead of the sponsor company, Cork Dry Gin, in "Giggles".
The open air prize giving took place on the main street in Schull and such were the crowds thronging the popular resort, the street had to be cordoned off on both sides with marshals regulating the traffic to ensure the safety of all.
The alteration of the format of Calves Week for 2012 certainly proved to be a huge success.
Full results can be found on the Schull Harbour Sailing Club website.