ICRA Nationals and Sovereigns Cup - Day 3
by Jackie Dawson 26 Jun 2015 23:18 BST
24-27 June 2015
Fresh and gusty conditions have set the stage for a spectacular finale in the ICRA Nationals Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale where just two races remain that will decide the series across eight divisions.
The penultimate day brought 'champagne sailing' conditions that Kinsale is famed for, though most crews were occupied with managing the lumpy seaway and gusty breeze that took a toll on several boats.
The overall standings in most classes are starting to favour one clear leader in each but not with sufficient comfort to assure any of victory with the two races in similar conditions remaining.
Best of the overseas boats competing in the four day series continues to be Tony Hayward's Kiwi boat Blackfun sailing from Cowes that now counts all second and first places in Division 4.
In the largest fleet at the event, John Maybury's Joker 2 from the Royal Irish YC has pulled out in front of the 23-strong Division 1 as rival J109 Jelly Baby owned by Ian Nagle of the Royal Cork YC had two out-of-form results yesterday. Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold from Waterford Harbour SC has moved into second overall though a gap of three points remains to the leader.
Division 2 saw an impressive run of form for the second consecutive day by Howth YC's Ross McDonald on Equinox that revelled in the conditions on the exposed windward-leeward course to deliver another perfect set of first places. The Dublin crew has a six-point lead on three club mates chasing hard in the remaining runner-up places as this quartet have dominated the 17-strong class all week.
Richard Colwell and Ronan Cobbes' Corby 25 Fusion (HYC) only leads the 15-boat Division 3 on tie-break after Tim Goodbody's Sigma 33 White Mischief (RIYC) proved more able on the round the cans course with a second and fourth score for the day.
Division 3 ECHO – Kilcullen tops the race results in ECHO too but only just as she nudges out Seven Whistler by 2 seconds with Jailbait a bit further back in third overall. Seven Whistler looks comfortable on 13 points with Kilcullen second on 22 points.
And in Division 0, Howth's Norbert Reilly on Crazy Horse remains the overnight leader as Keronimo from Plymouth retired from the event following gear failure despite winning three of the six races sailed. Jay Colville's Forty Licks from East Down YC has also been forced out of the event following a boom breakage. Conor Phelan's Jump Juice is expected to be ready for the final races after steering failure in the race five sent the Crosshaven crew ashore early for the day.
In Division 2, Windsor Laudan's Demelza was ousted from the lead to third overall by Dermot Lanigan on Privateer in first overall and David Riome's Valfreya in second. However, the Howth boat still retains first overall after a clean sweep of the division that is smaller in number racing under IRC handicap and just a single point between all three boats in ECHO.
Kinsale boats dominate both the White Sails divisions racing under ECHO handicap after a perfect penultimate race. Brian and Anthony McCarthy's Baccarat has a six-point lead in Division 1 over Tony's Brien's White Tiger and Dave O'Sullivan's Cimarron VI in second and third places respectively though the points margins are finely balanced here. In IRC, it's a shoot-out between the two Dublin Elan 333s Bite-the-Bullet and White Lotus, though Bacarrat got into the mix today, scoring a bullet.
Results posted at www.sovereignscup.com