Volvo Cork Week 2022 at the Royal Cork Yacht Club - Day 2
by Louay Habib 12 Jul 2022 21:47 BST
11-15 July 2022
Top Racing and Heaps of Fun
The second day of Volvo Cork Week incorporating the ICRA National Championships was held with races for all classes in Cork Harbour, Ringabella Bay and a technical windward leeward course off Roaches Point. The Beaufort Cup fleet finished the 120nm Fastnet Race with a thrilling finish at the entrance to Cork Harbour. Light and shifty winds added to the complexity for all of the 192 teams racing at Volvo Cork Week.
IRC Racing Classes and One-Design Race winners on 11 July at Volvo Cork Week: 1720 MO, Cape 31 Aja, Cape 31 Antix, J/111 JourneyMaker 11, J/109 Joker 2, Quarter Tonner BLT, Grand Soleil 44 Samatom. Classic and Echo Non-Spinnaker winners 11 July: Cork Harbour One Design Jap, helm Harold Cudmore, Frank Caul Prince of Tides, John Twomey Shilleagh.
Results from Volvo Cork Week: https://www.sailwave.com/results/VolvoCorkWeek2022.htm#
1720 European Championships
Just one race was completed today for the 44 strong 1720 Class. Race Officer Ciaran McSweeney and his race management team were obliged to call two general recalls for over eager 1720 teams before finally getting the fleet away with the Black Flag flying. Aidan Lynch's Baltimore SC team racing MO was the race winner. Second place was adjudged a tie with Kenny Rumball's Royal Irish team on The Conor Wouldn't, crossing the line with Robert Dix's Baltimore SC team racing Elder Lemon. Rope Dock Atara helmed by Ross McDonald retains the lead for the 1720 European Championships. The Conor Wouldn't moves up to second and Padraig Byrne & Donny Wilson's Zing is in third.
Coastal Class
21 teams are racing in the Coastal Class which is proving to be one of the most competitive classes at Volvo Cork Week. Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom from Howth YC leads the class after winning today's Harbour Race by just 32 seconds. Second after IRC time correction was Jamie McWilliam's Royal Hong Kong YC team racing Ker40+ Signal 8. Wan & Eric Waterman's Saxon Senator from the Royal Cork YC was third in today's race by just 34 seconds after time correction.
Samatom leads the series by a single point from three boats that are all tied on points. Peter Dunlop's Mojito, Paul & Deirdre Tingle's Alpaca, and Michael O'Donnell's Darkwood.
Robert Rendell's Samatom was new last year and the British owner loves racing with Irish crew. "The boat is based at Howth, and I love to race there, and we also raced in the Round Ireland. My crew said I would love to race at Cork Week, and they were right, it has been absolutely brilliant on the water and at the Royal Cork Clubhouse. We have really close racing in the class, and we are just delighted to be at the top of it, but we will have to sail well to stay there!"
IRC One
Louise Makin & Chris Jones' J/111 Journeymaker 11 from the Royal Southern YC won both of today's races to lead IRC One by four points. Team Knight Build racing J/112 Happy Daize from the RORC have retained second place after three races. Nick Burn's Royal Hong Kong YC had a great day on Mills 39 Zero II to snatch third, just one point ahead of Andrew McIrvine's Ker 39 La Reponse and Jonathan Anderson's J/122 El Gran Senor.
IRC Two
J/109s continue to dominate the 16-strong IRC Two Class. John Maybury's J/109 Joker 2 from the Royal Irish YC won today's race by under a minute on time correction from Finbarr O'Regan's J/109 Artful Dodjer from the Kinsale YC. Barry Cunningham's Royal Irish YC team racing Chimaera was third. After three races, Joker 2 has a three point lead. Pat Kelly's J/109 Storm is second but only on countback from Chimaera.
IRC Three
There is no stopping Sam Laidlaw's Quarter Tonner BLT from the Royal Yacht Squadron, who kept their perfect scoreline today with an emphatic win in Race Three of the series to lead the class by four points. Dorgan, Marshall & Losty's Quarter Tonner Illegal from Cove Sailing Club was runner-up in today's race to move up to second for the regatta. Fiona Young's North Star from the Royal Cork YC scored a podium race finish today, moving up to fourth for the series. Marcus Ryan's Irish youth team racing J/24 HeadCase was fourth today and is now third for the series, but only on countback.
Cape 31 Irish Nationals
The Cape 31 Class was racing on the national championship windward leeward course off Roaches Point today. You could feel the tension as the high performance fleet approached the line for the first race. Several boats returned to restart after the X-Ray flagged announced that boats were over the line. Dave McGuire Valkyrie took a penalty turn before the first top mark. Anthony O'Leary's Antix from the Royal Cork YC held their nerve to win the first race of the day. In the second race, Dan O'Grady's Aja was the winner to lead the Volvo Cork Week Series on countback from Antix. Michael Wilson's Shotgun from the Isle Of Man YC is third for the series.
The O'Leary family has been part of the history of Cork Week for three generations, racing at every edition of Cork Week since 1978. Anthony O'Leary's Antix is new to the Cape 31 Class but Anthony has tasted victory at Volvo Cork Week many times in the past.
"It is great to be racing back at Cork Week, which we haven't had for quite a while; not racing in 2020 was a huge disappointment" commented Anthony O'Leary. "To have all of the competitors from Cork, Ireland and from overseas is just superb. To have six Cape 31s here is fantastic, and we would have had double that if we had the trailers. The standard is great in the Cape 31 Class and to have 44 1720s here is also just fantastic. You know, the 1720s were a small class when they appeared in 1996 and many of those 1720 sportboat pioneers are now racing Cape 31. The drivers maybe a bit older, but we have young people on the crews! I am sure everyone is looking forwards to a glorious week of racing!"
Beaufort Cup Fastnet Race
The Beaufort Cup is at the heart of Volvo Cork Week with €10,000 going to the chosen charity of the winning team for the series. The Beaufort Cup pitches teams that have at least half the crew from Service or Voluntary Organisations. The Beaufort Cup fleet have finished the 120nm Fastnet Race, which scores double points for the series. Results after IRC time correction are still to be published at the time of going to press. However, Line Honours for the 120nm Fastnet Race was the Crosshaven RNLI team racing Dennis Murphy and RCYC Vice-admiral Anna Marie Fagan's Nieulargo.
"It is one big Crosshaven family racing in the Beaufort Cup on Nieulargo," commented Ian Heffernan. "Four years ago, we did this, and it was a new experience for this team. We now know so much about the boat and each other, that despite going the wrong way for maybe three hours, we hung in there and took line honours. It is a testament to the crew and the boat to be an amazing combination, and all of that is based on the Beaufort Cup."
The Royal Cork Yacht Club will be lively tonight for the 1720 party, the biggest reunion of the class for decades. It may well be a long night of partying at Volvo Cork Week!
For more details and information about Volvo Cork Week go to www.corkweek.ie