A second in Class One at the Admiral's Cup off the English south coast and a pre world championship win in Canada have put Dun Laoghaire crews in commanding weekend positions on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Royal Irish Yacht Club's Jameson, skippered by Tom Roche and sailing for America, has played a significant part in putting her adopted team at the top of the Admiral's Cup leaderboard after a gruelling channel race where the Irish Mumm 36 was only two minutes and five seconds from producing a class win.
The Dun Laoghaire boat with a wealth of American talent on board spent the entire night battling for vital boat lengths against New Zealand's Georgia Express (Jim Farmer and David Barnes).
The New Zealanders eventually won through before the Poole harbour finish.
Georgia's performance was all the better, because it had been allbut last at the first turning mark, 38 miles into the race, with only the premature starters Thomas I Punkt and Sea behind her. With a strong performance from all three team boats - second, first and second - the USA team of Flash Gordon 3 (Helmut Jahn), MK Cafe (Marek Kwasnicki) and Jameson, pulled themselves to the front of the team league after the third of the nine-race series.
In Canada, an overall win for Dun Laoghaire's Jerbil Owens and Rebecca Killian in the pre world championship regatta that finished on Saturday has heightened hopes of an Irish win at the World Mirror championships at Kingston, Lake Ontario this week.
Ireland dominated the five-race series with four boats in the top 10. The Royal St George/National YC pairing produced three seconds and a third place to win from Australia's Steve McElwee and John Fletcher. Meanwhile, after six heats, Peru leads the Optimist world championship team championships at Carrickfergus, county Antrim. Argentina hold second with Spain and Brazil third and fourth respectively.
Racing resumes for the Individual Beacon challenge trophy tomorrow.
Admirals Cup (at Cowes) - Race Three, Channel Race IMS Class One - 1, Madina Milano (Dario Farrari, Francesco di Angelis, ITA, Farr); 2, Flash Gordon 3 (Helmut Jahn, Ken Read, USA, Farr); 3, Numbers (John Risley/ Russel Coutts, NZL, Taylor); 4, Corum Indulgence (Graham Davis, Chris Law, Brit, Farr Corel 45); 5, Rubin XIV (Hans-Otto Schuman, Jochen Schuman, GER, Judel/Vrolijk); 6, Investor (Thomas Blixt, Niclas Hagert, SCN, Farr Corel 45); 7, Ragamuffin (Syd Fischer, Robbie Haines, Mick Coxon, Farr).
ILC40 Class One - 1, MK Cafe (Marius Kwasnicki, John Kolius, USA, Judel/Vroloijk); 2, G'Net (John Calvert-Jones and Robin Crawford, Colin Beashel, AUS, Farr); 3, Easy Oars (Tony Buckingham, Andy Beadsworth, BRIT, Farr); 4, Fram XIV (HM King Harald V of Norway, Jens Christensen, SCN, Farr); 5, Brava Q8 (Pasquale Landolfi, Enrico Chieffi, ITA, Farr); 6, Mean Machine (Peter de Ridder, Tom Dodson, NZL, Judel/Vrolijk); 7, Pinta (Willi Illbruck, Karol Jablonski, GER, Judel/Vrolijk).
Mumm 36 Class One - 1, Georgia Express (Jim Farmer, David Barnes, NZL); 2, Jameson (Tom Roche, Chris Larson, USA); 3, Bradamante (Tim Barrett, John Merricks, BRIT); 4, Breeze (Paolo Gaia, Tommaso Chieffi, ITA); 5, Thomas I Punkt (Thomas Friese, Markus Weiser, GER); 6, Sea (Steve Kulmar and Rich Freidrichs, Steve Kulmar, AUS); 7, Mumm a Mia (K Jonsson, Fredrik Ramsfelt, SCN).
Team Result, Channel Race - 1, USA 10.00; 2, Britain 20.00; 3, ITA 20.00; 4, NZL 20.00; 5, AUS 30.00; 6, GER 34.00; 7, SCN 34.00.
Team standings after three races - 1, USA 33.75 points; 2, Britain 45.00; 3, Germany 51.50; 4, New Zealand 54.38; 5, Italy 60.00; 6, Australia 61.88; 7, Scandinavia 86.50.
Mirror Pre-World championships at Kingston, Ontario: Overall (provisional) - 1, Jerbil Owens and Rebecca Killian IRL, 9pts; 2, Steve McElwee and John Fletcher AUS, 17pts; 3, Mary O'Loughlin and Gina Henderson IRL, 31pts.
