SAILING: The annual gathering of racing yachts outside the traditional Cork/Dublin axis ended on Saturday when WIORA Week (West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association) staged its sixth and final race for a 37-boat fleet off Kilrush in ideal conditions.
Four classes sailed, including a white-sails division, now a common feature at race weeks.
David Scott's Eos took the overall win of Class One under IRC handicap, managing to hold off a triumvirate of challengers comprising Dexterity, Marissa IX and Confusion, who were separated in second, third and fourth places by less than a point.
It was a different story entirely in Class Two, where Dis-a-ray failed to live up to her title by soundly defeating this 12-boat class with a very comfortable nine-point advantage.
Finbar O'Connell took second and David Griffin's Egalite took third.
In Class Three, Tomas Furey's Rhocador won this six-boat competition. And in the white-sails fleet, Edward Enright's Ingrid won against just three other boats.
The association has grown from 32 members to its present 350 sailors, while WIORA returns to Tralee Bay Sailing Club in 2006. The dispute between the group and Galway Bay SC that saw just 20 compete three weeks ago has yet to be resolved.
Meanwhile, in Kinsale, Tim Concannon followed his outright win of last week's inaugural Dún Laoghaire Regatta Championship with the Squib South coast title with Tim Noone. The pair discarded their worst result, a third, to take the event in this the first sailing of the class in Kinsale.
RED FM SQUIB SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS (at Kinsale YC); Final Overall: 1 Femme Fatale (Concannon & Noone); 2 Menai (J & B Thullier); 3 Scream (Dalton & Lawlor); 4 Woodpecker (Fusco & Buckley); 5 Mack (McCarthy & Ryan);
HOWTH DINGHY REGATTA (Final Overall); Laser RADIAL: 1 A Kissane HYC (2.00); 2 J Pearson HYC (4.00); 3 R Condy HYC (7.00); Laser 4.7: 1 P Dix HYC (2.00); 2 C Murphy HYC/MYC (5.00); 3 J Tingle RStGYC (6.00); Mirror: 1 B Hickey/ HYC (2.00); 2 G Stirling CYBC (6.00); 3 N FitzPatrick CYBC/SDC (6.00); Optimist: 1 J Aplin RStGYC (2.00); 2 A Tyrrell HYC (4.00); 3 S Tingle RStGYC (6.00); Optimist Junior: 1 T Flood HYC (3.00); 2 G Alpin RStGYC (4.00); 3 J Macken HYC (5.00); Pico: 1 K Malcolm HYC (2.00); 2 L McSweeney HYC (4.00); 3 L Malcolm HYC (6.00);
FINGAL SERIES Class 1 IRC: 1 Equinox E McDonald HYC 2 Stealth (McMullan) HYC; 3 On-the-Rox (C & J Boyle) HYC; Class 1 ECHO: 1 Equinox (E McDonald) HYC; 2 Stealth; 3 Rosie (R & V Dickson) HYC; Class 2 IRC: 1 Xebec (T Giles) HYC; 2 Esprit (E Kay) HYC; 3 Dux; Class 2 ECHO: 1 Voyager (J Carton) HYC; 2 Clever Clogs (M Higgins) HYC; 3 C'est la Vie (Flannelly) HYC; Class 3 IRC: 1 Hydrogin (Colbert & Davis) MYC; 2 Demelza (N Maguire) HYC; 3 Cracker (Arthurs & Butler) MYC; Class 3 ECHO: 1 Cheyanne (Lundy) MYC; 2 Demelza; 3 Hyflyer (L Douglas) MYC; Puppeteer SCRATCH: 1 Harlequin (D Clarke); 2 Trick or Treat (A Pearson); 3 Toucan (Murray & McGloughlin); Puppeteer ECHO: 1 Toucan; 2 Trick or Treat; 3 Flycatcher. Results subject to protests.
