SAILING:Ireland will send two - and perhaps three - teams to Cowes in a third consecutive attempt to win the Commodore's Cup. The regatta is boosted this year with the emergence of non-European entries that could feature as many as 20 teams by June.
If persistence is a virtue, then it must pay off for the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), as Irish crews have been pipped at the post on the last two outings.
As expected, the ICRA have announced that a third team - Orange - will be composed of the Corinthian winners of the national championships in May.
Already two teams, White and Green, have been announced, reconstituted from the 2006 teams that lead for the majority of that regatta.
Against all odds, Géry Trentesaux's France Bleu team came from behind then to win the cup, beating 12 other nation teams, including three powerful Irish ones.
The cup is taking the place of the Admiral's Cup as the World Championship of Offshore Sailing.
Now Ireland will be increasing its efforts with teams from two of the top yacht designers. Three boats from the drawing board of Wicklow-based Mark Mills make up White: a Slim 37, No Naked Flames (Andrew Allen); a King Summit 40, Blondie (Eamon Rohan); and a new Tiamat 43-footer (Tim Costello).
Racing runs from June 28th to July 6th, over a variety of inshore, coastal and offshore courses. Only one professional sailor is allowed on the small and middle boats and two pros are allowed on the big boat.
The Green team are all Jason Ker-designed: Eamon Crosbie's Voodoo Chile (Ker 32) and Conor Phelan's Jump Juice (Ker 37). Anthony O'Leary will fill the big boat slot with a Ker 39-footer yet to be named.
Although Irish officials maintain that the primary reason for loss of the 2006 event was some questionable decisions by Cowes race management, they intend to leave no stone unturned in the build-up to next July.
Royal Ocean Racing Club organisers have also taken on board many of the complaints from 2006, including the points weighting of the long offshore race. It is this revamping that has led to worldwide interest in the event, and already teams from Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Russia are entered and swelling a host of European teams.
Most Irish entrants will do an extensive work-up in Ireland and Britain, including the Red Funnell regatta in Cowes at Easter, the Irish IRC championships at Howth in May, the Scottish series at the end of May and the British IRC championships in June.
The ICRA will also be arranging an offshore race from Cork to Dublin in early May as a feeder to the nationals.
Staying with cruiser sailing, when does the cruiser racing stop and the racer start cruising? Both on Dublin Bay and Cork harbour, and at last year's Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the biggest fleet were the white sails. Designed in the first place to get boats off the marina, its attraction was easy to see; a bunch of friends sailing together on an average cruiser could participate in simple racing after work or at weekends without any of the high-end hassle with spinnakers and crew management.
Now, though, partly because of its popularity, there is talk of redefining the white sails to offer more than a cruise in company, but not full racing either.
In one-design news, the SB3 class is to continue its Sunday afternoon format in Dun Laoghaire this season, but will now sail under the burgee of Dublin Bay Sailing Club.
The class, that will stage its inaugural world championships at the National YC in September, will be racing alone, however, as there are so far no other takers from the existing keelboat fleets, such as the Dragons or Flying Fifteens, who will join them.
