SAILING: Tomorrow at noon a lone Crosshaven sailor starts the second leg of a transatlantic race in fifth place overall, just three hours behind the leader in a battle that could take up to a month to complete.
Cian McCarthy (25) sailed in to the Canary Islands in his 21½ ft boat on September 19th at the end of the first leg of the Mini Transat that saw third to sixth positions finish within two miles of each other.
Primarily, McCarthy set himself the target this year of gaining experience in the mini-class and getting back into small-boat sailing with a €100,000 campaign after winning the BT Global Challenge as first mate aboard LG Flatron.
The first official boat home last week was Frenchman Samuel Manuard, closely followed by American Jonathan McKee, but the surprise of the 70-boat fleet is that the Irish debutant, sailing his boat The Tom Crean, in his first "mini" has the speed and stamina to match the front runners in this toughest of solo races for the final leg to Brazil.
This year's 2003 Mini Transat has attracted a strong field, not least because it is the acknowledged French route into other challenges, such as the Vendee Globe.
McCarthy's route therefore is one previously sailed by the world's top ocean sailors, including Ellen McArthur and Alain Gautier.
Leg one conditions to Lanzarote would not have ideally suited The Tom Crean, whose design is very much orientated around the more moderate, 10-knots-plus breeze to be found in the next, far longer leg two.
He doesn't feel that he made any serious mistakes so far and he drove the boat as close to its potential as he could.
One result of the kind conditions experienced was that he arrived personally in good shape, with no damage and very few items on The Tom Crean job list, a customised prototype from the drawing board of UK naval architects, the Owen Clarke design team.
McCarthy's only comment, with respect to that list, was that he needed to make a radio aerial that he could hoist on a halyard, because he's been unable to receive any weather forecasts since leaving France.
Although McCarthy acknowledges that it will be very difficult to beat both Olympic medallist McKee and Manuard, he believes there is still a place on the podium for him while gathering experience for the next race.
For twice-daily updates of race positions visit the race website at www.transat650.org.
Off Howth, with wind speeds that just hit double figures, Paddy Gregory's Benola, an Elan 31, with sailmaker Philip Watson on board led around the entire class two course of the second race of the Olympus-sponsored autumn league last weekend, but was caught out by a 30-degree shift and ended up fifth on IRC handicap.
Eamon Crosbie's Voodoo Chile, of the National Yacht Club, won the second race of class zero IRC, leaving local boat Cracklin' Rosie (Roy Dickson) in her wake.The third race of the six-race series starts off Ireland's Eye for the 180-boat fleet on Sunday at 11 a.m.
