SAILING: As the first buds of a National Yacht Club (NYC) Admiral's Cup (AC) team appeared this week at a special briefing by AC organisers, a past winning crew member, James Hynes, outlined the magnitude of the task of mounting a full-blown challenge.
Des Cummins of the neighbouring Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, which will host the recast 2003 event, advised the NYC on the format of the series and answered questions about the regatta.
NYC sailing secretary Con Murphy says he has been encouraged by the early feed-back on the proposal of a team. It is expected to be one of only several Irish club challenges for an event now 15 months away.
"The National are on the right road. They've started early enough, brought the membership together and are looking to put forward a club rather than country challenge which is the aim of the 2003 Admiral's Cup," Cummins said after the meeting.
Hynes, a member of Tom Roche's Mumm 36 crew that was part of the USA's victorious 1999 team, gave an account of the level of professionalism required that would put the club into contention for the Cup, the unofficial world championship of offshore sailing.
It echoed much of Donal McClement's remarks in this column about the high level of funding, training and professionalism required.
Describing the options available to Irish clubs for the handicap series where boat types have not yet been finalised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in London, Cummins summed up the scenario in car terms: "You can choose a Ferrari or a Ford." A final RORC decision on boat types is expected shortly.
He would not be drawn on the costs of mounting specific club challenges but Hynes told The Irish Times that the American team budget for the '99 AC was over $1 million.
Meanwhile, after last year's restructuring of the racing courses of the country's biggest racing club, there will now be a period of consolidation in 2002 according to commodore Fintan Cairns.
But in the same breath the innovative Dublin Bay Sailing Club have also posted some new initiatives for its 119th season that starts tomorrow. A new cruiser class, without spinnakers or racing gear, has been accommodated among the 17 classes and they will start from the committee vessel 10 minutes before normal racing begins and - for now - will race away from the other fleets.
The DBSC committee are also taking into account the difficulty faced by the 1,500 members in getting to the starting area in time for Thursday racenights.
Although there appears there is little that can be done to alleviate Dublin traffic, the late starting time has been extended from 10 to 15 minutes. In addition, boats which arrive under power in the starting area after their five-minute gun will be able to exonerate themselves by executing a 720 degree turn. While this might be a new rule on Dublin Bay, it is used elsewhere with success.
