Crosbie captures inaugural title

Sailing/Cruiser National Championships: The inaugural Irish Cruiser Racer Association National Championships ended on a high yesterday afternoon at Howth Yacht Club when the Saab-sponsored series saw four new titles awarded. With a turnout of over 100 boats from all four provinces, organisers can justifiably claim the event was a success.

There was little surprise with the overall winner of Class Zero as Eamon Crosbie's Voodoo Chile sailed a tight regatta, though the National YC crew was given a close run from local veteran Cracklin' Rosie led by Dave Nixon, who finished second by a one-point whisker.

Eamon Conneely's Angel, from Galway Bay Sailing Club, flew the west-coast banner by placing third overall.

Having had a neck-and-neck start to the seven-race series on Friday, club-mates and former Royal Cork YC Admirals Anthony O'Leary and Barry Rose gradually opened a small gap by yesterday's final for the former's crew on Antix to win Class Two, while Obsession V took second overall. Third place for the McCarthy brothers on Checkmate made the top ranks in this class an-all Munster affair.

Tom Brennan's Corby 25 from Kinsale won Class Two with apparent ease, maintaining a fair share-out of the top places between east and south coast rival "sailing capitals".

The Albin Express Relativity co-owned by Richard Colwell and Susie Wallace proved the best overall scoring boat after counting four wins in the largest fleet. Ironically, they joined Voodoo Chile and Antix as well as Sosumi for an informal team competition. Decided before the event, they in fact counted three national champions to claim this prize too.

Meanwhile, there was good news for Irish Olympic team hopes this weekend. Ireland qualified its sixth boat and ninth sailor at yesterday's Laser World Championships in Bodrum, Turkey. After six qualifying races, Ireland is one of only five unqualified nations to make the Gold fleet finals, ensuring qualification with three days of racing left.

Roger Craig and Rory Fitzpatrick, both of Dún Laoghaire, are safely into the Gold fleet in 66th and 70th places, respectively. Ireland's third competitor at the championships, Gavan Jones, is 95th overall and will complete the regatta in the silver fleet.

Already confirmed for the Athens squad nominations, Ger Owens and Ross Killian recorded their best world-class result with a 15th overall at the 470 Class World Championships which concluded yesterday at Zadar, Croatia.

At the Flying 15 World Championship in Malaga, Spain, on Friday, the Dún Laoghaire duo of John Lavery and David O'Brien took bronze overall.