ISA studying possible move of HQ

SAILING:AS THE Irish Sailing Association (ISA) debates the merits of a new HQ at a series of meetings around the country this week, it is becoming clearer that any talk of a move to Galway is premature.

President Peter Crowley and chief executive Harry Hermon met representatives at Howth and Dún Laoghaire this week to hear concerns from waterfront clubs about a move from their traditional Dublin base.

Next they will roll out the proposal for a National Watersports Centre to Cork and Galway clubs.

Crowley and Hermon are considering building the centre in Galway, but are investigating what real benefits such a facility will bring to the sport.

They are keen to hear as many thoughts as possible before making any decisions. The next meeting is at Royal Cork on Monday, March 1st, then Galway on Wednesday, March 3rd.

The Irish Sports Council announced details of a grants package worth €8.35 million on Wednesday, with six sailors and two squads picking up €186,000.

Peter O’Leary and Annalise Murphy got €20,000 each and are ranked “world class”. Murphy’s rival in the Laser Radial class, Tiffany Brien, is ranked as one of four internationals, who each receive €12,000.

Significantly, double Olympian Ger Owens is named, and he returns to the Olympic circuit with former crew Ross Killian for a stab at selection not in the 470, his class for Athens and Beijing, but in the high-performance 49er dinghy in what may yet become a three-way Irish trial.

Selection procedures for Weymouth 2012 will be ratified at the next ISA Olympic group meeting in March.

In Schull, the February chill is proving no deterrent for a fleet of 140 junior Optimist sailors. Fourteen coaches are involved in bringing on young sailors from ages eight to 13 at the annual mid-term class clinic.

Irish solo sailor Paul O’Riain has been confirmed as one of the 73 entries for this year’s Solitaire du Figaro, but a sponsor stands between him and the start line of his first event, the Transat AG2R.

The double-handed event, which he intends to race with Steve White, will cost €66,000, and O’Riain has a deadline at the end of this month to find it. The 1,717-mile Figaro race, comprising four legs, stops in Kinsale in August, and that, says O’Riain, has another €55,000 requirement.

Billed as the biggest event in Ireland next year, half a million Irish and overseas visitors are expected to generate a €35 million boost for Waterford in summer 2011 when it hosts the Tall Ships Race series. Of course, the event will be a great boost for Waterford given the experience of Belfast last August.

What was missed in that visit, though, was an Irish sail training vessel. Work needs to begin in earnest on the replacement of Asgard II. If no plan for a permanent replacement can be made now, then the least that should be done is charter a vessel so Ireland can join the ranks of the 80 to 100 ships participating on the Suir next summer.

New commodore Tony Fox is preparing for the first of Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s summer series races in two months.

The club, one of the biggest of its kind in Europe, organises weekly racing for over 400 boats on a weekly basis.

There are 19 classes on the club register and over 330 individual course configurations on the bay. Even still, it can lead to congestion on Thursday night races.

On one occasion last summer over 200 boats crossed the Dun Laoghaire finish line within half an hour, keeping record-keepers very busy.

Not bad for a club without a clubhouse.