O'Leary and Burrows have eyes on European title on Irish waters

SAILING:AFTER OLYMPIC circuit success in Miami, Medemblik and Weymouth this season, Peter O'Leary and David Burrows are eyeing up a European title this morning, but for the first time in their 2012 campaign the competition is on home waters.

Against a fleet of 32, the Irish Olympic trial winners, who finished fourth at the pre-Olympic regatta last month, lead a home challenge in Dún Laoghaire against a fleet containing the current Olympic champion, four past world champions and seven continental class champions.

Double Olympic gold medallists, Britain’s Ian Percy and Andrew Simpson, are in Dún Laoghaire for the prestigious Star European Championship event that starts at the Royal St George YC on Sunday morning.

Ireland’s other entry is Olympic trialists Max Treacy and Anthony Shanks of the host club who played a role in getting the exotic fleet to the bay by encouraging the world’s top keelboat sailors to travel to Ireland.

Tornado class gold medallist Fernando Echavarri with Fernando Rodriguez Rivero (Spain) will be competing along with double world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Xavier Rohart and Pierre Alexis Ponsot (France).

Former Finn gold medallist and 2008 world champions Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki (Poland) are also contenders.

Sunday also marks the arrival of the Chinese Team Sanya Volvo 70 entry that has backing from Discover Ireland. The Mike Sanderson-skippered boat is due to berth at the Royal Irish at 4.30pm.

In last weekend’s MGM boats-sponsored Dublin Bay SC Cruiser Challenge Howth boats won the top three IRC Cruisers divisions in an exciting end of season regatta.

Norbert Reilly and Alan Chambers’ Crazy Horse was the winner of a six-boat Cruisers Zero division, the Kelly family’s Storm won through in class one and Ian Byrne’s Sunburn won class two.

In what looked like a repeat of July’s Dún Laoghaire regatta, Ken Lawless’s Supernova led rival Flor O’Driscoll’s Hard on Port for class three honours before a broken boom cost the Royal Irish yacht the east coast title.

O’Driscoll’s J24 moves back in to one design mode this weekend. Ten Irish boats from the 41 international entries for the forthcoming BMW J24 European Championships at Howth are availing of the opportunity to practise in the same race area this weekend by competing in the J24 Eastern Championships hosted by Malahide Yacht Club and sponsored by Malahide Marina.

Strangford’s Brian McKee and Ian Smyth are currently ranked first in the national flying fifteen fleet ladder, with only this weekend’s east coast championships in Co Antrim left to race. National Champions David Gorman and Chris Doorly from the National Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire lie second. Thirty boats are expected in Cushendall,

Next year’s Cork Week regatta at Royal Cork Yacht Club, one of Ireland’s biggest sailing events, has changed dates to run a week later. It now starts July 7th, 2012. The decision to change the date of the biennial event came as a result of a clash with the Solent’s Round the Island Race on June 30th, a consideration too for Wicklow Sailing Club who are staging the Round Ireland race on June 24th.

Belfast Olympic campaigner James Espey came top of the combined 151 boat Laser national championship fleet last weekend on Lough Derg. There were celebrations too for Derg single-hander Eoin Keller, who won the Irish Laser Radial National title.

In Skerries, against a fleet of 47 boats, Greystones sailor Shane McCarthy, now UK based, with crew Andy Davis took the GP14 national dinghy title, winning the last four races.

Cushendall’s Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella are the 2011 Irish National Fireball Champions after another commanding performance on the water in Dún Laoghaire last weekend after counting seven top three placing in the nine race series. Four points behind were Simon McGrotty and Ruairí Grimes of Skerries with Noel Butler and Stephen Oram third in the 28-boat fleet.

In West Cork, the top four places of the ISAF World Team Racing Championships in Schull, are taken by American and British teams.

Racing concludes Sunday.