O'Rourke a big booking

SAILING:Limerick's Cork Dry Gin sailor of the year Ger O'Rourke is the latest to join the Volvo Dún Laoghaire fleet for July's regatta, which has also attracted the bulk of last year's Commodore's Cup teams.

The four-day week got a further boost yesterday when it was announced that a Volvo Ocean Race yacht will also visit Dún Laoghaire.

O'Rourke's Chieftain, a Cookson 50, that also picked up the ICRA yacht-of-the-year award in November, will come to the east coast port straight after the New York to Hamburg transatlantic race starting on June 16th.

Dún Laoghaire's plans to become the Cowes of the Irish Sea are on track, with entries rolling in from eight countries five months before the start.

In a further boost, event chairman Brian Craig has also attracted Grand Prix racers to the bay, with the early entry of the TP 52 Panthera Benny Kelly from England's Royal Corinthian YC.

It is expected the bulk of last year's three Irish Commodore's Cup teams will be competing. They will come directly from the Saab ICRA National Championships being held at the Royal Cork from June 22nd.

A fleet of 25 boats from the Royal Dee will race from Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with Dún Laoghaire. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times as far to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event.

Twenty-six classes will race over six courses on Dublin Bay under ISAF race officer Alan Crosbie. The majority are cruiser classes, but there is also room for Ireland's newest one-design class - the SB3 - which has become the biggest sportsboat class almost overnight with numbers reaching 60 since the class was formed in November.

Dún Laoghaire's Royal Alfred YC is the oldest amateur yacht club in the world, but the absence of a clubhouse over its 150-year existence has not stopped it from being a major force in world sailing. It was the prime mover behind the establishment of the Yacht Racing Association (now the RYA), the world's first yacht racing authority. The RAYC is using Dún Laoghaire week to celebrate its sesquincentennial.

DÚN LAOGHAIRE WEEK CLASSES (July 12th-15th): Super 0, Cruiser 0, Cruiser 1, Cruiser 2, Cruiser 3, Cruiser 5, Beneteau 31.7, Half Ton, Sigma 33, J109, E Boat, Ruffian, 1720 Club/Classic, Etchell, Dragon, Laser, SB3, J24, Shipman, Howth 17, Glen, Squib, Mermaid, Flying 15, Fireball, IDRA 14, Water Wags.