Byrne makes it a perfect dozen of Irish Edinburgh Cup wins

SAILING:ALTHOUGH IRELAND had won it 11 times previously, Martin Byrne's victory in the Edinburgh Cup last weekend could not have come at a better time for the Irish Dragon class.

Next year Ireland play hosts to both the Edinburgh Cup in Cultra on Belfast Lough (July 4th-8th) and the Gold Cup in Kinsale (September 8th-14th), a trophy Ireland have never won.

Byrne, the commodore of Royal St George YC, sailing with Adam Winkelmann and Portuguese sailmaker Pedro Andrade, won in Abersoch, North Wales, but only after a three-way, last-race battle went the Dún Laoghaire crew’s way in emphatic style.

The current Irish champions won by over three minutes in breezes touching 25 knots to become the latest holder of the 62-year-old cup, the British National Championship trophy.

There was more to cheer about, too, because other Irish Dragons were well placed. Belfast’s Simon Brien was fourth and Richard Goodbody seventh overall in the 43-boat fleet.

Those results point to an Irish chance at the 2012 Gold Cup on Irish waters. But, perhaps more importantly, it also rallies an Irish Dragon class that has suffered a drop in numbers.

The recent East Coast championships mustered only 14 on Dublin Bay, but the Dragon class is not alone in the struggle to maintain fleet numbers.

This week the smaller International Flying Fifteen (FF) fleet reported that, although the class is healthy worldwide, it finds it is not attractive to younger sailors because they perceive the class is “not cool”.

Racing here for more than 40 years, the Dragon and the Flying Fifteen, along with the Squib, are the most popular of the international one-designs. But in terms of numbers, at least, they have been eclipsed in recent seasons by the Laser SB3 sportsboat.

The FF finding is one of many from a report by a British marine marketing agency, commissioned by International FF Class commodore Greg Wells, which has raised some controversial observations.

This weekend the Fifteens are gathered at Hayling Island in Hampshire on the English south coast, where six Irish boats are among 120 – a buoyant turnout from nine nations vying for the world title starting this morning.

The report says the boat is perceived worldwide as more relevant to “middle-aged men”. One of Wells’ conclusions is that the class needs to look at other classes which are prospering in difficult times.

The soon-to-be-published paper is required reading for any one-design class for which threats to survival, in these competitive times, go far beyond that posed by rival sportsboat classes.

In youth sailing, there’s been justifiable praise for the three-boat team just back from Croatia. Philip Doran’s 10th overall was the top result in the pressure cooker atmosphere of last week’s ISAF Youth event.

A gold medal is the stated goal by Royal St George YC organisers for an Irish sailor next July when the 60-nation fixture sets sail on Dublin Bay, a tough but worthy challenge for Irish youth to build on Doran’s achievement.

In offshore news, with less than a month to go to the Fastnet Race Niall Dowling and Nick Smyth will be co-skippering the new J111 Arabella under the burgee of the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Arabella, the first J111 in Europe, has had an extensive offshore campaign since winning the Hamble Spring Series in April. The Fastnet Race is the focus of their 2011 campaign.

The overall winner of the West Coast Championships last weekend in Clifden, Co Galway, was Glen Cahill’s Joie de Vie of Galway. Cahill won the IRC first division. Local boats filled the class two and three slots on IRC. David Griffin’s Egalite of Clifden was the class-two IRC winner, and clubmate Jackie Ward, with Hallmark of Clifden, was the winner of class-three IRC.

Boating facilities on the east coast will get a boost if a Greystones Harbour plan released last week goes ahead, according to Fine Gael Councillor Derek Mitchell.

Developers Sispar have produced a plan for the harbour which would open the new slipways there in September, unfortunately a little late for this season.

“It provides the best public boat launching facilities in Ireland even in this temporary solution,” Mitchell said.

WEEKEND'S FIXTURES: Laser Connaught Championships, Wexford SC; Ruffian National Championships, National YC, Dun Laoghaire; Match Racing Invitational, Royal St George YC, Dun Laoghaire; ISORA overnight race, National YC, Dún Laoghaire; GP 14 Ulster Championships, Newtownards SC; National 18s, Royal Cork YC; Flying Fifteen World Championships, Hayling Island, Britain.

Irish winners of the Edinburgh Cup

Ireland first won the Edinburgh Cup in 1953, four years after it was presented to the Dragon class by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1949. The Irish winning skippers are:

Martin Byrne2011

Don O'Donoghue2008

Simon Brien2000

Tony O'Gorman1984, 1982 1980, 1978

Conor Doyle1976, 1975

Robin Hennessy1971

Jimmy Mooney1958, 1953