Cork plans to expand

Plans to increase the scale of the Cork Week regatta in two years are underway. Organiser Clayton Love claims the biennial event has replaced Britain's Cowes Week as the premier regatta in these islands, but to reach Europe he believes more Government backing is essential. Hence the decision to extend invitations to the chairman of the Sports Council, John Treacy, and the Minister for Education, Micheal Martin, who visited the Crosshaven site this week and were shown at first hand the fruits of Royal Cork enterprise which has seen the regatta grow from a respectable 70 boats in 1986 to this week's £5 million extravaganza.

On the east coast, Kevin Byrne of Fingall Sailing School, Malahide, is co-ordinating berths on the Russian sail training ship, Mir, for a trip from Vigo in north west Spain as part of the last leg of the Cutty Sark Tall Ships race, which concludes in Dublin on August 22nd. The St Petersburg three-masted ship has a number of berths available at half the normal rates: Stg£280 for an adult and Stg£224 for young people.

Trainees are also responsible for their own expenses travelling to and from the ship and must have their own foul weather gear. Contact Kevin on 01 845 1979 or the Tall Ships Friends representative in the UK, Joan O'Hara, on 0044 (0) 1932 344 084 for details. Running simultaneously will be the Enterprise world championships at Bray Sailing club. Organiser Robin Kay expects the 40 entries received so far to treble in the next few weeks, with at least another 30 Irish boats indicating their interest participation in what will be the only Irish world dinghy championships this year.

Already there are two-boat entries en route from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Hong Kong and South Africa, as well as the bulk of the fleet travelling from the UK.

Current world champion Richard Estaugh of England, who this week was ruled ineligible for the amateur classes of Cork week, is defending his title and returns to Ireland on August 17th, a full week ahead of the championship to oversee coaching of Enterprise teams attending the Asian games later this summer.

Elsewhere, the Marine Institute has published Water-based Tourism and Leisure: facts at your finger tips, a quick reference source for businesses in the sector. At the launch of the book, the Minister for the Marine, Dr Michael Woods, told the marine leisure sector that they must take full advantage of available funding.

Funding ranges from £50 to £100,000 and covers capital development, training and research. The guide also contains notes on funding eligibility criteria and contact details. John De Courcey Ireland's latest title, a chronicle of Lifeboats in Dublin Bay from 1803 to 1997, has just been published. De Courcey traces the history of the Lifeboat service from humble beginnings in 1803, through the loss of the Dublin Bay lifeboat and its entire crew on Christmas Eve 1895, to the arrival of the RNLI's first steel lifeboat, John F Kennedy, in 1967 and on to the present 14-metre Trent class lifeboat Anna Livia. It is available from all good booksellers (price £7.50), and from the honorary secretary of Dun Laoghaire lifeboat station, on 01 280 2879.