THE POPULAR sailing centre of Crosshaven is set to burst this weekend as organisers at the Royal Cork Yacht Club report a 40 per cent increase in entries for its biennial Cork Week.
More than 480 boats from around the world have entered and although the inevitable dropouts will occur, officials are confident of having 450 crews competing on each of the five days of racing.
The value of the event is claimed to represent Pounds 5 million to the local Cork economy, with as many as 5,000 people participating, and at least that number again expected for the evening activities. There have been suggestions that the attendance for the Irish event now exceeds that of the venerable Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight.
The reason for this is attributed to the large numbers of smaller day boats that compete at the UK event, whereas numerous big boats and maxis are expected to race on Cork Harbour.
The entry confirms Cork Week as the premier multi-class keel-boat racing event for these waters, and it must surely rank among the best in the world. Much of its success is due to the tight grip exercised on the event by the RCYC who have listened to sailors' requests and fine-tuned the event accordingly.
The combination of first class race management afloat and full entertainment facilities ashore is the formula that has led to the event being rated as the benchmark for other organisers to follow.
But the runaway success of the RCYC's efforts has brought other Irish sailing issues to the fore once again, particularly on the east coast where a brimming fixtures list presents a range of choices for keelboat sailors planning their summer season.
A situation is now emerging where clubs and race organisers are having to accept falling numbers, as the over-supply of attractive events dilutes the traditional pack-following by many boats in the cruiser/racer classes.
The emerging clashes that are beginning to be seen have drawn mixed reactions from the sailing community.
Sigma 38 skipper Kieran Jameson, who also has a bird's eye view of the scene through his role in the sail making firm of Watson and Jameson, still reckons that the fixtures list is "quite good", although it cannot fit in another event.
"As soon as we had finished the round Ireland race I got a shock as I realised there were only two weeks to be ready for Cork," he told The Irish Times last weekend.
Peter Beamish, skipper of the successful Class One debutante Aztec, says that back-to-back regattas often place strain on families, particularly when all members don't sail.
However, another weekend event could still be fitted in at the start of the season. "In an Irish context, what we miss here is an equivalent of the Scottish series in May. This allows you to tune up boat and crew before the season proper begins," he said.
This weekend, the sixth qualifying regatta in the Royal Alfred Carlsberg Superleague will take place on Dublin Bay. The pressure on boats can be seen by some competitors already making their deliveries to Cork, thereby using one of four discards in the 1O event superleague, while some highly- driven crews will race tomorrow on Dublin Bay, return to shore to pick up provisions and turn back again to head south immediately.
Donal McClement of the RCYC doesn't believe that the calendar is over- crowded and says the more events the better.
"We re a consumer-driven event and we've always been consistent in what dates we hold our event. We take into consideration school and university holidays, Cowes Week, tides, time taken to allow people to come and go from Cork as we're aiming at the international market," he said.
With a large proportion of the Cork event's entry coming from the UK, McClement comments: "English people are incredibly organised. Their sailing season is planned eight to 1O months in advance and we can see that from the volume of entries we received over the winter." The "have boat - will travel" scenario is becoming the norm as more distant events offer the twin delights of good racing and great hospitality.
But while Peter Beamish and others compete comfortably with the four discards in the Dublin superleague, it seems certain that the future holds lower entry levels for the shorter mid-sized quality events tint ii the deficit in numbers can be filled by newcomers to the sport.
Meanwhile, at the IYRU Youth Worlds at Newport, Rhode Island, Laura Dillon and Ciara Peelo were in second place behind Jessie Cuthbert of Britain in the Laser class following day one of racing.
David and Alan Crosbie were sixth in the Laser 2 Boys while Jerome Devitt was sixth in the single-handed class. Aaron Stewart was in 25th place in the Mistral boards fleet.
