Half fleet have reached finish

Almost half the fleet in the Cork Dry Gin Round Ireland Race had reached the Wicklow finish yesterday afternoon with the remaining dozen or so boats all expected home today.

Overall results for individual classes should be available today, but the entire race will remain provisional until a number of matters are resolved.

Based on the list produced after the first nine boats had finished, Colm Barrington's Jeep Cherokee has emerged overall winner in addition to setting the new record on Tuesday evening.

Tim Little's Welsh entry, Keep On Smiling had been leading overall on Channel Handicap (CHS) for much of the race but light headwinds and tides conspired to slow the mid-sized boats coming to the finish early yesterday morning.

Little and his Sigma 400 crew are listed as second overall followed by Bridgestone F1, the 84 foot maxi that ended just 2.5 hours behind Barrington. Such a narrow result for the Welsh crew compelled them to check for any available avenue to secure first place on handicap. Thus, a protest has been lodged by them against Jeep Cherokee under a number of rules including CHS specific regulations.

This new development is in addition to that lodged by the race committee on Tuesday evening against Barrington for alleged infringement of the safety regulations during the race.

Both protests have the effect of suspending the confirmed results for the race until the protests have been heard which is expected to take place within the next three or four days.

Meanwhile, the competition for runner-up places continues. The arrival of the smaller mid-sized boats - 30 hours behind Jeep Cherokee and Bridgestone F1 - was a close-fought affair between Roy Dickson's Cracklin' Rosie and Denis Doyle's Moonduster. Although the handicap would have favoured Dickson, there was still the battle for third place `line honours'.

Both boats converged heading for a close finish. In the event, Rosie beat Duster by half a boat length on the line after 704 miles of racing. Later on, one Moonduster mused that a minor collision with two large rigid inflatables off the Fastnet in the darkness of Monday morning had probably cost them the place - enquiries will be made.

As the Wicklow Sailing Club geared itself for the onslaught of arriving boats yesterday, John McGowan's Norvantes, the only classic entry in the race, called in from the north coast on the approach to the Mew Island check-in.

It was becalmed all Wednesday night which made the 48-footer miss the Rathlin tidal gate but south-easterly wind and sunshine was compensating for the loss.

McGowan reported a happy crew on-board. The conditions on the west coast where the backmarkers in the fleet were severely hammered by the gales and large seas were ideal for his boat.