MacCarthy the best but second

SAILING:  Ireland's Shane MacCarthy and crew Andy Thompson were the de facto winners of the UK Fireball Nationals last weekend but an upheld complaint from a competitor that they were not UK Fireball association members meant McCarthy's name will not now go on the British trophy.

Instead, MacCarthy's on-the-water win in a fleet of 72 boats at Paignton Sailing Club on the English south coast was reduced to second place as organisers decided not to accept a late membership application, according to the Greystones sailor.

MacCarthy faced strong competition, including the top five finishers from the European Championships, held in Shetland in July.

Just five of the scheduled 10 races were completed due to light winds. MacCarthy counted one race win and held a five-point lead over Kevin Hope and Rob Gardner from Notts County, who were ultimately awarded the British title.

European Champions Andy Smith and James Meldrum finished fifth. The Irish fleet was represented by four boats: 2 MacCarthy/ Thompson; 25 N Butler/A Price; 49 E Sellar/M Murphy; 52 F Cassidy/J White.

The 42-boat single-handed Figaro fleet led by Pascal Bidegorry has covered 425 miles of the 536-mile leg from La Rochelle to Dingle, Co Kerry, and the leading group are over halfway across the Celtic Sea.

It is the first time in the Solitaire race there has been such a huge distance between the leader and the back runner - 134 miles.

There is not much opportunity to catch up and the forecast shows the breeze holding for a while, decreasing early tomorrow morning, which means the leading group could at best be arriving into Dingle in the early hours of this morning.

At home, in a fitting climax to a hectic cruiser class season, the IRC titles for two classes will be decided on Dublin Bay as part of the 10th outing of Dublin Bay SC's (DBSC) Cruisers Challenge from Friday, August 22nd.

The first of this year's autumn events will include a two-hour race on Friday at 5 p.m., following a decision by organisers to extend the format for the national championships, but it will still be a no-discard event.

Cruisers zero and one will race for national championships in both IRC and ECHO.

The Sigma 33 class joins class two to decide further Irish sea honours in an event that promises to draw up to 80 keel boats from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the English south coast.

Because of the large Dublin support of Sovereigns week in June, DBSC are optimistic south coast racers will round off the season with attendance at the Dublin-based national championships.

The fleet will likely include Colm Barrington's Gloves Off, Howth's 2003 Scottish series class winner, Cracklin' Rosie, sailed by Roy Dickson, and Bob Stewart's Azure, all in class zero. Further information from DBSC on 353 1 289 8565.

The annual Mirror dinghy week, first hosted by Sligo in 1974 and again ten years later, returns to Rosses Point to decide championship honours for 2003 from Monday, August 18th.