Offshore racing series is revived

SAILING: Offshore racing makes a comeback in Dún Laoghaire next season with a four-race series of overnight races that has already got a thumbs up from the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA).

Organised by offshore sailor Adrian Lee - a veteran of six Round Ireland races - in association with the Royal Alfred Yacht Club (RAYC) and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA).

Lee may get more than the modest fleet numbers he bargained for, as Ireland's Commodore's Cup team are searching for overnight fixtures as practice for June's event in Cowes.

The series could also serve as warm-ups for July's Round Ireland crews.

The Overlay Partners Ltd Offshore Race Series starts on May 19th with an 80-nautical mile race round Rockabill on the India bank, and continues on June 9th with a race to Carlingford's whistling buoy.

The races are Dún Laoghaire to Dún Laoghaire, go with the tide on the east coast and are expected to last about 12 hours.

"We encourage the idea, and it's great to see offshore sailing returning to Dún Laoghaire. As a further bonus we'll be able to consider the series as part of overnight practice requirement for the Commodore's Cup squad," said ICRA commodore Fintan Cairns.

On July 12th, the series heads south with a 124nm race to the Tuskar Rock, and concludes on August 18th with a race to the Arklow buoy.

The beauty of it, says Lee, is that you finish where you start and the racing does not conflict with any other fixture, so you can finish on a Saturday morning, have breakfast and still race on Dublin Bay that afternoon - if you have the energy.

For entry forms visit www.rayc.ie

Staying with offshore news, next week's launch of the BMW Round Ireland Race at Wicklow Sailing Club will get a significant boost with the news that the winner of the 2005 Rolex Fastnet Race, Maximus, includes both the 704-mile circumnavigation and Cork Week as part of its 2006 itinerary.

The 98-foot New Zealand Maxi, co-owned by Bill Buckley and Charles Brown, produced some amazing speeds, exceeding even the owner's expectations, during last year's Fastnet win.

And the $10 million yacht is sure to test current record standings if she arrives on the start line off Wicklow on July 1st.

In the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), Richard Matthews and his crew on the British Oyster 72 Oystercatcher XXV are motoring to the port of Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands after being dismasted this week.

None of the crew, which includes Cork's Harold Cudmore, was injured.

Another accident yesterday saw a further problem for a British entrant.

A Sweden 42 Caliso in a position some 300 nautical miles west of the Cape Verde Islands called for assistance after a crack opened up along the keel box, causing a continuous flow of water into the two-year-old yacht.

The leading yacht in the rally is this year's Round Ireland record-holder Jean-Philippe Chomette in his Nacra 60 Solune.

Her current distance to go suggests that she will be home this weekend, but outside the current ARC record of 11 days 13 hours.