Jim Cooney’s Comanche holds court in Sydney Hobart race

Irish fortunes in the Sydney Hobart race continue to be led on the water by Jim Cooney’s supermaxi Comanche that topped the offshore fleet in the first 24 hours of racing in Australia’s annual bluewater classic.

But Irish interest is extended with handicap ambitions carried on the Tasman Sea by a selection of Irish crew among the 157-competing boats including a Dublin entry in division six. A Howth Yacht Club crew skippered by Darren Wright are recorded as high as seventh in the division on IRC rating and 10th overall in a chartered First 40 after 14 hours at sea.

Ireland’s direct connection to the fastest and most modern supermaxi yacht in the world, is thanks to its co-owner Cooney, a fourth-generation Australian of Meath descent. Cooney, who hails from Ballivor, and still has family members in the town, is already tipped for success this week in the mighty 100-foot Comanche.

Also racing from Howth, sailing master Gordon Maguire, is a race favourite on the TP52 Ichi Ban, currently second on IRC and the current IRC 1 division leader. Yet another Howth sailor, Shane Diviney on the JV62 Chinese Whisper is eighth overall in IRC. The Navigator onboard Chinese Whisper is Sydney local Adrienne Cahalan, another with Irish roots.

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Wright’s Breakthrough crew started well among the First 40s with 500 miles left to sail. Wright reports how he is “determined to try to keep east and in good pressure”–perhaps not as fast as some of the westerly boats but happy with his comparative VMG. The HYC crew aim to benefit fully from the forecasted easterly and expect that the bigger boats ahead will slow as they approach a light wind transition zone.

Comanche, the 2017 line honours winner and race record holder, fought back brilliantly from a slow start in this year’s 75th running of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s race by taking the lead soon after exiting Sydney Heads on St Stephen’s Day.

Also in Australia, Dublin Bay Sigma 33 sailor David Fitzpatrick has joined the Clipper Round the World Race on Christmas Day. Fitzpatrick is onboard race contender Visit Sanya China that was in catch-up mode when she started the coastal stage (leg four) from Fremantle on the west coast to the Whitsundays on the northeast Great Barrier Reef coastline. Together with two other boats – Punta del Este and Unicef – Sanya is starting with a three-day gap on the rest of the 11-boat fleet, having been delayed by a collision in Cape Town with Punta del Este at the start of the leg to Australia.

As the race to the Whitsundays will be based on the elapsed time from actual starting time, Sanya is back in the hunt on a particularly challenging stage which takes the fleet into the Southern Ocean.

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) has been “overwhelmed” by the response it has received to its new under-25 support programme that aims to encourage young sailors to stay active in the sport. Applications closed on 1December 19th.

Over the next three years, ICRA will deliver support funding that will provide successful applicant clubs with an initial capital grant that will help them buy a keelboat for their under-25 squad. The scheme will then continue to offer an annual allowance to assist the same clubs in running their under-25 programme until it is well established.