Three titles up for grabs

SAILING/Weekly Column: At home, in what will be a fitting climax to a hectic cruiser class season, the IRC titles for three classes are to be decided on Dublin Bay as part of the ninth outing of Bank of Scotland's Challenge from August 24th-25th.

Adding extra spice to the autumn event, the Sigma 33 class joins classes zero and one to decide further honours in a weekend event that promises to draw up to 100 keelboats from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and the English south coast.

As a bonus for those with eyes fixed on next season's silverware, the event takes place on the waters of the 2003 Admiral's Cup (AC) and, this, say organisers, makes the regatta an important warm-up event for AC contenders.

The bulk of the fleet, however, will be Dublin-based and will, most likely, include this week's Irish Commodore's Cup team-members, Colm Barrington's Gloves Off, Roy Dickson's 2001 Fastnet class winner Cracklin' Rosie and Simon Brown's White Knuckles.

Cruisers zero and one will compete for Irish Sailing Association medals. For more information please contact DBSC on 01 289 8565.

Abroad, racing takes place this morning at the 2002 Olympic Test Event in Athens. It is effectively a pre-pre-Olympic regatta that has already raised eyebrows over its poor organisation.

Plagued by delays and a lack of interest among the public, organisers had hoped for a flawless event to silence growing critics of the build-up to the 2004 games.

Eleven races are scheduled for all classes, except the double-handed open dinghy, the 49er, for which 16 races are scheduled.

Ireland is represented by David Burrows and Aaron O'Grady in the Finn class, Tom Fitzpatrick and Frazer Brown in the 49er and Gerbil Owens and Ross Killian in the men's 470 dinghy.

But the Agios Kosmas sailing centre, south of the capital, is little more than a building site and competitors, officials and journalists are being left to endure the August heat in a tented camp.

Next August, the Dragon keelboat European championship will be staged at Kinsale Yacht Club, so it's not surprising that there is international interest in this month's Setanta Asset Management-sponsored National championships that will race on the European regatta waters.

Pol Hoj-Jensen and Martin Payne are among those travelling from Denmark and England, and Ted Sawyer will travel from the US.

Recent winners of Dublin Bay's Baily Bowl, Neil Hegarty, Peter Bowring and Dave Williams, are among the favourites for this year's championship, but fellow Royal St George Yacht Club helmsmen Andrew Craig and Johnny Ross Murphy must also be considered as strong contenders for the title.

Yesterday's third day of the Round Britain and Ireland record attempt has been the most favourable for Bruno Peyron's maxi-catamaran Orange. Since yesterday, the maxi-cat is ahead of the schedule set by the American Steve Fossett by 100 miles.

In order to beat Fossett's 1994 record, Orange has to cross the finish line (Isle of Wight) before Sunday at 07h 4m and 46s. At 1100 hours yesterday Orange was 14.3 miles away from rounding Muckle Flugga, the northern most tip of these islands.

Orange is humming along at 20-25 knots, and by the middle of last night had made up some of the distance during Wednesday's light winds. Yesterday morning, after a fast sail through a stormy night of strong winds (35 to 40 knots) and an angry sea, the giant Orange was 12 hours ahead of the record.