June 12th: Only TWO months to go, guys and girls!! – on this date in two month’s time, WIORA boats will be jostling for position on the starting line for the first gun at about 11am, in what promises to be one of the most fiercely contested WIORA’s of all time!
June 13th: Following hot on their heels on the 13th June – worth repeating, just TWO months away – the growing high calibre entry list for the ICRA Cruiser National Championships 2013 will be lining up for their First Gun in Fenit, Tralee Bay – one of the finest bays in the world for sailing!
With an entry list hitting up for 50 boats already, these two events, running concurrently, show all the signs of being the hottest regatta in Ireland this year! All is looking good for a great ICRA Nationals returning to the magnificent sailing waters of Tralee Bay from 13th to 15th June.
Tralee Bay Sailing Club is promising a sailing carnival to remember with top class sailing afloat under the direction of Alan Crosbie, Dave Lovegrove and Peter Moore complemented by a party ashore that brings sailors together for fun and ‘craic’ in sailings best traditions when the Pubs, Restaurants and Club buy in to the whole concept and create a brilliant atmosphere throughout the village.
Class 2 is building nicely to being the strongest class and most widely representative of all Coasts with entries already received from likes of Paul and Deirdre Tingle from Royal Cork who are bringing their new Corby 25: Alpaca (ex Allure, ex Kinetic), a boat with a terrific reputation at ICRA Nationals. They will be taking on fellow Corby 25: Tribal (ex Yanks $ Franks) owned by Liam Burke from Galway Bay and Ray Mc Gibney’s Disarray from Foynes Yacht Club and Strictly Business (Fergus Kelliher from Tralee Bay Sailing Club itself). King One, Dave Cullen’s half Tonner from Howth Yacht Club will travel together with Nigel Biggs Checkmate XV from Royal St George to lead the Dublin challenge. Egalite, David Griffin’s Dehler 34 from Clifden will likely be joined by Martin Reilly’s half tonner Harmony (originally optimized by Nigel Biggs) among other boats from Sligo and Mayo yacht clubs. It looks promising for the Royal Cork Admiral Peter Deasy and team on Bad Company, who hope to come together again and compete to build on their success at Cork Week. So Class 2 has the making of an incredible fleet.
Class 0 already has the likes of Norbert Reilly’s Mills designed Crazy Horse sailing this time with a father and son combo and Conor and Denise Phelan’s Kerr designed Jump Juice (rumoured to have the legendary Prof on board for the event). They will be joined by Anthony O’ Leary’s Kerr 39 Antix and George Sisk’s Wow. So the basis of the most competitive fleet is also building nicely in this Class.
More news will follow on developments in Class 1, 3 and 4 and Non Spinnaker ICRA Corinthian Cup.
Time lines:
1. April 27th: end of early entry discount.
2. IRC and ECHO Certificates: have you got your certificates sorted out, or even applied for at this stage? This process can take several weeks, so make sure you get your application in as soon as possible….
3. Accommodation: There are still some houses available for letting at very reasonable rates in Fenit village, but they are getting scarce. The organising committee has sought out whatever is available and the last few houses will be listed on the website very shortly, so keep an eye on this. Don’t forget that the Brandon Hotel alsohave a few rooms left at unbelievable rates – check out our website for details.
4. Crew: for owners and skippers – it is time to get your crew together. Get some early training in, get rid of the cobwebs and build up some team spirit. Only eight weeks to go!!!
5. Boat Movements: if you have to bring your boat to the event – have you lined up a delivery crew and a return trip crew? Time to organize this now – make sure you have plenty crew, as inevitably, some will drop out in the last minute for whatever reason! If you are struggling to get crew, contact us and we will help from our pool of skippers and crew who have volunteered for these delivery trips. Email us for details…..
6. June 12th: WIORA commences………..
7. June 13th: ICRA commences…………
Guys and girls: start getting your ducks in a row!!!!! Get entries with payment in to avail of priority berthing in Fenit Marina!!!!
[box]For the latest local information about the WIORA/ICRA Cruiser Racing Nationals visit the Tralee Bay Sailing Club website[/box]
