ICRA Annual Conference 2009;
Posted in General News - November 24 2009
Despite the extreme weather a well attended and very successful Irish
Cruiser Racing Association Annual Conference took place on Saturday
21st Nov in the Newpark Hotel, Kilkenny.
Sailors from all around the country; from Sligo, Galway, Foynes,
Tralee Bay, Schull, Cork, Wicklow and Dublin engaged in vibrant
discussion on a wide range of sailing issues.
Among those in attendance were Peter Crowley President ISA , Mike Mc
Carthy Admiral Royal Cork Yacht Club, Liam Lynch Commodore TBSC,
Charlie Kavanagh, Commodore Wicklow SC, Tim Costello Commodore DBSC,
Simon Mc Gibney Commodore WIORA, Harry Hermon, Secretary General of
the ISA and Ed Alcock, Racing Manager of the ISA as well as many top
performance sailors from all cruiser classes.
A number of the major event organisers such as Dennis Noonan, Round
Ireland organiser from Wicklow SC, RCYC Cork Week and WIORA were also
present and had their Notices of Race for next years events available
for distribution.
The 2010 ICRA Nationals will be held in the Royal St George YC
DunLaoghaire from 21st to 23rd May .
Entries will be accepted on line from this week and payment of the
entry fee can be deferred until February. A discounted fee of €125
can be made up to the 31/03/2010 . After that date the fee is €175.
Early entries are encouraged to help organizers decide Class
divisions.
Lifts in and out will be free of charge and as many boats as possible
will be facilitated on Club pontoons in Dun Laoghaire.
The 2010 Round Ireland Race starts on Sun 20th June and Barry Rose ,
ICRA Commodore, announced that ICRA was putting up a Perpetual ICRA
Trophy for the best ICRA Boat, 40 Feet or under, in IRC.
He stated that this was in response to a suggestion on the Afloat
Forum that ICRA should support the race and that ICRA was proud to be
associated with such a prestigious race.
Cork Week Notices of Race were snapped up at the Conference sending a
clear message that enthusiasm for the event remains strong. Cork Week
takes place from 10th to 16th July and promises a super Regatta with
great racing afloat on a wide variety of course types and a fun scene
ashore in the unique specially constructed tented village.
Developments in IRC and Progressive Echo systems were discussed and
an
ICRA Whitsail Committee was promised under chairmanship of ICRA
Secretary
Denis Kiely to address issues in whitesail development and to decide
if
a National Championship or alternative Corinthian type event might
take
place on a separate course at the same time and venue as the ICRA
Nationals.
A very informative and highly organised professional presentation was
made by John Murphy of Kinetic on campaigning a boat to win
Championships .
This was followed by another interesting and amusing presentation,
with lots of
learning tips, given by Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell of North Sails .
Prof went through the high [and low!!] points of a sailing season
competing at the highest level.
The final talk was an intriguing insight into the amazing challenges
encountered by Ger O Rourke in competing in and completing the Volvo
Round the World Race.
The work put in to each of these presentations included video and full
slide back up on overhead projectors which added enormously to the
quality and impact of the presentations.
The conference finished with the presentation of the 2009 ICRA Boat Of
the
Year trophy. This was presented to Class 2 ICRA National Champions
John Murphy and Richard Colwell in their Corby 25, KINETIC . KINETIC
had to beat off stiff competition from a very high quality short list
of Dave Dwyer’’s Marinerscove, Eamonn Rohans Blondie, and Paul O
Higgin’s Rockabill and was a well merited presentation”