Miscalculation denies win for local crew
Racing at Ford Cork Week has finally drawn to a close and the huge operation will wind down and by Sunday the tented village will have disappeared and it will be as if nothing had taken place.
That is the theory! In fact it was a bone of contention in 2000 that it was some number of weeks before the club members felt their club was back to normal and they could enjoy the facilities again.
Race Committee Chairman John McWilliam is extremely pleased with the way the racing programme went and in particular with the High Performance Class which fully succeeded in the aim of keeping all the big boats racing together.
Conditions were again light and for the three fleets sailing the harbour course today with ten minutes between each start the wind for each start was completely different.
The start of racing was in fact delayed considerably while Race Officer Fred Cudmore waited for the wind to fill in.
Finally, in glorious sunshine, a light south easterly breeze filled in and the postponement flag was lowered.
A mighty private battle ensued in this fleet between bear of Britain and Team Tonic.
Rounding Ringabella mark first Bear of Britain was closely followed by Team Tonic and this was to
become the battle of the day.
The order remained as the fleet headed up to Trabolgan and from there back into the harbour and the long downwind leg to Cobh.
The two Farrs gracefully did battle gybing back and forth in an attempt to get the better of one another.
They sailed up to the turning mark in front of Cobh cathedral and headed back out the harbour towards the finish.
Ultimately Team Tonic was to finish in second position to Wolf with Bear of Britain in fourth place.
In the ECHO fleet news of a first overall for Royal Cork Yacht Club sailor, Dermot Burns and his crew, turned to disappointment when it was found his handicap had been miscalculated by a single decimal point.
However, they finished with a hugely creditable second place with first place going to Peter Whelan of Arklow in his Sigma 33 Blade Runner.
The ECHO class is the only class with results based on performance which means that the handicap
changes each day on results.
As a result of a simple human error Aphrodite's handicap was wrong by a single point.
Nonetheless, it is still a result for great celebration within the RCYC.
The very graceful Salcombe Yawls again enjoyed racing in the very light conditions as they are used to such conditions in their home sailing ground which is river sailing in Salcombe through high ground and trees on the river banks.
By tomorrow night most of the visiting yachts will have left their berths to make passage to their home base or on to the next competition.
