This Sunday sees Royal Cork YC and Sutton Dinghy Club go head to head in what is the 70th anniversary of the ‘Book Trophy’ race. First held in Sutton Creek in 1944, featuring a team from Cork Harbour Sailing Club, the forerunner of the Royal Munster Yacht Club, now known as Royal Cork Yacht Club.
Initially referred to as the ‘Inter-City’ challenge, for each winning team, there is a most unique prize – they get to keep custody for twelve months of the “Book”, which is a written account, added to year by year, of each race and the teams involved. In 1980 an annual junior ‘Book Trophy’ was introduced featuring the junior sailors from either club.
This seventy year-old saga of friendly rivalry between these two Clubs includes many sailors who went on to become internationally-renowned names in the sailing world. On the eve of the 70th anniversary of this unique and compelling event the scores are:
Senior – Sutton Dinghy Club (18), Royal Cork YC (26), Draw (2), No Race (23)
Junior – Sutton Dinghy Club (8), Royal Cork YC (10), No Race (16)
Down the years, the event was graced by both local and Cork sailors who went on to win National and International events, with many representing Ireland at Olympic level. The list includes Dan O Grady (’96), Barry O’Neill (’76), Jamie Wilkinson (’76 & ’80), J Somers Payne (’56 &’60), Mark Mansfield (’92, ’96, ”00 & ’04), Killian Collins (’04), Neil Hegarty (’60), Peter O’Leary (’08 &’12), Tom McWilliams, Harry Cudmore (’76), D St.J Sullivan (’48)
Back in 1944 the event was raced in the popular boat of the day, the International 12’s. This weekend the racing will be in Irelands most popular adult racing dinghy, the slightly more modern GP14. In between the event has been competed for in the National 18, Enterprises, Fireballs, IDRA14, Mirrors, Fireflies and even Laser 2’s.
The event over the years featured many current well known Dublin based sailors including – Roy Dickson, Neville Maguire, Dave Lovegrove, David & Robert Hogg, Francis Ennis, Dan O’Grady, Ian , Gerry & Charles Sargent, David Mulligan, Paul & Colly Newport, Andrew Knowles, Hugh Gill, Stephen Boyle, Dave Quinn, Dave Sheehan, Alan & Davie Carr, Garret Donnelly, Keith Cassidy, Scorie & Conor Walls, Alistair Kissane, Pat Murphy, Joe Phelan and Terry Harvey amongst others.
The event also reads like a who’s who of Corks finest sailors including J Somers Payne, Harold Cudmore, Ted Crosbie, Mark Mansfield, Aidan O’Connell and a host of last weeks winning Commodores Cup team including Anthony O’Leary, Peter O’Leary, Nicholas O’Leary, Fred Cudmore and Maurice ‘Prof’ O’Connell.
The provisional line-ups have been announced. Both teams feature a combination of event rookies and experienced campaigners.
The Royal Cork YC team is: Tom Dwyer (c), Dom Long, Barry O’Meara, Stefan Peretti, Tom & Patrick Crosbie. All 6 from Royal Cork are returning from the National 18 British & Irish Championships held in Abersoch, Wales this week so will be raring to go.
The Sutton Dinghy Club line-up is as follows: Hugh Gill (c), Dan Gill, Katie Dwyer, Wendy Rudd, Alan Blay and David Johnston. The majority are GP14 sailors with Alan Blay & David Johnston GP14 Ulster Champions and 4th in the recent Nationals. Katie Dwyer in her second season in GP14 had a superb Nationals to finish 10th. Katie’s dad is the Royal Cork YC captain, so no shortage of motivation needed this weekend.
First Gun is scheduled for 3pm Sunday Aug 3rd. The PRO is Scorie Walls, herself a former ‘Book Trophy’ campaigner, ably assisted by Robert Hogg and former Commodores Joe Phelan & Terry Harvey, all ‘Book Trophy’ veterans.
There will be a number of National 18’s, an International 12, a Laser 2, IDRA14’s and the Senior and Junior Book’s on display at the Club. Drop down Sunday afternoon (Aug 3rd), check out a little bit of Irish sailing history and cheer on sailings oldest inter-club rivalry.
[whohit]-Book Trophy Aug 1st-[/whohit]