2022 marks the 75th anniversary of the Irish Sailing All Irelands which is to be renamed from the Helmsman’s Championship to the Champions’ Cup to better reflect equality within the sport.
The 2022 event takes place at Sutton Dinghy Club, Dublin, this weekend, the 8th and 9th of October.
In the line-up for the event are Olympians and former Champions’ Cup winners Ger Owens and Peter Kennedy; Olympic hopeful Aoife Hopkins who has former senior Irish Sailing Team-mate athlete Aisling Keller as crew; Niamh Henry who was shortlisted for the prestigious Irish Sailing Sailor of the Year 2022 as the first female helm champion to win the Irish Team Racing National Championships since 1968; and previous Champions’ Cup winners Michael O’Connor with crew Davy Taylor.
A number of changes to this year’s milestone anniversary event includes two places for female helms based on finishing results at selected qualifying events, one place for a “host boat” nominee, and a “President’s Choice” wildcard nominee.
The Champions’ Cup has run every year since 1947 until 2020’s historic pause due to covid. One of the most unusual regattas in the world, the Champions’ Cup sees sixteen competitors from different classes (or types of boat) compete to find sailing’s “champion of champions”.
Despite coming from a wide range of one design classes, they race against each other in a boat that is often unknown to many. The 2022 75th anniversary event will be sailed in GP14s.
Each competitor has been nominated as a result of their achievements and rankings for the year. Once chosen, each competitor selects one crew member.
Racing will consist of two “flights” or heats. The top three from each flight go straight into the final. The remaining competitors who placed 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th compete in a 2-race qualifier or “repêchage”, and the top two then enter the Final also. The final race on Sunday, therefore, has eight teams competing.
