AHOY JUNIOR SAILORS – Cove Sailing Club

Cove Sailing Club are holding an information evening on Monday 21st March 2011 at 8.00pm in the Commodore Hotel. This meeting is intended for Parents/Guardian’s of existing junior members and potential new junior members for the forthcoming 2011 sailing season. ALL WELCOME.

History of Cove Sailing Club (CSC)

In the early years of the nineteenth century, yachting in Cork harbour was the exclusive privilege of the Royal Cork Yacht Club which raced in Cobh. Many of the visiting yachts picked up their crews from the natives of the town. An acknowledgement that there was a need for a smaller type of yacht, one designed with local requirements and conditions in mind, saw the creation of what we now know as the “Cork Harbour One Design – designed by Fife in Scotland. Twelve boats in all were built, eight in Carraigaloe, three in Passage West  and one built in Baltimore, West Cork. The emergence of this class of boat reinforced the need for a sailing club for local enthusiasts who did not have the social rating and financial resources to attain membership of the Royal Cork Yacht Club. In 1904, some enthusiasts formed a sailing  club which was simply known as “The Sailing Club” as distinct from the Royal Cork Yacht Club. In 1919 this club formally became known as Cove Sailing Club. In the 1930’s the East Beach Corinthians Sailing Club was formed and catered for those with more modest boats. This club went from strength to strength however the outbreak of World War II depleted the membership of the club to the extent that it merged  with Cove Sailing Club in 1948 and became the club we are familiar with today.

Cove Sailing Club Today

Until 2009 CSC had not had a permanent storage facility or club-house of their own and this has impacted on the growth of the club over the years. Most club members keep their boats at the East Ferry marina although given the increased demand for berths an increasing number are kept on swing moorings around the harbour. CSC run regular races for class 4, 3 & 2 as well as a whitesail fleet. They race on Friday nights from May-August and Sundays in May and September. CSC also host several larger events – Cobh regatta, Cove at home etc, The Marlogue Trophy and the Cobh/Blackrock race – which was also a city of culture event during 2005 and is one of the oldest yacht races in Ireland and is still run each year. These are open events and CSC will run classes to suit as many entrants as wish to participate. Further details of the main sailing events that the Club organize each year are detailed below.

The lack of facilities has meant that CSC has always focused on competitive sailing (albeit on a social/friendly basis), providing an opportunity for all people, especially junior members to sail. In 2009, with support from a Sports Council grant, Cobh Town Council and Cobh VEC, CSC opened a dinghy park at Whitepoint, Cobh, to provide sailing equipment, facilities and coaching primarily aimed at local children who wanted to learn to sail as members of CSC.  This initiative has been very successful in encouraging more people to try sailing and has succeeded in increasing the membership of the club. To date, CSC has experienced an increase in Junior membership of well over 100 and overall membership doubled.

Future Plans

The club is currently in the process of finalising a development plan to take us forward over the next five  years. As a family orientated club with support from other local organizations and small businesses, there is an opportunity to promote and encourage sailing which was part of our original constitution back in 1919 (the objects of the club shall be the promotion of sailing and the encouragement of sailing and boating activity, and the social association among its members.) whilst encouraging a younger membership and helping the club to grow by offering a greater range of facilities and services both to its members and to the local community.

Over the next few years sailing generally, and in Cork Harbour especially will see a huge amount of focus. In 2010 the round the world clipper fleet arrived  Cork Harbour and Kinsale (Cork COCo and Failte Ireland sponsored one of the boats in the fleet). With the London Olympics in 2012 there will be an opportunity to promote the sport of sailing as the UK and Ireland look to build on their success in previous Olympics. 2012 will also see the Commemoration of the loss of the Titanic which will invariably further enhance Cobh’s national and international profile and provide further opportunities to promote the marine leisure potential of Cork Harbour.

Major local events such as Cork Week, the Sovereigns and Calves Week attract large numbers of visitors and high quality racing fleets and with them commercial opportunities to develop marine leisure in the Cork region. The club sees Cork Harbour as the optimum location for providing excellent training and coaching facilities and as well as providing top quality coastal racing opportunities for the more competitive cruiser/racers, whilst within Cork Harbour we can cater for the more social (whitesail) racing which is also growing hugely in popularity as well safely train beginners in the quieter areas of the Harbour.

You can also visit the Cove Sailing Website at http://www.covesailingclub.ie