O’Leary Insurance Group Sovereign’s Cup 2021 Update
March 5th 2021

Preparations are continuing apace for the O’Leary Insurance Group Sovereign’s Cup 2021 where the organising committee are committed to providing the best possible Regatta for the entrants.
We remain hopeful that the continuing efforts of the people of Ireland to reduce the spread of the virus coupled with the accelerated roll out of the vaccination programme will have a very positive impact on the Covid-19 statistics. The recent downward trend in the numbers will hopefully continue and thereby enable the reduction of Level 5 Guidelines to Level 2 by the beginning of June. In the interim, the Government’s planned announcements on April 5th and early May should provide crucial indications of what will be allowed for Sporting Events and gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, from late May up to late June and beyond.
Once the Government has made its announcement in early May, the organising committee will meet to assess the detail of the announcement. If we decide that it will not be possible to hold the Sovereign’s Cup on June 23rd – 26th then we will cancel the event in order to give all stake-holders the maximum amount of time to change their plans. The deferral of Sovereign’s Cup to August is not an option for many reasons, principle among those reasons is the fact that August is ‘high-season’ in Kinsale and almost all accommodation is already booked out.
“The best plan is to keep planning”, so wrote W M Nixon in Afloat last December. He described how when we find ourselves in such fluid circumstances as we do at present, a useful point of reference is General Dwight D Eisenhower (34th U.S President) who had an attitude to plans which was said to be both brief and brutal. It was said that he did not have so much time for a man with a plan but had a lot of time for a man who was always planning. It is in that manner that we at KYC are looking at ways to maximise the amount of racing that we can do once restrictions are eased and we are considering an alternative event in August.
This is a preliminary plan at this stage which will be finalised should we be unable to hold the Sovereign’s Cup as planned.

Yours in Sailing,
Anthony O’Neill.
Regatta Director.