A strong and keen group of Irish Offshore sailors met in the Granville Hotel in Waterford in the autumn of 2002 with a view to establishing an association that would promote cruiser racing and arrange a National Cruiser Championships each year. They were Jim Donegan, Fintan Cairns and Denis Kiely. The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) was a great project fuelled by the enthusiasm of a great bunch of sailors from all over Ireland in the Cruiser Racer sector and they developed credible regional and National championships which continue to this day. They also felt that it was essential to have a strong representative voice on all matters effecting their sector at National level, our Commodore has been a member of the Board of Irish Sailing since then in order to have the views of this important area of sailing heard and seen at a management level.
The first open meeting was held in the Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny in February 2003. It was packed to the rafters with strong representation from every part of the Country who were keen to be involved and many vibrant robust contributions were taken from the floor. It was fun and refreshing to be involved, and Fintan Cairns was brilliant at pulling together all the interests from sailors in all regions in the early years. Denis Kiely did a great job as treasurer, securing much needed funding, managing the finances and working on the ECHO handicap system to ensure yachts on ECHO could also compete with IRC yachts. The first National Championships was hosted in Howth Yacht Club in 2003.
The first ICRA Boat of the Year was “Voodoo Chile” owned by Eamonn Crosbie in 2004.