It’s not widely known that when the Danes of Howth were being pressurised to become Christians, being Vikings they had a side deal to the effect that, forever afterwards, when the Annual Fete in late Spring at the new church they were signing up to was staged, said Fete would always be blessed with good weather.

As to other distractions in regatta event staging at Howth, it’s only 120 years ago that the first recorded Howth YC Lambay Race was being sailed. But over its relatively few years since first being staged in 1904, the organisers have learned that it goes best when high water is around lunchtime, thereby enabling a mid-morning start to carry the fleet north on the last of the flood and bring them home again southwards on the ebb.

So ideally the best day for the race round Lambay is firstly, when the Fete is being held, and secondly, when the tides are right. Obviously it can be quite a job to get all your ducks in a row when organising this ideal Lambay setup. So when it all additionally has to be fitted into the new-fangled three day Howth Wave Regatta, you’d think it was wellnigh impossible.

“Clear the Way…” The First 50 Checkmate XX powering through to another good day. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Hot stuff off Portmarnock House is a reminder it was once the home of ace helm Willie Jameson. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

PERFECT IN EVERY WAY

Yet today’s (Saturday May 25th) Lambay Race was perfect in every way, despite being preceded by yesterday’s grimly Arctic conditions, and with further Unknown Unknowns in the meteorological pipeline for the final Wave day tomorrow (Sunday May 26th).

The veteran Club Shamrock 30 Demelza – now owned by Steff & Windsor – doing some neat calculation on how close you can go to the north cliffs of Lambay without getting into the baffling wind cushion. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

The innocent and idealistic might well think that such a perfect conjunction of requirements, with the piety of the annual Church Fete and a fine southeasterly racing breeze as the double creams on the cake, might have resulted in a bit of relaxation afloat, an element of give and take.

DOG EAT DOG

Not a bit of it. It was dog eat dog out there on the sunny blue waters of Fingal, with the ferocious pace being set by the Classic Half Tonners. The recently acquired Two Farr of the unlikely but all-powerful Rush-Crosshaven-Howth-Baltimore syndicate squeaked in ahead of near sister Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer, Royal Cork YC) by just three seconds on IRC, after three hours of racing.

Wind over tide in Lambay Sound brings everything to life. Photo: Annrai Blaney

RUSH SC MAKING HAY

In fact, Rush Sailing Club were making hay (it’s the next item on the agricultural schedule anyway), as Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm (RSC) nipped in by ten seconds ahead of current Irish J/109 champion Chimaera (Barry Cunningham, Royal Irish YC) in Class 1, with John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough just one second (repeat: one second) behind the Cunningham boat, while John and Suzie Murphy put in a shout for the Hills of the Naul with their J/109 Outrajeous barely a minute after Final Call II, but with Mike & Richard Evans J/99 Snapshot (HYC) only another seven seconds behind them.

Everything is as it should be – Pat Kelly’s Storm on her way to another win, and all in sight of home. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

The Boys Are Back In Town – the usual suspects squeezing the last ounce of performance out of Final Call II. Phot: Annraoi Blaney

FIBRILLATOR FINISH

As you might well say if you were in a morbid frame of mind, it was a Fibrillator Finish for the IRC classes. And on beyond the Half Tonners in Class 2, things continued close, although it was a strike for the home club when Stephen Mullaney’s immaculate Sigma 33 Insider in Class 3 managed to get home 36 seconds ahead of Wicklow Sailing Club’s Haughton-Flood-Heather-Kinnane team on Jupiter, with Courtown SC further down the East Coast taking third with the Quarter Tonner Snoopy (Joanne Hall & Martin Mahon.

With our climate, every worthwhile Irish home should have a porch – and a Porsche beside it. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

MORE GENTEEL IN CLASS 0

Meanwhile at the other end of the size scale, the timings were more genteel in Class 0, with the First 50 Checkmate XX (Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen, HYC) having another good day to finish on IRC CT more than five minutes ahead of Johnny Treanor’s J/112 ValenTina (NYC) with another J, Nobby Reilly’s Ghost Raider, in third ahead of Cork’s Jelly Baby campaigned by the Jones family.

Worry not – Stephen Mullaney’s Sigma 33 Insider is simply ploughing through, one her way to another win. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

NON SPIN

The first of the non-spinnaker divisions, Class 4, relies totally on ECHO handicap, and there’ll be dancing in the streets of Skerries, as Terry McCoy of that town took it convincingly with his handsome vintage First 38 Out & About. Howver, super-chef McCoy keeps O&A in Howth, so those points go to HYC, while the score for second goes across the harbour to John Beckett and Andy George’s Splashdance of Howth Sailing & Boating Club, with third slot being filled by overall defending champion Dermot Skehan with the MG34 Toughnut (HYC).

ONE DESIGNS

It is intriguing to look at the “artificial” closeness of the handicap classes’ finishes, and then set them against the more rough and ready reality of One Design Racing, where such close finishes are wellnigh impossible, as one-for-one boats get in each other’s way.

Peter Courtney’s Howth 17 Oonagh (his family have been involved with the class since 1907) on her way to third place, ahead of Roddy Cooper’s Leila. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Thus with the Puppeteer 22s we see that Ian Dickson’s Weyhey won by more than two minutes from 2023 form boat Trick or Treat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay), with Dave Clarke’s Harlequin third by another clear minute and three seconds.

As for the Howth 17s, former HYC Commodore Brian Turvey’s continuing successful efforts in keeping Wave top of the agenda were suitably rewarded, as Isobel which he co-owns with brother Conor took the bullet by one and a half minutes from the white-hot Massey-Toomey-Kenny syndicate’s Deilginis, with third generation Howth 17 sailor Peter Courtney (his family have been involved with the class since 1907) getting third.

SQUIBS QUANDARY

The Squibs are in a real quandary this weekend, as ambitious boats will have wished to do the performance-defining Northerns at Cultra with the RNIYC on Belfast Lough, but nevertheless three of them stayed behind to do the Lambay trot, and Emmet Dalton seems to have won on scratch, but Simon Sheahan was out of sight on HPH.

Though several of the re-growing fleet of Squibs from Howth were away at the Northerns, a colouful trio put in their best display. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

SUN SHONE ON INTO EVENNG

Following that devilish deal of the ancient Vikings of Howth, the sun is still shining in Howth as evening draws in on this excellent Lambay Day, when we were meant to get rain and much cloud by early afternoon. The Wave Regatta Financial Returns are looking good, but as for profits on the Church Fete, we will of course have to wait until after the Sabbath for news of trading realities on holy ground.

Although Final Call II was hot to trot, she didn’t have it all her own way by any means. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Half Tonners and friends battling it out. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Results below

Howth's three-day Wave Regatta 2024, the biennial seafest with Porsche as lead sponsors, rolls into action this morning (Friday, May 24th) with a total of 104 entries, ranging from the veterans of the 1898-founded Howth 17 class to many of the most keenly campaigned cruiser racers in Ireland. Boats from all Irish coastlines and across from Wales and England are ready to race on various courses, including the time-honoured circuit of Lambay tomorrow (Saturday).

Dermot Skehan's veteran Humphreys-designed MG34 Toughnut from the host club is the defending Wave Regatta champion

Particular interest will focus on the J/109s, where several current and former Irish champions are in the mix, while the classic Half Tonners, such as Swuzzlebubble and the recently-acquired Two Farr, will be seeing
a high-quality input of special sailing talent. That said, it's an event for everyone, and the defending overall champion from 2022 is Dermot Skehan's veteran Humphreys-designed MG34 Toughnut from the host club.

Swuzzlebubble competing at the 2022 Wave Regatta at Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

Ashore, the Howth Peninsula is en fete with a traditional music festival headed by Sharon Shannon, but Wave participants need to go no further than the Howth YC compound for a high-powered mix of entertainment and the much enjoyed "de-briefings" about the racing, which looks set to enjoy a variety of conditions, with Saturday, in particular, looking good.

In electricity-generating circles, wave power may be seen as a potential though often challenging way of generating energy. But in Howth, energy and Wave power seem to have got together to have everything in mutually beneficial co-ordination for the biennial Wave Regatta, starting this Friday (May 24th) and concluding Sunday.

The latest high-powered entries to push the total towards the hundred mark are both from the Royal Irish YC’s own private power-house in the form of the Goodbody family’s silver-bedecked J/109 White Mischief, and the Burke syndicate’s First 40 Prima Forte, a breeze-loving boat.

She’s silver-bedecked. The Goodbody family’s J/109 White Mischief (Royal Irish YC) will be lining up for serious competition at Howth this Friday. Photo: Afloat.ie

But as to whether or not Prima Forte will get her favoured conditions remains to be seen. For although the forecasts suggest the racing will begin with ridge-induced northerlies and conclude with a brisk southerly, the fact is that most forecasts for Howth have been off-target or just plain wrong for at least six weeks now, however accurate (or not) they may have been for other places. Folk on the peninsula have expecting the right type of rain to help new lawns along, but a good rainfall of any kind has yet to occur, whatever might be happening in nearby Ireland or across channel in Wales.

WEATHER PREDICTIONS FOR HOWTH HAVE TO BE UNPREDICTABLE

So whether a really good weather pattern will develop remains to be seen, for as far as the Howth Peninsula is concerned, any recent predictions pointed to it ultimately being unpredictable.

Meanwhile, another theme which has recently been rising on the agenda is local pride. And we mean really local, not regional. Thus our recent piece about the remarkable performances that have been put in by North Fingal cruiser-racers such as Storm and King One from Rogerstown, Rush and Skerries, with an intriguing direct but almost-hidden link to West Cork, havr drawn a blast from on high, and we really mean on high.

For it seems that the skipper we think of as the Admiral of the Royal Hills of the Naul Yacht Squadron thinks his local place should get a fair shout, as he can see all from his resident Naul eyrie, and it helps in crew-recruiting to encourage ultra-local pride. And after all, when he and his team came down from the Fingal Alps aka the Naul Hills last year, they won the ICRA Nationals at Howth, and they’ll be back again on Friday with the J/109 Outrajeous.

Kilian’s of The Naul might be a potential HQ for the Royal Hills of The Naul Yacht Squadron

RURAL ENTHUSIASM CAN BE CHANNELED

This idea of very rural communities having some sailing focus seems odd until we consider the Chipping Norton Yacht Club. It’s in the heart of the Cotswolds in the midst of England and more than a hundred miles from the nearest sea. Yet as each weekend approaches, sea sailing enthusiasts stream southwards from CN, mostly with the RORC programme in mind, and return exhausted but happily salt-stained and wind-battered late on Sunday night.

Yet by Tuesday they’ve started to think slightly enviously of their coast-dwelling fellow sailors gathering in their clubs to talk endlessly about sailing. So the Chipping Norton Yacht Club came into being to inflict a sailing-clothing-wearing boat-talking group on the local pub every Tuesday evening

Maybe it’s time to start thinking of getting a sailing photo or two hung on the walls of Killian’s in The Naul. For now, the good news is that Wave 2024 from Friday onwards is starting to look very interesting indeed. Watch this space.

Those who are unaware of some of the more offbeat aspects of Irish maritime history can be forgiven for wondering how it is that Rogerstown, Rush and Skerries – all in the heart of heavily horticultural North Fingal - between them produce so many formidable sailors.

“How on earth” they demand, “can growing so many admittedly excellent potatoes, cabbages and strawberries make you a genius in a sailing boat?”

The intriguing sailing-talent-producing Rogerstown Estuary is almost boat-free in winter, but the well-filled Rush SC winter boat park speaks volumes about the local sailing interest.

LEGALLY ABSENT

The question is asked after a quick glance at the crème de la crème entry list for Howth’s three day Wave Regatta with Porsche as lead sponsors, where racing starts on this coming Friday (May 24th). Overall, it reveals an intriguing absence of lawyers, and a remarkable presence of established and rising talent from Rush SC and Skerries SC.

We were given a word to the wise on the legal scarcities.

“It would be a very unwise career move for a prominent figure in the law courts to be so conspicuously absent from the Law Library when the courts are sitting in a traditionally very busy period, and no Bank Holiday is being availed of.”

POTATO POTENTATES

Quite so. You can always easily get publicity when you least need it. But as to the sailing power of the Potato Potentates from the hidden acres of Fingal, that’s much more easily explained. Up there, fast sailing is in the blood. The emphasis on vegetables is only a recent innovation. But the sailing prowess long-outlasted the Vikings.

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the tiny port of Rush and the nearby tide-riven estuary of Rogerstown produced Ireland’s two greatest sea captains in privateering and smuggling. The late 1700s saw the career peaks for privateering legend Luke Ryan, while the early 1800s witnessed the achievements of James Mathews, a highly-organised smuggler at a time when smuggling was a perfectly reasonable response to the actions of rabidly exploitative governments.

Lost but now found – the special Farr-designed Half Tonner Two Farr has been at worldwide locations during her long journey from Australia to Rush

If there is a key component in both maritime legends, it is surely the ability to sail fast offshore, while also being well able, when necessary, for both navigation and intricate inshore pilotage. In other words, exactly the skills set for success with a competitive cruiser-racer.

STORM OF RUSH

For some time now, Pat Kelly and his Fingal team from Rush with Storm have been among the top performers in the J/109 class. Well, Storm will be there at Wave, taking on local talent such as Simon Knowles’ Indian, and visiting talent such as Barry Cunningham’s current champion J/109 Chimaera from the Royal Irish YC.

A frequently-seen view of the J/109 Storm. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

The mixing of Howth and Rush might be assumed to be neighbourliness, but that would be a mistake. The fact that Rush and Howth can keep an eye on each other along a northwest-southeast sightline across the Malahide Estuary Approaches only serves to emphasise how different they are, and that’s the way they want to keep it.

VIKINGS RE-TAKE HOWTH CASTLE

Thus the word is that the North Fingal contingent are establishing an encampment at Howth Castle, and admission will either be by invitation, or a password known to few, and spoken in ancient Norse, as in everyday use around Lusk.

The Vikings of Fingal will be setting up their encampment at Howth Castle (left)

But the Rush tentacles spread further, and in 2022 the linkup between North Fingal and West Cork was revealed in high profile when sometime Baltimore SC Commodore and “temporary permanent” BSC Honorary Sailing Secretary Rob O’Leary was on the Rush SC team that won the Half Ton Classic Worlds in the Solent on Paul Elvstrom’s former boat King One.

FINGAL WEST CORK LINKUP

That linkup has gone a stage further in order to compete directly with the world’s most-loved Half Tonner, the 1976 Farr-designed Swuzzlebubble. The thinking had been that surely more boats were built to this wonderful way-out design, particularly as Swuzzlebubble has in recent years been based at Crosshaven in the successful ownership of James Dwyer, and currently the ICRA “Boat of the Year”.

Belfast Lough’s top A35 Final Call II (John Minnis) seen in action in a previous visit to Howth. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

And it seems the sleuth-hounds of the Rush & O’Leary teams have come up with just such a boat, originally built in Australia but more recently racing under German designation. She’s called Two Farr, she’s unmistakable bright red, and with Rob O’Leary now in owning partnership with Fingal’s crème de la crème, so many all-Ireland club affiliations are listed that we are reminded of the extraordinarily all-Ireland personality of the J/24 Hard Case.

LAST MINUTE LOCALS

Entries for Wave don’t close until tonight (Tuesday 21st May) at midnight, but organiser Brian Turvey reckons the heavy metal from elsewhere have been long in, it’s only the last minute locals who will finally access that useful circular device, a round tuit, approaching the witching hour.

Meanwhile, with a general lineup including such formidable talent as John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough, the entry list makes for intriguing reading: 

Wave Regatta Entries 2024

Two US-based sailors will add an international flavour to the fourth Irish RS Aero National Championships on the 15th & 16th of June at Howth Yacht Club.

Paul McMahon of the host club is the defending champion and will be hoping for a repeat on home waters. The sailors will also be hoping for a repeat of the classic Howth Easterly conditions of last October’s event.

The Principal Race Officer for the event is top sailor Nigel Biggs.

The Nationals will once again be supported by KODC Advisory who also sponsored the Easterns in Howth last year.

A key feature of many RS Aero events, which has proved very popular, is top-class coaching before the event and Thomas Chaix has agreed to provide a session on Friday afternoon.

Entry can be made here. There may be opportunities to charter an Aero for the event. Please contact Daragh Sheridan at [email protected] for further information.

The ILCA Masters National Championships proved that the ILCA is a boat for all ages. The masters travelled to Howth Yacht Club to race in the sunshine and a steady south-easterly breeze ranging from 8 to 14 knots. Under the watchful eye of Race Officer Neil Murphy and his team, six races took place over two days in the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 fleets.

Masters sailors are split into five categories: Apprentices aged 30 to 45, Masters aged 45 to 54, Grand Masters 55 – 64, Great Grand Masters 65 – 74, and Legends 75+. Within each fleet, multiple contests take place, and prizes are awarded in each category and for overall winners.

2024 ILCA Masters National Championship Masters Championships competitors post racing on Sunday at Howth Yacht Club

In the 24-boat ILCA 7 fleet, Dan O’Connell and Rory Lynch, both regular Howth winter sailors, battled hard for the top spot, while Conor Byrne, last year's winner, was not far behind. After two wins in race 4 and 6, Rory Lynch topped the fleet and Apprentice category. Dan O’Connell, was second overall and first Master. while Conor Byrne last year 39s Masters Champion had to settle for third overall and second Apprentice. The top Grand Master was Nick Walshe, starting and finishing strong with a third in race one and a second in race six.

Baltimore Sailing Club's Rory Lynch - ILCA 7 Masters National Champion

In the ILCA 6 fleet, Conor Clancy and Sean Craig were well-matched rivals, both finishing all races in the top four. Sean Craig showed his experience with three race wins, discarding a fourth to take first overall and top Grand Master. Conor Clancy was just three points behind and finished second overall and top Apprentice. Conor Barry sailed a very consistent series, winning race six to take third place and top Master.

Royal St. George Yacht Club's Shirley Gilmore, the Women's Irish Masters ILCA 6 National Champion 

In the ILCA 6 Women's category Shirley Gilmore, Judy O’Byrne, Mary Chambers, Alison Pigot and Carla Fagan were racing hard. Shirley Gilmore inched ahead after day one and, with a fourth in race six, did enough to retain her Women’s Masters title, with Judy O’Beirne finishing second and Mary Chambers third overall. Alison Pigot was second in the Grand Master category, while Carla Fagan was the top Apprentice.

As always, Howth Yacht Club ran a top-class event. Jill Sommerville and Conor Murphy did an exceptional job organising it.

ILCA Ireland’s next event is the Ulster Championships which takes place in County Antrim Yacht Club on the 22 and 23 of June.

Full results below

The weekend's almost freakish display of the Northern Lights were better seen in some places than others. Howth on its peninsula avoided the later thundery rain which affected other parts of the country, some with flooding. The HYC Photography Fellowship were busy, with the Talented Turveys' Conor Turvey - best known for ace helming on the Howth 17 Isobel - managing to get a quartet of images of such quality that the stars themselves are seen clearly as part of what are some very big pictures - in every sense.

Howth's outer harbour is looking eastward, with the HYC Howth 17s and Squibs making up the bulk of the fleet lying to moorings. Photo: Conor Turvey

The humble Starter's Hut on the East Pier fronted up the most colourful display. Photo: Conor Turvey

Howth Lighthouse - probably the most-photographed building on the Peninsula - had to share the stage with a rare display of cosmic glory. Photo: Conor Turvey

When it was announced that the three-day Howth Wave Regatta 2024 would be in the last full May weekend of Friday 24th to Sunday 26th, there was a certain thoughtful sucking of the molars among the waterfront pundits. For this was clear evidence that the over-crowded cruiser-racing programme had led the Howth event organiser Brian Turvey into going head-to-head with the Scottish Series for the timing of his home event, which has Porsche as the classy lead sponsor.

Thus the most basic metric of the wisdom (or not) of his decision lay in two simple outcomes – which way would John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough go, and which way would Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush incline her attention?

HARD-HEADED CHOICES

For both boats have found the Scottish Series to be a very happy hunting ground for conspicuous success in recent years. They are the form boats. Yet both boats and crews are noted for making very hard-headed decisions about where they’ll get their best competition in this time-precious age, resulting in something of a zero sum situation when events precisely clash.

So although it was the solidly reliable First 50 Checkmate XX (Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen) which led the way in becoming Entry Number One for Wave, it was when Final Call II came in at Entry 22 and Storm came in at Entry 68 that the Waterfront Brains Trust agreed the Turvey Team had successfully made the crucial cut – the show was definitely on the road.

John Minnis’s Archambault 35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough on her way to success in Dublin Bay. She is headed south again for Howth Wave 2024 in ten days’ time. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

John Minnis’s entry was especially fulsome, as he’d enthused about the quality of racing he’d experienced in previous visits to Howth. Yet the 2023 ICRA National’s event success at Howth had been achieved despite a very disobliging weather pattern, so it seems that it’s the general atmosphere - in addition to the quality of racing when available - which is Wave’s USP. and it has also attracted a representative Cork contingent.

“Ya just gotta learn to live with it” – Pat Kelly in the midst of his crew shrugs his way through another Storm success at the Scottish series, but for 2024 Storm is Entry 68 in Howth Wave. Photo: Marc Turner

HOWTH ENTERTAINMENT RATING A CONSTANT

But the entertainment value of Howth Yacht Club’s setting in a picturesque and hospitable fishing/sailing port is more or less a given when you add in the hectic social programme available. Thus in the end it’s the quality of the racing which is the ultimate factor, and it’s Howth’s race team – whose talents are regularly hi-jacked off around the corner of Howth Head by Dublin Bay Sailing Club – that gives the greatest and most continuous attention to improving the product.

Now, wouldn’t this be quite the place for a party? Howth Yacht Club and the village by night. Photo: HYC

Then too, with this major regatta being so conveniently provided right on the threshold of Dublin means that the organiser’s tolerance in accepting entries up to just three days in advance causes the weather situation and its immediate prospects some ten days hence to be a factor in some crew and boat participation decisions.

Let’s hear it for the big one! Checkmate XX racing at the ICRA Nationals 2023 in Howth. Owners Dave Cullen and Nigel Biggs find that a boat of this size provides added opportunities to give dinghy sailors their first serious keelboat experience. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

PLUS CA CHANGE……..

Thus it’s a matter of things changing all the time in order to stay the same, as Wave is ultimately based around Howth Yacht Club’s signature event, the Lambay Race. Originally using a trophy donated by the Stokes family in 1899, it was first known to have been eventually maiden sailed in 1904 (it didn’t do to rush into new things back in them days), and since then its mystique has increased with every year.

CENTENARY? WHAT CENTENARY?

Yet its Centenary in 2004 passed with little enough fanfare, as Howth may have been experiencing some “Centenary Fatigue”, what with the hundredth of Howth YC in 1995, and the big hundred of the ancient Howth 17 class in 1998. You can have enough of centenaries, whatever they may celebrate.

So the annual Lambay Race has gradually and rather quietly become a cornerstone of the architecture of the Fingal sailing programme. And traditionalists would argue that all they should have to do is fire a starting gun from the Howth pierhead when the tide is flooding north through Howth Sound, and send the fleet of multiple classes on the most basic course round the always slightly mysterious Lambay (please don’t call it Lambay island, “island” is implicit in that “ay” ending), and then time them home again when the ebb hustles them south.

The original Lambay Race course was very basic, but since 1904 various zigs and zags have been added

LENGTHENING THE COURSE

But that results in a course of only fifteen or so sea miles when something special is needed, so they’ve introduced all sorts of variants in order to provide extra length and ensure there’s a good beat or two. But whether or not you agree with what they do is rather dependent on how well you did.

I did my first Lambay on Johnny Pearson’s 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Orana in 1970, when she was still smelling of roses thanks to having been overall winner of the RORC Beaumaris to Cork Race of 1966, a triumph achieved by the genius tactics of Brian Hegarty. Quite how we did round Lambay four yearslater is long forgotten, so obviously we didn’t win, but the good news is that the 1960-built Orana has since been meticulously restored by an owner in the south of England, and has been cutting a dash at the Morbihan Festival in Brittany.

The late Johnny Pearson of Howth’s 8 Metre C/R Orana is now based in the English Channel, and here is showing her well-maintained condition at the Morbihan Festival in South Brittany.

Subsequent Lambay Races have been done in boats as small as a Squib – you could keep racing flat-out sustained by an easily-handled diet of Superquinn of Sutton Cross’s superb Scotch eggs and a screw-top bottle of cider, something that kept you going on a Howth 17 too – while at the other end of the size scale, the serious biggies like Perry Greer’s 57ft Helen of Howth and Otto Glaser’s all-varnish Tritsch-Tratsch II tried to outdo each other in the style of their mid-race lunch.

The Howth 17s Aura (Ian & Judith Malcolm) and Pauline on the north side of Lambay. Photo: John Dean

USING THE ZIGS TO CHANGE SAILS FOR THE ZAGS

Naturally a bit of us inclines to go along with the traditionalists who say the course should be simply there and back. But it has to be admitted our big win came in 1981 thanks to the zig-zag nature of the course set from Lambay south. It was our first year with the Hustler 30 Turtle (bought in a Leeson Street night-club around 4 o’clock in the morning, but that’s another story) which had lovely Hood sails, but the jibs and genoas were hanked on. Yet with a strong but steadily easing sou’wester, coming back fro Lambay the zigs while screaming along under spinnaker enabled us to change up from working jib through No 2 (a really wonderful sail) to face the beats on the zags with the right cloth set, until the last zag leg to the finish was close-hauled under the No 1, going like a train.

The Hustler 30 Turtle racing with her hanked-on Hood No 2 genoa set. She managed to win the new-syle Lambay Race 1981 thanks to being able to change up on the headsails during the short spinnaker legs.

BAD CAREER MOVE

It was beginner’s luck. But it was a very bad career move to have had it right in such a major scenario, as our ECHO handicap went so stratospheric that it continued to penalize us when we moved on up to a 35-footer ten years alter. So with both boats, for any subsequent sniff of the silverware we had to go to the then-considerable expense of getting an impartial Channel Handicap rating and subsequently going IRC, with the latter being no cake-walk as they wouldn’t allow us to be weighed for measurement with the chain locker filled with the 45 fathoms of seven-eighths tested cable we reckoned made her a proper cruiser-racer.

All of which seems rather a long way from the Lambay Race 2024 and Howth Wave 2024 enveloping it, but then the Lambay can attract some odd boats, everything from the hottest new things to boats as old as Methuselah. Memorable in the latter category is a Lambay Race aboard Adrian “Stu” Spence’s 1873-vintage pilot cutter Madcap which – despite her supposedly speedy pilot cutter pedigree – managed to be beaten boat-for-boat by the mighty Clondalkin-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan, helmed in considerable style by Paddy Murphy who’d come across from Renvyle on Connemara’s Atlantic coast, and made his journey well worthwhile through this success.

Adrian “Stu” Spence’s Pilot Cutter Madcap on one of his Arctic cruises. Built 1873, she is believed to be the oldest boat ever to take part in the Lambay Race, but on the day……

…….Madcap was beaten boat-for-boat round Lambay by the Clondalkin-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan, helmed by Paddy Murphy from Renvyle in Connemara. Photo: W M Nixon

ENTRIES CLOSE MAY 21ST

Meanwhile, returning to prospects for Howth Wave 2024, we’re kept on tenterhooks by the fact that entries are being accepted right up to Tuesday May 21st. We can see this becoming a dangerous game, maybe even involving AI. As clubs become increasingly proud and sure of their race management equipment, we can see entries being accepted as they show up. Which, as it happens, was the way it always used to be:

“Didn’t you know we were coming? Sure didn’t we come last year? Of course were coming again this year – who’d have thought there was any need to tell you?

Olympians and former champions are set to compete in this year's ILCA Masters Championships at Howth Yacht Club. The event comes just nine months after the North Dublin club hosted the national championships for the 2023 class last August.

One of the main attractions of the event will be the ILCA 7 fleet, where defending champion Conor Byrne of the RStGYC is expected to face stiff competition from the likes of 1984 and 1988 Olympian Bill O'Hara. Byrne, who has taken fourth and second place in the regional ILCA events so far this year, is set to put up a strong defence of his title.

Nick Walsh of RCYC, winner of the 2022 Masters Championships and second place in 2021, will also be competing, along with Dan O'Connell of Cobh SC, who was second in the 2022 Masters Championships.

Royal St. George's Sean Craig of Dun Laoghaire Harbour competing in the 2023 ILCA 6 Grand Masters World Championships in Adelaide, Australia Photo: Jack Fletcher

In the smaller rig ILCA 6s, a strong Royal St. George Yacht Club turnout is expected, led by Sean Craig, who won the event in 2022 and 2021. Craig's clubmate Darren Griffin has also taken podium places in the past two years, while Hugh Delap, who was the first master at the recent Munster Championships, narrowly missed out on a podium place last year.

Shirley Gilmore is defending her Ladies Masters National Title and will be up against Mary Chambers, Great Grand Master who took line honours last week in DBSC. Also competing is Carla Fagan of the host club, Ali Pigott of the National Yacht Club and Judy O'Beirne, Dun Laoghaire ILCA Class Captain from the Royal St George Yacht Club.

The event will be overseen by Race Officer Neil Murphy, along with the rest of the race committee from the recent HYC Dinghy Frostbites. 

Howth Yacht Club in Ireland is set to receive a full container of 12 Melges 15s next week, as the class continues to grow rapidly.

This arrival will double the Irish fleet to 24 boats, with a strong fleet of 13 boats ready to sail in Howth’s Thursday dinghy racing, where a diverse range of owners ranging from the Oppie ‘Dad’ to the ‘Cruiser Racer’ will take ownership.

Many owners are reportedly returning to dinghy ownership after a long hiatus, while family is also a common theme with parents, partners, and siblings all set to sail and race on Howth waters this summer.

The Demo weekend off Ireland's Eye that led to the Melges 15 order of 12 boats for Howth Photo: Tom Ryan 

Irish promoter john sheehy says Tthe Melges 15 fleet is the fastest-growing dinghy fleet around the world, and with the arrival of these 12 boats, class numbers will top 800 internationally.

Boat numbers 796 to 807 will make their new home in the waters off Ireland’s eye, with one boat (805) owned by Howth Yacht Club itself, providing members more chances to get afloat. Club fleets have been popping up in the US over the last year, with Houston Yacht Club perhaps showing Howth Yacht Club the way forward with their own club-owned fleet of boats.

New Melges 15s are loaded in the factory. Next stop Howth Yacht Club!

The Irish national championships are set for Howth on August 24th and 25th, and with expected international entries, the event should be a competitive fair, pushing the fleet past 24 boats.