Howth may like to think of itself as the Dingle of the East Coast writes W M Nixon, but for the next three days from Friday June 27th, the Fingal peninsular port is taking aboard a distinct West Cork complexion with the Baltimore 1720 fleet setting the pace in Howth YC’s new Sportsboat Cup.

With a entry list pushing towards the 40 mark, more than a quarter of the total sportsboat fleet will be made up of the 1994–vintage Tony Castro-designed 1720s, the five-man boats which have found a new lease of life with a fleet centred around Baltimore Sailing Club.

Although several of the skippers are every bit as well known as active campaigners afloat from the Royal Cork YC at Crosshaven, the word is that when they sail forth in their 1720s, it’s the holiday place in Baltimore that they’re representing, and there’s no doubting the quality of the racing provided for the 1720s in the wide open spaces of Baltimore Harbour.

In one particular case there’s no doubt who is sailing for where either, with Robert O’Leary’s 1720 clearly named Jacob’s Bar making a point, though his father Anthony – a frontline sailor in 1720s for many seasons – stays firmly with his boat’s longtime name of Antix, now almost a generic term for O’Leary craft.

Anthony O’Leary will be racing his 1720 at Howth. Photo: Robert Bateman

However, although the golden oldies of the 1720 division will be making a fine show, in pure numerical standards it’s the SB20s which top the listings with a fleet of fourteen boats, though that will only get up to full strength as the Howth series morphs into the SB20 Eastern Championship. Names to watch include Olympian Peter Kennedy from the north, while Royal St George YC field a strong contingent including former stars in other classes such as Chris Arrowsmith and Marty Cuppage.

The Howth-based J/80s will be out in full strength, and though the chartering skippers are mainly Howth YC’s own, the net has been spread a bit wider to include Dara McDonagh of Courtown SC. And then the net has been spread a bit wider again with a ruling that, for this event, classic Quarter Tonners and Half Tonners will be seen as Honorary Sportsboats, with racing provided for them.

Rory Fitzpatrick sailing Little Drinkie was the clear winner of the Howth Yacht Club 10–boat Moth flutter beating Alistair Kissane sailing Enzo by 5 points. The full results are downloadable below. 

Next month's ICRA Nationals at Howth Yacht Club will feature what looks like the 'hottest cruiser fleet of the year' when class one boats resume battle after last year's epic clash at Kinsale. 

Paul O'Higgins new JPK 10.80 will be up against some good J109's (including John Maybury's Joker which won ICRAs in 2015, Jelly Baby from Cork, Storm from Howth and J/109 newcomer Tim Goodbody). Also in the class one mix will be the A35 Fools Gold which was second to Joker at Kinsale and also won the Scottish series 2015 overall. Former champion, the XP33 Bon Exemple, skippered by Philip Byrne of the Royal Irish, is also a contender.

The cruiser racer body says its decision to apply 'equal status and trophies to IRC and Progressive Echo has attracted support' and overall entries for the championships is now in the sixties. The event is timed to lead into the Round Ireland​,​ WIORA and Cork Week and Calves Week in a summer of​ ​racing highlights.

Although an early discount deadline has now passed, organisers have made the decision to extend it, presumably because they see there is still lots of potential entries to still emerge in each division.

Class two should be very competitive as well with four Half Tonners vying against the home club's X332 Equinox (Ross McDonald) plus a few others. Half tonners won't have their pro sailors however as ICRA rules only allow pros in classes 0 and 1.

Dux from HYC will compete in class three

Class three will see Fusion the Corby 25 of Colwell, Cobbe and Ronan pushed by likes of Anthony Gore Grimes in Dux, the Sigma 33 s and the ICRA Commodore's family boat from Foynes Yacht Club, the McGibney's Dis a Ray. 

The event is under the experienced Chairmanship of Chris Howard who has twice before run championships with ICRA at this County Dublin venue. 

The programme will provide seven races over three day from Friday 10th to Sun 12th June with a mix of windward/leeward courses and interesting round the cans courses.

ICRA will be presenting overall matching perpetual trophies for IRC and ECHO in each Division in addition to ISA Gold, Silver and Bronze medals smartly mounted which are unique to the National championships.

ICRA's Corinthian Cups are also competed for in both Progressive Echo and IRC will provide equally interesting courses, specifically designed for the non spinnaker divisions with overall trophies and glass mountings as prizes.

The ICRA Nationals returns to Howth Yacht Club in early June, timed to lead into the Round Ireland​,​ WIORA and Cork Week and Calves Week to round off a summer of​ ​racing.

The ​combination of IRC and Progressive Echo divisions in all Classes with equal Trophies and ISA National Championship Gold, Silver and Bronze medals ensures strong interest through the fleets.  The event is under the experienced Chairmanship of Chris Howard who has twice before run championships with ICRA at this County Dublin venue. 

An early entry list is admittedly still building but it already features top boats with the likes of Conor Phelan's Jump Juice returning from his success in March's RORC's Easter Challenge.

Early indications are that the hottest fleet could be in class one where, like ICRAs in 2015, some of the most competitive sailing took place. Paul O'Higgins new JPK 10.80 will be up against some good J109's (including John Maybury's Joker which won ICRAs in 2015, Jelly Baby from Cork, Storm from Howth and J/109 newcomer Tim Goodbody). Also in the class one mix will be the A35 Fools Gold which was second to Joker at Kinsale and also won the Scottish series 2015 overall. Former champion, the XP33 Bon Exemple, skippered by Philip Byrne, is also a contender.

Class two should be competitive as well with four Half Tonners vying against the home club's X332 Equinox (Ross McDonald) plus a few others. Half tonners won't have their pro sailors however as ICRA rules only allow pros in classes 0 and 1.

Class three will see Fusion the Corby 25 of Colwell, Cobbe and Ronan pushed by likes of Anthony Gore Grimes in Dux, the Sigma 33 s and of course, the ICRA Commodore's family boat from Foynes Yacht Club, the McGibney's Dis a Ray. 

Class four will see current National Champions Kilcullen the local Howth Yacht Club youth J24 team take on the J24 fleet including the ICRA Commodore Simon MC Gibney the well sailed quarter Tonners and likes of Impalas who can all feature on their day

The Corinthian Cup​s​ ​are well established for the non spinnaker boats and ​are expected to attract a large fleet.

The early Discount deadline for the ICRA Nationals is 6 th May so get your entry in and enjoy great racing and a fun social scene ashore.

With just six weeks to go until the second Howth Yacht Club Sportsboat Cup, enthusiasm is building. Seven fleets are signed up to race over three days at the end of May on two race courses. Richard Kissane and his teams are planning nine windward-leward races for Ireland’s premier Sportsboat Regatta.

In breaking from the mold, the quarter and half tonners are invited to race under IRC. A throwback to when they were the cutting edge racing classes, with spartan on-board facilities, they are now also included in the race schedule. The 'Tonners' are the only fleet not racing as one-design and they will be sharing the race track with the 1720s, SB20s, J80s, Sailfleet J80s, RS Elites and J24s. Notable entries already in are previous Afloat.ie Sailor of the Year Anthony O’Leary who will be racing in the 1720 class, while Howth's Laser Radial supremo Ewan McMahon (recently fifth at the Euros!) who has chartered a Sailfleet J80 and top performer of the Irish Fleet at last year’s SB20 Worlds - HYC's Shane Murphy.

All eight of the ISA Sailfleet J80s will be racing and they are available to public charter, with HYC members getting a special discount. At the recent Student Yachting Nationals there was considerable interest from the competing colleges in availing of this.

To complement the growing social offering, racing will begin each day at midday so there will be time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and blow off the cobwebs each morning.

Howth Yacht Club’s renowned chef Jason Dunphy (ex Rolys, Conrad and more) will be serving up top notch food after sailing. With relaxed evening buffets on Friday and Saturday night planned before the music will really kick off. Tickets can be bought online when entering from next week.

The Sportsboat Cup is delighted to have Gosling’s Rum on board for the event as drinks sponsor. After racing on Saturday Gosling’s will be on site to promote their delicious Dark ‘n Stormy cocktail. Howth Yacht Club are the first club in Ireland to stock this delightful drink - a great accompaniment to Jason’s food if not immersed in the clubs extensive wine list.

Craneage and berthing is included in the entry fee for all boats competing. Any boats wishing to stay on for the Lambay Races the following Saturday and the ICRA Nationals are offered free berthing for the intervening weeks.

The early bird entry closes after the 1st May so get them in to get best value for your money.

The 2016 Spring Warmer series came to a conclusion at Howth Yacht Club on Saturday. The event was once again sponsored by Key Capital Private. The final Saturday felt more like a Frostbite morning with temperatures at about 2 degrees and snow visible on the Dublin mountains. However, the crews did have a nice breeze of about 16 knots and glorious sunshine to start the day and get the first race under way. The race committee under Richard Kissane’s and Rupert Jeffares experienced eyes were hoping to get three races in to make up for the race lost the previous Saturday.

In the Cruiser Class, Stephen Quinn’s Lambay Rules took the honours on countback by virtue of their one race win from Paddy Gregory and Don Breen’s Flashback. In third place was D. Kelly’s King One looking absolutely fantastic after a “rebranding” and a Winter of hard work.

The J24 racing was dominated by Howth’s K25 team with a clean sweep of three first places. It was great to see two other youth teams out on Brian McDowell’s Scandal and the Johnny Bravo Howth team who came in second and third places respectively.

The SB20 fleet was the largest fleet with 11 boats and they also ran a coaching session around the event under the watchful eye of top coach Mark Rhodes. Michael O’Connor took the win for the third year running from Shane Murphy on the newly named Two Men and their Monkey. In third spot was Ger Dempsey and Chris Nolan on Venuesworld. In fourth was Dave Barry’s Lia.

The prize giving took place with Vice Commodore Emmet Dalton on hand to present the prizes. Shane Gill of Key Capital Private was unable to attend but expressed Key Capital’s delight at being able to support Howth Yacht Club and Irish sailing.

CIT won the IUSA Student Yachting National Championships at Howth Yacht Club, Dublin last Friday by a single point and qualified to represent Ireland at the Student Yachting World Championships in La Rochelle, France in November 2016.

This is the first time CIT have claimed victory at the event in five years. Competing against four other colleges, CIT managed to successfully win the event by a single point over UCD1 and UCD 2. In a day that saw varying weather conditions with both strong and light air sailing, consistency was the key to winning the event.

In a fleet of 7 teams, CIT scored a 3, 2, 2, 2, 1 over 5 races. Coming into the final race of the day, the wind had increased dramatically and shaped up to be a pivotal race where CIT needed to just beat UCD by one place to take home the trophy. The extremely close race saw CIT and UCD alongside each other for the entire race until the last leg of the course where CIT extended a small lead and managed to claim the win by just one boat length gifting them the title of IUSA National Yachting Champions. 

The team consisted of:

Skipper: Jay Stacy (Architectural Technology 3rd year).
Main Trimmer: Marcus Ryan (Marine Engineering 4th year).
Jib Trim: Pearse O’Flynn (Business Information Systems 4th year).
Pit: Amy Harrington (Business Information Systems 3rd year).
Bowman: Louis Mulloy (Energy Systems Engineering 4th year)

Final Standings
1. CIT 10 points
2. UCD 1 11 points
3. UCD 2 11 points
4. DIT 12 points
5. TCD 17 points
6. CIT 2 21 points
7. NUIG 35 points

Eleven SB20s came out of winter hibernation early this year for the Key Capital Private sponsored Spring Warmer Series in Howth Yacht Club. There has been a shake-up in the event format this year and instead of the traditional six races there are four races planned over two weekends – more of a sprint than a marathon this year. It is very encouraging to see so many SBs out this early in the season and the fact that the SBs made up more than 50% of the total fleet augers well for the year ahead. It was great to see the maiden sails of Project Mayhem (Davey Taylor’s renovated tub on steroids) and VenuesWorld.com (Ger Dempsey and Chris Nolan’s brand new tub).

The day started with a very shifty 8-10 knot southerly (ish!) breeze that was oscillating through approximately 30 degrees, making setting a fair course and a decent start line “challenging” to say the least. The OOD did however get the fleet away at the first time of asking but a combination of rustiness, a large right handed shift a minute before the start and the end of the flood tide pushing competitors up the line towards the committee boat meant that a lot of crews were left blushing as they were caught to weather of the committee boat and had to wait for the procession of boats to leeward of them to start before they could get going in earnest. The large right hand shift just before the start meant that boats were laying the weather mark from the start line so the OOD rightly abandoned the race a few minutes after the start and called the fleet back to try again.

After a short wait, the SBs were off again, this time from a heavily pin biased line. 2 Men and their Monkey (ex Dinghy Supplies, Daragh, Shane and John) and Corona Extra (ex Manamana, Graham, Ronan et al) were a little eager to get going and tipped over the line at the pin a few moments early. 2 Men and their Monkey returned but Corona Extra continued on and only learned their fate at the finish. Although the line was heavily pin biased, the best pressure was out to the middle-right hand side of the course and those boats that bailed out early fared best. At the weather mark, Project Mayhem led comfortably from Animal Origami (ex Yachtsman Marine, ex Boatmec, ex McCready Sailboats… Seriously lads, this has to stop… make up your minds!!! with Chris Chapman et al) with VenuesWorld.com sneaking around in third inside Lia (Dave, John et al.). The run was a really tense affair with plenty of shifts and pressure differentials across the course. In the end, those that picked their way down the middle and kept going in breeze fared best with the fleet compressing again at the leeward mark. Project Mayhem still led from Animal Origami but their lead over the rest of the fleet had been cut considerably and now Dinghy Supplies in third, Sin Bin in fourth (Michael, Owen and Ted) and Bango in fifth (James, Jerry and Jimmy) were in hot pursuit only a few boatlengths back.

Up the second beat, it was all about finding the pressure and keeping the boat moving as the wind continued to oscillate and die. Project Mayhem made the decision to go left up the second beat and at one stage was looking like they were storming away with it until the wind died completely on them. Also cruelly caught out on the left hand side of the course were VenuesWorld who were also looking pretty for so long up the second beat. Towards the end of the second beat, the wind favoured the middle and right hand side of the course and the main beneficiaries were Animal Origami, Sin Bin and Bango. A shortened course was signalled at the weather mark and Animal Origami claimed the win by three lengths from Sin Bin in second with Bango a further three boatlengths back in third. 2 Men and their Monkey claimed fourth and Project Mayhem crept back up to fifth. Full results on the HYC website here

After a short postponement, the wind continued to die and the OOD called a halt to proceedings. The fleet retired to the junior room in HYC where coach Mark Rhodes discussed the days racing and went through the thought processes that each boat should have been going through before and during the race including an informative discussion on starting strategies. Some videos of the days racing from John Malone’s (Lia) headcam are available on the Facebook page. Next week, the plan is to try to get three races in and complete the series.

The SB20s will also be looking to use the event as a 'shake down' and to get in some quality racing time on the water before their Northern Championships which are being held in Carlingford Lough on the weekend immediately after the Spring Warmer Series.The winner for the last two years, Michael O'Connor on Sin Bin, and new Class chairman Peter Lee on Seriously Bonkers are among the line up.

Howth Yacht Club hosted the ISA Youth Sailing Pathway National Championship and Optimist Trials over the four days from 31st March to 3rd April in varied conditions reports Emmet Dalton of HYC. The regatta attracted 192 entries across five classes from all corners of Ireland (plus a visitor from Italy) and produced Champions from seven clubs. Full results downloadable below.

Thursday's racing was delayed while the wind found time to behave and steady itself. The fleet wasn't too unhappy to wait in the glorious Spring sunshine before getting proceedings off. In the 420 Class, local favourites Elmes/O'Sullivan had it their own way with two bullets. The Laser Radial top spot was shared by O'Beirne (RStGYC), Durcan (RCYC) and Nicole Hemeryck (NYC). Over on the Topper course, the RStGYC was again dominating, with Jack Fahy burning up the course. Rush's Ross Morgan was definitely in a hurry on the Laser 4.7 course, leading by 6 points after Day 1. By the end of the day, the wind had picked up and a lot of tired faces reached the top of slipways, concentrating on the next race...to their dinners!

Day 2 fell victim to the element, with strong and increasing winds keeping the fleet ashore. Principal Race Officer, Derek Bothwell, was cheered by the competitors as he announced a day off. Cinemas and shopping replaced the usual windward mark targets.

With a window of opportunity in the weather, the fleets headed afloat on Saturday, hoping to catch up on the schedule with a few additional races. On the 420/Laser Radial course, four races were crammed, suiting Malahide 420 duo Gemma and Cara McDowell. The sisters closed the gap to the leaders and ended the day only a point adrift of Elmes/O'Sullivan. Radial and 4.7 gurus O'Beirne and Higgins never fell onside the top three for the day. On the Topper course, Carroll was fighting off a strong challenge from another Hemeryck, this time Ella who was only a couple of points behind. Almost a carbon copy of Day 1, Saturday saw some tired bones come ashore!

As the sailors were chasing around the race course, members and visitors did loops of the Peninsula in some spectacular cars, presented by Aston Martin and Bentley. HYC friends in Charles Hurst Motors spent a day showing off Vantages, Continentals, Rapides and, ideal for the Circuit Sailors, the new Bentley Bentayga. Rarely has the clubhouse been so full of grinning faces on a rainy day!

Going into the final day, titles could have been won or lost, testament to the incredibly close racing across a range of conditions. At the end of the day, the Champions filtered to the top and were presented with their medals by ISA President David Lovegrove and cheered by their fellow competitors.

Champions
420
Dougie Elmes / Colin O'Sullivan (Howth YC)
Girls: Champions Gemma and Cara McDowell (Malahide YC)

Laser Radial
Conor O'Beirne (Royal St. George YC)
Girls: Nicole Hemeryck (National YC)

Topper
Michael Carroll (Kinsale YC)
Girls: Ella Hemeryck (National YC)

Laser 4.7
Henry Higgins (Royal St. George YC)
Girls: Heather Spain (National YC)