Up to Six Races Sailed at Royal St George Inaugural Melges 15 and ILCA Sprint Championships on Dublin Bay

8th October 2023

Fireball and RS400 ace Barry MacCartin was helming a Melges 15 for the Royal St George's Inaugural Sprint Championships on Dublin Bay Credit: Afloat

Organisers of Saturday's one-day inaugural Melges 15 'Sprint' championship on Saturday with ILCA/Laser dinghies managed to six races despite some light and fickle winds on Dublin Bay.

Making a guest appearance in the Melges 15 dinghy was Fireball and RS400 ace Barry MacCartin of the host club, who immediately impacted the new fleet's pecking order.

The Grant Thornton sponsored Melges 15 & ILCA ‘8-Race Championship’ was open to Laser Standard (ILCA 7), Laser Radial (ILCA 6) and Laser 4.7 (ILCA 4) and the new Melges 15 fleet and attracted a combined total fleet of over 50 boats.

Final results are being computed, and an overall report will appear on Afloat shortly.

Update Sunday 8th October 12 noon: Results here

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About the Melges 15 Dinghy

The Melges 15 was designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Melges.

The design prioritises stability, comfort, ease of use, and performance.

The Melges 15 is built to be sailed by everyone from friends and couples to families and kids. The design offers performance, comfort, and stability in one sleek package.

The Melges 15’s stable hull shape and ergonomic cockpit make it a suitable layout for adult racing and educational sailing. Easy conversion from a club configuration (non-spinnaker) to a one-design setup, provides more versatility to club programs and options for individual owners.

“The Melges 15 creates a clear pathway for junior sailors to get started and stay excited about sailing while also being comfortable and accessible enough for adults to learn, race, or cross-train,” according to Harry Melges III.

With the main design goals focused on stability and performance in various conditions, the boat features a narrow overall beam and a flat cross-section shape for stability, righting moment, and ease of planing. For a more forgiving feel upwind and to navigate larger sea states, the Melges 15 has just the right amount of fore and aft rocker.

Melges conducted extensive research and product testing to produce this layout factoring in cockpit depth, backbone height, and floor plan. The result, they say, is a comfortable environment for both the skipper and crew. The deeper cockpit takes the load off the sailor’s knees helping them feel locked into the boat while the high boom and gnav vang system work together to make the boat easier to manoeuvre.

The asymmetric spinnaker offers an additional performance element, while the single-pull launch and retrieval system makes handling the sail easy and fast.