#hyc – The new one-day Howth YC Double-Hander, with sponsorship from Aqua Restaurant and shaping its course round the islands and rocks of Fingal plus the Kish Lighthouse, struck a successful chord for its inauguration yesterday (Saturday August 23rd). Brainchild of Simon Knowles, who discovered his enthusiasm for double-handed challenges in last year's Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race, it got off to a fine inauguration with 33 starters writes W M Nixon.
A fleet which had been comfortably on the 22 mark at mid-week surged on the day to these 33 boats, most of them from the host club, and ranging in size from Roy Dickson's Corby 25 Rosie and Vincent Gaffney's Laser 28 Alliance II up to craft like Stephen's Harris's First 40.7 Tiger and Stephen O'Flaherty's Spirit 54 Soufriere.
They were divided into Spinnaker and White Sail, with each division having both IRC and the Howth variant on the ECHO handicap. With the morning's crisp and sunny nor'west breeze forecast to fade as the day went on, and with a big tide hitting High Water an hour and a half after the 1000hrs start, it was reckoned the best option was north to Lambay and then southeast to the Kish, which would allow for the new flood in late afternoon to bring in stragglers to finish where they'd started, at the old HYC line on Howth's East Pier.
It was a reaching start, which seems to be the best option with double-handed events, and the non-spinnaker division first away saw Stephen Harris read it to perfection with Tiger. By the time they were shaping their course up the east side of Ireland's Eye the dark blue First 40.7 was well out on her own.
Things were closer in the more numerous spinnaker division, with David Kelly in the J109 Storm, Ross McDonald in the X332 Equinox, Jonny Swann in the classic Humphreys Half Tonner Harmony, and Ian Dickson in Rosie hitting the line together at the front of the fleet, with Equinox getting the best of it to be first around the turning mark.
A reaching start is the preferred option for Double-Handed events. In the spinnaker division, Storm, Equinox, Alliance II and Rosie have the best of it. Photo: W M Nixon
Stately and conservative perhaps, Soufriere plays it safe at the start, but very soon was milling her way past the fleet. Photo: W M Nixon
However, the queen of the fleet Soufriere was not only looking very well in the morning sunshine, but after an understandably conservative start, Stephen O'Flaherty and David Cagney wound the big girl up, and in conditions made for her, she marched through the fleet on the long leg to Lambay, and then consolidated her lead on the even longer run down to the Kish in the sluicing ebb.
But the zing was going out of the wind, and by the time the tailenders got to the Kish it had evaporated altogether - some reported being becalmed for nearly an hour before a faint new breeze began to make in from the east. Soufriere meanwhile was still on the pace closing in towards the Nose of Howth, her crew working so hard you couldn't help but think that it would be more fair if boats in these short-handed events were allowed to carry a percentage of their racing crew – something like 33% would be more equitable - instead of everyone racing with just two regardless of boat size.
Nearly there.....Soufriere gets close to the finish in the very last of the original breeze. Photo: W M Nixon
With the last of the ebb still against her, Soufriere has stopped very near the line, even though the two Howth 17s are still finding breeze close in to Ireland's Eye. Photo: W M Nixon
Be that as it may, Soufriere nearly made it, but the wind gasped its last within less than half a mile of the finish. Eventually, she got across in a little local zephyr from the southwest at 15.10.02, which was good going for the day that was now in it, and it looked better and better as the boats still at sea weren't getting anywhere much.
However, the new easterly sharpened just that tiny bit, and the Swann/Freyne team on Harmony were perfectly placed to take full advantage of it, heading steadily for the finish under spinnaker ahead of some much larger boats, and with the other classic Half Tonner, Dave Cullen's King One, somewhat out of it fifteen minutes astern.
Trickling in to the finish with the new easterly breeze are Colm Bermingham's Bite the Bullet. David Kelly's Storm tacking to lee northward, and Stephen Harris's Tiger leading the non-spinnaker class. Photo: W M Nixon
Dave Cullen's classic Half Tonner King One is going well in the easterly nearing the line, but Harmony is already finished. Photo: W M Nixon
Harmony was in just before 4.0pm, correcting to five minutes ahead of Soufriere which nevertheless stayed in second three minutes ahead of Equinox, with Demot Skehan's MG34 Tough Nut taking fourth ahead of King One in fifth.
In the non-spinnaker class, Tiger had sailed a wellnigh faultless race, but the chips just didn't fall her way, and though she took line honours, across both handicap system the most consistent performer was Jennie O'Leary with the First 33.7 Tantrum 3, as she won under IRC and was second in the Howth/ECHO division, where Joe Carton, sailing with Mossy Shanahan in the Dehler 34 Voyager, took the honours and they also took third in IRC, the other boat in the top three in the non-spinnaker division being the McAllisters from Malahide with Force Five.
The buzz throughout this new Howth event makes a repeat next year highly likely. Indeed, the third Saturday of August 2015 is already being suggested as the logical day, as the timing of this year's event seemed to hit the spot both for regular crews, and for former shipmates to getting together to give it their best shot for a very manageable one-day reunion challenge.
Meanwhile there's no doubt but it was the weekend for women sailors at Howth. Jennie O'Leary was setting the pace in the Aqua Double-Hander, at the same time HYC were hosting the Shipman 28 Nationals and the winner was Gusto sailed by Christine Heath of Royal St George YC, and the venerable Howth 17s were also having their annual Ladies Race, where the winner was Rachel Cronin sailing Deilginis. Ironically, Rachel and her husband Paddy have just sold their own Howth 17 Gladys after many years of ownership in which they won dozens of prizes but never the Ladies Race, but Rachel has done it now, helming for the lads in Deilginis.
