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Howth Yacht Club's 'Quest' for Junior Sailing & Innovative Learning

21st June 2018
The workhorses in waiting……Howth Yacht Club’s flotilla of J/80s which fulfill half a dozen roles at various levels of training each week The workhorses in waiting……Howth Yacht Club’s flotilla of J/80s which fulfill half a dozen roles at various levels of training each week Credit: W M Nixon

Howth Yacht Club’s Junior Organiser Sara Lacy has been working through a highly productive eighteen months of research and implementation since being appointed to the post on her election to the General Committee in December 2016 writes W M Nixon. Several strands of development are successfully being brought on stream to provide a major increase in the number of junior trainees benefitting from the club’s many facilities and availability of training craft.

The HYC Junior Organiser came to boats in Dun Laoghaire as learner sailor Sara Kenny, but crossed Dublin Bay on marrying into the long-established Howth sailing dynasty of the Lacy family. She and husband William have three children - two girls aged 13 and 15, and a boy of 17 - and that, combined with a high-powered background as a fine art valuer and auctioneer, gives her the ideal skills set to provide the initiative which has got Howth junior sailing moving again.

sara lacy2HYC’s Junior Organiser Sara Lacy, helming the family’s cruiser in Galicia

This initiative has seen the club’s Junior Training Programme becoming much more user–friendly and responsive to the needs of beginners and their parents alike. In tandem with it, HYC Commodore Joe McPeake inaugurated the Quest Howth project, a sailing school run by Jeannie McCarthy. It’s based within the club premises, yet is open to all. The variety of courses and summer sailing camps which Quest provides is visionary in its scope, and during this past month has included programmes on Learning to Sail in several languages, notably German, Spanish, French and Irish.

"Several strands of development are successfully being brought on stream to provide a major increase in the number of junior trainees"

howth j80 quest3The new STEM initiative has given the use of the Howth J/80s as floating classrooms an entirely new meaning. Photo: Quest Howth

The junior-orientated buzz of activity around the club has been further increased in recent weeks with the introduction by Sara Lacy and Sarah Robertson of a pilot scheme of the STEM learning programme for three local schools. STEM is based on the practical learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. These may seem ordinary and everyday subjects in a classroom setting, but in a boat and sailing-related programme as being developed by Sarah Robertson’s Hands-On Learning project, they take on a lively and absorbing new meaning.

plane sailing4Mystery photo…..it could be a demonstration that plane sailing is not plain sailing in the STEM course in Howth. Photo: Sara Lacy

Sarah Robertson was originally Sarah Lovegrove, the daughter of noted sailing administrator and active participant David Lovegrove, and she learned her own sailing in Howth. But with international sailing and training experience since gained at several major training centres, she finds that her own home port is providing the perfect demographic and topographical setup to develop the Hands-On Learning practical experience with sufficient detail, research and feedback to envisage developing it at a countrywide level.

learn to sail children“Purchasing power” may mean one thing in today’s consumer world, but when lifting loads with different combinations of pulleys in the STEM course, it means something else altogether. Photo: Sara Lacy

While boats and equipment are of course essential to the development of this impressive initiative, Sarah Lacy and her team are giving the multi-directional expansion of Howth’s junior sailing the essential human touch, and her summary of their experience in recent weeks tells us much about why, for this season, it looks very much as though the young people going happily through the Howth YC Junior Training Programme in all its various aspects will have seen total numbers trebled or even quadrupled over 2017’s figure, with the STEM scheme on its own drawing in 156 eager learners this week.

Quest j80 howth6The ultimate ambition – a new group of young people introduced to the full possibilities of sailing through Howth’s J/80s. Photo: Quest Howth

In her summary of STEM’s working last week, Sarah Lacy captures the mood and flavour of a fascinating project:

“We invited three Nationals Schools from the Howth Peninsula - Scoil Mhuire, St Fintans NS and The Burrow - to participate in the STEM scheme, wherein all we had 152 children in groups of 30 at HYC through last week. The children attending were in 5th class - roughly age 11. Each school provided volunteers, teachers and parents to assist on the day, and experienced Club members such as Scorie Walls, Terry Harvey, Gerry Sargent, Lara Jameson, Holly Quinn, William Lacy Jnr, and Helen Brosnan all manned their stations to teach the children in the very enjoyable ‘hands-on learning’ method.

Many topics were covered in a practical variety of ways with ecology being a subject of special interest, while you could almost hear the penny drop on the realisation of the how the tides work quietly yet inevitably on seeing the marking on the pylon as they passed it a number of times during the day, putting another marker to show the rise, and noting the time.”

hyc j80 kids7As the summer progresses and the sea warms up, practical demonstrations take on a new direction. Photo Quest Howth.

As the courses get underway punctually at 9.00am each morning, following lunch the afternoon is then clear to transfer the teaching and learning afloat to Quest Howth with Jeannie McCarthy and the HYC J/80s. The fresh set of experiences this provides is brought promptly to a conclusion at 4.0pm with a diverse group of happy people enlightened and exhilarated by a day of very special learning, an introduction to sailing which is so neatly geared to consumer needs that it gives real hope for lasting success and an enduring increase in sailing numbers.

Published in Howth YC
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Howth Yacht Club information

Howth Yacht Club is the largest members sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members. The club welcomes inquiries about membership - see top of this page for contact details.

Howth Yacht Club (HYC) is 125 years old. It operates from its award-winning building overlooking Howth Harbour that houses office, bar, dining, and changing facilities. Apart from the Clubhouse, HYC has a 250-berth marina, two cranes and a boat storage area. In addition. its moorings in the harbour are serviced by launch.

The Club employs up to 31 staff during the summer and is the largest employer in Howth village and has a turnover of €2.2m.

HYC normally provides an annual programme of club racing on a year-round basis as well as hosting a full calendar of International, National and Regional competitive events. It operates a fleet of two large committee boats, 9 RIBs, 5 J80 Sportboats, a J24 and a variety of sailing dinghies that are available for members and training. The Club is also growing its commercial activities afloat using its QUEST sail and power boat training operation while ashore it hosts a wide range of functions each year, including conferences, weddings, parties and the like.

Howth Yacht Club originated as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. In 1968 Howth Sailing Club combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club. The new clubhouse was opened in 1987 with further extensions carried out and more planned for the future including dredging and expanded marina facilities.

HYC caters for sailors of all ages and run sailing courses throughout the year as part of being an Irish Sailing accredited training facility with its own sailing school.

The club has a fully serviced marina with berthing for 250 yachts and HYC is delighted to be able to welcome visitors to this famous and scenic area of Dublin.

New applications for membership are always welcome

Howth Yacht Club FAQs

Howth Yacht Club is one of the most storied in Ireland — celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020 — and has an active club sailing and racing scene to rival those of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs on the other side of Dublin Bay.

Howth Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Howth, a suburban coastal village in north Co Dublin on the northern side of the Howth Head peninsula. The village is around 13km east-north-east of Dublin city centre and has a population of some 8,200.

Howth Yacht Club was founded as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. Howth Sailing Club later combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the village’s West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Ian Byrne, with Paddy Judge as Vice-Commodore (Clubhouse and Administration). The club has two Rear-Commodores, Neil Murphy for Sailing and Sara Lacy for Junior Sailing, Training & Development.

Howth Yacht Club says it has one of the largest sailing memberships in Ireland and the UK; an exact number could not be confirmed as of November 2020.

Howth Yacht Club’s burgee is a vertical-banded pennant of red, white and red with a red anchor at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue-grey field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and red anchor towards the bottom right corner.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has an active junior section.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club hosts sailing and powerboat training for adults, juniors and corporate sailing under the Quest Howth brand.

Among its active keelboat and dinghy fleets, Howth Yacht Club is famous for being the home of the world’s oldest one-design racing keelboat class, the Howth Seventeen Footer. This still-thriving class of boat was designed by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 to be sailed in the local waters off Howth. The original five ‘gaff-rigged topsail’ boats that came to the harbour in the spring of 1898 are still raced hard from April until November every year along with the other 13 historical boats of this class.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has a fleet of five J80 keelboats for charter by members for training, racing, organised events and day sailing.

The current modern clubhouse was the product of a design competition that was run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in 1983. The winning design by architects Vincent Fitzgerald and Reg Chandler was built and completed in March 1987. Further extensions have since been made to the building, grounds and its own secure 250-berth marina.

Yes, the Howth Yacht Club clubhouse offers a full bar and lounge, snug bar and coffee bar as well as a 180-seat dining room. Currently, the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Catering remains available on weekends, take-home and delivery menus for Saturday night tapas and Sunday lunch.

The Howth Yacht Club office is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Contact the club for current restaurant opening hours at [email protected] or phone 01 832 0606.

Yes — when hosting sailing events, club racing, coaching and sailing courses, entertaining guests and running evening entertainment, tuition and talks, the club caters for all sorts of corporate, family and social occasions with a wide range of meeting, event and function rooms. For enquiries contact [email protected] or phone 01 832 2141.

Howth Yacht Club has various categories of membership, each affording the opportunity to avail of all the facilities at one of Ireland’s finest sailing clubs.

No — members can join active crews taking part in club keelboat and open sailing events, not to mention Pay & Sail J80 racing, charter sailing and more.

Fees range from €190 to €885 for ordinary members.
Memberships are renewed annually.

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