When the three-day Irish Cruiser-Racing Association monday.com-sponsored annual National Championship gets underway today (Friday) at Howth, it will be the combination of a modern innovation in Irish sailing, which is barely twenty years old, and a local regatta tradition of major significance going back 170 years.
For it was in the not-so-distant yet seemingly remote days of 2002 that those sage observer-participants of the Irish cruiser-racer scene - Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire and the late Jim Donegan of Cork - rightly concluded that the cruiser-racer fleets played such a significant and growing role in our sailing that they needed their own Irish Cruiser-Racing Association to represent and promote their interests.
And beyond that, they perceptively envisioned that their new baby of ICRA would give such extra heft to the popularity of cruiser-racing that at season’s end the title of ICRA “Boat of the Year” would become one of sailing’s most coveted titles. And equally, it would build a strong feeling that ICRA should stage its own stand-alone National Championship, ideally at least three days long.
SUCCESS OF ICRA CONCEPT HAS CONFLICTING RESULTS
Ironically, the success of the first ideal has contributed to the difficulty of fulfilling the second. With ICRA flexing its muscles, established regatta organisers have had a national body to which they can quickly refer when any problems involving their large cruiser-racer entry arise.
Champion John Maybury at the ICRA Nats 2022, when the series was within Volvo Cork Week 2022, with the platform party including RCYC Admiral Kieran O’Connell (right). Photo: Robert Bateman
Thus the pre-event setting of class rating bands for ICRA boats has now assumed the sort of pre-regatta interest which in times past would be focused on which of the One-Design classes would have the biggest turnout. Yet this inevitable re-focusing has in turn so strengthened the significance of the ICRA presence at all major regattas that local club organisers very much prefer the large Cruiser-Racer presence to be a central part of their event, rather than take on the challenge of including the ICRA Nats as a part of – yet still semi-separate championship – within their established event.
CROWDED ANNUAL PROGRAMME
Thus in an ideal world, the already-crowded annual national sailing programme would include a comprehensive three or four-day ICRA Nats in all its solitary stand-alone splendour. But the annual setting of the programme is already a matter of dexterous juggling and much trading in barely-available dates So an exhausting and event-packed programme of very mixed weather, such as we’ve already seen in 2023 has meant that the prospects for the late-season turnout and success of the ICRA Nats at Howth in the second weekend of September have not necessarily been viewed with optimism.
“A Force in the Land” – trophies lined up for the 2022 Championship. Photo: Robert Bateman
Yet it now looks as though the turnout today of race-ready IRC-rated boats will be north of 70 keenly-sailed craft. And with the entry list very strong in quality to offset any queries about quantity, the key problem is whether or not there’ll be enough wind to move them through Howth’s interesting racing waters in any worthwhile way, while managing to keep the Indian summer heatwave temperatures under control.
WEIRD WEATHER OF SEPTEMBER 2023
In the weird weather of September 2023, that’s a big ask. But as for staging weather-optimising regattas, Howth has form – and good form at that. In this year in which they are celebrating being the MG Motor “Sailing Club of the Year 2023”, Commodore Neil Murphy has been leading his members in putting on events of local, regional and national status in which - as you’d expect, with the numerically-largest club in Ireland – HYC members have themselves not been strangers to the podium.
On the international front, not only did they stage the J/24 Europeans within the past 12 months, but as well in 2023 as in 2022, the Howth names have been featuring abroad towards the top of various leaderboards.
Howth Yacht Club as newly-built in 1987 – it has since been extended to complete the curve of the “regatta roof” to the left. Sailing in the foreground are gaff sloop-rigged yachts of the Howth 17ft OD Class, founded 1898. Photo: Jamie Blandford
ANCIENT HISTORY OF “REGATTAS”
As to the matter of Howth having regatta history, where could we begin? It was a Viking venue for special sailing events, then the Breton-Norman sailing party which subsequently became the St Lawrence family took over the village and castle in regatta style in 1177, and stayed until 2021. And when - in 1576 - the great western sea queen Grace O’Malley called by while cruiser-racing in the area, she temporarily abducted the son and heir to the castle because she felt the hospitality offered to visiting seafarers did not meet her demanding Connacht requirements.
Howth Castle (left) and Harbour (right) with race area beyond island of Ireland's Eye
THE KIDNAP “RANSOM”
The kidnapped boy was safely returned when it was agreed that the gates of Howth Castle would never be closed in future (even if the main door was much reinforced), and there would always be an extra place at the dinner table for any unexpected but otherwise well-intentioned visitor.
Thanks to this, it can be assumed that hospitality for visiting seafarers has since been kept up to the mark generally, with the inauguration of the Howth rail connection on 30th May 1847 opening up the possibility of regattas as a spectator sport to provide a significant shoreside element.
RAILWAY DAY EXCURSIONS TO WATCH THE BOATS
The viewing figures were augmented by special railway regatta day tickets to such an extent that the railway – originally intended mainly to transport fish from the expanding port – found it worth their while to provide regatta prizes and sponsorship in an era before the entertainment of profitable arena sports had become a central part of life. It was a simpler time when watching boats sailing was still in the heights of daytime entertainment, somewhere along with horse racing and bare knuckle boxing.
Ten years after the railway had reached Howth in 1847, annual railway-company-sponsored regattas were a regular feature. While most of the yachts were home-ported at Kingstown, those with the RWYC were of the 1828-founded Royal Western Yacht Club, whose fleet had dispersed from Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary after the Great Famine of 1846-49
Thus regattas at Howth long pre-date any local sailing clubs, which didn’t start to become established at the port until 1895. But with its 2,000-plus membership and extensive marina/clubhouse complex now providing a significant element of the economy both of Howth Harbour and its Peninsula, Howth itself is a significant part of the ICRA engine, and the fact that current ICRA Commodore Dave Cullen is a longtime and successful Howth sailor is part of the pattern.
Dave Cullen of Howth, current Commodore of ICRA. After many successful years racing Classic Half Tonners including winning the Worlds, he now campaigns the First 50 Checkmate XX with Nigel Biggs, their successes in 2023 including winning the Coastal Division in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in July. Photo: Robert Bateman
This Howth input also arises with the remarkable role played by the American-originating range of cruiser-racing J/Boats. It is simply impossible to imagine the current Irish sailing scene without the extensive J/Boat range – first founded in 1977 - playing a key role in it.
GROWTH OF ICRA/HOWTH U25 J/24 DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
Thus the single largest numerical presence will be the 18 boats racing in what is also the J/24 Nationals. It was another Howth-based ICRA Commodore, Nobby Reilly in 2012, who first suggested that a scheme should be set up whereby ICRA and the leading clubs would provide tangible support for Under 25s to race J/24s, and gradually this idea has taken root from its Howth origins.
Its success has been such that one product of the scheme, the all-Ireland crew on Headcase helmed by Cillian Dickson of Lough Ree and Howth, are currently in Thessaloniki in Greece and about to start racing in the J/24 Worlds, having just travelled from Hungary where they won the J/24 Europeans.
Kinsailor (right) on the hunt at the J/24 Europeans at Howth in 2022, when she finished on the podium and was top Irish boat
Meanwhile, the top Irish boat in the 2022 Euros in Howth, the similarly U25-developed Kinsailor from Kinsale with Micheal O Suillebhain as helm, is surely among the front runners at Howth after a convincing display at the J-Cup in Dun Laoghaire a fortnight ago.
J/109s STILL ON TARGET
However, it is the J/24s’ big sister, the ever-young J/109, which seems to have been conceived and developed with Irish needs most specifically in demand. Thus the defending overall champion, after the ICRA Nats 2022 were held within Volvo Cork Week last year, is John Maybury’sJ/109 Joker 2 of the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire, while clubmate Barry Cunningham with sister-ship Chimaera was top boat in the recent J/Cup.
In her time, Chimaera has won at home and abroad, with previous owner Andrew Craig of Dun Laoghaire making his exit from the class in some style with the overall win at the Scottish Series, while racing in Scotland has also provided a happy hunting ground for another top contending J/109, Pat Kelly’s Storm from Rush SC.
SNAPSHOT IN THE HUNT, SWUZZLE BUBBLING, AND FINAL CALL II ON TARGET
A newer, slightly smaller J/Boat is the host club’s Mike & Richie Evans’ J/99 Snapshot, ICRA “Boat of the Year” 2022 and a winner here, there and everywhere looking to hit that extra sweet spot of speed to guarantee success in home waters.
“Winning here, there and everywhere…” Snapshot on her way to success in the Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale. Photo: Robert Bateman
Making a return visit to Howth after last being present in 1980 is the extremely likeable Bruce Farr-designed Half Tonner Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble of 1976 New Zealand origins. She last featured in the area in the final race of the 1980 ISORA season across channel to Howth from Abersoch in the ownership of the late Bruce Lyster of RSTGYC, winning to take that year’s ISORA Championship. Now in superbly restored form and looking like new, she is in the ownership of the Dwyer family of Crosshaven, living proof that glassfibre can last just about for ever with TLC, her continuing competitiveness in the right conditions an encouragement for everyone.
Swuzzlebubble coming in to Howth to win the race from Abersoch in August 1980, and the ISORA title with it. Photo: W M Nixon
In sailing as in other sports, competing in an away fixture sometimes adds the vital extra slice of performance that takes those essential extra seconds off the elapsed time, and it is Our Friends In The North, owner John Minnis (RUYC & RNIYC) and helm Gareth Flannigan, with the highly-optimised Archambault 35 Final Call II, who have shown sparks of pure genius and magic extra speed in 2023’s sailing.
Final Call II from Belfast Lough racing to success in the Wave Regatta at Howth in June 2022. She races today as one of the favourites in the ICRA Nats. Photo: Annraoi Blaney
They’ve broad shoulders, but they’ll surely need them as Final Call II starts racing this morning with a great weight of expectation on her crew. Meanwhile, lead organiser Jill Sommerville and her Howth Yacht Club team are in line with a level of organisation which is a very long way ahead of the modest expectations of the regattas of yore. For Howth is currently in overdrive with the tented village of the weekend’s Howth Maritime Festival on the green beside the clubhouse in tandem with the high-powered sport on the water. All that’s needed is a reasonable sailing wind, and if the skies can stay clear, the sea breeze should do the business.
ICRA Nationals Class Entries 2023
Class Zero
| IRL | 66 | Checkmate XX |
| GBR | 732R | Hijacker |
| IRL | 985 | Ghost Raider |
| IRL | 2729 | Searcher |
| IRL | 3721 | ValenTina |
| IRL | 4240 | Prima Forte |
| GBR | 7536 | HotCookie |
| IRL | 9753 | Jelly Baby |
| IRL | 10800 | Rockabill VI |
Class One
| IRL | 811 | Raptor |
| IRL | 1003 | Final Call II |
| IRL | 1141 | Storm |
| IRL | 1206 | Joker 2 |
| GBR | 1242r | white mischief |
| IRL | 1383 | Ruth |
| IRL | 1543 | Indian |
| IRL | 1699 | Snapshot |
| IRL | 2160 | Chimaera |
| GBR | 8933R | Bon Exemple |
| IRL | 19109 | Outrajeous |
| FRA | 21711 | Tribal |
Class Two
| IRL | 977 | Crazy Diamond |
| GBR | 1371 | Elixir |
| IRL | 1484 | Harmony |
| IRL | 1551 | Mojo |
| GBR | 2678 | Perseverence |
| IRL | 2798 | Mata |
| KZ | 3494 | Swuzzlebubble |
| IRL | 6909 | Extreme Reality |
| IRL | 9970 | Lambay Rules |
Class Three
| FRA | 111 | ALLIG8R |
| IRL | 971 | Leeuwin |
| IRL | 988 | Dux |
| IRL | 1972 | No Excuse |
| IRL | 2507 | Impetuous |
| IRL | 3022 | Xebec |
| IRL | 3087 | Anchor Challenge |
| IRL | 4444 | Insider |
| IRL | 4571 | Flyover |
| IRL | 7115 | Gecko |
| IRL | 7495 | Maximus |
| IRL | 8188 | Alliance II |
| IRL | 9538 | Running Wild |
| IRL | 90210 | Snoopy |
White Sails
| IRL | 1333 | White Lotus |
| IRL | 2070 | Out&About |
| IRL | 4073 | Splashdance |
| GBR | 8571 | Spellbound |
| IRL | 33301 | White Pearl |
| IRL | 100 | Demelza |
| GBR | 1411t | Toughnut |
J24 National Championships
| Rush 2 | Juvenile Delinquent | ||
| IRL | 191 | Battling J | |
| IRL | 680 | Kilcullen | |
| IRL | 1183 | ||
| IRL | 1234 | Lady Caroline | |
| IRL | 3109 | Jade | |
| GBR | 4084 | Billy Whizz | |
| IRL | 4191 | Janx Spirit | |
| IRL | 4212 | Cool Jade | |
| IRL | 4217 | Hedgehog | |
| IRL | 4236 | KINSAILOR | |
| GBR | 4265 | smugairle róin | |
| IRL | 4384 | Jibberish | |
| IRL | 4532 | Jelignite | |
| IRL | 4533 | Crazy Horse | |
| IRL | 4794 | Hard on Port | |
| IRL | 5067 | Jedi | |
| IRL | 5072 | Printfix.ie | |
| IRL | 5159 | Jibe | |
| IRL | 5219 | IL Riccio | |
| IRL | 5278 | Hung Jury |
