Chris Bateman (18) of Monkstown Bay Sailing Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club has won this year’s Junior Irish Sailing All Ireland Championships in Schull today with crew, younger brother Olin.

Olin Bateman (age 9) was the youngest competitor at the regatta this weekend.

The Bateman Brothers had a decisive victory, winning four out of the nine races, and finishing with 22 points. Behind them was Clare Gorman (National YC) with 34 points who just pipped fellow club member Rian Geraghty-McDonnell who finished in third place with 35 points.

Chris and Olin Bateman with their Trophies Photo: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Hosted by the Fastnet Outdoor Marine & Outdoor Education Centre in Schull, Cork, fifteen nominees from a wide variety of Irish Sailing affiliated classes from across the country competed in the event. Each nominee picked a crew member, and the competitors all used the Centre’s fleet of TR 3.6s over two days (Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 September).

Chris and Olin in action in Schull Photo: INPHO Brian Keane

Second placed Clare and brother Conor Gorman Photo: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Racing took place inside Schull Harbour with variable conditions over the weekend – very wet with light winds building to heavier weather on Saturday, followed by champagne sailing on Sunday with beautiful sunshine and gusts of between 12 to 15 knots from the north.

Final results: 1st place was Chris Bateman and Olin Bateman, in 2nd place was Clare and brother Conor Gorman, and 3rd place was Rian Geraghty-McDonnell and Nathan Van Steenberge.

The Champion of our Sailing Champions? Ireland first ran with the idea 72 years ago. And while other countries have since come up with their own versions with varying levels of success which have sometimes reduced annually until fading away, we’ve simply kept the Helmsmans Championship – as it was called at its inauguration in 1947 – on the road in one form or another. And now with, a Junior Championship traditionally held a week in advance, it’s as much an established a part of our lives as……well, as Christmas.

But while Christmas has gone through many mutations to reach its current over-the-top version, the Irish Sailing All-Ireland Helmsmans Championship - in both its Senior and Junior versions – is a very focused affair of intense interest among those who have qualified to take part and those who organise it, yet it has never become the spectator-attracting spectacle some might expect.

Admittedly, were the resources available to cover it with the sort of technological wizardry that the likes of Stan Honey and others have developed for the international mega-events, there’d be greater interest at the time. But that wouldn’t result in spectators being out on the water as September turns into October and suddenly there’s a real nip in the air, for all you’d need is access to a functioning screen and somewhere warm to sit.

Either way, it is very important to the Irish sailing community to know that each year, the All-Ireland Sailing Championship takes place. And perhaps with drone coverage of our racing increasing by the day, it will be of extra interest to see what emerges from the Junior Championship this weekend in Schull, where they’ll be racing the Davy Harte-developed TR3.6 which has done such sterling work – mostly in junior sailing - since its introduction in 2011.

The Schull Package….West Cork’s race-ready TR3.6 class provides robust boats ideal for Team Racing and Junior Championships

The Schull lineup is truly all-Ireland, as they range all the way from Topper champion Ethan McCormac from Cushendall S & BC in the Glens of Antrim in the northeast to Laser Radial sailor Micheal O’Suillebhain of Kinsale in the deep south, while the most westerly is Mirror champion Eoghan Duffy of Lough Ree, with the east coast well represented all the way from County Antrim down to Dublin Bay.

Staging a Junior Championship poses two particular problems, notably that defending champions may no longer be a Junior when the next year’s event comes around, and most junior racing is done in single-handed boats. So certain crusty old salts who advocate the building of teamwork in crewing welcome the Junior Championship simply because it forces divas of both genders to sail with somebody else in the boat….

The Juniors racing at Schull. For many, it’s something of a culture shock, as so much junior racing takes place in single-handed boats.

However, we’ll go no further down that particular heat-inducing road and instead will get on into the Seniors listing. But just for now, here’s this weekend’s lineup at Schull, although at the time of writing, it looks as though far west Cork is going to be on the front line of some very unsettled post-equinoctial weather, though it’s amazing what can be managed in a place like Schull with its geographical advantages and experienced race administrators.

Class	Helm Name	Helm Club	Crew Name
Laser 4.7	Michael Crosbie	Royal Cork Yacht Club	Ben O'Shaughnessy
Laser Radial	Clare Gorman	National Yacht Club	Conor Gorman
Optimist	Luke Turvey	Howth Yacht Club	Harry Pritchard
Mirror	Eoghan Duffy	Lough Ree Yacht Club	Cathal Langan
Optimist	Sorcha Gannon O'Connor	Howth Yacht Club	Leah Rickard
29er	Rian Geraghty-McDonnell	National Yacht Club	Nathan Van Steenberge
Topper	Darragh Collins	Royal Cork Yacht Club	Oisin McSweeney
Laser 4.7/Team Racing	Alana Coakley	Royal St George Yacht Club	Tara Coakley
Laser Radial	Micheal O'Suilleabhain	Kinsale Yacht Club - Royal Cork Yacht Club	Justin Lucas
Topper	Hannah Dadley-Young	Ballyholme YC	Zoe Whitford
Intl 420	Lucy Kane	East Antrim Boat Club	Ben Graf
RS 200	Chris Bateman	Monkstown Bay Sailing Club - Royal Cork Yacht Club	Olin Bateman
Laser 4.7	Ellen Barbour	County Antrim Yacht Club	Eva Briggs
ITRA	Trevor Bolger	Royal St George Yacht Club	Russell Bolger
Topper	Ethan McCormac	Cushendall Sailing & Boating Club	Tom Coulter
ITRA	Harry Twomey	Royal Cork Yacht Club - Cork Harbour Sailing Club	Killian O'Regan

The Seniors are racing at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire in a week’s time, and the selected boat is the Flying Fifteen. Certainly, the NYC’s FF fleet is in mint order at the moment after the top boats were tuned-up for the recent Worlds in Dublin Bay. And as a keelboat/dinghy crossover, the Flying Fifteen offers a compromise of sorts when you’re trying to accommodate all spectrums of racing, even if they have to do this series without using the spinnakers.

The Flying Fifteens in Dublin Bay. For the All-Ireland Championship, they’ll be racing without the use of spinnakers. Photo: Afoat.ie/David O’Brien

But nevertheless last week’s parade of the nucleus of a class of Elliott 6s at the NYC will cause a certain amount of yearning in helms from the more athletic classes, as the very attractive New Zealand-originating Elliotts undoubtedly have a special buzz to them, as they’re for all the world like giant Fireflies with a very helpful deep bulb keel. So doubtless in due course, they’ll join the long list of boats which have had their moment in the sun as the boat of choice for the Helmsman’s Championship.

Meanwhile, last year’s championship on Lough Ree was sailed in SB20s and won by SB20 national champion Peter Kennedy of Strangford Lough. But there might be a genetic outcome to the big one in a week’s time, as Peter’s parents Terence and Bridget Kennedy were Flying Fifteen British Champions in 1962 when SLYC was a formidable presence in the class, notching more than one world title.

Ted Crosbie of Cork, winner in 1950 at Dunmore East, is senior title-holder. Photo: Robert Bateman

Whatever the outcome, Irish sailors will know that’s all well with the world of our sailing eight days hence, when the All-Ireland Champion 2019 holds the well-worn salver aloft in time-honoured style. So how do we come to have this piece of silverware which has come to mean so much?

It’s difficult now to imagine the world of 1946. For although sailing continued in Ireland as it did in Sweden and Switzerland during World War II from 1939 to 1945 thanks to national neutrality (with many allied servicemen availing of this during their leave periods to get a bit of relaxation from war), the reality is that it took some time to get some semblance of normality back into everyday life afloat and ashore.

Double winner Anthony O’Leary (RCYC) on his way to his second victory in 2015, racing J/80s in Dublin Bay. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

At that time, far and away the biggest dinghy class in Ireland was the International 12, in which Jimmy Payne of Crosshaven was an international star. The only other dinghy classes of any significance were the Water Wags in Dun Laoghaire, founded 1887 and racing to a “new” design since 1900, the Shannon One Designs from 1922, and the 17ft Dublin Bay Mermaids, which barely counted as dinghies.

Across in England and on the Continent, some exciting new ideas in dinghy design were developing and expanding their numbers, the top pace-setters being the International 14s. But in Ireland, although in 1937 three pioneers in Howth had boats built to the new Yachting World magazine-sponsored Uffa Fox design for the National 18 class, the handy little International 12s remained totally dominant at a nationwide level.

In 1946, the International 12s were the most popular dinghy class in Ireland, and Jimmy Payne of Crosshaven had won national and international prizes in the class.

As peace took hold in 1946, they were sailed at so many Irish centres that the time had come for the somewhat relaxed Irish attitude to the International 12 design rules to be more strictly codifed. Thus in 1946, the Irish Dinghy Racing Association was brought into existence with its primary purpose and first rule being (and I quote):

“(1) To obtain agreement amongst the owners of the 12ft International Dinghies on the limits of deviation from the strict I.Y.R.U. (International Yacht Racing Union) plan and specification which will in future be generally accepted.”

The birth myth of what is now Irish Sailing would have it that our National Authority mutated out of the Irish Sailing Association which in turn emerged from the Irish Yachting Association which has in turn been a completed re-branding around 1960-62 of the Irish Dinghy Racing Association which in its turn - according to the legends of our forefathers - had been born of a wave of idealism in 1946 aimed at introducing modern dinghy racing to Ireland after the end of World War II.

But the banal reality is that rule-bending in the International 12ft Dinghy Class signalled the inauguration of the new organisation. Nevertheless, there probably was this high-flown ambition to give Ireland some rocket-assisted propulsion into the front line of mid-20^th Century dinghy racing among people like Billy and Jimmy Mooney and the Delany family and others. But the lackadaisical attitude to the International 12 measurement rules – which had been readily indulged by local boatbuilders keen to expand their business – provided a very tangible issue on which to establish the new body.

The first Honorary Secretary was Jimmy Mooney of Dun Laoghaire while the Hon.Treas was Jem Sullivan of Sutton across Dublin Bay – both of them were ace International 12 racers who regularly sailed their little boats across the open bay to each other’s venues.

The Committee was Ronald Greene (Strangford & Belfast Loughs), Michael Sullivan (Cork), Captain James Payne (Crosshaven), Peter Odlum (Dun Laoghaire) Harry Deane (Cork), W. L. McClelland (Sutton), Charlie Sargent (Clontarf), Joe Fitzgerald (Cobh) and Reggie Pilkington (Dun Laoghaire).

It was, however, in their choice of President that the new Association showed its genius, for they persuaded Douglas Heard to take on the role. He was Irish by adoption. Having been seriously wounded while very young on active service in World War I, he’d been invalided out but eventually recovered sufficiently to go into the Welsh end of the management side of the City of Cork Steam Packet Company which was mainly focused on the Cork-Swansea route. Of a distinguished family in southeast Wales, despite his injuries he sailed regularly at the Mumbles, and during the 1930s was something of a force in the developing International 14ft dinghy class, and a close friend of innovative designer Uffa Fox.

An International 14 dinghy in the 1930s, when Douglas Heard was regularly racing in Britain in this developmental class.

Business demands of the ferry service brought him to Cork for a period in the mid-1930s, and he found life in Ireland congenial. As an offshore sailor in addition to his dinghy interests (he did the 1939 Fastnet on sailmaker Chris Ratsey’s Fife sloop Evenlode), he had become a member of the Irish Cruising Club in 1935, while his Cork sailing involvement extended to buying and racing the Cork Harbour One Design Imp

He continued his involvement with the major championships of the International 14 Class in England, while his life in Ireland developed to a directorship of a sister company to the Cork operation, the British & Irish Steam Packet Company (later the B&I Line) in Dublin, where he became a member of the Royal St George YC in 1942. At first, he seemed a somewhat shy and reserved man, but he usually had projects on the go and had the gift of productive friendships, becoming close to ICC Commodore Billy Mooney and his son Jimmy, to the Delany family, and with Rory O’Hanlon and many others, and in time he settled in Killiney.

So when he was asked to be President of this new Association, he accepted and presented it with a large silver salver which was to be awarded to the champion of the new class which he and others were persuading the IDRA to promote, the IDRA 14 designed by O’Brien Kennedy. It was almost embarrassing when Douglas himself won the first championship in 1947, but things were developing rapidly, in 1948 it was won by John Wearing of Sutton who later went on to become a sort of One Man Maintenance Unit on Ireland’s inland waterways. By 1949 the scope of the championship was expanding, with the IDRA 14s and the new Uffa Fox-designed series-produced 12ft Firefly class making such inroads into Irish sailing that the old International 12s were disappearing like snow off a ditch.

The IDRA 14 Dusk, one of the most successful in the class, being raced by Gerry Sargent whose father Charlie was a founding committee member of the Irish Dinghy Racing Association in 1946. Photo: W M Nixon

The advent of the Firefly Class in Dun Laoghaire in 1947-48 effectively spelt the end of the old International 12 dinghies.

The notion of an IDRA Dinghy Week for all classes was developing by the end of the 1940s, when the emerging Helmsmans Championship for Douglas Heard’s salver was staged with the top helms from each class racing for one day at the end of the week, and this saw it in 1949 going to Dick Uren, a Firefly sailor from across channel who raced out of West Kirby SC.

By 1950 Dinghy Week was a fully-fledged event, a moveable feast which was a highlight of the annual Irish sailing calendar, and in 1950 it was staged in Dunmore East by Waterford Harbour SC, with cruisers from Dun Laoghaire and Cork such as Aylmer Hall’s 12 Metre Flica and Clayton Love’s ketch Galcador going along to provide floating accommodation for the dinghy racing crews, with Crosshaven’s own Teddy Crosbie crewed by Mick Sullivan winning the Helmsman’s Championship on the final day.

Clayton Love, winner of the Helmmsmans Championship in 1955 and 1960, also oversaw the transformation of the Irish Dinghy Racing Association into the Irish yachting Association in 1960-62, and the amalgamation of the Royal Cork and Royal Munster YCs in 1967.

And Teddy Crosbie is of course still with us, as indeed is an incredible collection of former winners of the mighty Douglas Heard-donated salver. So for young folk lining up for this weekend’s Junior Championship in Schull, if you have a long and worthwhile life in mind, be sure in due course to aim for the senior title. For when you think that the 1952 & 1954 winner Neville Maguire of Howth is still about in boats, you get some idea of the longevity extended. For also still very much with us is Clayton Love Jnr, winner in 1955 and 1960, who in the 1960s saw the IDRA become the ISA, and in that same decade brought the Royal Cork and the Royal Munster Yacht Clubs together to provide the strong organization which enabled the Royal Cork to celebrate its Quadrimillennium in 1969-1970, and now he’s here to see it mark its Tricentenary in 2020.

The list of past Senior and Junior winners speaks for itself:

Year	Senior Winner	Junior Winner	Junior First Girl
2018	Peter Kennedy	Atlee Kohl	Alana Coakley
2017	Fionn Lyden	Micheal O’Suilleabhain	Leah Rickard
2016	Alex Barry	Johnny Durcan	Kate Lyttle
2015	Anthony O'Leary	Peter McCann	Clare Gorman
2014	Anthony O'Leary	Harry Durkan	Gemma McDowell
2013	Ben Duncan	Séafra Guilfoyle	Megan Parker
2012	Peter O'Leary	Fionn Lyden	Aisling Keller
2011	George Kenefick
2010	Nicholas O'Leary	Philip Doran	Sophie Murphy
2009	Nicholas O'Leary	Matthew O'Dowd	Diana Kissane
2008	Nicholas O'Leary	Philip Doran	Tiffany Brien
2007	Stefan Hyde	Chris Penney	Annalise Murphy
2006	Peter O'Leary	George Kenefick	Rachel Guy
2005	David Crosbie	Fionn Jenkinson	Lisa Tate
2004	Tom Fitzpatrick	Katie Tingle
2003	Neil Hegarty	Erica Tate & Lorraine Stallard
2002	Conor Walsh	Robert Collins & Kenny Keogh
2001	Feargal Kinsella	Peter Bayly & Niall Cowman
2000	Gerald Owens	Peter O'Leary
1999	Mark Mansfield	Nicholas O'Leary
1998	Tom Fitzpatrick	Gerald Owens
1997	Tom Fitzpatrick	Neil Spain
1996	Laura Dillon	Gerald Owens
1995	Ruan O'Tiarnaigh	Laura Dillon
1994	Tom Fitzpatrick	Evan Dolan
1993	Sean Craig	Evan Dolan
1992	John Ross Murphy	Tom Fitzpatrick
1991	Mark Lyttle	Tom Fitzpatrick
1990	Mark Mansfield	Robert Eason
1989	Marshall King	Conal Casey
1988	John Murtagh	J McWilliam
1987	Mark Lyttle	Dan O'Grady
1986	Mark Lyttle	T McWilliam
1985	Paul Rowan	Nicky Timon
1984	Paul Rowan	Niall Alexander
1983	Brian Craig	Niall Alexander
1982	David Cummins	Michael Stavely
1981	David Cummins	Mark Lyttle
1980	T W Whisker	Justin Maguire
1979	Chris Arrowsmith	Justin Maguire
1978	Wiclif McCready	John Gilmore
1977	Wiclif McCready	Mark O'Hare
1976	Adrian Bell	Bryan Maguire
1975	David Gay	Joseph English
1974	Peter Duffy	Alan McFarlane
1973	Owen Delany	David McFarlane
1972	Harold Cudmore	Robert Bleakney
1971	Adrian Bell
1970	Robert Dix
1969	Maurice R Butler
1968	Vincent Delany
1967	T C M Morris
1966	John F Russell
1965	James Nixon
1964	J K O'Reilly
1963	Owen Delany
1962	G M Sargent
1961	M C Walsh
1960	J Clayton Love Jnr
1959	J O McCleary
1958	J K O'Reilly
1957	J Somers Payne
1956	J Somers Payne
1955	J Clayton Love Jnr
1954	Neville D Maguire
1953	Johnny Hooper
1952	Neville D Maguire
1951	Richard Uren
1950	Ted Crosbie
1949	Richard Uren
1948	John Wearing
1947	R Douglas Heard

The great Douglas Heard went from among us in 1983 at a very considerable age, but by that time he’d pushed the boat out in other directions, with the hugely innovative Flying Thirty Huff of Arklow designed by Uffa Fox and built by Jack Tyrrell in 1950, promoting fin-and-skeg configuration a good fifteen years before the rest of the offshore racing world caught up.

Douglas Heard’s pioneering “Flying Thirty” Huff of Arklow raced offshore and inshore and cruised to Iceland and the Azores.

He raced Huff offshore and cruised her extensively while moving up the administrative structure of the Royal St George to become Commodore in 1960 for a five-year term of office. He also became much involved with the Inland Waterways, making what everyone thought would be the last-ever transit of the Royal Canal in 1954, but then worked assiduously behind the scenes with many others in the IWAI to promote the restoration of our waterway to their current healthy state.

Laura Dillon of Howth, winner in 1996, is still the only woman champion

As for the Helmsmans Championship which he had the vision to inaugurate in 1947, by the 1970s Dinghy Week had become so large that no single club would willingly undertake it, so classes or groups of classes staged their own national championships and the Helmsmans Championship became a standalone event traditionally staged in late September or early October, using different venues and usually different boats each year.

So when that salver is lifted aloft at the National Yacht Club by the All Ireland Champion 2019 on the evening of Sunday, October 6^th, you’re looking at something which symbolizes just about everything that is best in Irish sailing. With a week to go, the confirmed entries (helms left column) are:

Cathy MacAleavey	Water Wags	National Yacht Club	Con Murphy
Robert Espey	RS400	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Andrew Baker
David Gorman	Flying Fifteen	National Yacht Club	Chris Doorly
Sean Craig	Laser Radial	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Alan Greene
Peter Kennedy	2018 Champion (SB20)	Strangford Lough Yacht Club	Stephen Kane
Darren Wright	ICRA IRC 2	Howth Yacht Club	tbc
Rory Fekkes	ICRA IRC 3	Carrickfergus Sailing Club	Paul Fekkes
Jonathan Horgan	Shannon One Design	Lough Derg Yacht Club	Carden Kent
John Sheehy	Team Racing	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Darragh O'Connor
Ronan Wallace	Laser Standard	Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club	Brendan Wallace
Michael O'Connor	SB20	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Davy Taylor
Gordon Patterson	Squib	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club	Ross Nolan
Paddy Dillon	Mermaids	Rush Sailing Club	Johnn Dillon
Shane MacCarthy	GP14	Greystones Sailing Club	Stephen Boyle
Colm O'Flaherty	J24	Sligo Yacht Club	Dave O'Connor
Wyatt Orsmond	Multihull IMA	Swords Sailing Club	Patrick Billington

Giants of Irish sailing history: Denis Doyle, Joe Fitzgerald and Douglas Heard relaxing at an Irish Cruising Club Shannon Rally, October 1977. Photo: W M Nixon

The 16 invitees for next month's All Ireland Sailing Championships have been announced for the National Yacht Club hosted event.

Racing over October 5th & 6th, seven dinghy and nine keelboat helms will race in Flying Fifteen keelboats for the coveted ISA 'Champion of Champions title.

There are no current Tokyo Olympic trialists and only one helmswoman among the line-up released by the national governing body today.

Although present last year, absent from the 2019 line up is the 1720, IDRA 14 and Dragon classes. 

Other Clinker classes do fare well, however, with representation from Mermaids, Shannon One Designs and Water Wags all scheduled to compete at Dun Laoghaire.

See the invitee list below and the NOR is attached below.

Helm	Class	Helm Club	Crew
Cathy MacAleavey	Water Wags	National Yacht Club	Con Murphy
Robert Espey	RS400	Ballyholme Yacht Club	Andrew Baker
David Gorman	Flying Fifteen	National Yacht Club	Chris Doorly
Sean Craig	Laser Radial	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Alan Greene
Peter Kennedy	2018 Champion (SB20)	Strangford Lough Yacht Club	Stephen Kane
Darren Wright	ICRA IRC 2	Howth Yacht Club	tbc
Rory Fekkes	ICRA IRC 3	Carrickfergus Sailing Club	Paul Fekkes
Jonathan Horgan	Shannon One Design	Lough Derg Yacht Club	Carden Kent
John Sheehy	Team Racing	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Darragh O'Connor
Ronan Wallace	Laser Standard	Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club	Brendan Wallace
Michael O'Connor	SB20	Royal St. George Yacht Club	Davy Taylor
Gordon Patterson	Squib	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club	Ross Nolan
Paddy Dillon	Mermaids	Rush Sailing Club	Johnn Dillon
Shane MacCarthy	GP14	Greystones Sailing Club	Stephen Boyle
Colm O'Flaherty	J24	Sligo Yacht Club	Dave O'Connor
Wyatt Orsmond	Multihull IMA	Swords Sailing Club	Patrick Billington

Peter Kennedy made waves on Lough Ree when the current SB20 national champion took the Helmsman’s Cup at the weekend.

However, a special mention must go to Water Wag pair Guy Kilroy and Adam Winkelmann for their ‘catch of the day’ as they discovered an unusual and large fishing lure caught on their keel.

The extra weight and drag, however small, surely didn’t help their campaign at the All Ireland Sailing Championships — but perhaps it also means a good omen for next year’s event?

Peter Kennedy of Strangford Lough Yacht Club has won the 2018 Irish Sailing All Ireland Sailing Championships hosted by Lough Ree Yacht Club, Co. Westmeath today writes Treasa Cox of Irish Sailing.

This prestigious competition, also known as the “Helmsman’s Cup” was first awarded in 1947 and sees sixteen of Ireland’s best sailors battle it out to become the “champion of champions”. Each competitor is nominated by their class, but they all compete in the same type of boat, this year chosen as the SB20. 

Peter, who was nominated by the SB20 Class, is a former Olympian sailor who represented Ireland in both Seoul 1998 and Barcelona 1992. This was Peter’s fourth time competing in the All Irelands, and the first time in the finals. 

His name now joins the Helmsman’s Cup Trophy alongside other Olympic veterans such as Mark Mansfield and Mark Lyttle.

Final results were Peter Kennedy (Strangford Lough YC) with crew Stephen Kane, and boat owner representative Chris Chapman; in second place were Alex Barry (Royal Cork YC/Monkstown Bay Sailing Club) who represented the RS400s with crew Mel Collins and boat owner representative John McGonigle, and in third place was Ross Kearney representing the GP14s (Royal North of Ireland YC) with crew Jim Hunt and boat owner representative Peter Lee.

Saturday's All Ireland Sailing Championships run by Irish Sailing at Lough Ree Yacht Club has attracted some of the top sailing names in the country for the annual battle of the champion of champions event that will be sailed on Lough Ree in SB20s for the first time.

The final list of entrants has been issued by Irish Sailing this morning with Olympian Finn Lynch, multi–dinghy champion Jim Hunt, former Irish Sailor of the Year Noel Butler and Dragon Edinburgh Cup winner Adam Winkelmann, to name but a few, all joining the ranks of crews for the end of season climax.

Read the final list below:

As Afloat.ie reported earlier, past champion Fionn Lyden will defend his title against some of the country's top sailing talent with bronze medalist in the Laser U21 World Championships, Liam Glynn one of six Northern Ireland helmsmen to be nominated.

Six keelboat sailors, nine dinghy sailors and one multihull sailor make up this year's invitation list.

Helm	Class	Club	Crew Name
Donagh Good	1720	Royal Cork Yacht Club	Grattan Roberts
Dave Gorman	Flying Fifteen	National Yacht Club	Chris Doorly
Darragh McCormack	Mermaid/ICRA 4	Foynes Yacht Club	Johnny Dillon
Alex Barry	RS 400	Royal Cork Yacht Club/ Monkstown Bay Sailing Club	Mel Collins
Ross Kearney	GP 14	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club	Jim Hunt
Jocelyn Hill	RS 200	County Antrim Yacht Club	Katie Kane
Peter Wallace	Squib	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club	Martin Weatherstone
Guy Kilroy	Waterwags	Royal Irish Yacht Club	Adam Winkelmann
Graham Mc Mullin	Shannon One Design	Lough Ree Yacht Club	John Malone
Simon Revill	IDRA 14	Sutton Dinghy Club	Noel Butler
Peter Kennedy	SB20	Strangford Lough Yacht Club	Stephen Kane
Stefan Hyde	J24	Royal Cork Yacht Club/Royal Irish Yacht Club	Cillian Dickson
Fionn Lyden	2017 Champion	Baltimore Sailing Club	David Harte
Liam Glynn	Laser Standard	Ballyholme Yacht Club/ UCD sailing club	Tom Purdon
Neil Hegarty	Dragon	Royal St George Yacht Club/Baltimore Sailing Club	Tom Hegarty
Aisling Keller	Laser Radial	LDYC/Royal Irish Yacht Club/Trinity Sailing Club	Finn Lynch

 

There's just over one week to the Irish Sailing All Ireland Sailing Championships, taking place in Lough Ree Yacht Club in Co. Westmeath, 6-7th of October.

The competitors represent sixteen of the thirty-nine Irish Sailing 'eligible' affiliated classes, but all will compete against each other in one type of boat – this year the event is being sailed in SB20 keelboats.

There are two women in this year’s competition: Aisling Keller (Lough Derg Yacht Club / Royal Irish Yacht Club / Trinity Sailing Club) who will team up with Olympian Finn Lynch (National YC), and Jocelyn Hill (Co. Antrim YC) representing the RS200s. Jocelyn will be one of five sailors from Northern Ireland. Past winners Fionn Lyden (Baltimore SC) and Alex Barry (Royal Cork Yacht Club / Monkstown Bay Sailing Club) will compete alongside Liam Glynn (Ballyholme Yacht Club / UCD Sailing Club) fresh from his bronze medal win in the U21 Laser World Championships in Poland this summer.

Each competitor has been nominated as a result of past wins and class rankings. This year they will sail SB20 keelboats, which are designed for a crew of three or four. Each nominee selects one crew member, and they are joined by a third crew member who represents the boat owner.

Racing will consist of two “flights” or heats. The top three from each flight go straight into the final. The remaining competitors who placed 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th compete in a 2-race “repêchage”, and the top two then enter the Final also. The Final race, therefore, has eight teams competing.

The All Ireland Sailing Championships or “Helmsman’s Cup” has run since 1947 and aims to find sailing's “champion of champions”.

Read the current entry list here

The nominees for next month's All Ireland Sailing Championships have been announced with top sailors from the world of dinghy, keelboat and multihull classes invited for the annual champion of champions event.

The Championships will be held in Lough Ree Yacht Club in County Westmeath in SB20 sports boats on October 5th and 6th.

Past champion Fionn Lyden will defend his title against some of the country's top sailing talent with bronze medalist in the Laser U21 World Championships, Liam Glynn one of six Northern Ireland helmsmen to be nominated.

Six keelboat sailors, nine dinghy sailors and one multihull sailor make up this year's invitation list.

Two of this month's Afloat.ie Sailors of the Month awardees make the list with Darragh McCormack of Foynes representing the Mermaids and silver medalist in the GP14 Worlds and national champion Ross Kearney also sailing.

Joining McCormack from the clinker classes are Guy Kilroy from the Water Wags and Simon Reville of the IDRA 14s and Graham McMullin of the Shannon One Designs.

SB20 National Champion Peter Kennedy gets a wildcard entry but there is no nomination for this month's European SB20 bronze medalist Michael O'Connor of the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

Despite the progress of Women's sailing in Ireland, only one is among the invitees, Jocelyn Hill representing the RS200 class from County Antrim Yacht Club.

There is no ICRA representation (usually three or four places) despite the fact ICRA Commodore Simon McGibney says 'ICRA made five nominations for the All Ireland Championships 2018'.

The competition has been running since 1947 and pits all types of sailors against each other in one type of boat.

As previously reported, the Junior All Ireland Championships will be held earlier on 29-30 September at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire using Firefly dinghies.

1		2017 Champion	Fionn Lyden	Team Racing
2	Dinghy	GP14	Ross Kearney	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club
3	Dinghy	Water Wags	Guy Kilroy	Royal Irish Yacht Club
4	Dinghy	Shannon One Design	Graham McMullin	Lough Ree Yacht Club
5	Keelboat	Flying Fifteen	David Gorman	National Yacht Club
6	Dinghy	Multihull	Wyatt Orsmond	Swords Sailing Club
7	Dinghy	RS400	Alex Barry	Royal Cork Yacht Club/Monkstown Bay Sailing Club
8	Dinghy	Mermaid	Darragh McCormack	Foynes Yacht Club
9	Dinghy	Laser Standard	Liam Glynn	Ballyholme Yacht Club
10	Keelboat	Dragon	tbc
11	Keelboat	Squib	Peter Wallace	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club
12	Dinghy	RS200	Jocelyn Hill	County Antrim Yacht Club
13	Keelboat	Ruffian 23	Trevor Kirkpatrick	Carrickfergus Sailing Club
14	Keelboat	1720	Donagh Good	Royal Cork Yacht Club
Wildcards
15	Keelboat	SB20	Peter Kennedy	Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club
16	Dinghy	IDRA14	Simon Revill	Howth Yacht Club/Sutton Dinghy Club

It has had at least two different event descriptions since it was first sailed all of seventy years ago. Back then, Irish sailing was finding its feet in the late 1940s, becoming re-energised in the exciting developmental world of modern dinghy racing. It was the time of Fireflies, and of the visionary move of establishing the recently-formed Irish Dinghy Racing Association’s new IDRA 14 Class. On the water, all-classes Dinghy Weeks were being held, and the idea of rounding it all out with an annual Championship of the Champions – the Helmsmans Championship – seemed a natural from the word go. W M Nixon celebrates the continuing existence of something which - for many years - was unique to Irish sailing.

The Helmsmans Championship quickly became a key part of what Irish sailing is all about. And even though it become more and more of an artificial construct over the years as different class types proliferated, with the selection of one Championship boat to accommodate widely-different boat-type experiences inevitably becoming ever more problematical, there’s a stubborn streak in us which keeps it going as a celebration of true amateur sailing.

For the line–up of helmsmen racing GP14s this weekend – it’s only male helms, alas, though women sailors have won in times past – sees the deliberate absence of the professional and semi-professional stream. This is down home sailing out in strength, even if some of the participants – such as Olympic Finn U23 Bronze Medallist Fionn Lyden of Baltimore (he’s the nomination of the Irish Team Racing Association) – will harbour hopes of moving on to Olympic Pathways.

Alex Barry, defending champion with the Salver newly won at Royal Cork YC in October 2016, with ISA President David Lovegrove (left) and RCYC Admiral John Roche. Alex Barry represented the RS 400, but the championship was sailed in National 18s. Photo Robert Bateman

All-Ireland Championship Competitors (Class - Helm - Club - Crew Name):

Shannon One Design - Stephen O'Driscoll - Lough Derg Yacht Club - John O'Driscoll
J24 - JP McCaldin - Lough Erne Yacht Club / Sligo Yacht Club - Liz Copland
Laser Radial - Sean Craig - Royal St George Yacht Club - David Johnston
2016 Champion RS400 - Alex Barry - Monkstown Bay SC/Royal Cork YC - Richard Leonard
Puppeteer 22 - Colin Kavanagh - Howth Yacht Club - Conor Barry
Dublin Bay Mermaid - Sam Shiels - Skerries Sailing Club - Eoin Boylan
Squib - Greg Bell - Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club - Martin Weatherstone
IDRA14 - Alan Henry - Sutton Dinghy Club - Simon Reville
SB20 - Stefan Hyde - Royal Cork Yacht Club - tbc
RS200 - Neil Spain - Howth Yacht Club - John Downey
RS400 - Gareth Flannigan - Ballyholme Yacht Club - David Fletcher
GP14 - Shane McCarthy - Greystones Sailing Club - Andy Davis
ITRA - Fionn Lyden - UCCSC, BSC, Schull - Liam Manning
ICRA 3 - Paul Gibbons - Royal Cork Yacht Club - Grattan Roberts
Ruffian 23 - Chris Helme - Royal St George Yacht Club - Alan Claffey
Laser Standard - Liam Glynn - Ballyholme Yacht Club - Ryan Glynn

You only have to give reasonable attention to that list to grasp the diversity of people, talents and boat experience that they’re trying to bring together for meaningful racing on the beautiful waters of Lough Owel (it’s pronounced “ool”) in Westmeath.

Further to emphasise the “down home” spirit of it all, the hosts, the recently re-furbished Mullingar Sailing Club (they celebrated their Golden Jubilee in 2014, including publishing a fine club history co-ordinated by Veronica Lucey) may be very centrally placed in Ireland. But they’re possibly further from any other yacht or sailing club than any other comparable club in the country, so they have to be true to themselves and their love of local sailing. 

MSC’s Golden Jubilee History captures the flavor of a very rural and genuinely locally-based sailing club. Courtesy MS

Lough Owel’s special location provides an ideal setting for Irish Sailing’s Championship of Champions

It certainly seems that way, for prosperous Mullingar is a world unto itself, the quintessential Irish country town. Yet it does have waterways connections, for the Royal Canal (re-opened in 2010) encircles the town like a moat on its way from Dublin to join the Shannon near Longford.

And the shining jewel in the green countryside, the ideally-sized-for-good-sailing Lough Owel, is not only a marvelous recreational amenity, but its pristine water is Mullingar’s reservoir, and it also doubles as the reservoir for the Royal Canal. 

Anyone who is into Irish canal lore will of course be familiar with LTC Rolt’s seminal book Green and Silver, about the circular voyage in the late 1946 on Ireland’s inland waterways, an inland cruise which started from Athlone in the hired converted lifeboat Le Coq and went eastward to Dublin on the Grand Canal, and then returned west via the Royal Canal to the Upper Shannon.

Tom Rolt’s hired converted ships lifeboat Le Coq on the Royal Canal near Mullingar in 1946

Punting up the famed Lough Owel feeder in 1946

Tom Rolt and his crew were particularly charmed by the Royal Canal, and intrigued by the inviting channel which came into it at Mullingar to bring the water from Lough Owel. So they punted their way up the Lough Owel feeder. But these days, with its role as a public water supply, Lough Owel is not officially part of our already very extensive inland waterways system. 
However, there’s another link to those distant Green & Silver days which is decidedly special. If you go back to the very beginning of the list of previous winners of the famous silver salver here: you’ll see that the first winner in 1947 was the great Douglas Heard, who had become first President of the Irish Dinghy Racing Association in 1946. Douglas Heard was also a devoted advocate for the inland waterways, and when the closure of the Royal Canal was planned for the end of 1954, he voyaged the weed-filled length of it that summer in his motor-cruiser Hark (like Le Coq, a converted lifeboat) partly in protest at the closure, and partly in sad celebration that it had existed at all.

So it’s very moving to think that here we are in 2017, and the Championship of Champions is being staged on a lake which has a very real link to something of significance in the remarkable life of Douglas Heard, the first Champion Helm. And the fact that the Royal Canal is now fully alive again is perhaps the most astonishing thing of all, for the coming of the railways in the mid-19th Century soon out paid to its limited commercial success.

So sailing in Mullingar can find a real link, however tenuous, to the first winner of the Helsmans Championship. But before we finally get around to assessing this year’s prospects, there’s one final part of Mullingar Sailing Club’s story which must be shared. Since 1972, their next-door neighbour - until he died three weeks ago - was the world-renowned author J P Donleavy, creator of The Ginger Man. 

Donleavy’s 200-acre estate, with the rambling house of Levington Park at its heart, fronted along Lough Owel to the immediate southwest of Mullingar SC. And though he’d been something of a recluse in his latter years, it was not unknown for him in his early days next door to drop by the club when some sailing event was taking place, gradually fulfilling his role as something of the local country squire.

The neighbour. Author J P Donleavy was Mullingar SC’s next-door neighbour from 1972 until his death in September 2017

Certainly MSC’s Fleet Captain Michael Collender is sure that Donleavy was occasionally about the club out of curiosity though not as a sailor, and thinks there a photo somewhere to prove it. But if they find it, they should be warned that as a result, Mullingar SC will inevitably become part of the J P Donleavy Research Trail for post-graduate doctoral students of literature. That could be a bit of a nuisance when your purpose in life is to provide economical sailing in pleasant but unpretentious premises which give convenient and immediate access to excellent sailing water.

The GP 14s have always interacted particularly well with Mullingar SC. This is their 2014 Leinster Championship on Lough Owel. Photo courtesy MSC

All classes welcome – Mirror Westerns on Lough Owel

Thus Mullingar SC and the GP 14 Association are kindred spirits, and the enthusiasm of the Irish GP 14 Association in providing eight boats of equal standard from all over the country for this Championship of Champions on Lough Owel has, as usual, been under-pinned by hard-headed practicality. For this, after all, is the class which negotiated the economic transit of an entire flotilla of Irish GP14s (was it 22 boats in all?) to Barbados for the worlds in April 2016, and the overall winner was Shane McCarthy of Greystones.

So with the Irish GP14 Class’s exceptional spirit, they have had enthusiastic owners delivering top boats to Lough Owel, the furthest being from as far away as the distant end of Lough Erne in Fermanagh. That’s J P McCaldin, who’s actually racing the championship as the J/24 representative. But he’s getting the double value GP 14 sailors expect, as the class’s national end-of-season event, the Hot Toddy, is going to be staged at Mullingar in a week’s time, and JP’s boat will be there on site, ready and waiting.

GP 14 World Champions Shane McCarthy and Andy Davis will be racing this weekend on Lough Owel

Another typically GP 14 touch is that the Irish Association is hoping to make the boats even more equal by providing them all with absolutely identical new genoas. At first glance, it all sounds a bit extravagant. But outgoing President Stephen Boyle of Sutton Dinghy Club (he sails as crew for his 17 year old son Peter, and has recently been succeeded, after a three year stint as President, by David Cooke of Skerries) assures me that the Irish GP 14 Association just don’t do extravagant. The eight brand new genoas from Jim Hunt and Andy Davis (Shane McCarthy’s crew) of HD sails will be getting a bulk discount, and will be immediately sold off once this event is over – “We might even make a tiny profit”.

Many of the Mullingar SC officer are themselves GP 14 sailors, the current officer board being Commodore: James Hackett, Vice Commodore: Sean Duffy, Rear Commodore Gearoid O’Bradaigh, Hon. Sec: Kieran Milner, Hon. Treas: Brian Walker, Junior Sailing: James Hackett, Fleet Captain Michael Collender, and PR Officer Veronica Lucey.

But MSC has been known to host exotics such as the Shannon One Designs and the Water Wags. Yet it’s Geeps, Mirrors and Lasers which set the regular pace, with the GP 14s in particular having a long and dynamic relationship with the club.

The gem of the midands. GP 14s enjoying idyllic early Autumn weather on Lough Owel

So they’re making a proper weekend of it, with a dinner tonight in the Annebrook Hotel in the heart of town, and racing going right to he finish tomorrow afternoon. Defending champion is of course RS 400 speedster Alex Barry of Monkstown Bay on Cork, but with the boat selected being the GP 14 and the extraordinary range of talent lined up to sail them, it’s wide open, even if the smart money will inevitably be on Shane McCarthy, who has his world champion crew Andy Davis with him.

We’ll know it all by Monday morning. But meanwhile, let it be said that it has been utterly heartening researching this piece, and talking to so many happily enthused club sailors. This is the real sailing in Ireland, l‘Irlande profonde. This is the Ireland that still thinks the event is the Helmsman’s Championship, and that it’s run by the Irish Sailing Association.
The rest of us will go along with the ISA’s re-branding as Irish Sailing. Personally, I think it’s a good idea. But this All-Ireland Championship thing we’re not so sure of. After all, when the Helmsman’s Championship was inaugurated seventy years ago, it was unique to Ireland, its brand name was new and unique.

So why change it to something which is imitative of another completely different area of sport in search of very ephemeral public recognition? We should only allow it if Irish Sailing somehow gets permission to flood the sacred turf of Croke Park, and stages the Helmsmans Championship there in the manner of Nero’s naval battle in the Colosseum. Then it would be acceptable to call it the All-Ireland Sailing Championship, for Croke Park is the only place where true All-Ireland sporting events can take place.

Cork Harbour's own Alex Barry finished on top in the All Ireland Sailing Championships at Royal Cork Yacht Club today but not before an exciting duel for the coveted trophy with Rio Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy who finished second overall in the eight boat fleet writes Gail McAllister.

After a frustrating wait in dead calm conditions on day 2 of the ISA All Ireland Sailing Championships sailors were treated to a perfect 20–knots of breeze in the final races. It was thrilling to watch Ireland’s top sailors from each class compete in the latest National 18 dinghies.  

Annalise Murphy and crew gave an outstanding performance with 3 bullets in the final 3 races and the final winner was not clear until judges and race officer had done the maths on discards. RS400 sailor from Monkstown Bay Yacht Club came out top with 11 points, with Annalise Murphy only one point behind on 12 and Darragh O’Sullivan, who had dominated the board throughout the afternoon, came in at 3rd with an equal 3 points, because Annalise had 3 bullets to Darragh’s 2. Race Officer Peter Crowley completed a good series with 20 minute races and a fast turnaround between races keeping everyone on their toes.

This weekend’s top sailors came from a broad spectrum of classes RS400, Laser Radial, Laser Full Rig, National 18, ICRA 1, 2 & 3, 1720, IDRA14, RS200, J24, Mermaid, Shannon One Design and Flying Fifteen.

Top eight results are downloadable below.