Howth Yacht Club will launch its programme of open sailing events for 2011 at the club house tomorrow evening (Thursday 31 March).

In addition to running club sailing throughout the year, and both junior and adult sailing courses to get more involved in the sport, HYC will also be hosting more than 20 open events this year. 

These are set to include local, provincial, national and international championships, which are hopes to attract visitors from all over Ireland and beyond.

For more details visit the Howth Yacht Club website at www.hyc.ie.

The highly successful HYC Spring Warmer series in April, this year sponsored by Key Capital Private, has been expanded to include Classes 1, 2, 3 and Puppeteers along with the usual sailing one-design classes – Etchells, J24s, SB3s and Squibs.

Over 40 boats took part in the 2010 series and with the SB3 Easterns taking place in Howth at the end of April and the Cruiser Classes getting racing practice ahead of their ICRA Championships, the standard of competition should be even higher this year.

Taking place over the first three Saturdays in April, the 2011 series will have two race areas for the eight classes. The racing format will be the same as last year with two windward/leeward races scheduled for each of the 3 Saturdays finishing with a prize-giving after the final races on April 16th.

First guns will sound at 10.55 on April 2nd and entries can be made online on www.hyc.ie.

Howth Yacht Club has announced its first ever coaching development manager.

Graeme Grant has been appointed to the position to help enhance the skills of members across all levels.

The 36-year-old Scot comes highly experienced, with Irish Sailing Association (ISA) qualifications as an Instructor Coach, Adventure Instructor and Powerboat Instructor among others.

Past sailing successes include the Scottish 420 Nationals and the Hornet Youth Worlds. Grant was also part of the British Olympic 470 Development Squad in the build-up to the 1996 games in Atlanta.

Since 2005 he has filled various coaching spots throughout Ireland, and is also bosun of ISA's Sailfleet J80s, a position he retains with his new role.

The Howth Yacht Club website has more on the appointment HERE.

There will be no match racing on the south coast this year following a rejig of the fixtures calendar.

After two years of expansion for match racing in terms of events the theme for 2011 is consolidation.

Changes to the ISA SailFleet schedule for the boats mean that we have had to go through a rejigging of the match racing calendar.

The major impact is that Royal Cork YC are to take the boats latter than originally hoped meaning that they will be unable to host a leg of the Tour.

With Kinsale not taking part in the SailFleet scheme this year that means no match racing on the south coast for the first time in a couple of years.

With no tie up with the Dun Laoghaire Festival of Cultures available this year a date of July 23rd and 24th has been settled on for the Ireland vs The World International.

The highlight of last year this event will once again pit Irelands 6 best match racers against 6 teams from the rest of the world. Once again National and Tour champion John Sheehy will captain the Irish team.

The Leinster Match Racing Open, to be hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club, has been moved to July 16th and 17th to allow it to act as qualification for the Irish team for the following weekend and to give Laura Dillion and the Gladiators (Sam Hunt, Paddy Blackley, Peter Bayly, Richard Murphy) competitive practice immediately before heading over to Poland to represent the country at the ISAF Nations Cup.

Howth Yacht Club's, Dublin Match Racing Open stays with a date of September 3rd and 4th before we head for Lough Derg and the Womens (October 15th and 16th) and Open National Championships (November 5th And 6th).

All of the above means that here will be no Munster Match Racing Open this year and work continues to find a host for the IUSA Student Match Racing Nationals with Galway a potential for early April. There has been considerable work on the cost of entry for events over the winter and the majority of events will have a basic entry of €330 this year. All events will be run at ISAF grade 3.

Revised calendar

July 16-17th – Leinster Match Racing Open, Royal Irish Yacht Club
July 23-24th – Ireland vs The World International, Royal St George Yacht Club
September 3rd and 4th – Dublin Match Racing Open, Howth Yacht Club
October 15th and 16th - Womens Match Racing Championships, Lough Derg Yacht Club
November 5th and 6th – National Match Racing Championships, Lough Derg Yacht Club

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. LASER FROSTBITE SPRING (O'ALL) 13/02/2011 LASER STANDARD: 1, Daragh Sheridan HYC (25.00); 2, Evan Dolan NYC (27.00); 3, Daragh Kelleher SSC (32.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Conor Murphy HYC (13.00); 2, Darach Dineen HYC (14.00); 3, Brendan Costello MYC (19.00); LASER STANDARD MASTER: 1, Evan Dolan NYC (21.00); 2, Daragh Kelleher SSC (21.00); 3, David Quinn HYC (29.00); LASER STANDARD GRAND MASTER: 1, Daragh Sheridan HYC (8.00); 2, Stephen Quinn HYC (16.00); 3, Robin Hegarty HYC (26.00); LASER RADIAL: 1, Robert Ferris HYC (14.00); 2, Vincent Varley MYC (14.00); 3, Ciaran Costello MYC (19.00) BRASS MONKEYS SPRING (RACE) 13/02/2011 Class 2 HPH: 1, C'est la Vie Flannelly/Others; 2, Rum Doodle D Byrne; 3, Maximus P Kyne; Class 3 HPH: 1, Invader G Glynn; 2, Scullduggery G Forde; 3, Pucaban G McGuire; Class 1 Non Spinny HPH: 1, Lady See P Connolly; 2, Thar Saile C o'Laoi; 3, Out & About T McCoy; Class 3 Non Spinny HPH: 1, SunChaser M Marr; 2, Stromcrow D Cronin; 3, Hippocampus B O'Loughlin

Frostbite Interclub Masters Challenge / Howth Round the Island Race - March 12th

All Laser sailors are invited to join the Howth Winter Laser fleet for our End of Season race and party. The event is intended to be a friendly end of season get together for the Masters sailors in the three main frostbite fleets - Dun Laoghaire, Ballyholme and Howth. Other clubs are also welcome, and we have extended invites to Skerries and Rush who have new frostbite fleets this year.

- First Gun at 10:55 on Saturday 12th March
- 3 Races planned - 2 Windward Leeward races (40 mins. in length) and the traditional Howth Round the Island Race (usually takes about 35-40mins)
- Enter on the day with €10 entry fee, and additional €20 to join us for our end of season prizegiving lunch (3 courses). Lunch is planned for 3pm, with the Rugby international at 5pm on big screens in the club.
- Prizes for the following:

- Overall prize for the best Club Masters team. The results over all 3 races of the best 3 Masters (Over 35) are counted from each club with no discards, with overall prize and bragging rights going to best club.
- Round the Island Race Trophy, as a standalone race
- Excellent spot prizes provided by Dinghy Supplies

The event is focused around the Masters sailors interclub challenge, but all Laser sailors are welcome on the day. Please confirm interest to David Quinn by Friday 4th March for lunch numbers in particular. Notice of race will be published on the Howth website shortly.

September 09th - 15th 2011. Hot on the heels of running the Etchells Worlds this year, Howth Yacht Club is already well advanced in its planning for the 2011 European Championship of the J/24 Class.

With over 5,000 boats in 27 countries, the J/24 is the world's most popular one-design keelboat and has attracted many of the sport's top talent since it was first designed over three decades ago.

A fleet of up to 50 boats from eight to 10 European countries is expected in Howth for the event, being staged between September 9th and 15th next year. The organising committee is chaired by former HYC Commodore Derek Bothwell and ISAF International Race Officer David Lovegrove is the PRO.

A large Irish representation will also feature at Howth, with a number of well-known sailors in other classes already expressing an interest in competing. The Europeans will also be one of six qualifying events for the 2013 Worlds being hosted by Howth, as decided by the Irish J/24 Class Association at its recent AGM.

A new building has appeared overnight beside Howth Yacht Club during the Christmas period, and a row is simmering as to whether it has full planning permission. Sailors Declan MacManus and Robert Kerley, leaders of the construction team, anticipate receiving full retrospective planning permits. In fact, they hope that it will soon become a listed building, as it is a cool re-creation of the famous monastic beehive cells on Skellig Michael, and is also an important interpretation of the classic Inuit vernacular style traditional to Arctic regions.

With Ireland now expected to enter a new mini-Ice Age by 2035, they also anticipate that the Government's Emergency Response Committee will wish to retain them as consultants for future building projects. The new house is tastefully if sparsely furnished with IKEA's Fishbox Range, which is being introduced for 2011. It provides an unusual and comfortable venue to add to Howth's many bustling hospitality hotspots.

A representative of the local planning authority has reportedly said that they are putting the matter of planning permission on ice until after the holidays, and they expect that in due course the matter will simply melt away to provide an Irish solution to an Irish problem.

Howth YC is concerned about this new building which has suddenly appeared – without planning pemission - beside the clubhouse

Fully furnished, the new building is the centre for the training of a team of unique Mini Jack Russell Huskies

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. LASER FROSTBITE WINTER (O'ALL) 12/12/2010 LASER STANDARD: 1, Conor Greagsbey NYC (31.00); 2, Evan Dolan NYC (33.00); 3, Michael Evans HYC (45.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Conor Murphy HYC (12.00); 2, Brendan Costello MYC (16.00); 3, Conor Hopkins HYC (24.00); LASER STANDARD MASTER: 1, Evan Dolan NYC (24.00); 2, Conor Greagsbey NYC (25.00); 3, Daragh Kelleher SSC (33.00); LASER STANDARD GRAND MASTER: 1, Michael Evans HYC (16.00); 2, Robin Hegarty HYC (20.00); 3, Stephen Quinn HYC (25.00); LASER RADIAL: 1, Simon Revill HYC (18.00); 2, Ciaran Costello MYC (25.00); 3, Robert Ferris HYC (29.00)

A Northside versus Southside battle between two top chefs and a Guinness Book of Records attempt are the attractions at a Celebrity Chef Cook-Off Competition to be held in Howth Yacht Club on December 2^nd in aid of the ‘Suicide Or Survive’ (SOS) charity.

One of the best known chefs on the northside, Terry McCoy of the Red Bank Restaurant, Skerries, fame, (and a Howth Yacht Club member) goes head-to-head with Dermot Baker of the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, a noted gourmet chef who previously ran the successful Vino Bistro in Glasthule.

The two men will pit their culinary skills against one another to impress a panel of three independent judges, following which they will attempt to make it into the Guinness Book of Records by feathering, cooking and plating a pheasant in 180 seconds.

Tickets cost €25 and the entertaining night includes wine and nibbles and music from the band ‘Diablo’, with the proceeds going to the suicide prevention charity ‘Suicide Or Survive’. Tickets are available from Cathy Flynn Byrne (Northside) 087-279 0601 and Jack Shanahan (Southside) 086-262 9936.

Further information from Maureen Muir – 087-237 0879