A European Sailing Championship, four national championships, four regional championships and a dozen local regattas/events are the central features of a hectic year afloat being organised by Howth Yacht Club in 2011 which will bring thousands of sailors and their families to the town and contribute significantly to the local economy.

At a launch reception in the club on Thursday 31st March attended by representatives of local commerce, tourism and community bodies, HYC Commodore Roger Cagney announced that in addition to junior and adult sail training courses and club racing four days a week in the summer months, the Club would host over 20 open events during the year.

"We are used to sailing being a year-round activity," he said, "but even by our standards this will be an exceptionally busy year for Howth Yacht Club. We are fortunate in the number of talented volunteers we can call upon to help make these events successful and we have an enviable track record in this regard. We are also extremely grateful for the sponsorship of individual events from commercial concerns, details of which will be released in due course."

The major event on the 2011 calendar is undoubtedly the European Championship of the J24 Class, the world's most popular racing keelboat, when over 200 sailors from six or more countries will compete in the four-day regatta in September.

Howth will also host the Irish Championships of four classes – Puppeteer, Squib, Howth 17 and Optimist – between July 1st and late-August, with the latter attracting up to 200 competitors, together with their families, coaches and supporters. In addition, HYC will run the SB3 Eastern Championships (end April), the RS Feva Leinsters (late May) and the Dublin Match Racing Open (in J80s in early September).

The club's programme also comprises the Spring Warmer series in April, the annual Lambay Races on June 11th, the Dinghy Regatta a week later and the ever-popular Autumn League over five weekends in September/October.

If you fancy a rummage through a Bosun's locker then boat Jumble sales on three consecutive weekends and at three separate locations will satisfy all bargain hunters when the Irish boating season kicks off in a fortnight's time.

Each show is offering a range of boating, sailing and water sports equipment and accessories. There are new and used pitches and some familiar trade names in addition to second hand boats/dinghies and nautical “car boot” items.

The first opens on March 27th – the weekend when the clocks go forward – and it takes place on the Carlisle Pier in Dun Laoghaire Harbour from 10am to 4pm.

The next is across Dublin Bay when the RNLI stage a boat jumble at Howth Yacht Club on Saturday 2nd April from 10.30am to 1.30pm.

The last show is at Carrickfergus on Belfast Lough and this 'Irish Boat Jumble' is being promoted as the 'biggest' in Ireland. The Antrim show will be on Sunday 10th April starting at 10am.

All are offering economical rates and friends are being encouraged to team up and pool their surplus gear and share the selling task!

Howth RNLI voluntary lifeboat crew were tasked twice last Friday, to aid three vessels in difficulty off the Howth coast.

The Inshore Lifeboat (ILB) was just returning to the safety of the harbour with two motorboats in tow, when the larger All Weather Lifeboat (ALB) was requested to the aid of a fishing trawler that had also experienced technical failure.

The second motorboat under tow by the voluntary ILB crew suffered engine failure whilst attempting to assist the first stricken craft. They had just reached the harbour mouth when the alarm was raised by a fishing trawler in similar circumstances.

The voluntary crew then transferred to the ALB and went to the rescue of the fishermen. All vessels were towed safely back to Howth harbour.

Patrick Brown, voluntary crewmember for Howth RNLI said:

"Luckily weather conditions were fair this evening, allowing for a speedy recovery of the boats that were in difficulty. However the light was fading at the time of the incidents, highlighting the importance of having safety flares for both commercial and pleasure craft alike. Charitable donations from the public make it possible for the RNLI to continue rescuing those in danger at sea"

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HOWTH YACHT CLUB. BRASS MONKEYS SPRING (RACE) 20/02/2011 Class 2 HPH: 1, Maximus P Kyne; 2, Papillon B O'Halloran; 3, Rum Doodle D Byrne; Class 3 HPH: 1, Just Good Friends M Carroll; 2, Invader G Glynn; 3, Scullduggery G Forde; Class 1 Non Spinny HPH: 1, Arcturus P & D McCabe; 2, Out & About T McCoy; 3, Walter Mitty S & D Mullaney; Class 3 Non Spinny HPH: 1, Stromcrow D Cronin; 2, Hippocampus B O'Loughlin; 3, Suaimhneas Grant/McDonaldB. LASER FROSTBITE SPRING (O'ALL) 20/02/2011 LASER STANDARD: 1, Daragh Kelleher SSC (23.00); 2, Daragh Sheridan HYC (25.00); 3, Evan Dolan NYC (27.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Darach Dineen HYC (13.00); 2, Conor Murphy HYC (15.00); 3, Brendan Costello MYC (25.00); LASER STANDARD MASTER: 1, Daragh Kelleher SSC (18.00); 2, Evan Dolan NYC (20.00); 3, Conor Greagsbey NYC (31.00); LASER STANDARD GRAND MASTER: 1, Daragh Sheridan HYC (9.00); 2, Stephen Quinn HYC (19.00); 3, Robin Hegarty HYC (30.00); LASER RADIAL: 1, Ciaran Costello MYC (11.00); 2, Vincent Varley MYC (14.00); 3, Robert Ferris HYC (16.00)

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. LASER FROSTBITE SPRING (O'ALL) 23/01/2011 LASER STANDARD: 1, Daragh Sheridan HYC (16.00); 2, Evan Dolan NYC (18.00); 3, David Quinn HYC (19.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Conor Murphy HYC (6.00); 2, Darach Dineen HYC (12.00); 3, Conor Hopkins HYC (17.00); LASER STANDARD MASTER: 1, Evan Dolan NYC (12.00); 2, David Quinn HYC (12.00); 3, Daragh Kelleher SSC (13.00); LASER STANDARD GRAND MASTER: 1, Daragh Sheridan HYC (5.00); 2, Robin Hegarty HYC (11.00); 3, Conor Costello MYC (19.00); LASER RADIAL: 1, Robert Ferris HYC (8.00); 2, Vincent Varley MYC (8.00); 3, Ciaran Costello MYC (23.00)

In the three decades and more of the Mitsubishi Motors/Irish Independent "Sailing Club of the Year" assessments, there has never been an organization only seven years old winning the title.

In fact, seniority has often won the day, though in a country in which the oldest sailing clubs date from 1720 (Royal Cork) and 1770 (Lough Derg), it's difficult to find clubs and associations which are anything less than centenarians, let alone not yet in double figures.

But it was only as recently as June 2003 that the Irish Cruiser Racing Association came into being. It was at the biennial Sovereign's Cup series in Kinsale that Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire, enthusiastically supported by the late Jim Donegan of Cork and other key personnel, successfully launched the idea of a nationwide organisation to co-ordinate the racing sport of "boats with lids".

At the time, it was a leap of vision. Having successfully headed Dublin Bay Sailing Club at a time of rapid growth, he was able to see the picture more clearly than those who reckoned that offshore racing organisations should be related to bodies of water rather than a land mass, for all that we're on an island.

Then too, the new association was envisaged as using established clubs and their facilities to stage its championship. In other words, the ICRA organising team would be the travelling people of the Irish sailing scene. On top of that, handicap competition with cruiser-racers was derided as "truck racing" by the white hot one design and dinghy sailors.

Yet the idea took hold, and the annual championship was successfully staged at venues as various as Crosshaven, Tralee, Howth, Kinsale and Dun Laoghaire, with Denis Kiely the essential ace number-cruncher in the back office. And in May 2010, with the mighty machine of the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire providing the administrative centre, the Liebherr Irish Cruiser Nationals in Dublin Bay attracted a fleet of 117 boats, with great sailing.

On that event alone, ICRA would have been among the front runners for Club of the Year. But the best was yet to come. In recessionary times, getting a three boat team together to make a worthwhile challenge for the biennial Rolex International Commodore's Cup was a matter of making the best of limited resources. But ICRA – currently under the leadership of Barry Rose of Cork - was up to the job.

The team of Anthony O'Leary's Antix, Dave Dwyer's marinerscove.ie, and Rob Davis and Andrew Creighton's Roxy 6, had a convincing win. Thus ICRA in one season had catered very well for general run of boats and crews at home, and had come out tops at the top level internationally. It doesn't get better than that, and we salute them as Sailing Club of the Year 2011.

A little fleet of boats based in Howth has sailed through three centuries to become the oldest one-design yachts in the world still racing. How did they do it? The answer is an "extraordinary love story" of passion, pride and dedication that is chronicled in "A Century of Sailing". This half-hour documentary follows the 112-year-old Howth 17 fleet through a season of challenges, including the revival of 100-year-old boat-building skills to expand the fleet for the first time in nearly a century. Filmed in high definition against a beautiful scenic backdrop, a DVD of this documentary will be launched with a special screening in Howth Yacht Club next Saturday.

Time: 4pm, Saturday, December 18

Location: Howth Yacht Club, Howth, Co. Dublin

12 marina managers from Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK attended an 'Advanced Marina Managers' course held in Dun Laoghaire last week. The course was organised by the British Marine Federation (BMF) for the Certified Marina Managers organisation. During the course delegates visited marinas in Dun Laoghaire, Howth and Malahide.

As part of the course the group developed a marina scheme for Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club.

By basing the course in Ireland delegates were able to experience at first hand Irish facilities, some for the first time. Sarah Dhandar, Director of Training at the BMF expressed her delight at the venue, "superb facilities, conveniently close by".

LASER FROSTBITE WINTER (O'ALL) 14/11/2010 LASER STANDARD: 1, Conor Greagsbey NYC (13.00); 2, Robin Hegarty HYC (21.00); 3, Colm Cunningham HYC (21.00); LASER STANDARD APPRENTICE: 1, Brendan Costello MYC (7.00); 2, Conor Murphy HYC (7.00); 3, Brian Tyrrell HYC (13.00); LASER STANDARD MASTER: 1, Conor Greagsbey NYC (11.00); 2, Colm Cunningham HYC (14.00); 3, Daragh Kelleher SSC (21.00); LASER STANDARD GRAND MASTER: 1, Robin Hegarty HYC (7.00); 2, Michael Evans HYC (10.00); 3, Stephen Quinn HYC (12.00); LASER RADIAL: 1, Darragh Peelo MYC (17.00); 2, Simon Revill HYC (17.00); 3, Ciaran Costello MYC (20.00)

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. BRASS MONKEYS WINTER (RACE) 14/11/2010 Class 2 HPH: 1, Papillon B O'Halloran; 2, C'est la Vie Flannelly/Others; 3, Maximus P Kyne; Class 3 HPH: 1, Tobago Hanna/Others; 2, Runaway Higgins/Others; 3, Just Good Friends M Carroll; Class 1 Non Spinny HPH: 1, Thar Saile C O'Laoi; 2, Puffin Eile F & P Newport; 3, Demelza Ennis/Laudan; Class 3 Non Spinny HPH: 1, Sunchaser M Marr; 2, Hippocampus B O'Loughlin; 3, Midnight Sun Howard/Others.