Owner-skippers like Colm Bermingham with his Elan 333 Bite the Bullet are the backbone of Irish sailing. Over the years, he has defined his area of interest in racing, and then campaigns it to the uttermost, crewed by friends who fit neatly together as a team afloat and ashore.

Each year, Bite the Bullet is regularly in the frame, and his overall victory last weekend in the Howth Wave 24 is in the best Bermingham style.

Colm Bermingham successfully seeks clear air on the beat as another boat threatens to take his wind. Photo: Afloat.ie

Colm Bermingham and his Elan 333 Bite the Bullet have been such steady performers in the front of the fleet for so long at Howth, that it is difficult to imagine a significant series without the crew of BTB (don't ask) on the podium. But it has all reached new heights with a star showing in NS Class 4 in Wave 2024, where the final casting of the runes in secret committee conclave yesterday (Sunday) evening concluded that the Bermingham crew's performance on the leaderboard, with three clear wins and all other placings in the frame, was in a league of its own, undoubtedly best in show for Wave in all its Byzantine complexity.

When a weather forecast looks just too good to be true, usually with hindsight we’re able to say that it was. But at the moment, the forecast for Howth’s Wave Regatta (starting this Friday, June 3rd) for three days of good weather - with at least two of them with sunshine - seems to be holding up. And the anticipated presence of an east to nor’east sea breeze reinforcing the moderate underlying gradient wind is just the ticket for good sailing in an intriguing programme which is a mixture of modern courses on other days, built around the 1904-established Lambay Race due to be sailed on the Saturday afternoon.

Howth Yacht Cub’s marina/clubhouse setup has been operating as a unified complex since 1987.

In all, 12 keelboat classes will be involved - everything from the 1898-vintage Howth 17s to the fresh-out-of-the-box Cape 31s. This up-to-date Mark Mills day-racing product happens to be exactly the same size in overall length as the Mills debut boat, Peter Beamish’s 1996 Aztec, which is now raced as Raptor by Fintan Cairns and friends of the RIYC. They have been so taken with the comparisons with the Cape 31s that they’re coming across Dublin Bay to race the Lambay, as it was success in the 1996 Lambay Race which launched Aztec/Raptor to global stardom.

Aztec racing the 1996 Lambay – she returns on Saturday as Raptor for the same event in celebration of the new Cape 31s, also designed by Mark Mills

SWUZZEBUBBLE BACK IN IRISH OWNERSHIP

You’d think those were enough historical cross-references to be going along with. But a study of the very eclectic entry list - which is solely of keelboats and currently pushing over the 124 mark – sees certain names leaping out, and none more so than Swuzzlebubble, that legendary Half Tonner extraordinaire, which will be making her return to Ireland under the ownership of Royal Cork’s Dave Dwyer. He formerly campaigned the Mills 39 Mariners Cove, and is unveiling his new alliance with Swuzzlebubble as part of a small but strong Cork contingent in Wave Regatta.

Classic Half Tonners Swuzzlebubble and Checkmate (Dave Cullen) racing at Kinsale. Both will be at Howth, with Swuzzlebubble making her latest debut under the ownership of Dave Dwyer of RCYC. Photo: Robert Bateman

As it happens, Swuzzlebubble – a product of designer Bruce Farr at his most innovative in the late 1970s – is no stranger to success in Howth, for it was here at the end of August 1980, under the ownership of the late Bruce Lyster RStGYC and with Robert Dix at the helm, that Swuzzlebubble won the ISORA Abersoch-Howth Race to clinch the 1980 ISORA Championship in an astonishing year in which she carved a swathe through Cowes Week.

In her 45 years of existence, Swuzzlebubble has had more restorations than the Ruritanian Royal Family. But when she was successfully at the Half Ton Classics Worlds in Kinsale a few years back and in lovely order, she won all hearts yet again, so in bringing her to Ireland, Dave Dwyer is certainly plucking all the right heart and memory strings.

Swuzzlebubble becomes ISORA Champion at Howth on Sunday August 31st 1980, Bruce Lyster on left, Robert Dix on helm. Photo: W M Nixon

J/109 EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP

Within the broad programme of Wave, there are all sorts of sub events such as the Easter Championships of the J/109s, where a contender of special interest is Andrew Craig’s Chimaera RIYC, whose many laurels include being the overall winner of the last full Scottish Series in 2019.

With this year’s Scottish Series being a late cancellation owing to staffing problems, some hot boats have re-directed themselves Howthwards, not least being John Minnis’s recently-acquired Archambault 35 Final Call II (RUYC). She had been a much-fancied entry for the Scottish Series, but is now expected to be as much a force to be reckoned with at Howth as her predecessor - the First 31.7 Final Call – was in the One Design Championship on Dublin Bay last July, where she won her class with a clean sweep.

Howth YC having been the first in Ireland to encourage Under 25s into club-supported J/24s and J/80s, there are special awards for crews in that category, while in a different area of sailing altogether, there’s going to be a chance to see racing displays by Francois Colussi and his Pure Magic wind-foiling team during Saturday’s Lambay Race.

The Pure Magic wind-foilers will be in action during the Lambay Race on Saturday

With the Wright Hospitality Group being Wave Regatta’s main sponsors, their new linkup with Howth Castle is adding fresh possibilities to an already very varied offering, not least in providing welcome parking space for campervans which may well be the best way to secures shoreside accommodation in a busy Bank Holiday Weekend. During it, the summertime partying will match the sunshine sport and sailing afloat, where things will be very much for real with 57 Race Management personnel led by overall chairman Brian Turvey administering three race areas, backed up by International Umpires, Race Officers and Jurors t0 help fulfill the aim of real sport afloat and good times ashore.

Now operated by the Wright Hospitality Group, Howth Castle is becoming part of the Wave Regatta equation

If you’re looking for a different way to get involved with this summer’s Wave Regatta, Howth Yacht Club’s rescue and mark-laying team may have a spot for you.

The team will be active across the various courses, laying marks and aiding the race management team throughout the event over the June Bank Holiday weekend.

If you hold at least a Level 2 powerboat certificate, HYC invites you to get in touch with the team at [email protected] to find out more.

With less than two months to go before the first races in this year‘s Wave Regatta in Howth, entry levels across all classes reflect the pent-up demand for top class sailing events and anticipation of a return to near-normality from sailors around the country and beyond.

The Class One start-line might be one of the largest ever seen in Ireland. No doubt encouraged by the provision of deep-water berthing in Howth’s inner harbour, owners of these deepest-keeled racing boats have been quick to recognise the opportunity to enter and join a highly competitive racing fleet for the first time in many years.

In tandem with the rapidly-populating entry sheet, International Race Officer David Lovegrove and his team are building their race course plans to cater for the demands of both the large IRC fleet and one-design keelboat classes including Sigma 33s, J/24s, J/80s and 1720s as well as indigenous local classes such as Puppeteers, Squibs and Howth 17s.

Many J/24s will plan to use the event as an ‘acclimatisation' for their Easterns and European Championships which will be held in the same waters off Howth in August. This will present Wave Regatta as an attractive option for the many young teams including the vibrant Under-25 cohort that are enjoying superb growth in that class this year. The ‘youth’ theme will be further buoyed by the recent move to include some of the university sailing teams within the J/80 Class for the regatta.

Teams trailering yachts to the event (including sports boats) are being encouraged to enter as soon as possible so that trailer storage during the event can be efficiently accommodated. See notice of race for crane arrangements.

The shoreside experience is also growing in ambition and Wave Regatta’s entertainment co-ordinator Grace McAleese explains: ‘We’ve been thrilled to benefit from the generous support from sponsors Fingal County Council, Michael J Wright Group, Euro Car Parks, WD40, Cassidy Travel and the recent addition of CKS Finance. This allows us to create a shoreside experience that breaks boundaries - even for such a major sailing event. We can’t wait to present the full weekend of entertainment and hospitality’.

Full details and online entry are available here

Wave Regatta will return to Howth on June 3-5 this year with a determination to inspire the returning tide of major event sailing in Ireland following two years of pandemic and embracing the inevitable pent-up demand.

Last run in 2018, the timing of this three-day biennial keelboat regatta seems to present racing sailors with an ideal opportunity to return to celebrate the return of major event sailing and long-awaited entertainment.

Built around Howth’s historical Lambay Race, which was first run in 1904, Wave Regatta comprises of three full days of racing with the additional option of Saturday only (Lambay Race) participation for all keelboat classes. The anticipated arrival and inclusion of the new Mills designed ’Cape 31s’ will draw a lot of national and international attention to the event and will be the first opportunity for many to see these Grand Prix racing boats in action.

Best described as a ‘serious racing event wrapped inside a big party’, Wave Regatta is an unmissable experience for sailors as well as for the many visitors that come to Howth for the bank holiday weekend.

Friday’s first gun from Howth Yacht Club’s flagship on June 3rd will not only prepare Ireland’s yacht racing community for 3 days of top quality competition on Fingal’s ideal sailing waters, but it will also confirm the long-awaited return of a weekend full of big regatta hospitality onshore.

Wave Regatta Director Brian Turvey

Full details of Wave Regatta including online entry (with early discount) and the entertainment schedule is available here

One-design keelboat classes that might wish to utilise the opportunity of joining the event should contact the Wave Regatta organising team via the link above.

A reception at Howth Yacht Club tonight (Wednesday) was told of the special challenges faced in running the re-shaped season’s major sailing fixture in September, which will see the ICRA National Championship absorbed into Howth YC’s biennial block-buster event, the Wave Regatta, which in turn has developed around the time-honoured Lambay Race with its history dating back to 1904.

However, that remarkable history is now only a small part of it all, for as any of the hundreds, indeed thousands of keen sailors who took part in the first Wave Regatta in 2018 will agree, it has become a thoroughly modern event in its concept, organisation, and high level of sport provided.

Howth Yacht Club staged a Wave Regatta reception to outline plans for September's second edition

But while the direct and unfettered approach could successfully fulfil its enormous potential two years ago, the restricted situation in 2020 is very different, and Wave Regatta Organising Committee Chairman and former HYC Commodore Brian Turvey was completely frank in outlining the challenges which he and his colleagues have been facing in re-structuring their programme in the age of COVID-19:

“During the months when Ireland has been learning to deal with the new circumstances, the Wave Regatta team has been regularly meeting online to consider the ever-changing route ahead. Our initial and early decision to defer the event by ten weeks from what we hope will be its regular schedule in every second year on the June Bank Holiday, carefully dove-tailing with Dun Laoghaire Regatta, was intended to allow us to see off the Coronavirus.

(From left) National Yacht Club Commodore Martin McCarthy, Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot organiser Fintan Cairns and Royal St. George Yacht Club Commodore Peter Bowring

At that time, we also had the requirement of finding a suitable weekend in what would normally be a busy national sailing schedule. It now seems like a very long time ago when we were searched for that right decision. But the pandemic continues to keep us guessing, yet with the help of our versatile and agile team here in Howth, and guidance from our national governing body Irish Sailing, we are planning to deliver an excellent event on that chosen weekend of the 11th of September.

Our re-designing of Wave Regatta for 2020 has centred around the provision of safety for our competitors. Inevitably this has meant that there will be tight restrictions on visitors this year, with the result that our after-sailing entertainment program will be significantly curtailed.

(From left) Michael Wright, Ann Marie Farrelly, Richard Colwell and Mayor David Healy

However, our sport affords us lots of fresh air and wide-open spaces on Fingal’s very special coastline, and this allows us the opportunity to showcase this club’s world-class racing resources with a team that is anxious to do what it does best. Then too, our decision to combine Wave Regatta with the Irish Cruiser Racing National Championships will demonstrate a natural synergy, presenting the regatta as Ireland’s focal sailing event of 2020, while at the same time being one which is compliant with the national health requirements

In addition to the specially invited guests here this evening, we’re also delighted to welcome our sponsors including Fingal County Council, Wright Hospitality Group, Euro Car Parks, Cassidy Travel, WD40 and EasyTrip.ie. And let’s make no mistake about it - our sponsors’ supportive commitment to Wave Regatta during these very uncertain times has been - and continues to be - crucial to our ability to be agile with planning, affording us the confidence to reconstruct such a major sailing event.

(From left) Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Chairman Don O'Dowd, Wave Regatta's Dave Cullen, VDLR Secretary Ciara Dowling and Patrick Burke of the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Sailing is a sport that is not without risk, a fact incorporated in its fundamental rules and the healthy challenge it provides. But risk management is also vital for onshore planning even in the best of times, and these are not the best of times. Thus I would like to take this opportunity to thank HYC for their detailed diligence in this area in helping to ensure that we have a safe regatta for all, visitors and members alike, at the club during the Wave Regatta.

We are preparing to deal with competitor and visitor registration in respect of contact tracing obligations, as well as aligning with governmental and Irish Sailing guidelines and precautions. Competitors and visitors to the event will very quickly realise it is a different experience to the last time round two years ago, though by the second week of September, most will probably be well aware of the requirements of the new reality.

Wave Regatta reception guests enjoy the evening sunshine on the deck at Howth Yacht Club

But we aren’t going to assume that. The organisers of an event of this significance can make no easy assumptions. Thus we will create a total framework within which everyone will feel reassured by an environment where their safe enjoyment will be paramount, something that will be very significantly aided by the fact that Howth’s attractive marina/clubhouse complex provides a closed compound within which effective safety requirements can be confidently and fully implemented

In addition to the provision of specially-designed sport facial masks for all competitors, in conjunction with the highly-developed expertise of Wright Hospitality Group the organising team and Howth Yacht Club will provide a unique and innovative hospitality food and drinks system, maximizing the use of the huge open space that the club forecourt provides, as well as encouraging crews to utilise their boats on the marina, and encouraging teams to remain in their own groups after racing.

Daily online registration for teams and visitors to this club will be de rigeur by September, as will the extensive hand-washing and social distancing protocols. Other COVID-led innovations - include a novel pared-back style of prize-giving - will be introduced, thereby avoiding the old-style awards system of large and crowded groups with exhausting and unreasonably extended ceremonies. In considering this, some may well assert: “About time, too”. So who knows, but we may even be setting a new and welcome trend in our sport.

(From left) Richard Colwell, former ICRA Commodore Norbert Reilly and Ian Byrne

Our message for the competitive sailing community is that, for Wave 2020, we are looking forward to welcoming you and showing you how this new detailed format will look, and how it will function, and function successfully too. We are really excited to be rolling forward with what we have been told will be one of the only major sailing regattas to be held not just in Ireland, but in the world, in this very challenging year of 2020. We certainly recognise the very special demands we face. But in Howth, we feel our great sport of sailing makes it worthwhile to take on the challenge.

The effective full return to sailing announced last week is good timing for Howth’s Wave Regatta team who continue to work towards what is now likely to be the key sailing regatta of this very short sailing season.

Wave Regatta chairman Brian Turvey enthusiastically welcomed Irish Sailing’s news last week, which effectively allows a return to full sailing activities from this today, explaining ‘This confirms that our decision to postpone Wave Regatta until September 11th was both timely and correct. The fact that sailors can now return to racing with full crews means that they will enjoy 10-weeks of racing before the event and should have time to get boats and crew prepared. We are also delighted with the organisation team’s experience and work in respect of preparation for a ‘safe regatta’ and in line with sport and hospitality guidelines.’

In addition to their plans to make Wave 2020 the safest and most attractive regatta of the year, the team has advised of some further improvements to their original hugely successful regatta in 2018.

The format for this year’s event has been further modified to provide an additional ‘round-the-cans‘ race on the Saturday morning before Howth Yacht Club’s famous Lambay Race. Similarly, scoring has been modified, whereby the Lambay Race will score single points for those competing in the ICRA National Championships and will be discardable - whilst it will be non-discardable and carries a 1.5 weighting for boats competing for Wave Regatta prizes.

Early entry discount concludes this coming Friday (July 3rd) and it is expected that this week will draw many more entries, all availing of the reduced early-rate.
As plans evolve for the ‘shoreside’ set-up, the latest news is that a more complete hospitality offering will be in place, albeit carefully managed in respect of pandemic precautions. A huge outdoor lounge is to be built on Howth Yacht Club’s large forecourt, with extensive menus and top-class food available morning until night-time.

Online entry and Notice of Race can be accessed at waveregatta.com and a discount is still available until next Friday.

The J80 class will join Wave Regatta this September for its national championships in the latest details just announced by Howth Yacht Club.

Given the seismic shake-up to the sailing calendar this year, Wave Regatta will certainly be a focal Irish sailing regatta for 2020, not least by incorporating the Irish Cruiser Racing Association National Championships and as such the event will focus on delivering an excellent championship for all the competing sailors over the 3 days from September 11th.

Howth Yacht Club is preparing with a ‘front-up’ focus on safety in respect of COVID-19. They will be ensuring that we fully comply with the protocols and guidelines as outlined by the HSE and also in conjunction with Sport Ireland and Irish Sailing.

Plans are already in place for controlled access to the club, along with an innovative self-assessment protocol for all competitors. Much of the live entertainment will be replaced by a creative offering, including food and drink service to ‘crew pods’ onshore and also a service direct to boats on the marina.

Race Director Dave Cullen was delighted to confirm that Jamie McWilliam’s Ker 43 ‘Signal 8’ competing in the event as part of it’s slightly delayed 2020 regatta programme. ‘It’s great to see Jamie and team back in Howth for Wave Regatta’ and Dave added ‘we’re looking forward to giving all the competing sailors an event to remember. We’re also delighted to confirm that the J80 class will join other one-design and ICRA classes that will enjoy their national championships within Wave Regatta’.

Jamie McWilliam's Ker Signal 8 will race at WAVE Regatta
Wave Regatta’s Brian Turvey understands the anxiety that sailors are feeling ‘We’re delighted to be rolling on with the event and plan to deliver a superb regatta for everybody who comes to Howth. Whilst we’re scaling back on the original hospitality offering and we’ll be concentrating on delivering the very highest quality racing event and providing a safe shoreside experience. The committed support from our sponsors has enabled us to proceed with the evolution and roll-out of Wave Regatta, ensuring that the rescheduled dates could be firmly secured.’

Event details and online entry are available here with a special discount in place for entries before the fast-approaching July 3rd. All entries are refundable as per the normal prescriptions.

Howth Yacht Club has decided to move its WAVE Regatta from the end of May to 11-13^th September.

The decision comes today as the Government moved to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

WAVE Regatta is the first of the Summer's big Irish sailing regattas and along with the second edition of the three-day event, the club's traditional Lambay Races will also move to the Autumn date.

The schedule will continue to offer keelboat classes the options of racing in the 3-day regatta or a single-day entry for Saturday’s Lambay Races.

More on the new date as we have it.