An exotic weekend in Dun Laoghaire with the start of an Olympic class keelboat event plus the arrival of a Volvo 70 into the harbour but Irish weather meant all did not go to plan. Click our links for a round up of the weekend's sailing events from around the country: Mansfield Wins 1720 Euros in Baltimore, Squall Puts Paid to First Race of Star Europeans in Dun Laoghaire, West Kirby Teams Top ISAF Worlds in Schull, Johnston's Beneteau 31.7 is Good Prospect, Killyleagh Pair Scoop Flying Fifteen East Coast Cup, Lively Lady Sails to Victory in Fickle ISORA Race to Rockabill, SB3 Team Sanya Welcome Scuppered by Strong Winds. We'll have more reports later this morning from the J24 Easterns in Howth, the National 18 season in Cork and J80 Match racing.

Howth Yacht Club's Lambay Race is renowned for providing a real mix of conditions to test the skills - and patience - of the hundreds of crews participating.... and the 2011 event was certainly no different!

Light to moderate westerlies which greeted the fleets at their respective starts veered and died, veered some more and gained in strength, faded along the back of the island and eventually veered to the south-east by the finish in a steadily increasing wind!

The effects were reflected in a number of the class results where pre-race favourites became victims of tidal flows and wind fluctuations, although there would be no complaints about shortening both courses after three and a half hours and more on the water.

Class 1 was led home by Crazy Horse (Reilly/Chambers) on the water but it was Makutu (Doyle & Others) who took the IRC honours by three minutes corrected ahead of the fleet leader while Trinculo (M/Fleming) was comfortably the ECHO winner.

MiniMumm (Cobbe/McDonald) got the gun and the IRC award in Class 2 ahead of Impetuous (Noonan/Chambers) and was runner-up to Superhero (Byrne/Banahan) on ECHO by a narrow margin.

Royal Irish YC visitor Supernova (Lawless & Others) were clearly not fazed by the conditions, romping home in Class 3 by a massive 25 minutes on the water, corrected to over 15 minutes on IRC ahead of Holly (B.McMahon). Unsurprisingly, the margin was also good enough to win ECHO too, from Lee na Mara (R.O’Malley).

The White Sail ‘A’ Division saw On the Rox (C&J Boyle) get the better of Bite the Bullet (C.Bermingham) on both IRC and ECHO while Alphida (H.Byrne) topped the ‘B’ Division on IRC and was runner-up to Bandersnatch (K.O’Grady) on ECHO.

Five First 31.7s travelled from Dun Laoghaire to compete with Howth’s C’Est la Vie in a scratch event and it was magic (O’Sullivan/Espey) of the Royal Irish which came home first by just under two minutes. An importation of six Shipman from the southside saw Joslim (Clarke/Maher, RSt.GYC) beat second-placed Just Good Friends (M.Carroll, DMYC) by over three minutes.

The other one-design classes started on the Inshore Course with the Squibs and Howth 17s given a head-start before a 3-class start of Etchells, SB3s and J24s gave chase, followed by E-Boats, Ruffians and Puppeteers.

Fetching (Quinn/O’Flaherty) had just 23 seconds to spare over second-placed Glance (Dix/O’Reilly) in the Etchells, Shockwave (E.Quinlan) had the better of Sin a Bhuifl (G.Guinness) in the SB3 match-race and former All-Ireland Sailing Champion Stefan Hyde (RCYC) on Kilcullen headed home the J24s by a little over a minutes from Hard on Port (F.O’Driscoll).

The regular fleet leader in the Puppeteers, Harlequin (Clarke/Egan), didn’t disappoint and headed the 17-strong fleet home by 15 minutes on scratch from Yellow Peril (N.Murphy), with the result the same on handicap.

Ten Ruffians travelled from Dublin Bay and it was the National Y.C.’s Ruff N Ready (Kirwan & Others) who took the honours from Ruffles (M.Cutliffe, DMYC) while Puffin (E.Harte) topped the Squib rankings by two minutes from Wasabi (C&N Penlerick) on scratch and was runner-up to Pegasus (T&K Smyth) on handicap.

The Howth 17s, almost as old as the Lambay Race itself, were led home after almost 4 hours racing by Aura (I.Malcolm) from Rita (Lynch/Curley) with the latter taking the handicap honours from Leila (R.Cooper).

HOWTH YACHT CLUB.  LAMBAY REGATTA (RACE) 11/06/2011   Class 1  IRC:  1, Makutu Doyle/Others HYC;  2, Crazy Horse Reilly/Chambers HYC;  3, Storm P Kelly HYC;  Class 1  ECHO:  1, Trinculo M Fleming HYC;  2, Makutu Doyle/Others HYC;  3, Gringo T Fox NYC;  Class 2  IRC:  1, MiniMumm Cobbe/McDonald HYC;  2, Impetuous Noonan/Chambers HYC;  3, King One D Cullen HYC;  Class 2  ECHO:  1, Superhero Byrne/Banahan HYC;  2, MiniMumm Cobbe/McDonald HYC;  3, Impetuous Noonan/Chambers HYC;  Class 3  IRC:  1, Supernova Lawless/Others RIYC;  2, Holly B MacMahon HYC;  3, Goyave Camier/Fitzpatrick MYC;  Class 3  ECHO:  1, Supernova Lawless/Others RIYC;  2, Lee na Mara R O'Malley HYC;  3, Taiscealai Richardson/Lindberg RIYC;  First 31.7  SCRATCH:  1, Magic O'Sullivan/Espey RIYC;  2, Bluefin Two M & B Bryson NYC;  3, C'est la Vie Flannelly/Others HYC;  Puppeteer  SCRATCH:  1, Harlequin Clarke/Egan HYC;  2, Yellow Peril N Murphy HYC;  3, Blue Velvet C & K Kavanagh HYC;  Puppeteer  HPH:  1, Harlequin Clarke/Egan HYC;  2, Yellow Peril N Murphy HYC;  3, Blue Velvet C & K Kavanagh HYC;  Squib  SCRATCH: 1, Puffin E Harte HYC;  2, Wasabi C & N Penlerick HYC;  3, Pot Black I & R McMurtry HYC;  Squib  HPH:  1, Pegasus T & K Smyth HYC;  2, Puffin E Harte HYC;  3, Wasabi C & N Penlerick HYC;  17 Footer  SCRATCH:  1, Aura I Malcolm HYC;  2, Rita Lynch/Curley HYC;  3, Leila R Cooper HYC;  17 Footer HPH:  1, Echo B & H Lynch HYC;  2, Leila R Cooper HYC;  3, Pauline O'Doherty/Ryan HYC;  Etchells  SCRATCH:  1, Fetching Quinn/O'Flaherty HYC;  2, Glance Dix/O'Reilly HYC;  3, Northside Dragon D Cagney HYC;  Shipman  SCRATCH: 1, Joslim Clarke/Maher RStGYC;  2, Just Good Friends M Carroll DMYC;  3, Whiterock H Robinson RIYC;  E Boat  SCRATCH:  1, OctupussE P O'Neill CY&BC;  Ruffian 23  SCRATCH:  1, Ruff N Ready Kirwan/Others NYC;  2, Ruffles M Cutliffe DMYC;  3, Ripples F Bradley DMYC;  SB 3  SCRATCH:  1, Shockwave E Quinlan HYC;  2, Sin a Bhuifl Guinness/Costigan HYC;  White Sail A IRC:  1, On the Rox C & J Boyle HYC;  2, Bite the Bullet C Bermingham HYC; 3, Flashback Hogg/Others HYC;  White Sail A  ECHO:  1, On the Rox C & J Boyle HYC;  2, Bite the Bullet C Bermingham HYC;  3, Changeling K Jameson HYC; J 24  SCRATCH:  1, Kilcullen S Hyde RCYC;  2, Hard on Port F O'Driscoll HYC; 3, Jibberish Wormold/Others HYC;  White Sail B  IRC:  1, Alphida H Byrne HYC; 2, Voyager J Carton HYC;  3, Demelza Laudan/Ennis HYC;  White Sail B  ECHO:  1, Bandersnatch K O'Grady HYC;  2, Alphida H Byrne HYC;  3, Demelza Laudan/Ennis HYC;  White Sail B  HPH:  1, Voyager J Carton HYC;  2, Sandpiper A Knowles HYC;  3, Alphida H Byrne HYC;  White Sail A  HPH:  1, On the Rox C & J Boyle HYC;  2, Sojourn Blandford/Lacy HYC;  3, Bite the Bullet C Bermingham HYC

FINE DAY FOR SPRING WARMER FINALE

Howth Yacht Club's Spring Warmer Sailing Series, sponsored by Key Capital Private, came to a close on Saturday afternoon after the eight classes completed the six-race series in conditions which, while pleasant, were particularly frustrating for the race officers. With the winds shifting from northerly to easterly as the day wore on, it was no surprise that the starts for both races were delayed until conditions settled.

In terms of numbers, the SB3s had the biggest entry with 17, with a dozen or so out each week. Sharkbait (Duncan/Moran) and Yeti (Sean Craig, RStGYC) dominated proceedings on the last day, notching 1^st and 2^nd respectively in both races. While that was no doubt satisfying, it wasn’t enough to prevent the consistent Eoin Quinlan in ‘Shockwave’ from taking the overall prize.

The Quinn/O’Flaherty partnership in Fetching has been the crew to beat in the Etchells from day one and while Kootamundra Wattle and Jabberwocky took turns to win on the last day, two second places was more than enough for Fetching to head the fleet overall. That their discard was a second place speaks volumes for their dominance.

Class 1 was a three-boat affair but it was Storm (Pat Kelly) who headed Equinox (Ross McDonald) with two wins to take the overall honours by two points on IRC, although the order was reversed under ECHO.

Xtra Time (M&P Arthurs, MYC) enjoyed success in the first race but it was never going to be enough to upset the odds on Maximus (Pat Kyne) winning the Class 2 trophy on IRC, with the Howth boat also winning on ECHO as well.

Over on the ‘inshore course’, Class 2 was effectively a match-race between two boats – Gecko and Starlet – who took it in turns to win the races so that in the end they couldn’t be separated and had to share the spoils.

Lough Erne visitor JP McCaldin got away well to win the first race and with two guns and two seconds over the first two weekends had the luxury of retiring from the final race knowing that the series was wrapped up. Scandal from MYC (with Mossy Shanahan on helm) won well in the last race to share second overall with Flor O’Driscoll’s Hard On Port.

The only perfect score of the series was in the Puppeteers where Dave Clarke’s Harlequin topped the fleet with a peerless six guns and the margin of victory was such that they also won on handicap. Eclipse (A & R Hegarty) had a satisfactory series, finishing runner-up on both scratch and handicap.

Visiting boats dominated the Squibs from day one and while Royal North entry Toy for the Boys (P.Wallace) won the penultimate race, normal service was resumed with Lola (F.Whelan, RStGYC) in the last, to take the title by a clear four points from another George boat Nimble (O’Hare & others). 

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.