A daring on-the-water display from Zap Cat speedboats began St. Patrick's Day eve proceedings in Kinsale Harbour on Thursday night.

A flotilla of 14 Kinsale Yacht Club yachts, local boats and fishing trawlers dressed with fairy lights paraded from Charles Fort to the Pier before a fireworks display at the West Cork Harbour.

A huge crowd gathered on the Pier, including visitors from Singapore, Germany the United States – to name but a few – welcomed the man of the moment, St. Patrick himself, at the flotilla's head.

A flotilla of 14 Kinsale Yacht Club yachts, local boats and fishing trawlers dressed with fairy lights paraded from Charles Fort to the Pier for the start of the  St. Patricks Day festivities Photo:  Bob Bateman

The fireworks display lit the night sky as the yachts passed the Pier.

The RNLI lifeboat also joined the flotilla.

Kinsale Yacht Club Commodore Matthias Hellstern (left) welcomes the Mayor of Newport, Rhode Island, USA, to Kinsale for St. Patricks Day festivities Photo: Bob Bateman

Later, ashore, the Mayor of Newport, Rhode Island, USA, was decorated with the Grand Marshal Sash for the St Patrick’s Day Parade by Paul Carty of Fáilte Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day Maritime Parade, Kinsale Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

The Kinsale Yacht Club’s 2023 cruiser-racing season kicked off on Sunday, March 12th, with the first race of the Frank Godsell-sponsored March League.

On a damp misty day, five boats came out to race on a course set by Race Officer Denis Kieran.

The course largely raced in the harbour, factoring in the inclement weather and the desire to get back in time for the all-important Six Nations rugby match.

Denis Kieran was the Race Officer in the opening races of the Kinsale Yacht Club March League Photo: Dave Cullinane

Class Captain Brian Carroll on Chancer won both Echo and IRC in the cruiser fleet, and Alan Mulcahy’s Apache won ECHO and IRC in the White Sails fleet.

Alan Mulcahy’s Apache competing in the White Sails fleet in the opening races of the Kinsale Yacht Club March League Photo: Dave Cullinane

Two more weeks follow in the March League before the Axiom Private Clients Spring Series starts on 2nd April.

With no racing possible on the final day of Kinsale Yacht Club's Squib Frostbite Series, the overall win went to Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan in Outlaw.

There were 15 races sailed and three discards in the 12-boat fleet, leaving Travers and O'Riordan with a 5.5-point winning margin. Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward were second in Allegro.

Third was Club Commodore Matthia Hellstern sailing with Colm Daly in third place.

Unfortunately, there was not enough wind to race on the final day of Kinsale Yacht Club's Squib Frostbite Series Photo: Bob Bateman

Squib winners Keith O'Riordan (left) and Ian Travers in Outlaw were the overall winners of Kinsale Yacht Club's Squib Frostbite Series Photo: Bob Bateman

Fiona Ward and Colm Dunne were second overall at Kinsale Yacht Club's Squib Frostbite Series Photo: Bob Bateman

Kinsale Yacht Club's Squib Frostbite Series Prizegiving Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman 

“Shindig is an old boat, very traditional, down-to-earth, you wouldn’t have the luxury of the super yachts around down here, some of which are massive cruising machines with every gadget known to man, but she suits us perfectly and makes good speed,” Alice Kingston says on the phone from Antigua in the Caribbean which herself and husband, Tony, a former Cork Harbour Pilot, have reached on their voyage from Kinsale.

“From here, we’re going to make our way to Fort Lauderdale. We’ll try and see as many of the islands as we can, probably stopping in St.Barts, St.Kitts and the British Virgin Islands, and we’ll take Shindig out of the water in Florida and then head for home in April sometime. Tony and Alice are members of Kinsale Yacht Club and left their home port a few months back, were crewed by family and friends to Barbados, from where they carried on by themselves.

Alice Kingston at the helm of Shindig in the Caribbean

They originally bought, Shindig, a Swan 40 that is fifty years old and sailed it from the USA back to Kinsale three years ago with their son and daughter. Tony and his brother, George, restored the boat in Kinsale Boatyard.

Apart from using the engine for an hour a day to charge batteries, it’s been all sailing for the couple, using the main and head sail. They have found some areas pretty crowded with boats.

Shindig anchored in Antigua

“At Martinique, there was an 800-berth marina which was full and wouldn’t have space for two weeks,” said Alice on my Maritime Ireland March Podcast, “but we prefer anchorages anyway, and we swim ashore from the boat because you’re advised if possible not to use the dinghy. We’ve used it only twice. We anchor close to shore and swim ashore with our dry bags when we need to, so we’re getting loads of swimming, but the water is warm, thirty degrees, so it’s no hardship. Many boats have water-makers. We are living very simply really on the boat, which is lovely to get back to that kind of living. It shows you can do with so much less,” Alice said.

Listen to Alice Kingston on the Podcast here

With nine races sailed in the Frostbite Series for the Squib Class at Kinsale YC, Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan sailing Outlaw continue to hold the lead on a total of eight points.

Three races, the seventh, eighth and ninth races of the series, were sailed on Sunday, two of which they won and were second in the other.

The top three placings of the 14-boat fleet haven’t changed, since the previous week, after Sunday’s third day of the series. Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward, sailing Allegro, are second on 14.5 points, having beaten the leading duo into second place in the second race on Sunday last. Still in third place overall are Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly sailing Fifty Shades, on 23.5 points. In the third race on Sunday, Sean and Paul Murphy sailing Crackers got ahead of the second and third overall boats as they battled to the finishing line. Crackers finished second and is now placed overall on 29 points. Allegro and Fifty Shades couldn’t be separated and shared 3.5 points each at the finish. Two discards have so far been allowed, so the results of seven races are counted in the current results. The leading boat, Outlaw, has won six, been second in another and discarded a third place as its worst result, as well as a 15-pointer penalty when Travers and O’Riordan did not sail in the first race of the series. Racing will continue on Sundays until March 5.

Two Lasers and a 420 formed a mixed dinghy fleet which joined the Frostbite series on Sunday. They sailed three races, all won by Harvey Matthews in a Laser Radial. Four Topper dinghies also began racing. Caoimhe Corkery won all three of their races.

Cinnamon Girl, the two-handed cruiser crew of Sam Hunt and Cian McCarthy, sailed the Squib, Breakaway, to first place in the first race of Sunday’s Custom Rigging Frostbite Series at Kinsale Yacht Club.

This was the second day of racing, but the duo were outpaced in the next two races of the day by Outlaw, sailed by Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan, which has taken over leadership of the Custom Rigging Frostbite Series.

The Breakaway crew finished in fifth and third places in those two races.

With one discard applied after six races, Outlaw leads the league with a total of just seven points.

Second overall are Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward, sailing Allegro. They had a hat-trick of second places in Sunday’s three races. and now have a total of twelve points. Behind them, placed third on eighteen points, are Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly sailing Fifty Shades.

The Breakaway crew are placed 9th overall on a total of 37 points.

Last week’s league leaders, Michael O’Sullivan and Micheál O Suilleabháin, did not race on Sunday. Carrying a points penalty applied for not competing, have dropped to 7th of the thirteen boats racing in the league, which continues until Sunday, March 5.

Second overall are Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward, sailing Allegro. They had a hat-trick of second places in Sunday’s three races. and now have a total of twelve points. Behind them, placed third on eighteen points, are Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly sailing Fifty Shades. The Breakaway crew are placed 9th overall on a total of 37 points.

See a photo gallery of the series here

2022 was a special year for Kinsale Yacht Club’s St. Stephens Day race for the Gunsmoke Bell Trophy. This year marked thirty years of race sponsorship by long-standing club member Sammy Cohen.

For the nine boats that took part this year, they were lucky enough to sail in perfect sailing conditions for this time of year with blue skies and a steady southwesterly breeze which died at the end, leading some boats to struggle to get to the finish line.

The Race Officer, Denis Kieran, laid a course outside the harbour, and Tom Roche’s Meridian led the fleet out of the harbour and around the course.

Stephen Lysaght, skipper of Reavra Too, accepts the  Gunsmoke Trophy from Sammy Cohen

As the wind died close to the finish off the marina in Kinsale, three boats (Meridian, Reavra Too and Chancer) battled it out for line honours, with all three being just over a minute apart.

In the end, it was Stephen Lysaght’s Reavra Too that won the trophy on Echo, with Chancer in second place and Meridian in third place.

Maeve Cotter will act as the regatta director for Kinsale's staging of the Dragon Gold Cup in 2024.

Cotter is a former Commodore of Glandore Harbour Yacht Club and the current Rear Commodore of Kinsale YC. She takes up the role with an experienced committee acting alongside her.

The event will run from 6th to 13th of September 2024.

Matthias Hellstern, Commodore of Kinsale Yacht Club, welcomed Maeve commenting, “I have worked with Maeve on a Management Committee level for over 4 years, and I have seen first-hand her ability and dedication that I have no doubt she will apply to this role. As an experienced Dragon sailor, Maeve also understands the class and what is required to make this an exceptional event.”

Kinsale Yacht Club is a long way into its planning of the 2024 event with Astra Construction already on board as the headline sponsor. The Gold Cup is the pinnacle event of the dragon season, and excitement is already mounting in Kinsale following the disappointment of having to the cancel the event in 2020 due to covid.

Dragon racing at Kinsale Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Asked for her thoughts on the role and regatta, Maeve added “I have sailed Dragons since I was a teenager and love the boat and class. My brother Michael campaigned Dragons for many years and my two sons, Daniel and Sean will be racing in the event on our boat “Whisper” so no doubt I will have plenty of suggestions and feedback! We are lucky that Kinsale is such a destination town, with the yacht club located in the heart of it, coupled with the phenomenal race area at the beginning of the wild Atlantic way. It’s really exciting for the Irish class to have such a big event to look forward to ”.

In the time-honoured tradition at Kinsale in West Cork, the end of the season at Kinsale Yacht Club is marked by the Laying Up Dinner. This event allows members to come together to celebrate the season passed and look forward to the upcoming season. This year broke all records with tickets selling out in under three hours, such was the demand from members to attend.

2022 was a very successful year for Kinsale YC, including the inaugural Inishtearaght Race, three boats competing in the Round Ireland Race, two new National Champions this year, and the extremely successful Under 25’s Kinsailor J/24.

The Kinsale initiative is reviewed by Afloat's WM Nixon in an article entitled; Kinsale’s Pace-Setting In Nurturing Ireland’s Young Sailing Talent

Kinsale Yacht Club's inaugural Inishtearaght Race in May Photo: Bob Bateman

Squib Champions

Ian Travers was the Regatta Director for the Squib National Championships, and the event saw 55 Squibs from across the UK and Ireland competing in Kinsale. Ian, along with Keith O Riordan took the Squib Irish National Champion title and now joins Kinsale’s list of National Champions.

Irish Squib National Champion Keith O Riordan (left) and Ian Travers of Kinsale Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Irish Squib National Champion Ian Travers (left) and KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern

Dragon Champions

Former Commodore Cameron Good, along with current Commodore Matthias Hellstern and Henry Kingston took the title of Dragon National Champion at the event in Dun Laoghaire, which had eluded Kinsale YC for 32 years.

Cameron Good, along with current Commodore Matthias Hellstern and Henry Kingston on their way to Dragon class victory at Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat.ie

Irish Dragon National Champions Cameron Good, Henry Kingston and Matthias Hellstern with KYC Vice Commodore, Tony Scannell

Under 25’s Kinsailor project

The Kinsailor Under 25 crew from Kinsale Yacht Club had a fantastic year afloat Photo: Bob Bateman

The Club Member of the Year was awarded to former Commodore, Dave O’Sullivan. This award is made annually to someone who has gone to exceptional lengths to further the goals of Kinsale YC. This year’s recipient was given a suggestion which he ran with, putting a lot of time and effort into it. He used his power of persuasion to get others involved and very quickly Dave O’Sullivan had the Under 25’s Kinsailor project up and running and he agreed to be the mentor for the developing team.

Kinsale Yacht Club's Dave O’Sullivan - the under 25’s Kinsailor project mentor Photo: Bob Bateman

With an enthusiastic youthful squad, many of whom attended the Laying Up Dinner, Dave set up a training schedule and fundraising events to be carried out by the squad who he said had to take ownership of the project.

A squad of 14 was put together and training began.

The Kinsailors competing at the J24 European Championships in Howth in late August where they took third overall Photo: Christopher Howell

The boat and crew performed well enough in the midweek series but it really took everyone’s attention at the J24 European Championships in Howth in late August. Despite technical difficulties with a broken mast, the boat finished overall third in Europe separated from first by a single point and the best-performing Irish boat. They certainly left their mark, and hopefully, this was the first successful year of many to come.

David Riome’s Valfeya won Saturday’s third race of the McCarthy Insurance October/November White Sails League at Kinsale Yacht Club in Fleet 1, both IRC and ECHO from John Stallard’s Siboney.

Overall, Valfreya is on six points in IRC, one ahead of Siboney on seven. Michael Carroll’s Chancer is third on nine. 

In ECHO handicap, the same trio tops the league - Valfreya on 5 points, Siboney 8 and Chancer 12.

Fleet 2 IRC leader is Patrick Beckett’s Miss Charlie on 5 points from Sallybelle (Albert O’Neill) 6, with Dominic Falvey’s Swift on 10.

In ECHO, Sallybelle (6 points) leads from Swift and Miss Charlie who are both on 10.