With the confirmation that Kinsale Yacht Club will be hosting the Half Ton Classic Worlds from August 14th to 18th 2017, Irish interest will intensify further in a class which already attracts much favourable attention. W M Nixon tells us more about a popular boat type which will have a defending champion from Ireland when the Worlds get under way in Falmouth in Cornwall in a week’s time.

If today’s newcomers to sailing find the resurrection of old offshore racing classes which are apparently only identified by specific weights a bit bewildering, then they can blame the first Commodore of the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.

The first Commodore of the NYC in 1931 was the Earl of Granard. The club had been founded in 1870 as the Kingstown Royal Harbour Boat Club, and in 1901 it became the Edward Yacht Club in honour of one of Queen Victoria’s many offspring. But with the new mood of the times after Irish Independence in 1922, such a name just wouldn’t do. Nevertheless it was a very sporting gesture when one of the landed aristocracy proposed the new no-nonsense name in 1930, giving it a fair wind by agreeing to be Commodore the following year.

Thus the big change to becoming “The National Yacht Club” was made respectable. But then, the Earl of Granard was a well-respected sailing man in his own right, despite the fact that his ancestral pile in County Longford was about as far from the sea as you can get in Ireland.

Admittedly there was sailing nearby with the North Shannon Yacht Club on Lough Forbes, which incidentally is named after the earl’s family – they were connected to the Forbes of the famous business magazine in America. However, despite the joys of sailing on Lough Forbes, the Earl had long been into bigger things on the international scene, though his interest still had an inland waterways aspect. In 1899 he’d presented a magnificent silver cup to the leading French sailing club, the Cercle de la Voile de Paris (CVP) for an international competition, to be sailed on the River Seine near Paris or on the Solent at Cowes, with the racing between boats which weighed one ton.

Although the trophy’s official name was the Coupe Internationale du Cercle de la Voile de Paris, it soon became known as the One Ton Cup, and continued to be so named even when racing was between yachts of the International 6 Metre Class, despite their weighing several tons apiece.

The cause of all the trouble – the One Ton Cup was presented to the CVP by the Earl of Granard, future Commodore of the National YC, in 1898, and was first raced for in 1899.
The magnificent cup remained as beautiful as ever, but with World War II it became almost forgotten until 1965, when the CVP proposed using it for an inshore-offshore international series for yachts rating at 22ft under the RORC rule, which worked out to be boats around the 36-37ft mark. The idea took off like a rocket - level-rating racing among diverse boats was an idea whose time had come. Very quickly, a whole range of additional international rating levels arose, with Two Tonners around 40-42ft, Three Quarter Tonners around 34ft, Half Tonners around 30ft, Quarter Tonners around 25ft, Mini-Tonners around 21ft, and they even had Micro-Tonners at about 18ft.

The Ton Classes at their peak

It all worked very well for twenty years and more in some cases (the last Half Tonner was built in 1992), with the boat sizes staying broadly the same size range, but with the ratings changed to accommodate the RORC rule being replaced by the IOR. And Irish sailing certainly had its moments in this continuing circus of various offshore racing acts. In 1974 the Ron Holland-designed, Cork–built 36ft Golden Apple somehow became more famous than the winner by being runner up the One Ton Worlds. But then in 1976, Harold Cudmore and a youthful crew from Cork put all questions aside by managing to get the new race-prepared Ron Holland-designed 30ft Silver Shamrock to Trieste for the Half Ton Worlds, and he won in style, famously celebrating by sailing up the Grand Canal in Venice with spinnaker set.

The 1976 Half Ton World champion Silver Shamrock, getting an end-of-season lift-out at her current home port of Penzance in Cornwall See the conquering heroes come…….Silver Shamrock sailing up the Grand Canal in Venice after winning the Half Ton Worlds 1976 in Trieste under Harold Cudmore’s command. Ronnie Dunphy on left, Killian Bushe on foredeck

In 1981 he was back on top again, winning the One Ton Worlds at Crosshaven with the Castro-design Justine IV owned by Frank Woods (NYC). But by this time the boats involved were very different in form from those skinny-sterned designs which had dominated in the earlier 1970s, as a fresh wave of New Zealand designers like Bruce Farr and Laurie Davidson had been showing what could be achieved with broader sterns and better offwind performance.

The Half Ton Worlds was won in 1977, ’78 and ’79 by Kiwi boats of this type. But though she was not the overall winner, Ian Gibbs’ Farr-designed Swuzzlebubble was the one everyone remembered best, as she was on the podium one year as a centreboarder, and back there in the top three the year after, but this time as a keelboat.

The new wave arrives from New Zealand – Swuzzlebubble in 1979
The following year she arrived in Ireland in the ownership of Bruce Lyster of Royal St George in Dun Laoghaire, and he won the ISORA Championship in 1980, plus ISORA Week and just about everything for which the boat was eligible in Cowes Week.

He had an exceptional crew of all the talents with Robert Dix, Drewry Pearson and Des Cummins, and Dixie remembers her as one of the most wonderful boats he ever sailed: “She found her own way to peak performance so effortlessly that you’d almost be scared to do anything which might adversely effect the trim” he quips.

He continues to say that even though Bruce Lyster sold Swuzzlebubble to Greece at season’s end, as you simply couldn’t improve on a season like they’d had in 1980. The Three Musketeers meanwhile transferred aboard Ken Rohan’s 40ft Regardless, with which they won their class big time in the 1981 Fastnet.

Regardless would be on most people’s short list for the greatest Irish racing yacht ever, yet Robert Dix remembers the previous season with Swuzzlebubble with even more enthusiasm. So it’s intriguing that at next week’s Henri Lloyd Half Ton Classics Worlds, the new wave of Irish Classic Half Ton sailors will be taking on Swuzzlebubble for the first time.

The story of her re-birth is typical of the modern revival of the very best of the old Ton Cup boats, with the One Ton Championship itself being revived for its Golden Jubilee in New Zealand in 2015 with a classic fleet. As for Swuzzlebubble, she was discovered in a very poor way indeed in a Greek boatyard in 2012, but was brought back to life by the King of Cowes, Peter Morton, who duly won the Half Ton Classics Worlds in Brittany in 2014 with her.

Next stop, the landfill site? Swuzzlebubble as she was found in Greece in 2012
Swuzzlebubble restored, on her way to winning the Half Ton Classics in Brittany in 2014

However, Swuzzlebubble wasn’t campaigned in the 2015 series in Belgium, when Dave Cullen took the trophy for Ireland with Checkmate XV. So there has been an air of unfinished business about these two rather special boats floating about the ocean without actually locking horns, but that’s all going to be changed in Falmouth.

Dave Cullen on the helm as Checkmate XV makes a start to die for at the Half Ton Worlds in Belgium, 2015Winners take all – Dave Cullen and his crew with the trophy after victory last year

In fact, it has become Howth versus Falmouth, as Swuzzlebubble is now Falmouth-owned by Gregory Peck who, in a very varied sailing career, was one of the crew with Dickie Gomes aboard the 83ft catamaran Novanet when a new Round Ireland Record was established in November 1986, but that’s another story altogether.

However, in Falmouth there’ll be other boats involved too, as the word is they might muster as many as 30 entries, which is as big a fleet as anyone could reasonably wish for. The remarkable Howth/Fingal contingent will be there in full strength, as Checkmate XV will be taking the road with Jonny Swann’s Harmony, Michael and Richard Evans’ The Big Picture, and the David Kelly and Patrick Boardman team from Rush SC with King One, Half Ton World Champion in 1981.

It’s an intriguing mixture of nostalgia and modernity, as the boats get revamped to new ideas, yet they always carry their history lightly but definitely with them. In the case of the Howth boats, much of the technical work in revamping is done by ace boatbuilder Alan Power of Malahide, who appropriately is a powerboat nut himself, but his ability to think outside the usual boat-building box makes him the ideal man to undertake crazy notions for addicts of old but still potent offshore racers.

Preparation zone…..The Big Picture (left) and Checkmate XV undergoing modifications with Power Marine in Malahide back in April. Photo: W M Nixon

In line with this aim of maximising performance, the Howth/Fingal crewing lineup will include some formidable talent from all over Ireland, with Dave Cullen leading the charge with his 2015 crew of Johnny Murphy, Gary Cullen (no relation), Aidan Beggan, Mark Pettit, James Hynes and Andy George.

The crew on The Big Picture meanwhile have roped in Mark Mansfield of Cork, who is having a great year of it in a variety of boats, while the jockey for King One is young Marty O’Leary, one of the bright new talents to emerge in recent years from Courtown in County Wexford.

Down Falmouth way, it’s going to be Classic Half Ton Racing at its classic best. And if you wonder why it is that the Half Tonners seem to have been the most successful of all the Ton classes in reviving themselves after more than fifty years, perhaps the answer is that at 30ft they’re big enough as boats to be taken seriously, yet small enough to be a manageable proposition for keeping in top order and raced keenly.

The contemporary Half Ton Classics lineup – the boats are big enough to be taken seriously, yet small enough to be manageable

The Sutton Cross Pharmacy 2016 Puppeteer National Championships was won by Dave Clarke & Liam Egan and crew on “Harlequin” following two days of intense racing at Howth Yacht Club this weekend. They managed to beat 2014's winning boat - Colin and Kathy Kavanagh's “Blue Velvet” by the narrow margin of one point. The handicap prize went to Ciaran McAuliffe and crew on “Arcturus” who's two point win from second placed “Papagena” (Kieran Barker) earned them the silverware this year.

The six-race championships was always going to reward the most consistent results from the 14-boat fleet. A mix of light and patchy conditions on Saturday produced four different winners from the four starts, with some of the pre-race favourites well out of the reckoning prior to the Sunday starts. Mindful of forecast light conditions on Sunday, National Race Officer Harry Gallagher went for the option of a fourth race on the Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s two races were sailed in light but steady breezes and produced some great tacking duels and very close finishes throughout the fleet. Racing was completed at 14.00 approx. and was followed by prize giving before the tea-time celebrations in the clubhouse.

Winning helm Liam Egan paid tribute to all aboard “Harlequin”, congratulated them for their expertise and said that their contribution 'made all the difference.' He singled out the battle they had had with “Blue Velvet” and thanked them for their sportsmanship on the water. Celebrations continued long into the night……….

Commodore Berchmans Gannon (left) and Puppeteer Class captain Kieran Barker (right) present the trophy to Liam Egan while Dave Clarke shows off his gold medals!

The Sutton Cross Pharmacy Puppeteer 22 National Championship 2016 takes place in Howth Yacht Club over the weekend of the 30th. and 31st. July.

This class provides very close midweek racing in HYC, with 20 odd boats out on Tuesdays. Harry Gallagher is Race Officer. Six races are scheduled, three on each day, with first warning signals at 11.00.

With several previous National Champions attending there is no clear favourite as to who will emerge as the 2016 Champion, according to Class Captain Kieran Barker of Howth.

Howth RNLI launched at 1.15pm Thursday 14th July 2016 to reports of Sailing Yacht with 4 adults and 3 children aground just off Ireland Eye.

The casualty vessel was quickly located and towed to safety.

The request to launch came at 1.15pm and the Howth RNLI all-weather lifeboat proceeded outside the harbour and quickly located the yacht aground in Howth sound. The 32ft Sailing yacht had 4 adults and 3 children aboard. All were wearing lifejackets.

Weather was excellent with overcast clouds but good visibility. The sea state was calm with little or no wind present. The tide was quite low with another hour to go to low tide.
Howth RNLI volunteers Fin Goggin and Stephen Mullaney threw a tow line to the casualty vessel which was then secured and Howth RNLI Coxswain Fred Connolly used his driving skills to safely tow the casualty vessel off the rocks with little or no damage. When clear the sailing yacht was able to make its own way back to Howth Harbour.
Howth RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Colm Newport says: ‘A quick call was made by the skipper of the yacht as soon as he got into difficulty which showed good seamanship. These things happen and we were delighted to be able to assist.”

Strong winds only added to the enjoymen in this year's Howth Yacht Club Gibney Classic on Saturday writes Brian Turvey. One of the largest cruiser–racer fleets in many years contested this always anticipated annual event, where the race itself is matched by the wonderful hospitality shown by Tony and Barry Gibney in their famous hostelry in Malahide, with a barbecue and drinks reception for the many exhilarated and weather-beaten sailors.

The race was run by Susan Cummins and her team on board the Sea Wych in conditions that might be described as 'fresh' by some and 'challenging' for all. A consistent 20 knot south-westerly prevailed over the racecourse with gusts ready to flatten boats sailed by even the most experienced helms and trimmers. It was a day for fully-crewed keelboats, with lots of weight 'on the rail'.

After an hour's racing, the ever-competitive Class 2 saw the Bourke/McGirr/Ball owned X332 'Xebec' win on IRC and David Sargent and his team on his Elan 33 'Indulgence' win the ECHO prize. Class 3 was evenly competed by boats from Howth and Malahide with Vince Gaffney winning IRC on his 'Alliance II' and Brian McDowell winning ECHO on his J24 'Blue Jay'.

Fifteen boats entered the Non-Spinnaker class which certainly provided the majority of thirsty customers in the beer garden and sports bar after racing. Paddy Gregory and Don Breen's decision to enter their First 34.7 'Flashback' in the class proved a wise one and they took the IRC prize while Michael Fleming's 'Trinculo' took the ECHO honours.

The Howth 17s have made this event an important part of their calendar for the past few years and the strong winds didn't deter their determination to enjoy the day, with four boats sailing up the river into Malahide after racing and returning to Howth later in the evening (into a warm 30-knot southerly). First prize went to Turvey brothers Brian and Conor in their 17 'Isobel'. The handicap spoils were won by Bryan and Harriette Lynch in 'Echo'.

Hats off to MYC's Commodore Deidre Moore-Somers who organised the rescheduling of another event so that the MYC boats could take part. Their annual regatta follows in 2 weeks on the 23rd of July. Special thanks also to Maureen Muir who again did all the organising for the club and with the team at Gibneys.

Following its national championships at Howth Yacht Club in June, the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) is seeking feedback on the event via an online questionnaire.

ICRA commodore Simon McGibney says the survey aims to get views on how the event went for attendees but it also seeks the views of non attendees. The survery can be taken here

The next ICRA National Championships take place in at the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 2017

Conor Fogerty's BAM from Howth Yacht Club is lying second overall in class and fourth overall in the inaugural Solo Fastnet race this morning. Fogerty is expected to finish the five day course tomorrow.

The Royal Western Yacht Club of England (RWYC) has certified this ‘Solo Fastnet’ as an official qualifier for the 2017 OSTAR race in May 2017. The category 2 race was designed by solo sailors for solo sailors who want to test their skills and endurance in an offshore race across the unpredictable North Atlantic Ocean, and is open to any IRC rated boat or class boats racing under their class rules.

Conor, who celebrated his 45th birthday during the race, has done more than 300,000 nautical miles of offshore sailing, including 30 Transatlantic and 2 Round the World trips - one as skipper on Cardiff for the Clipper Round the World Race in 2005/06. New to short handed sailing on his Jeanneau Sun Fast 3600 ‘Bam’, he won the 2-handed ISORA series in 2015 and was 6th overall. Many of you will also have read of his offshore racing exploits this year including winning IRC Class 3 in the Caribbean 600, earning him the 'Afloat Sailor of the Month' in February and also finished 3rd in Class 3 in the recent Round Ireland Race.

His practice by taking ‘Bam’ single-handed from St Martin to the Azores earlier this summer is part of his calculated regime to prepare for this event. Conor reported ‘I'm keen to progress in the single handed sailing, and see this event as a great opportunity to race against far more experienced single handed sailors, and perhaps nip at their heels!’ It’s no secret that Conor also has eyes on the 2017 OSTAR Race. The OSTAR (The Original Single-handed Transatlantic Race) founded by Cockleshell hero Blondie Hasler in 1960 and run every four years since and the ‘TWOSTAR’, first held in 1981, will both start from Plymouth heading for Newport, Rhode Island on 29th May 2017.

Saturday’s inaugural SORC Round the Rock Race is a Category 2 (ISAF) race and designed by solo sailors for solo sailors. It’s heralded as being ‘for Corinthian sailors who want to test their skills and endurance in a substantial offshore race - a race that only requires a week's holidays to complete but still offers the excitement and challenge of nights at sea combined with the unpredictable nature of North Atlantic weather’.

The Notice of Race specifies the experience required to participate as: ‘The skipper is required to have substantial offshore short handed sailing experience including solo nights offshore. The race is challenging especially for a solo skipper, requiring well developed navigation skills, practiced boat handling in both strong and light conditions and familiarity with managing the effects of fatigue and limited sleep. If you are in any doubt regarding your experience you are encouraged to contact the RC for guidance.

Rob Craigie, Race Director of the SORC Round the Rock Race, said: “The Round the Rock Race enabled us to establish a long distance UK-based iconic solo race which would be both tactically and strategically demanding for sailors, but could be completed in a week. There is also a strong social element to the event, and we look forward to reaching Plymouth and berthing in the heart of the city in Sutton Harbour before celebrating at the race party.”

Track Conor Fogerty's progress here

#MatchRacing - Howth Yacht Club's Diana Kissane and crew finished 10th in the first round of the Women's International Match Racing Series in Helsinki on Friday (1 July).

Kissane and crew Lizzy McDowell (Malahide YC), Isabella Morehead (Cork), Ellen Cahill (Mayo) won three of their 11 round-robin contests but it wasn't enough to take them through to the quarter-final knockout stage at the NJK Sailing Center, where the Swedish boat skippered by Anna Östling beat France's Pauline Courtois and crew in two straight races in the final.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the same venue in the Finnish capital is set to host the Women's Match Racing World Championship in 2017.

The wisdom of the old salts would have it that in a regatta series, a set of steady results towards the front of the fleet with no silly mistakes is much more useful in the final tally than an uneven performance with the occasional utterly fabulous first place writes W M Nixon. And after the three-day Irish Cruiser Racing Association  Nats at Howth, in which the real winners were the race officer teams who managed to complete a reasonably proper programme despite the winds being fickle in the extreme, we can maybe add in a second rule for series success.

Rule 1 of the Old Salts’ Book of Racing Lore is that you put together a good series of steady results. Keep the head down and keep the points down too. And the new Rule 2 of the OSBRL would seem to be something along the lines of not being utterly brilliant in the first afternoon’s two races. For if you do, you’re a marked boat thereafter. Just because you happen to be paranoid in everyday life doesn’t mean that they really are in fact out to get you. For as Annalise Murphy discovered at the 2012 Olympics, if that’s not what’s actually happening, then it’s something which is very like it nevertheless.

So on Friday we saw some stars clearly emerge, which we duly highlighted in Saturday’s morning’s overview. But as you’ll have gathered if you didn’t spend the main part of the weekend in a Trappist monastery, through Saturday the leaderboard was re-shuffled more than somewhat. And though today’s final racing didn’t find a promised breeze, there was still enough slightly mobile air around to provide some further sets of viable results, and they seemed to confirm that those who were Kings of the Castle on Friday evening were in many case consigned to the dungeon, relatively speaking, as the series concluded early this (Sunday) afternoon.

Half of the boats in the 22-strong Division 2 were J/09s.

Joker II (John Maybury) successsfully defended her class one national title

In the impersonal world of racing to the handicaps of the IRC, there’s no getting away from one totally outstanding performance, a performance which fulfilled both rules of the OSBRL. On Friday, John Maybury’s J/109 Joker 2, from the RIYC in Dun Laoghaire with the not inconsiderable talents of Olympian Mark Mansfield of Cork in the crew, put in what we now recognise to have been a very neat holding performance. In the 22 boats of Division 1 – the most numerous class - Joker was sixth and second on the first day. Not at all spectacular, but she was there or thereabouts as other boats headed one of the championship’s most competitive divisions.

Then on Saturday, after recording another sixth in the first race, Joker 2 seemed to find her mojo, that mojo which made her class champion in 2015 at Kinsale. Perhaps they’d simply been keeping it in storage on Friday, knowing they’d need it more on Saturday. Whatever the story, they romped through Saturday with a winning consistency of performance while other boats – to put it mildly – fluctuated more than somewhat.

For that last Saturday race, and Sunday’s single race for Division 1, saw Joker 2 notching two wins. Clearly her crew had got the measure of the waters of Fingal, for it gave her an absurd lead of 14.5 points over the runner-up, which was another J/109, Pat Kelly’s Storm, which in theory was right at home, as they list Rush SC as their club even though they keep the boat in Howth.

Despite racing in her home waters, the Kelly family’s J/109 Storm of Rush SC had to concede first place to Dun Laoghaire invader Joker 2 (John Maybury)

Dave Cullen’s Classic Half Ton World Champion Checkmate XV found form to win her class at the ICRA Nats. This week, the Checkmate crew move aboard the J/109 Storm to race her as Euro Car Parks in the Volvo Round Ireland

With eleven J/109s racing, not surprisingly they dominated Class 1 in which they were half of the fleet, with the Shanahan family’s Ruth (NYC) taking third while Colin Byrne’s XP 33 Bon Exemple (RIYC) was first of the non-Js in fourth, with Rob McConnell’s A 35 Fool’s Gold from Dunmore East fifth.

But you get some idea of the scale of Joker’s achievement when you realize that Storm was only half a point ahead of the next three boats, which were all tied on 31 points and needed a countback to sort the placings.

Division 2 was the next most numerous with 15 boats, and here they managed six races with a discard kicking in. It is of course the class for the classic Half Tonners, so inevitably Howth YC was dominant to an almost embarrassing extent. Early leader The Big Picture (Michael & Richard Evans) had slipped down the rankings as the curtain came down, she finished fourth overall, but after a sneeze in the first race on Day 1, Dave Cullen’s Checkmate XV got her act together and logged a final scoreline of 2,1,3,3,1,2.

Stephen Quinn’s J/97 Lambay Rules took a second in Division 2 in the ICRA Nats, and on Saturday she’ll be one of the smallest boats competing in the Volvo Round Ireland Race.

It’s good to be discarding a third, but an interesting performance was turned in by the runner-up, Stephen Quinn’s J/97 Lambay Rules, as she’d a list of 5,2,1,,2,4,5. While it’s said that Dave Cullen is so delighted with the silver trophy he got for winning the class that he’s going to take it with him as he goes off on Saturday to do the Volvo Round Ireland as skipper of the J/109 Storm which will have transformed to become Euro Car Parks, for Stephen Quinn this second place with his very attractive 32-footer is direct round Ireland encouragement, as he’s racing Lambay Rules out of Wicklow round Ireland on Saturday. And if the J/97 isn’t the smallest boat in the Round Ireland fleet, then she’s something very near it.

Third place in Division 2 went to John Swan’s re-vamped Half Tonner Harmony after a ding-dong with the Big Picture, while fifth went to Ross McDonald’s X332 Equinox.

Well above the rough and tumble of Class 2, the aristocrats of Class 0 made up in quality what they lacked in quantity, but as there were only half a dozen of them, the points margins could never be large, and though Conor Phelan’s now-classic Ker 37 Jump Juice from Crosshaven had three wins in five races, Jay Colville’s First 40 Licks from East Down YC in Strangford Lough was always right there to take second, while third slot went to the Scottish XP38i Roxtsar (Finlay & Anderson, Cyde Cr C).

Tumbling down the size scale, in Division 3 the Quarter Tonners of the Royal Irish YC were out in strength in an extremely closely-fought series in which Royal Cork’s Paul Gibbons’ Farr 79 Quarter Tonner Anchor Challenge managed to snatch third overall with two RIYC boats ahead of her and one immediately astern, the winner being Cartoon (Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack) with the ever-lovely Quest (Barry Cunningham & Jonathan Skerritt) in second. Half a dozen of the reviving J/24 Class raced in this division, and best of them was Flor O’Driscoll with Hard on Port, who was fifth overall.

Class Three winner Cartoon (Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack)

The Quarter Tonner Quest, ICRA Champion in 2014, was second in class in 2016.

The reviving J/24 class had six boats racing in the ICRA Championship

Division 4 was once again a problem numbers-wise, and Patrick O’Neill’s E Boat OctopussE of the host club was best of the two competing. As for Division 5 and 6, the non-spinnaker classes, they were re-born as the Corinthian Classes, and in Division A non-spinnaker, IRC saw the three Elan 333s utterly dominant to take the first three places overall, with Colm Bermingham’s Bite the Bullet (HYC) the dominator of the dominants, as she won with a clean sheet, second going to David Sargent’s Indulgence, also HYC, with DMYC’s Paul Tully getting third with White Lotus.

Colm Bermingham’s Elan 333 Bite the Bullet was a winner all the way

Division B had it very close on IRC between Harry Byrne’s Jeanneau Sunrise Alphida and Windsor & Steffi’s Cub Shamrock Demelza, with Alphida taking it this time round, while third slot went to John Roberts’s veteran Doug Peterson-designed Contention 33 Poppy from Whitehaven in Cumberland.

Peadar Murphy, administrator of ICRA’s Progressive ECHO system at the National Championship, and seen below working the magic Denis Kiely system

But while the serious meat of the racing in the ICRA Nationals 2016 was inevitably under IRC, there was a complete parallel universe out there on the race course with ICRA number-cruncher Denis Kiely’s famous Progressive ECHO system being administered at Howth by Denis’s right-hand man Peadar Murphy.

Under Progressive ECHO, a boat’s rating is revised after every race in the series on the basis that all boats finished dead equal in the race just completed. It works best with a series, and you’ll hear the usual complaints of sand-bagging when it is used in other ways. But what it does do is keep up the interest of every crew right to the end of the series, and a more sophisticated take on it has emerged, as top IRC crews now look on Progressive ECHO as a useful tool to tell them how they’re really doing from race to race, when IRC can be a bit of a blunt instrument.

In the limelight. Terry McCoy (left) of Skerries and John Roberts (second right) from Cumbria found themselves rewarded by the Progressive ECHO system, but John’s veteran Contention 33 Poppy also took third on IRC.

The Progressive ECHO results speak for themselves. In the end, there’s an element of “something for everyone in the audience” about it, and it certainly results in some sailors who have seldom found themselves in the limelight being up there in the Winner’s Enclosure to receive their prizes along with people whose names are usually to be found only at the sharper end of the top classes.

In other words, it adds greatly to the sense of community throughout the fleet, and with sailors from all parts of Ireland and from across the Irish Sea mixing it at Howth, there was no doubting the warmth and strength of that sense of community.

The sun did appear at Howth, but usually only after racing was over and the après sailing was in full swing in HYC.

The ICRA Championship is a fascinating stew of the local and the national, and sometimes the international. The selected venue club will try to put on its best show, but inevitably with an event which is only totally engrossing to the participants, you have to spread the net wide through local contacts to get helpful sponsorship support. In Howth, those who stepped up to the plate were lead sponsors McPeake Auctioneers supported by the tourism initiative Dublin – a Breath of Fresh Air, shoemakers Dubarry of Ireland, and WD40.

So despite the lack of wind strength, and despite the fact that the sun only tended to appear late in the day, we now have a whole new raft of National Champions, the ICRA Nationals 2016 are done and dusted, and attention can swing neatly on time to the Volvo Round Ireland Race.

In the circumstances, surely no-one would begrudge Howth Yacht Club the quiet satisfaction of knowing that they ended the series as winners of both team prizes?

Our boats are packed, and we’re ready to go…..Paul Gibbons’ Quarter Tonner Anchor Challenge from Crosshaven (left) and Simon McGibney’s J/24 Gala Racing from Foynes, on the trailers and about to head for home from Howth after another ICRA National Championship.

Google gives Afloat's ICRA National Championships coverage the thumbs up. See links below.

Afloat's WM Nixon has a review of day one's ICRA racing action in his Sailing on Saturday blog here 

Read also:

ICRA Leaderboard Changes on Day Two of Howth Cruiser Nationals (Updated After Five Races)

Dublin Yacht Clubs Boast Biggest Entry At ICRA Nationals, Light Winds Forecast At Howth

Howth Yacht Club Lambay Race Was ICRA Nationals Form Guide

ICRA Nats In Howth Yacht Club Will Attract The Cream Of The Fleets

 Full IRC results are downloadable below

After five races sailed, there are big changes at the top of the leader board in three of the four IRC classes at the Irish Cruiser Racing Association National Championships this evening which means the stage is set for tomorrow's cliff–hanger finale to decide much sought–after cruiser national titles at Howth.

Only Royal Cork's Jump Juice (Conor Phelan) has managed to retain his overnight lead but only just, as East Down YC's, Licks, a First 40, is only one point behind after five races in the six boat class zero fleet. Third is regular Scottish visitor, the XP38i Roxstar from the Clyde.

New arrival Rockabill VI, a JPK 1080 took a fourth in race four

Six of the top ten places in IRC one are held by J109s. Defending champion John Maybury's Joker II from the Royal Irish Yacht Club has not only overtaken club–mate Tim Goodbody for the lead in ICRA's biggest – and hottest – class but also built a large margin to boot. Maybury, who counts Olympic helmsman Mark Mansfield among his crew, has a 15–point cushion after five races going in to tomorrow's final two rounds. Goodbody spoiled a near perfect scoreline this morning when he finished 13th in the 21–boat fleet and drops to sixth overall. Second is former ICRA champion Storm (Pat Kelly) who is racing on home waters. Kelly has good company chasing him as just half a point behind are Liam Shanahan’s Ruth and Colin Byrne’s Bon Exemple together with Fool’s Gold: all three are tied on 31 points apiece. After them there is a nine-point gap to previous overnight leader Goodbody on White Mischief.

Winds strengthened for the second day of competition for the 86–boat fleet and this perhaps gave an opportunity for the much touted JPK 1080 Rockabill VI to improve her score, taking a fourth in this afternoon's fourth race in IRC one. 

Divisions 2, 3 and 4 each sailed four races today to catch up on the overall schedule.

Checkmate leads an almost exclusive Howth based class 2 fleet

In IRC two, where 14 of the 15 entries are from the host club, Dave Cullen's Modified Half Tonner Checkmate has overtaken ovenight leaders and club–mates Mike and Richard Evans sailing the Humphrey's MG 30.

Cullen, on ten points, now has a four point lead over HYC's J97 Lambay Rules (Stephen Quinn). Third is Johnny Swan's Half tonner Harmony on 19.5 points. The Evans Brothers are now fourth on 24–points, the same total as defending champion Ross McDonald's X332 Equinox lying fifth.

In IRC three, the Royal Irish Yacht Club’s Barry Cunningham and Jonathan Skerritt on Quest narrowly lead clubmates Ken Lawless and Sybil McCormack on Cartoon just a point apart.  In turn, Paul Gibbons Anchor Challenge from the Royal Cork YC is just half a point behind in third.  As with the other classes, a discard if applied tomorrow would have a significant bearing on Sunday's outcome. 16 are competing but it is J24s and Quarter ton designs that occupy the top six berths.

OctopusE (right) leads a two boat class four

Full IRC results (after fives races sailed) are downloadable below

Afloat's WM Nixon has a review of day one's ICRA racing action in his Sailing on Saturday blog here 

Read also:

Dublin Yacht Clubs Boast Biggest Entry At ICRA Nationals, Light Winds Forecast At Howth

Howth Yacht Club Lambay Race Was ICRA Nationals Form Guide

ICRA Nats In Howth Yacht Club Will Attract The Cream Of The Fleets