Dinghies at the Evening Topaz Sailing. Photo: Brian McDowell
Malahide’s Three Clubhouses…
1 The Three Day Wonder!
Although the club was founded in 1958 it did not have a clubhouse until 1959.
Despite planning the club's first Whitsun Open Meeting (on the Broadmeadows) the enthusiastic early members found time to acquire and erect a de-mountable wooden chalet that had been purchased from Barney Herron Prefab Homes in Leixlip. It cost £300.
They started assembling the new clubhouse on a site on the 'Band Gardens' – more or less our current St. James's Terrace site, which the Commodore, Lord Talbot had made available to the club. Work commenced on an April Monday and by Wednesday the roof was in position.
The building served the Lower Estuary sailors well and was used as a starters retreat when Mermaid races were started and finished at a line from the flagpole to a mark off Malahide Point. The building was removed in 1979 to make way for a more substantial premises.
2 The 2nd Clubhouse
In 1962 a site was acquired at Cave's Marsh on the Broadmeadows from the local farmer, Mr Cave. A clubhouse was erected and a dinghy pen fenced off. Starting as a builders hut, it grew over the years then suffered severe fire damage, was re-built, then extended to the solid structure of to-day. See the illustration at the head of this page.
3 Back to the Lower Estuary – The 3rd Clubhouse
The club celebrated its 21st birthday in 1979 and was thriving with high levels of dinghy sailing activity on the Broadmeadows and a growing fleet of small cruiser/racers on the lower estuary.
It was agreed that a more elaborate clubhouse was needed at St. James's Terrace and so a local architect, Mr. Brendan Canning, was engaged to draw up plans. A contract was signed with O'Rourke Builders Ltd. and with the help of bank finance and interest free loans from members a £60,000 clubhouse was constructed. The new facility was officially opened on Friday 30th May, 1980.
In that year the club officers were:
President: Capt. J. C. Kelly-Rogers
Vice President: Len E. Mills
Commodore: Peter Killen
Vice Commodore: Gerry Newman
Rear Commodore: Arthur Slye
Hon. Sec.: C. W. Woodman
Hon. Treasurer: Pat O'Keeffe
Hon. Sailing Sec.: Ashley Cross
Junior Affairs: Christy Sheridan
Committee Members: John Banim, George Long, George McIlhagga, John McInerney, Tom Mythen and Jim Twomey.
Trustees: M.J. Byrne, R.S. Dix, and C.W. Woodman.
In 1980 the membership stood at 99 Family, 70 Ordinary, 35 Cadet, 10 Associate and 11 Life Members
4 And our latest
For almost a decade the Club had hopes of moving from St. James's Terrace to the marina area as it was always felt that it would be in our interests to be close to the boats moored in the marina. However, we were unable to reach an accord with any of the various parties involved over the years with the marina development project. Consequently, a general meeting of members on 17 October, 2001 authorised the Executive Committee proceed with a major refurbishment and extension of the existing premises at St. James's Terrace. The club had accumulated a substantial cash balance in recent years and the balance of expenditure was to be financed by bank borrowings and a small increase in subscriptions over the following three years.
After much drawing and redrawing of plans agreement was reached with Ray Mac Donnell Architects on extending to the East at a higher floor level to provide a large lounge with panoramic windows, extending to the South to allow for a new bar, keg room and kitchen and a complete makeover of the toilet and shower facilities. Lissadell Construction Ltd. were awarded the contract. Eventually, on 22 June 2003 the magnificent new facility was officially opened and is now being much enjoyed and appreciated by members and friends. The works cost just under €600,000 inclusive of VAT.
The Ripple
The Ripple, a 12 ton cutter, was built in Belfast in 1862 for G. Brett by D. Fulton, a building contractor who also built yachts. Fulton was a leading member of the Royal Ulster YC and also a member of the Clyde, Mersey, Western and Prince Alfred yacht clubs.
At Carrickfergus Regatta in 1866 there was a 12 ton cutter Ripple owned by D. Boyd of Royal Mersey Yacht Club.
The vessel was purchased by George Murney, also a Royal Mersey member, probably in 1868 because in that year he commissioned the above picture by W. Abernethy which is now in the possession of the Royal Ulster YC. At this time he also owned an 8 ton cutter Lily. Murney was an original member of the RUYC, number 13 on their list of members and their first treasurer in 1867. He remained a member until the late 1880s. His brother Dr. D. Murney was number 6 on the Royal Ulster original members list and was Rear Commodore from 1875 until 1883. George was a keen yachtsman, not only in Belfast Lough as he and Ripple appeared in Carlingford regattas in 1872, 1877 and 1878, at Malahide in 1870, 1872–1875 and the Royal Irish in 1887. Racing yachts in those days did not carry sail numbers but flew an owner’s distinctive flag at the masthead, blue or red with a white lion rampant in the case of the Ripple as shown on the painting above.
Sailing at Broadmeadows
Malahide Yacht Club has a long tradition of dinghy sailing and we’re very proud of the achievements of our sailors over the years.
The club was established in 1958, initially concentrating on dinghy sailing in the Broadmeadows estuary. The fleet comprised mainly Herons for the juniors and Enterprises, with their distinctive blue sails, for the rest. Later Optimists became very popular for the 8-14 year olds. Very large fleets of the latter two classes developed and racing was to a high standard with the club producing Olympic representatives, Irish and British national champions and many others representing Ireland internationally. With the growth of other types of sailing, especially Cruiser Class III, dinghy sailing went into a decline, mirroring a national trend. However, there has been a tremendous resurgence locally with the introduction of the Topaz class and the fleet has gone from scratch to over fifty boats in the course of the last few years with growth continuing apace. Hand-in-hand with this activity has gone a major refurbishment of the shore side facilities at Broadmeadows.
We have a busy club race calendar with races every Thursday and Saturday during the season.
Other events, such as away events where we take some of our fleet to visit other clubs are generally organised by the Dinghy committee and posted on the website.
If you’re not a 'racer' and want to sail for fun make contact as we will also be arranging fun sailing events.
If you’ve never sailed and dinghy before and would like to try, we have club boats that can be rented for a modest fee so members can experience the excitement of dinghy sailing without having their own boat.
Evening Dinghy Racing – On Thursday evenings during season with first gun at 19.30 hrs.
Saturday racing on Broadmeadows – Racing for Lasers, Topaz, Mirrors, Optimists and sundry boats on most Saturdays throughout the season with First Gun at 15.00 hrs.
Dinghy sail training – Details on 'Courses and Tuition' page.
Training courses for Juniors – As in previous years, MYC is running its ever-popular summer training courses for juniors down in the Broadmeadows. ISA Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 (Racing) courses will run concurrently. The first set of courses begins on Monday 3rd July and lasts for 3 weeks and the second on Monday 24th July. Full details and application form on 'Junior Courses' page.
2008-9 Officers & Committee of Malahide Yacht Club and Contacts
Commodore – Colm Fitzpatrick – 086 819 7584
Vice Commodore – Martin Clancy – 087 252 8559
Rear Commodore – Bob Sugrue – 086 804 8048
Hon. Secretary – Eddie Magee – 087 259 1418
Hon. Treasurer – Andy Deegan – 083 303 6731
Sailing Development – Brian McDowell – 087 232 7745
Membership – Deirdre Moore-Somers – 086 196 8553
Cruiser Racing – Brian Stewart – 087 329 8598
Cruising – Dave Farrell– 086 255 7120
Dinghy Sailing – Peter Cunning – 086 805 1783
Junior Affairs – Chris Shackleton – 086 820 6374
Bar – Irene Devitt – 087 699 5855
Clubhouse & Grounds – Michael McCabe – 087 245 2637
MYC 50th – Rose Michael – 087 255 2726
Dinghy Section – Optimist class Sec: Fran Thompson – [email protected]
Topaz class: Diarmuid Marron – [email protected]
Laser class Sec: Garrett Donnelly – [email protected]
Cruiser Section – Cruising: Dave Farrell – As above
Racing: Lee Douglas – As above
Membership Secretary: Deirdre Moore-Somers – As above
Clubhouse: Steward - Pat O'Keeffe – 845 3372/087 243 0646 (St. James's Terrace)
(The above information and image courtesy of Malahide Yacht Club
Malahide Yacht Club, Sea Road, Malahide, Co. Dublin. Get directions
