Displaying items by tag: Wave Regatta
It started on Friday May 24th in Winter. Nobody would argue with that. But then on Saturday 25th - Lambay Day - Howth’s Wave Regatta barely paused in Spring before leaping straight into sunlit High Summer, with a magic racing breeze.
But then today, Sunday May 26th and concluding day for Wave, we seemed to linger for a while in Autumn before the Peninsula emerged from under calm-inflicting clouds of every hue - from dark grey to deep purple to ultra-black - to find some intermittent sunshine and enough moving air to provide a race for some, leading on to that beloved rallying call of Race Officers everywhere: “We got a result”.
In truth it was much more than that, it was a series. Yet it certainly also was the Four Seasons Regatta. But even longtime peninsula people are left wondering if there’s more to their home place than just being geologically different from the rest of Ireland. For it seems to be a little climatic zone unto itself as well. But don’t begrudge them that. For there are times when Binn Eadair is well battered by storms that scarcely bother the rest of Ireland at all.
BENEFITS OF MINI CLIMATIC ZONE
This time round, however, it was mostly all to the good, even if the start of the prize-giving was signalled by a nearby thunderstorm, which was surely a bit OTT. But that said, when there’s a personal silverware presentation in prospect, it’s astonishing what some folk will endure to get their expensively-manicured hands on the trophy.
And the works of the final points tallying is a wonder to behold. After the uber-close results mentioned last night, it emerged that the white-hot Classic Half Tonners Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer, Royal Cork YC) and Two Farr (“Clubs Various” as the race card so neatly puts it) in Class 2 had actually tied in the Lambay race.
LINING UP FOR CORK WEEK
Yet the total without discards meant that Swuzzlebubble emerged with 9.5 points while Two Farr had 8.5, thus - after discards - leaving both on 5.5. But somehow Swuzzlebubble takes first on countback, a state of affairs which surely means that Cork Week in July will be Battle Royal for this pair if they don’t find some suitable tournament in the meantime.
CHECKMATE, AND THEN SOME
Taking it from the top in Class 0, it now looks as though the description - in one of our previews - of Entry Number 1, Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen’s First 50 Checkmate XX (HYC), as being the “Good old reliable” had a whiff of the patronizing about it. For Checkmate got herself around the courses to such good effect that she outperformed smaller nippier craft on a regular basis to have one of the clearest overall wins.
Class 1 really was a battlefield, but Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush – despite commissioning only days before the off –was sailing like magic, and staved off everything including a last-minute flourish by Michael and Richie Evans with their 2022 ICRA “Boat of the Year”, the J/99 Storm.
QUARTER TONNERS SET THE PACE
South of the already-covered Class 2, the Wicklow and Wexford Quarter Tonners ended up setting the pace in Class 3, with Snoopy from Courtown (Joanne Hall & Martin Mahon) finishing a point ahead of the Wicklow SC syndicate in Jupiter, with regular performer Insider, Stephen Mullaney’s Sigma 33 (HYC), getting on to the podium by one point ahead of early pace-setter Allig8r, the souped-up First Class 8 from Dun Laoghaire.
In an event of such complexity, it would be nervelessly brave to talk of an overall winner. But there is one intriguing and special silver trophy, the Lambay Lady statuette of a notably fit-looking and evidently iron-pumping mermaid. It goes to some boat adjudicated by the committee to be the overall winner of the Lambay Races. Yet making such a decision is surely akin to reading the runes while studying the entrails of a chicken, but for a while it went to the boat whose win in class had the greatest margin ahead of the second-placed boat, which can be a dodgy proposition.
LAMBAY LADY WINNER
Make of that what you will, but the selection process now has a certain element of mystery about it, and the Lambay Lady winner for 2024 is Checkmate XX. Very popular. That’s a lot of crew to be celebrating. And they will.
OVERALL RESULTS
The totality of results for Wave itself have enough data to become a recognised book of The Bible – enjoy.
The long-forecast serious rain didn't reach the Wave Regatta venue at Howth until 2200hrs yesterday (Saturday 25th May), and even then, most of the power had gone out after a day during which there'd been about twice as much sunshine as had been forecast by most sources.
As it is, there was enough happy impression of sunshine and a good sailing breeze to carry everyone through whatever the final session today (Sunday, May 26th) may bring. We're obliged to John Malone and the Lough Ree YC team for this brief but eloquent vid of their SB20 heading north for Lambay with seemingly effortless speed, though we're told the bowsprit broke soon after this magic moment, but so it goes.
It’s not widely known that when the Danes of Howth were being pressurised to become Christians, being Vikings they had a side deal to the effect that, forever afterwards, when the Annual Fete in late Spring at the new church they were signing up to was staged, said Fete would always be blessed with good weather.
As to other distractions in regatta event staging at Howth, it’s only 120 years ago that the first recorded Howth YC Lambay Race was being sailed. But over its relatively few years since first being staged in 1904, the organisers have learned that it goes best when high water is around lunchtime, thereby enabling a mid-morning start to carry the fleet north on the last of the flood and bring them home again southwards on the ebb.
So ideally the best day for the race round Lambay is firstly, when the Fete is being held, and secondly, when the tides are right. Obviously it can be quite a job to get all your ducks in a row when organising this ideal Lambay setup. So when it all additionally has to be fitted into the new-fangled three day Howth Wave Regatta, you’d think it was wellnigh impossible.
PERFECT IN EVERY WAY
Yet today’s (Saturday May 25th) Lambay Race was perfect in every way, despite being preceded by yesterday’s grimly Arctic conditions, and with further Unknown Unknowns in the meteorological pipeline for the final Wave day tomorrow (Sunday May 26th).
The innocent and idealistic might well think that such a perfect conjunction of requirements, with the piety of the annual Church Fete and a fine southeasterly racing breeze as the double creams on the cake, might have resulted in a bit of relaxation afloat, an element of give and take.
DOG EAT DOG
Not a bit of it. It was dog eat dog out there on the sunny blue waters of Fingal, with the ferocious pace being set by the Classic Half Tonners. The recently acquired Two Farr of the unlikely but all-powerful Rush-Crosshaven-Howth-Baltimore syndicate squeaked in ahead of near sister Swuzzlebubble (James Dwyer, Royal Cork YC) by just three seconds on IRC, after three hours of racing.
RUSH SC MAKING HAY
In fact, Rush Sailing Club were making hay (it’s the next item on the agricultural schedule anyway), as Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm (RSC) nipped in by ten seconds ahead of current Irish J/109 champion Chimaera (Barry Cunningham, Royal Irish YC) in Class 1, with John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough just one second (repeat: one second) behind the Cunningham boat, while John and Suzie Murphy put in a shout for the Hills of the Naul with their J/109 Outrajeous barely a minute after Final Call II, but with Mike & Richard Evans J/99 Snapshot (HYC) only another seven seconds behind them.
FIBRILLATOR FINISH
As you might well say if you were in a morbid frame of mind, it was a Fibrillator Finish for the IRC classes. And on beyond the Half Tonners in Class 2, things continued close, although it was a strike for the home club when Stephen Mullaney’s immaculate Sigma 33 Insider in Class 3 managed to get home 36 seconds ahead of Wicklow Sailing Club’s Haughton-Flood-Heather-Kinnane team on Jupiter, with Courtown SC further down the East Coast taking third with the Quarter Tonner Snoopy (Joanne Hall & Martin Mahon.
MORE GENTEEL IN CLASS 0
Meanwhile at the other end of the size scale, the timings were more genteel in Class 0, with the First 50 Checkmate XX (Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen, HYC) having another good day to finish on IRC CT more than five minutes ahead of Johnny Treanor’s J/112 ValenTina (NYC) with another J, Nobby Reilly’s Ghost Raider, in third ahead of Cork’s Jelly Baby campaigned by the Jones family.
NON SPIN
The first of the non-spinnaker divisions, Class 4, relies totally on ECHO handicap, and there’ll be dancing in the streets of Skerries, as Terry McCoy of that town took it convincingly with his handsome vintage First 38 Out & About. Howver, super-chef McCoy keeps O&A in Howth, so those points go to HYC, while the score for second goes across the harbour to John Beckett and Andy George’s Splashdance of Howth Sailing & Boating Club, with third slot being filled by overall defending champion Dermot Skehan with the MG34 Toughnut (HYC).
ONE DESIGNS
It is intriguing to look at the “artificial” closeness of the handicap classes’ finishes, and then set them against the more rough and ready reality of One Design Racing, where such close finishes are wellnigh impossible, as one-for-one boats get in each other’s way.
Thus with the Puppeteer 22s we see that Ian Dickson’s Weyhey won by more than two minutes from 2023 form boat Trick or Treat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay), with Dave Clarke’s Harlequin third by another clear minute and three seconds.
As for the Howth 17s, former HYC Commodore Brian Turvey’s continuing successful efforts in keeping Wave top of the agenda were suitably rewarded, as Isobel which he co-owns with brother Conor took the bullet by one and a half minutes from the white-hot Massey-Toomey-Kenny syndicate’s Deilginis, with third generation Howth 17 sailor Peter Courtney (his family have been involved with the class since 1907) getting third.
SQUIBS QUANDARY
The Squibs are in a real quandary this weekend, as ambitious boats will have wished to do the performance-defining Northerns at Cultra with the RNIYC on Belfast Lough, but nevertheless three of them stayed behind to do the Lambay trot, and Emmet Dalton seems to have won on scratch, but Simon Sheahan was out of sight on HPH.
SUN SHONE ON INTO EVENNG
Following that devilish deal of the ancient Vikings of Howth, the sun is still shining in Howth as evening draws in on this excellent Lambay Day, when we were meant to get rain and much cloud by early afternoon. The Wave Regatta Financial Returns are looking good, but as for profits on the Church Fete, we will of course have to wait until after the Sabbath for news of trading realities on holy ground.
Results below
Hot Racing On A Cold Day For Howth Wave 1
From a selective look at the damp and occasionally drizzly weather stats issued from Howth today (Friday, May 24th), you might be tempted to talk of “hot racing on a soft day” to describe the first outing in the Porche-sponsored Wave 2024. But being mid-May with an underlying trend to north in the mostly westerly 9 – 11 knot breeze, at times it seemed almost Arctic, and “soft” was not the adjective which would have sprung most readily to mind, had you had the time to think outside the box of making a boat go fast.
But Race Officers David Lovegrove and Derek Bothwell made sure the varied fleet had little time for excessive contemplation of conditions, as they shovelled through two (and for Classes 0, 1 & 2 a cool three) races for a very varied multi-class fleet. Yet being hospitable souls, they somehow provided a setup which made the many visitors think their journey to the Peninsula had been well worthwhile, with top scorers including Two Farr from Rush/Crosshaven, Impetuous from Pwllheli, Allig8r from Dun Laoghaire, and Jelly Baby from Crosshaven, though the home boats led the non-spinnaker class in the form of Bite the Bullet, Tiger and defending overall champion Toughnut.
The hope is that some clearance with even a bit of sun as forecast for tomorrow (Saturday) will be fulfilled. For apart from the boost on morale, it’s a great help to be able to see Lambay when you’re trying to race round it, the centerpiece of the day’s programme.
Howth's three-day Wave Regatta 2024, the biennial seafest with Porsche as lead sponsors, rolls into action this morning (Friday, May 24th) with a total of 104 entries, ranging from the veterans of the 1898-founded Howth 17 class to many of the most keenly campaigned cruiser racers in Ireland. Boats from all Irish coastlines and across from Wales and England are ready to race on various courses, including the time-honoured circuit of Lambay tomorrow (Saturday).
Particular interest will focus on the J/109s, where several current and former Irish champions are in the mix, while the classic Half Tonners, such as Swuzzlebubble and the recently-acquired Two Farr, will be seeing
a high-quality input of special sailing talent. That said, it's an event for everyone, and the defending overall champion from 2022 is Dermot Skehan's veteran Humphreys-designed MG34 Toughnut from the host club.
Ashore, the Howth Peninsula is en fete with a traditional music festival headed by Sharon Shannon, but Wave participants need to go no further than the Howth YC compound for a high-powered mix of entertainment and the much enjoyed "de-briefings" about the racing, which looks set to enjoy a variety of conditions, with Saturday, in particular, looking good.
Howth’s Wave Power Just Keeps Rolling Along
In electricity-generating circles, wave power may be seen as a potential though often challenging way of generating energy. But in Howth, energy and Wave power seem to have got together to have everything in mutually beneficial co-ordination for the biennial Wave Regatta, starting this Friday (May 24th) and concluding Sunday.
The latest high-powered entries to push the total towards the hundred mark are both from the Royal Irish YC’s own private power-house in the form of the Goodbody family’s silver-bedecked J/109 White Mischief, and the Burke syndicate’s First 40 Prima Forte, a breeze-loving boat.
But as to whether or not Prima Forte will get her favoured conditions remains to be seen. For although the forecasts suggest the racing will begin with ridge-induced northerlies and conclude with a brisk southerly, the fact is that most forecasts for Howth have been off-target or just plain wrong for at least six weeks now, however accurate (or not) they may have been for other places. Folk on the peninsula have expecting the right type of rain to help new lawns along, but a good rainfall of any kind has yet to occur, whatever might be happening in nearby Ireland or across channel in Wales.
WEATHER PREDICTIONS FOR HOWTH HAVE TO BE UNPREDICTABLE
So whether a really good weather pattern will develop remains to be seen, for as far as the Howth Peninsula is concerned, any recent predictions pointed to it ultimately being unpredictable.
Meanwhile, another theme which has recently been rising on the agenda is local pride. And we mean really local, not regional. Thus our recent piece about the remarkable performances that have been put in by North Fingal cruiser-racers such as Storm and King One from Rogerstown, Rush and Skerries, with an intriguing direct but almost-hidden link to West Cork, havr drawn a blast from on high, and we really mean on high.
For it seems that the skipper we think of as the Admiral of the Royal Hills of the Naul Yacht Squadron thinks his local place should get a fair shout, as he can see all from his resident Naul eyrie, and it helps in crew-recruiting to encourage ultra-local pride. And after all, when he and his team came down from the Fingal Alps aka the Naul Hills last year, they won the ICRA Nationals at Howth, and they’ll be back again on Friday with the J/109 Outrajeous.
RURAL ENTHUSIASM CAN BE CHANNELED
This idea of very rural communities having some sailing focus seems odd until we consider the Chipping Norton Yacht Club. It’s in the heart of the Cotswolds in the midst of England and more than a hundred miles from the nearest sea. Yet as each weekend approaches, sea sailing enthusiasts stream southwards from CN, mostly with the RORC programme in mind, and return exhausted but happily salt-stained and wind-battered late on Sunday night.
Yet by Tuesday they’ve started to think slightly enviously of their coast-dwelling fellow sailors gathering in their clubs to talk endlessly about sailing. So the Chipping Norton Yacht Club came into being to inflict a sailing-clothing-wearing boat-talking group on the local pub every Tuesday evening
Maybe it’s time to start thinking of getting a sailing photo or two hung on the walls of Killian’s in The Naul. For now, the good news is that Wave 2024 from Friday onwards is starting to look very interesting indeed. Watch this space.
Those who are unaware of some of the more offbeat aspects of Irish maritime history can be forgiven for wondering how it is that Rogerstown, Rush and Skerries – all in the heart of heavily horticultural North Fingal - between them produce so many formidable sailors.
“How on earth” they demand, “can growing so many admittedly excellent potatoes, cabbages and strawberries make you a genius in a sailing boat?”
The intriguing sailing-talent-producing Rogerstown Estuary is almost boat-free in winter, but the well-filled Rush SC winter boat park speaks volumes about the local sailing interest.
LEGALLY ABSENT
The question is asked after a quick glance at the crème de la crème entry list for Howth’s three day Wave Regatta with Porsche as lead sponsors, where racing starts on this coming Friday (May 24th). Overall, it reveals an intriguing absence of lawyers, and a remarkable presence of established and rising talent from Rush SC and Skerries SC.
We were given a word to the wise on the legal scarcities.
“It would be a very unwise career move for a prominent figure in the law courts to be so conspicuously absent from the Law Library when the courts are sitting in a traditionally very busy period, and no Bank Holiday is being availed of.”
POTATO POTENTATES
Quite so. You can always easily get publicity when you least need it. But as to the sailing power of the Potato Potentates from the hidden acres of Fingal, that’s much more easily explained. Up there, fast sailing is in the blood. The emphasis on vegetables is only a recent innovation. But the sailing prowess long-outlasted the Vikings.
In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, the tiny port of Rush and the nearby tide-riven estuary of Rogerstown produced Ireland’s two greatest sea captains in privateering and smuggling. The late 1700s saw the career peaks for privateering legend Luke Ryan, while the early 1800s witnessed the achievements of James Mathews, a highly-organised smuggler at a time when smuggling was a perfectly reasonable response to the actions of rabidly exploitative governments.
If there is a key component in both maritime legends, it is surely the ability to sail fast offshore, while also being well able, when necessary, for both navigation and intricate inshore pilotage. In other words, exactly the skills set for success with a competitive cruiser-racer.
STORM OF RUSH
For some time now, Pat Kelly and his Fingal team from Rush with Storm have been among the top performers in the J/109 class. Well, Storm will be there at Wave, taking on local talent such as Simon Knowles’ Indian, and visiting talent such as Barry Cunningham’s current champion J/109 Chimaera from the Royal Irish YC.
The mixing of Howth and Rush might be assumed to be neighbourliness, but that would be a mistake. The fact that Rush and Howth can keep an eye on each other along a northwest-southeast sightline across the Malahide Estuary Approaches only serves to emphasise how different they are, and that’s the way they want to keep it.
VIKINGS RE-TAKE HOWTH CASTLE
Thus the word is that the North Fingal contingent are establishing an encampment at Howth Castle, and admission will either be by invitation, or a password known to few, and spoken in ancient Norse, as in everyday use around Lusk.
But the Rush tentacles spread further, and in 2022 the linkup between North Fingal and West Cork was revealed in high profile when sometime Baltimore SC Commodore and “temporary permanent” BSC Honorary Sailing Secretary Rob O’Leary was on the Rush SC team that won the Half Ton Classic Worlds in the Solent on Paul Elvstrom’s former boat King One.
FINGAL WEST CORK LINKUP
That linkup has gone a stage further in order to compete directly with the world’s most-loved Half Tonner, the 1976 Farr-designed Swuzzlebubble. The thinking had been that surely more boats were built to this wonderful way-out design, particularly as Swuzzlebubble has in recent years been based at Crosshaven in the successful ownership of James Dwyer, and currently the ICRA “Boat of the Year”.
And it seems the sleuth-hounds of the Rush & O’Leary teams have come up with just such a boat, originally built in Australia but more recently racing under German designation. She’s called Two Farr, she’s unmistakable bright red, and with Rob O’Leary now in owning partnership with Fingal’s crème de la crème, so many all-Ireland club affiliations are listed that we are reminded of the extraordinarily all-Ireland personality of the J/24 Hard Case.
LAST MINUTE LOCALS
Entries for Wave don’t close until tonight (Tuesday 21st May) at midnight, but organiser Brian Turvey reckons the heavy metal from elsewhere have been long in, it’s only the last minute locals who will finally access that useful circular device, a round tuit, approaching the witching hour.
Meanwhile, with a general lineup including such formidable talent as John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough, the entry list makes for intriguing reading:
Wave Regatta Entries 2024
1 | Biggs/Cullen | Howth Yacht Club | IRL66 | Checkmate XX | First 50 | Class 0 | |
2 | Brian & Conor Turvey | Howth Yacht Club | 19 | Isobel | Howth 17 | ||
3 | Simon Knowles | Howth Yacht Club | IRL1543 | Indian | J109 | Class 1 | |
4 | Thomas O’Reilly | Howth Yacht Club | 770 | Cool Beans | Squib | ||
5 | Emmet Dalton | Howth Yacht Club | 37 | Kerfuffle | Squib | ||
6 | Ian Bowring | Royal St. George Yacht Club | IRL 4464 | Springer | Sigma 33 | One Design | |
7 | Stephen Mullaney | Howth Yacht Club | IRL4444 | Insider | Sigma 33 | One Design | |
8 | Caroline and Nico Gore-Grimes | Howth Yacht Club | Irl988 | Dux | X302 | Class 3 | |
9 | Tom mc mahon | Howth Yacht Club | 869 | Tears in Heaven | Squib | ||
10 | DENIS HEWITT % ORS. | Royal Irish Yacht Club | IRL811 | RAPTOR | MILLS 30CR | Class 1 | |
11 | Vincent Gaffney | Howth Yacht Club | IRL8188 | Alliance II | Laser 28 | Class 3 | |
12 | Barry O'Connor | Royal Irish Yacht Club | 31310 | Katanca | Elan31 | ||
13 | Wright/De Neve | Howth Yacht Club | 2794 | Mata | Half tonne | Class 2 | |
14 | Wormald Walsh O'Neill | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 1972 | No Excuse | X302 | Class 3 | |
15 | Colin & Kathy Kavanagh | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 6697 | Jeneral Lee | J97 | Class 2 | |
16 | Susan Sheridan | Howth Yacht Club | 385 | Ibis | Puppeteer | ||
17 | Norbert Reillly | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 985 | Ghost Raider | J111 | Class 0 | |
18 | Jones Family | Royal Cork Yacht Club | IRL9753 | Jellybaby | J122 | Class 0 | |
19 | Lee Douglas / Aidan Keane | Malahide Yacht Club | 791 | Shenanigans | Feeling | ||
20 | Michael & Richard | Howth Yacht Club | 1699 | Snapshot | j99 | Class 1 | |
21 | Alan Pearson Alan Blay | Howth Yacht Club | IRL15 | Trick or Treat | Puppeteer | ||
22 | JOHN MINNIS | Club not listed | ROYAL ULSTER YACHT CLUB & RNIYC | IRL1003 | FINAL CALL II | ARCHAMBAULT A35 | Class 1 |
23 | Brian Skehan | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 17793 | Chinook | First 300 Spirit | ||
24 | John Beckett and Andy George | Howth Sailing and Boating Club | IRL4073 | Splashdance | Dufour 40 | Non Spinny 33ft+ | |
25 | Colm Bermingham | Howth Yacht Club | 3335C | Bite the Bullet | Elan 333 | ||
26 | Stephen Quinn | Howth Yacht Club | Irl9970 | Lambay Rules | J97 | Class 2 | |
27 | Kevin Darmody | Howth Yacht Club | IRL7115 | Gecko | Quarter Ton | Class 3 | |
28 | Davie Nixon | Howth Yacht Club | 18 | Erica | H17 | ||
29 | Terence Prendiville | Club not listed | no club (Dun Laoghaire Marina) | 139 (Non ISA) | Maggie Bee | Anderson 22 | |
30 | Brian McDowell | Howth Yacht Club | IRL4212 | Scandal | J24 | ||
31 | Simon Sheahan | Howth Yacht Club | 123 | O'Leary | Squib | ||
32 | Ian malcolm | Howth Yacht Club | 7 | Aura | 17 | ||
33 | Massey, Toomey, Kenny | Howth Yacht Club | 11 | Deilginis | H17 | ||
34 | Tim Chillingworth | Howth Yacht Club | IR386 | Gannet | Puppeteer | ||
35 | Windsor & Steffi | Howth Yacht Club | IR 100 | Demelza | Club Shamrock | ||
36 | Charlie McAllister | Club not listed | Antrim Boat Club | HKG2133 | SKB | Fauroux quarter tonner | Class 3 |
37 | Eamonn Burke & Jay Murray | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 971 | Leeuwin | Sigma 33 | ||
38 | Terry Mc Coy | Howth Yacht Club | 2070 | Out & About | Beneteau 38 | Non Spinny 33ft+ | |
39 | kyran o grady | Howth Yacht Club | wicklow sailing club | ir 2848 | bandersnatch of howth | swan 37 | |
40 | PJ Moran | Dun Laoghaire Marina | 1685C | Rajah | Sigma 33 OOD | One Design | |
41 | John & Suzie Murphy | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 19109 | Outrajeous | J109 | Class 1 | |
42 | Gerard Loughran/Ross Hattaway | Howth Yacht Club | 493 | 3point9 | Squib | ||
43 | bourke mc girr ball | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 3002 | XEBEC | X 302 | Class 2 | |
44 | Roslyn Byrne | Howth Yacht Club | 50 | Odyssey | Puppeteer | ||
45 | Dermot Skehan | Howth Yacht Club | 1411 | Toughnut | - | Non Spinny 33ft+ | |
46 | Stephen Harris / Frank Hughes | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 4077 | Tiger | Beneteau First 40.7 | Non Spinny 33ft+ | |
47 | Howth Yacht Club K25 Team | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 680 | Killcullen | - | Class 3 | |
48 | OReilly/McDyer | Howth Yacht Club | 219 | Geppetto | Puppeteer | ||
49 | E Ferris &I Byrne | Howth Yacht Club | 14 | Gladys | Howth 17 | ||
50 | Gallagher and Fitzgibbon | Howth Yacht Club | 21 | Orla | Howth 17 | ||
51 | K&B Barker | Howth Yacht Club | 318 | Papagena | Puppeteer 22 | ||
52 | Jane & Michael Duffy | Howth Yacht Club | HYC | 9 | HERA | Howth 17 | |
53 | Peter & Declan McCabe | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 1343 | Arcturus | Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37 | ||
54 | Ian Dickson | Howth Yacht Club | HYC | 22 | Weyhey | Puppeteer | |
55 | Gerard Kennedy | Howth Yacht Club | 5526 | Blue Velvet | Puppeteer | ||
56 | Fergal McNamara | Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club | 297 | Equaliser | EBoat | ||
57 | Shane Russell and Dave Carolan | Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club | 152 | Wile E Coyote | E-boat | ||
58 | Cormac Farrelly | Howth Yacht Club | IRL4123 | Pepperbox | First 32s5 | ||
59 | Sean Hawkshaw | Club not listed | Mullaghmore Sailing Club | IRL 7360 | Wardance | Sigma 38 | Class 2 |
60 | Patrick Higginbotham Neil HIgginbotham | Malahide Yacht Club | 158 | Lazy Bones | Beneteau First Class 8 | Class 3 | |
61 | Matthew Knowles | Howth Yacht Club | 34 | Intersceptre | Puppeteer 22 | ||
62 | Micheal Carroll | Howth Yacht Club | 1950 | Flexit | - | ||
63 | Craig O’Neill | Royal Cork Yacht Club | IRL4064 | Legal Alien | J/24 | One Design | |
64 | Peter Levins, Brendan Foley, Colm O'Buachalla, Mark Hennessey, Patrick Ryan, Conor Twoney | Royal St. George Yacht Club | FR111 | ALLIG8R | First Class 8 | Class 3 | |
65 | Neil Murphy / Conor Costello | Howth Yacht Club | 6413 | Yellow Peril | Puppeteer 22 | ||
66 | Conor Haughton, Jonny Flood, Charles Heather, Garrett Kinnane | Wicklow Sailing Club | 5270 | Jupiter | J24 | Class 3 | |
67 | Nicola & Stuart Harris | Waterford Harbour Sailing Club | 3370 | Moxy | X332 sport | Class 1 | |
68 | pat kelly | Rush Sailing Club | rsc hyc | irl1141 | storm | j 109 | Class 1 |
69 | kelly boardman oleary | Club not listed | rsc bsc hyc rcyc | irl 2269 | two farr | half tonner | Class 2 |
70 | Joanne Hall / Martin Mahon | Club not listed | Courtown Sailing Club | IRL90210 | SNOOPY | Quarter Tonner | Class 3 |
71 | Flood/Greene | Howth Yacht Club | IRL8151 | Jokers Wild | Beneteau 32S5 | ||
72 | Roger Conan | Royal St. George Yacht Club | 1041 | Avalon | 31.7 | ||
73 | Mark Chambers & Alan Switzer | Club not listed | Courtown sailing club | IRL1707 | Artemis | Sigma 33c | |
74 | Peter Courtney | Howth Yacht Club | 17 | Oona | Howth 17 | ||
75 | Miller, Crompton & Hodges | Club not listed | South Caenarvonshire Yacht Club | GBR7737R | Impetuous | Corby 37 | Class 0 |
76 | Barry Cunningham | Royal Irish Yacht Club | IRL 2160 | Chimaera | J109 | Class 1 | |
77 | Rima Macken | Howth Yacht Club | 16 | Eileen | Howth 17 | ||
78 | paul conway | Royal St. George Yacht Club | IRL 932 | CERVANTES | Contessa 32 | ||
79 | Cliff Waddilove | Skerries Sailing Club | 279 | Aoife | E-Boat | ||
80 | Dave Clarke | Howth Yacht Club | 2021c | Harlequin | Puppeteer | ||
81 | Kieran Jameson | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 8331 | Changeling | Sigma 38 | ||
82 | Donal Harkin | Howth Yacht Club | 1048 | Ghosty Ned | Puppeteer | ||
83 | Paddy Kyne | Howth Yacht Club | 7495 | Maximus | X 302 | Class 3 | |
84 | James Dwyer | Royal Cork Yacht Club | KZ3494 | Swuzzlebubble | Farr halftonner | Class 2 | |
85 | Johnny Treanor | National Yacht Club | IRL 3721 | ValenTina | J112e | Class 0 | |
86 | Declan Gray | Howth Yacht Club | Irl3230 | Sapphire | Oceanis 323 Clipper | ||
87 | Ger Smith / Niall Sabongi | Skerries Sailing Club | IRL4443 | An Oifig | Sigma 33 | ||
88 | Carty Finucane O'Byrne | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 1430 | Mary Ellen | . | ||
89 | Roddy cooper | Howth Yacht Club | 3 | LEILA | 17 footer | ||
90 | William Lacy | Howth Yacht Club | IRL 8322 | Sojourn | Arcona 400 |
Howth’s Wave Regatta Storms On To Final Call
When it was announced that the three-day Howth Wave Regatta 2024 would be in the last full May weekend of Friday 24th to Sunday 26th, there was a certain thoughtful sucking of the molars among the waterfront pundits. For this was clear evidence that the over-crowded cruiser-racing programme had led the Howth event organiser Brian Turvey into going head-to-head with the Scottish Series for the timing of his home event, which has Porsche as the classy lead sponsor.
Thus the most basic metric of the wisdom (or not) of his decision lay in two simple outcomes – which way would John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough go, and which way would Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush incline her attention?
HARD-HEADED CHOICES
For both boats have found the Scottish Series to be a very happy hunting ground for conspicuous success in recent years. They are the form boats. Yet both boats and crews are noted for making very hard-headed decisions about where they’ll get their best competition in this time-precious age, resulting in something of a zero sum situation when events precisely clash.
So although it was the solidly reliable First 50 Checkmate XX (Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen) which led the way in becoming Entry Number One for Wave, it was when Final Call II came in at Entry 22 and Storm came in at Entry 68 that the Waterfront Brains Trust agreed the Turvey Team had successfully made the crucial cut – the show was definitely on the road.
John Minnis’s entry was especially fulsome, as he’d enthused about the quality of racing he’d experienced in previous visits to Howth. Yet the 2023 ICRA National’s event success at Howth had been achieved despite a very disobliging weather pattern, so it seems that it’s the general atmosphere - in addition to the quality of racing when available - which is Wave’s USP. and it has also attracted a representative Cork contingent.
HOWTH ENTERTAINMENT RATING A CONSTANT
But the entertainment value of Howth Yacht Club’s setting in a picturesque and hospitable fishing/sailing port is more or less a given when you add in the hectic social programme available. Thus in the end it’s the quality of the racing which is the ultimate factor, and it’s Howth’s race team – whose talents are regularly hi-jacked off around the corner of Howth Head by Dublin Bay Sailing Club – that gives the greatest and most continuous attention to improving the product.
Then too, with this major regatta being so conveniently provided right on the threshold of Dublin means that the organiser’s tolerance in accepting entries up to just three days in advance causes the weather situation and its immediate prospects some ten days hence to be a factor in some crew and boat participation decisions.
PLUS CA CHANGE……..
Thus it’s a matter of things changing all the time in order to stay the same, as Wave is ultimately based around Howth Yacht Club’s signature event, the Lambay Race. Originally using a trophy donated by the Stokes family in 1899, it was first known to have been eventually maiden sailed in 1904 (it didn’t do to rush into new things back in them days), and since then its mystique has increased with every year.
CENTENARY? WHAT CENTENARY?
Yet its Centenary in 2004 passed with little enough fanfare, as Howth may have been experiencing some “Centenary Fatigue”, what with the hundredth of Howth YC in 1995, and the big hundred of the ancient Howth 17 class in 1998. You can have enough of centenaries, whatever they may celebrate.
So the annual Lambay Race has gradually and rather quietly become a cornerstone of the architecture of the Fingal sailing programme. And traditionalists would argue that all they should have to do is fire a starting gun from the Howth pierhead when the tide is flooding north through Howth Sound, and send the fleet of multiple classes on the most basic course round the always slightly mysterious Lambay (please don’t call it Lambay island, “island” is implicit in that “ay” ending), and then time them home again when the ebb hustles them south.
LENGTHENING THE COURSE
But that results in a course of only fifteen or so sea miles when something special is needed, so they’ve introduced all sorts of variants in order to provide extra length and ensure there’s a good beat or two. But whether or not you agree with what they do is rather dependent on how well you did.
I did my first Lambay on Johnny Pearson’s 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Orana in 1970, when she was still smelling of roses thanks to having been overall winner of the RORC Beaumaris to Cork Race of 1966, a triumph achieved by the genius tactics of Brian Hegarty. Quite how we did round Lambay four yearslater is long forgotten, so obviously we didn’t win, but the good news is that the 1960-built Orana has since been meticulously restored by an owner in the south of England, and has been cutting a dash at the Morbihan Festival in Brittany.
Subsequent Lambay Races have been done in boats as small as a Squib – you could keep racing flat-out sustained by an easily-handled diet of Superquinn of Sutton Cross’s superb Scotch eggs and a screw-top bottle of cider, something that kept you going on a Howth 17 too – while at the other end of the size scale, the serious biggies like Perry Greer’s 57ft Helen of Howth and Otto Glaser’s all-varnish Tritsch-Tratsch II tried to outdo each other in the style of their mid-race lunch.
USING THE ZIGS TO CHANGE SAILS FOR THE ZAGS
Naturally a bit of us inclines to go along with the traditionalists who say the course should be simply there and back. But it has to be admitted our big win came in 1981 thanks to the zig-zag nature of the course set from Lambay south. It was our first year with the Hustler 30 Turtle (bought in a Leeson Street night-club around 4 o’clock in the morning, but that’s another story) which had lovely Hood sails, but the jibs and genoas were hanked on. Yet with a strong but steadily easing sou’wester, coming back fro Lambay the zigs while screaming along under spinnaker enabled us to change up from working jib through No 2 (a really wonderful sail) to face the beats on the zags with the right cloth set, until the last zag leg to the finish was close-hauled under the No 1, going like a train.
BAD CAREER MOVE
It was beginner’s luck. But it was a very bad career move to have had it right in such a major scenario, as our ECHO handicap went so stratospheric that it continued to penalize us when we moved on up to a 35-footer ten years alter. So with both boats, for any subsequent sniff of the silverware we had to go to the then-considerable expense of getting an impartial Channel Handicap rating and subsequently going IRC, with the latter being no cake-walk as they wouldn’t allow us to be weighed for measurement with the chain locker filled with the 45 fathoms of seven-eighths tested cable we reckoned made her a proper cruiser-racer.
All of which seems rather a long way from the Lambay Race 2024 and Howth Wave 2024 enveloping it, but then the Lambay can attract some odd boats, everything from the hottest new things to boats as old as Methuselah. Memorable in the latter category is a Lambay Race aboard Adrian “Stu” Spence’s 1873-vintage pilot cutter Madcap which – despite her supposedly speedy pilot cutter pedigree – managed to be beaten boat-for-boat by the mighty Clondalkin-built Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan, helmed in considerable style by Paddy Murphy who’d come across from Renvyle on Connemara’s Atlantic coast, and made his journey well worthwhile through this success.
ENTRIES CLOSE MAY 21ST
Meanwhile, returning to prospects for Howth Wave 2024, we’re kept on tenterhooks by the fact that entries are being accepted right up to Tuesday May 21st. We can see this becoming a dangerous game, maybe even involving AI. As clubs become increasingly proud and sure of their race management equipment, we can see entries being accepted as they show up. Which, as it happens, was the way it always used to be:
“Didn’t you know we were coming? Sure didn’t we come last year? Of course were coming again this year – who’d have thought there was any need to tell you?
Porsche On Howth’s Wave 2024 As Regatta Sponsors
Porsche Centre Dublin, renowned for their commitment to excellence and luxury, will take centre stage as the headline sponsors for Howth Yacht Club’s Wave Regatta, scheduled from May 24th to 26th, 2024. Their support underscores the significance of this event in the sailing calendar, drawing enthusiasts from Ireland and beyond.
Gavin Hydes – CEO of Porsche Centre Dublin – commented at the launching: “I am thrilled to announce Porsche Centre Dublin’s partnership as the title sponsor of Wave Regatta 2024 at Howth Yacht Club. This prestigious event perfectly aligns with our commitment to excellence and innovation. We are excited to support the sailing community and showcase the thrilling synergy between precision engineering and exhilarating performance. Let's set sail for an unforgettable experience together."
WAVE REGATTA BUILDING ON SUCCESS
The biennial Wave Regatta has become a thrilling spectacle on Ireland’s East Coast. It invites sailors to compete in a showcase keelboat-racing event designed to ensure top quality racing and unrivalled après-sail for a range of keelboats, including the top-end high-performance ones, local one-designs - such as the record-setting Howth 17s – and the increasingly popular ‘White Sail’ fleet.
The 2024 edition promises three days of exhilarating racing, camaraderie, and celebration. To be held this year on May 24th - 26th (a week earlier on the calendar than previous iterations), Wave Regatta is renowned as one of the highest quality keelboat racing events in Ireland, combining a spectacular racecourse area along Fingal’s beautiful coastline, Howth Yacht Club’s unrivalled race management teams afloat, and the Club’s award-winning facilities and staff that ensure an unsurpassed experience ashore.
COMMODORE’S WELCOME
Commodore Neil Murphy enthusiastically welcomed Porsche’s decision saying: “We are delighted to welcome Porsche Centre Dublin as our headline sponsors for Wave Regatta 2024. Their commitment to excellence and innovation aligns perfectly with our Club’s values. This partnership ensures that Wave 2024 will maintain the regatta’s established reputation as a top-class national event and we look forward to working with Porsche in delivering the regatta that the sailing community looks forward to getting the 2024 sailing season underway.”
Online entry for the event is open and entries are building for both the 3-day event and the Saturday-only Lambay Races option, and discounted entry for participating keelboats has been extended to the 7th of April.
See here for full details of the racing, the weekend festival, and for online entry.
Wave Regatta 2024 Returns to Howth Yacht Club This May
Howth Yacht Club is set to host the biennial Wave Regatta in May 2024, inviting sailing enthusiasts from Ireland and beyond to compete in a showcase keelboat-racing event.
The three-day regatta welcomes all cruiser-racing class boats competing under current IRC and ECHO handicap ratings, providing an opportunity for seasoned sailors and rising stars to test their mettle against the best competition in Ireland.
As Wave Regatta organiser Brian Turvey told Saturday's ICRA cruiser-racer Conference at Dun Laoghaire, for those who prefer a Saturday-only event, the famous Lambay Races promise exhilarating action on the water and the unique and serene backdrop of Lambay Island. One-design keelboats will join the fray, ensuring a diverse and competitive fleet.
But Wave Regatta isn’t just about keelboat racing; it’s a celebration of all things nautical during the event weekend. There will be opportunities for anyone not competing in the main regatta to learn to stand-up-paddleboard, wing-foil and cheer on rowing competitors as they battle it out on the shore.
The event promises to deliver a legendary three-day party, with an outdoor festival bar serving refreshing drinks and party cocktails, a catering village providing delectable bites all-day, and non-stop music from top bands and DJs, including the incomparable Mark Covell and Howth’s own Vogue Williams.
Online entry is now open at waveregatta.com, with an early entry discount available, but act swiftly, as time moves fast!
Wave Regatta is organised by Howth Yacht Club, one of Ireland’s largest and most famous sailing clubs. Since its inception in 2018, Wave Regatta has become a highlight of the Irish sailing calendar, attracting sailors, spectators, and thrill-seekers from Ireland and around the world.