Fog and light winds on the Dublin coast has led to the abandonment of racing on today's first day of Howth Yacht Club's new style Wave Regatta. 

Three races were scheduled from 11am but attempts to get the 154-boat fleet under way were unsuccessful.

The three-day Regatta continues tomorrow with the club's traditional Lambay Races from 11am. 

It may only be the start of June, but Howth Yacht Club already has an extra-special year going in 2018, and all the signs are that it will continue to get better. W M Nixon takes the pulse of a club in good heart as it stages Wave Regatta, the East Coast’s biggest regatta this season.

Howth YC is on a real roll, truly the crest of the Wave. There has been a new zing about the place since the year turned. Improved administrative structures have started to provide beneficial effects, while the rise of new sailing talent inspires established sailors to greater effort. Things are moving again, with the establishment of Quest Sailing School – it’s within the club, yet publicly accessible - providing user-friendly ways of getting involved with sailing to bring a welcome new addition to the club’s range of services.

Thus the mood is good as this extended weekend of the Wave Regatta unfolds with all sorts of bells and whistles added to the club’s historic Lambay Race to make it a centrepiece of one very up-to-date sailing championship, an event so comprehensive that it includes an ISORA Race.

This new-style combination event has emerged fully-formed as a unique mix of very serious and notably well-attended IRC racing - overseen by top race officers of the calibre of Jack Roy and David Lovegrove - run in tandem with today’s homage to Lambay, that perfect island which does so much to make the Fingal coast into Leinster’s sailing paradise.

"Lambay, that perfect island which does so much to make the Fingal coast into Leinster’s sailing paradise"

HYC Commodore Joe McPeake is leading a multi-faceted organisation which caters for a wide range of activities Photo: HYC
But it isn’t just the natural advantages of its sailing waters which have propelled Howth YC back into the premier league. The whole-hearted club spirit had been renewed through 2017, to be further invigorated this year. The annual Afloat.ie Irish Sailing Awards ceremony on February 9th in Dublin opened with Howth in a very good place, listing seven known winners before the show had even begun. And by its conclusion, there was every sign of increased momentum, with Howth’s own astonishing Conor Fogerty the new Volvo Afloat.ie Sailor of the Year on the strength of his successful performance – against ferocious conditions – in his Sunfast 3600 Bam! in the storm-tossed east-west Single-handed Transatlantic Race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode island.

You might have thought that was enough to be going along with, but by purest serendipity the following night back home, Howth YC Commodore Joe McPeake hosted his club’s own annual Achievers’ Night, and the list of those who had done great things was awesome, topped as it now was by the Fogerty triumph and augmented by a proper recognition of the many volunteers who beaver away behind the scenes to keep Howth’s unique show on the road.

But those early February celebrations were for achievements in 2017. It was time and more to think of what had to be done in 2018. No sooner had the winners recovered from the Achievers Night than a goodly group of many of the Howth talents went west, west to Antigua in the Caribbean to get the 45ft Pata Negra (chartered by Michael Wright HYC) and Conor Fogerty’s own Sunfast 3600 Bam! into tune for the RORC Caribbean 600.

Determined skipper. Conor Fogerty’s performance in the OSTAR has made him Ireland’s current Aflaot.ie Sailor of the Year
It says much about the spread of Howth talents globally that one of the first people the boys and girls from home met up with in Antigua was international Irish-Australian sailing superstar and Howth ex-Pat Gordon Maguire, there with his specialists to campaign the Maxi 72 Proteus as one of the favourites for the big race.

But in one of the most rugged Caribbean 600s yet sailed, it was the ex-Howth star’s mount which fell by the wayside in the tough going, while the two Howth crews battled on over the 600 sometimes very rough miles to see Conor Fogerty win Class 4 overall, while Michael Wright and Kieran Jameson and their team in Pata Negra took second overall in Class 2 despite shredding some important sails during a proper Demolition Derby in which it was a real achievement to finish at all, let alone get a top class placing.

Michael Wright and Gordon Maguire get together in Antigua before the start of the RORC Caribbean 600

However, no sooner had the successes of the Caribbean expedition become official than Howth experienced what could have been a disaster back home. The 1898-founded gaff-rigged Howth Seventeens – the world’s oldest One-Design keelboat class – is another key strand of Howth sailing life, and with the thriving Puppeteer 22 class, they provide the inshore keelboat racing backbone to the season-long club sailing, which in turn is supported by multiple dinghy and junior activity.

By their age, special nature and classic quality, the Howth Seventeens are a central part of Howth sailing. In many ways, they’re the soul of the club. So when - immediately after the Caribbean success in late February – Storm Emma struck the Irish Sea and inflicted serious damage on buildings at the end of Howth’s exposed East Pier on March 1st, it was feared the Seventeens had been dealt a shattering bow, as the now-wrecked Long Shed at the end of the pier was the winter storage home for seven of the twenty Seventeens, and first reports suggested that all of them had suffered serious damage, with several probably total write-offs.

But in a remarkable community effort, as soon as conditions had settled down post-storm, a group of club volunteers worked through the day and into the night to extract all the boats from the wreckage of the shed, whatever their level of damage, and get them safely round the harbour to the club’s own compound.

Miraculously, while five boats had been seriously damaged, only two were severe cases, and one of them – Rosemary built 1907 - is currently being re-built in the heart of Fingal by ace boat-builder Larry Archer, as he is now able to concentrate on the job after completing the repairs on the less-damaged boats.

The timeless and all-involving nature of the Howth 17s is epitomized by Isobel sailing towards the entrance to Howth Harbour. Isobel’s part-owner is noted offshore racer Brian Turvey, Chairman of the Organising Committee for Wave. Photo: W M Nixon

But the seventh boat – Anita – would have been judged a write-off were she not a classic. Thanks to this status, Anita (built 1900) can be re-built on her ballast keel to comply with international classic standards, and already this process has been put in train, with HYC Rear Commodore Ian Malcolm – Action Man for keeping the Howth Seventeens alive and well – making a recent business visit to the classics boatyard in Douarnenez in Brittany.

There, the Howth Seventeen class can avail of the French Government’s Boat-building Training Scheme whereby all the customers have to do is cover the costs of the materials – which will include that existing lead ballast keel – while the French authorities look after overheads, staff wages, tuition fees and whatever.

So in due course, Anita will sail again. But meanwhile back home, the class has been pulling itself together after emerging from what could have been a body blow, and for their regular Tuesday evening race this week they mustered ten boats – including some which had been among those damaged in March - for some flukey breezes on an otherwise perfect summer’s evening, and Peter Courtney with Oonagh was the winner.

Peter Courtney is classic Howth in that his family have been involved with the Howth Seventeens since 1907, yet he was also a Fireball champion in his day, and a formidable and successful offshore racing skipper. And while the Puppeteer 22s and the Howth Seventeens and other local boats of character will be much in evidence in today’s Lambay Race, it’s the classes catering for today’s “formidable and successful offshore racing skippers” which will be providing the bulk of the fleet.

In recent, years Howth Yacht Club has been keenly aware of the need to provide attractive access routes into the cruiser-racer game, and the Club’s Under 25 squad using J/24s has been so successful that it has been paid the ultimate compliment of being replicated in other clubs on all coasts of Ireland, thereby bringing new life to Ireland’s J/24 class such that J/Boats co-founder Bob Johnstone made a point of visiting HYC in 2014, and was persuaded to autograph one of the rudders to memorialise the occasion.

Howth YC has a long history with the J/24s – the first one at the port was Pathfinder II (Philip Watson & Kieran Jameson) in 1978. Photo: W M Nixon
Historic moment – J Boats co-founder Bob Johnstone visited HYC in 2014, and autographed the rudder on one of the club’s J/24s. Photo: Brian Turvey

But the Howth administrators were also aware of a need to link actively with the strong interest in sportsboats, and for some years they’ve also been providing a club-owned flotilla of J/80s which are in turn being supported by a growing privately-owned J/80 fleet at HYC. Apart from being an attractive and versatile boat in its own right, the J/80 is a boat with sportsboat characteristics which can nevertheless access an IRC rating, so what’s not to like?

The J/80 certainly has everything going for it for a club like HYC, and as a result people head for Howth when they have specific championship or selection trials requirements, with the club’s J/80 flotilla being used in April to select the Irish squad for the Student Yachting Worlds in France on October - University College Cork captained by Fionn Lyden took the honours.

The J/80 provides the ideal link between sportsboat sailing and IRC racing

Staging events like this helped to get the club back to life after the longest winter in living memory, despite which the club’s winter Laser frostbite series – inaugurated in 1974 – continued its traditional progress to conclusion on St Patrick’s Day, while a Brass Monkey Winter Series for cruisers has also been running annually for more than thirty years. But since May began, the sailing pace has been accelerating, and one boat in particular - a true champion of Fingal – has been lifting everyone’s hearts.

A couple of weeks ago here, we outlined how Pat Kelly and his family in Rush, together with their friends and shipmates, keep their J/109 Storm in beautifully-presented and highly competitive shape. But at that time, they had only started their season by overall victory in the Kip Regatta in Scotland.

Being in Scotland meant they’d to miss the J/109 Easterns at the Royal Irish YC a fortnight ago, but they’ve since upped the performance level with their total runaway victory this week at the Scottish Series. This further raises the stakes for theRoyal Irish YCs racing within Class 1 in the current Wave Regatta, as the Andrew Algeo-skippered Joggernknot had the win in the Easterns, albeit by a close margin from Dear Prudence.

For this weekend, Dear Prudence is listed as part of the Howth J/109 contingent, having been entered by Patrick Cruise O’Brien. So between that and the fact that the hyper-champion Storm is actually Howth-based, as Howth is also the undoubted home port of Indian (Colm Buckley and Simon Knowles) we now have three Howth J/109s taking on the might of the Dun Laoghaire class in what looks like being a Battle of the Sailmakers, with the likes of Rob McConnell’s A35 Fool’s Gold from Dunmore East and Royal Irish YCRockabillRoyal Irish YC also in Class 1 to keep those J/109s on their toes.

Hanging in there. The Storm crew give their take on the glamour of top-level racing……Photo: Afloat.ie

That said, we shouldn’t let the current glamour of J/109 racing reduce the attention earned by Howth’s remarkable contingent of classic Half Tonners, whose charge in the Scottish Series was led by Johnny Swan’s Harmony – an all-wood boat, would you believe. Harmony was in the groove in Scotland and missed the class overall win by just one point, so she has a refreshed reputation to defend this time round.

Johnny Swan’s classic Half Tonner Harmony was very much in the frame in Scotland. Photo: Afloat.ie
But then, so have many boats in a fleet this size. And as ever, private battles are developing which will be played out today and tomorrow, and then minutely dissected in one of the many après sailing venues on offer.

Of all this we can be sure. But the great imponderable is the weather. Or more particularly, the wind. Sometimes, the Fingal coast gets breeze when Dublin Bay lacks it. But sometimes, it’s the other way round. We can only hope……..

With upwards of 150 boat competing, the inaugural Wave Regatta is set to become the largest gathering of racing yachts this year in Ireland. So who is likely to come out with the Howth Yacht Club spoils in each of the IRC divisions, Class 0, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3?

It is no exaggeration to say that wind conditions are set to play a very big part in this.

Some yachts, especially the wider modern types excel in the breeze whereas some of the less modern shapes, with less wider sterns often do very well in the lighter conditions.

So far, all the forecasts are showing for light airs on the Friday and Sunday when the fleets have six races in total, with a little more wind on Saturday when the Lambay Day Race will be sailed. The prospect of a sea breeze similar to today, however, could yet surprise by increasing wind strengths across at least one, if not all, the three days of the regatta.

"Each of the inshore races will have a multiplier of 1 and there are six of them"

The Lambay Race will have a 1.5 times multiplier and is non–discardable. However, each of the inshore races will have a multiplier of 1 and there are six of them. Therefore, you would expect that the high number of races on Friday and Sunday, when lighter winds are expected, will favour the lighter air orientated designs.

Here is Afloat.ie's best guess of who will end up in the frame.

Wow – new keel, a new rig configuration and new sails this year Photo: Afloat.ie

Class 0 Very small entry here, only three boats, George Sisk's Farr 42, Wow, Conor Phelan's Ker 37, Jump Juice and Jamie McWilliams' Ker 40, Signal 8. The Ker 40 is by far the highest rating boat of these 3 and if there was more wind, she would get up and plane easily, and sail to her handicap, but in lighter airs, she may not get these planing conditions. Wow has a new keel, a new rig configuration and new sails this year and appears to be all the better for these changes, but it may be just a bit early for her to show her form. Jump Juice is the likely winner in this class. She was unlucky to only finish third at last week's Scottish Series, and we expect she will get the better of the other two in this class.

"The smart money is on Storm to take the Class One title"

Tim Goodbody's White Mischief is a regular winner in Dun Laoghaire Photo: Afloat.ie

Class 1 This will be a really tight Class. A lot of well–sailed, well–prepared boats here. Were the conditions windier, you would expect to see the 3 wide, modern designs, Fools Gold, Rockabill VI and Bon Exemple feature well up there. Of these three, Rob McConnell's Fools Gold may take the lighter wind conditions better and could end up towards the front. However, in lighter winds, it is very hard to look outside one of the nine J109’s from taking the win. The J109 has won virtually every regatta in Ireland over the last four years (except Sovereign's Cup 2017 when Fools Gold won and 2016 when Rockabill VI won Cork Week), and this includes winning the last 4 Icra Nationals, class winner in the last Round Ireland, ISORA overall winner, overall winner in the 2017 Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Pat Kelly's Storm from Howth comes fresh from a win at the Scottish Series and having also won the J109 nationals last year, will certainly be one of the ones to watch. Tim Goodbody's White Mischief wins most of the Dun Laoghaire races, but will he be able to replicate this on the Northside of the Bay? Andrew Algeo's Juggerknot has recently won the J109 East coasts and has been going very well of late. However, John Maybury's Joker II, with three consecutive ICRA Nationals wins and an overall win last year at the very competitive Dun Laoghaire week will be the one to beat, if she has Olympian Mark Mansfield calling the shots, (as he did in the four wins mentioned above). If he is not aboard, then the smart money is on Storm to take the title.

Expect to see Ross McDonald's X332, Equinox take the win if conditions freshen. To leeward is another class two favourite Dave Cullen's Checkmate XV Photo: Afloat.ie

Class 2 Again, wind conditions will likely make a big difference in this class, where the size range from smallest to biggest is quite large. If it were medium to fresh, you would expect to see Ross McDonald's X332, Equinox take the win, closely followed by the two Beneteau 34.7s Flashback (Breen/Hogg) and Leslie Parnell's Black Velvet. However, the conditions are likely to be light and there are no better light wind boats than the tricked–up Half Tonners, of which four are competing. David Cullen's Checkmate XV, Nigel Biggs Checkmate XVIII, Johnny Swan's Harmony (second in Scotland this week) and Mike and Richard Evan's Big Picture. Nigel Biggs was second at last year's Half Ton Cup so you would have to give him the nod ahead of Cullen. Don’t be surprised, however, to see one of the other two Half Tonners up there also. Another boat that could be good on her day in light airs is Kodachi from Howth (Wright/Connolly).

Paddy Kyne's Maximus could be in the frame if the wind blows Photo: Afloat.ie

Class 3 Again, if conditions were windier, you might see one of the X302’s from Howth take the win or even one of the J24's which sail very well to their rating in the breeze. However, in the lighter airs, it is likely that one of the four Corby 25,s will take the honours and we suspect that the local Corby 25, Fusion (Colwell and Cobbe) from Howth will be the pick of these four.

See full entry list here

Tomorrow's first races of Howth Yacht Club's inaugural Wave Regatta marks the return of the host club's J109 Storm to her home waters after the successful defence by the Kelly family of their Scottish Series title in Tarbert last Monday.

It's a return fit for the champions because a strong line–up of boats from across the Irish Sea area are saluting HYC efforts to stage what has become 2019's biggest sailing event on the East Coast at its first attempt. The inaugural fleet gathers together the best of inshore and offshore performers including the top J109s, ISORA leaders, the D2D champion as well as a host of ICRA champions too.

Kelly's north Dublin crew were the toast of the Gourock this week after an 'outstanding performance' on the Clyde earned them the overall trophy as well as the Rose Bowl for best boat in the Luddon IRC fleet and The McIver Salver in a very competitive Makars Mash RC35 Class.

"A strong line–up of boats from across the Irish Sea are saluting HYC efforts to stage what has become 2019's biggest sailing event on the East Coast at its first attempt"

A week later, they now encounter an entirely different set of competitors and an entirely different set of conditions too as Wave Regatta looks set to be based around the arrival of sea breezes.

Storm (Dave Kelly) in winning form at the Scottish Series last week. Photo: Marc Turner

A fleet of 154 boats comprising entries from Howth and around the Irish Sea will be in action over three days of the June Bank Holiday weekend for the inaugural Wave Regatta.

Racing under IRC rating and ECHO handicaps, six classes while boats have the option of competing on all three days starting on Friday 1st June or selecting only the traditional Lambay Race on Saturday 2nd June.

J109 East Coast winner Joggerknot (Andrew Algeo) Photo: Afloat.ie

The Kelly's meet a 15-strong line up including Andrew Algeo's Juggerknot the Royal Irish yacht that won the J109 East Coast Championships a fortnight ago. Also in that line up is the core group of Algeo's RIYC club mates from Dun Laoghaire such as Tim Goodbody's White Mischief, Andrew Craig's Chimaera and triple ICRA champion Joker II, skippered by John Maybury. But it's not all Js, yet more RIYC campaigners heading for Howth waters include the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Champion Rockabill VI, a JPK10.80 skippered by Paul O'Higgins and Colin Byrne's XP 33 Bon Exemple. Byrne, in particular, has familiarised himself with the Ireland's Eye race track by finishing third overall last weekend at the 1720 Europeans.

Approximately one-third of the fleet have opted for the one-day event meaning that the remaining two days will also be a 100-boat regatta. Racing for local one-designs and classic Howth 17’s is also included in the line-up.

Howth's Director of Racing for Wave Regatta, Dave Cullen is competing on the half tonner Checkmate XV Photo: Afloat.ie

Nigel Biggs Checkmate XVIII in Class 2 has a 20–strong opposition to contend with including potential challengers such as Anthony O’Leary from the Royal Cork YC on his modified 1720 Antix Beag and half-tonners The Big Picture owned by Mike and Ritchie Evans plus Cullen on Checkmate XV.

Conor Fogerty's Silver Shamrock, a vintage Half–Tonner from the host club is entered in class three Photo: Afloat.ie

Class 3 is another 20–strong event that includes youth and Under 25 teams from Howth and Galway in the J24 class.

Included in the event is the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) fleet with around 20 boats expected, most racing in Saturday’s Lambay Race that counts towards the ISORA season league, a series currently led by 2017 champion, Mojito from Pwllheli Sailing Club.

Sea Breezes Expected

Fine weather with sea breezes is expected plus an unrivalled hospitality experience ashore has attracted huge interest including 50 visiting boats.

Forecasters, such as XC Weather, are predicting light winds for Howth but the prospect of sea breezes can boost wind speeds

Over 800 crew-members are expected in addition to family and friends for the evening entertainment programme provided by event sponsor Michael JF Wright Hospitality.

Entries have officially closed but Wave Regatta Director of Racing David Cullen has said every effort will be made to accommodate last-minute boats.

Additional berths have been made available in the marina for visitors as the Howth YC cruising-group has relocated to nearby Malahide. Deep water berths with direct shore access have been arranged by the Howth Harbour Authority.

Wave Regatta aims to provide the best racing and hospitality experience and is on course to be the biggest event of the 2018 season on Ireland’s East Coast. Several initiatives including the Sailors for the Sea programme are being encouraged plus accommodation solutions and a daily ferry sailing at 0815 from Dun Laoghaire’s East Pier to Howth in time for racing.

Sailmaker teams from both North Sails Ireland and UK Sails Ireland will be in attendance at HYC.

The Wave Regatta schedule of events

Andrew Algeo’s Juggerknot from the Royal Irish Yacht Club leads a clutch of J109’s into division one of June's Wave Regatta at Howth Yacht Club as the newly crowned East Coast J109 champion but faces plenty of competition under IRC, not least from clubmate Paul O’Higgins JPK1080 that is also preparing for June's Round Ireland Race. 

“We're very pleased with the response to our Wave Regatta initiative and we’re set to be the biggest keelboat event on the East Coast in 2018,” Brian Turvey, Event Chairman told Afloat.ie

“Around 50 boats are visiting from outside Howth and they can be assured of a memorable experience, on and off the water.”

"The class band split means that at least 20 boats are expected each for classes one, two and three"

The class band split means that at least 20 boats are expected each for classes one, two and three where some of the most competitive club boats will be racing.

In Division 2, Nigel Biggs Checkmate XVIII racing under the HYC burgee will face plenty of local talent, especially from Ross McDonald’s Equinox and Michael and Richard Evans on The Big Picture.

Local campaign – Howth's Michael and Richard Evans on The Big Picture compete in Class Two Photo: Afloat.ie

Three big boats entered in Division Zero create an interesting regional duel as Jamie McWilliam’s Signal 8 from the Royal Hong Kong YC faces Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice from the Royal Cork YC and George Sisk’s WOW! from the Royal Irish YC.

George Sisk’s WOW! from the Royal Irish YC will contest a three boat class zero at the inaugural Wave Regatta. Photo: Afloat.ie

IRC – ECHO Class Rating Splits for Wave Regatta
 

Class Zero IRC > 1.065  (Echo Standard > 1.065) Class One IRC 1.0000 – 1.064 (Echo Standard 1.000 – 1.064)

Class Two IRC 0.940 – 0.999 (Echo Standard 0.940 – 0.999)
Class Three IRC < 0.939 (Echo Standard < 0.939)

Class Four Echo Standard > 0.955
Class Five Echo Standard < 0.954

In Classes 0 to 3, a yacht’s IRC handicap will take priority

Musical Taste & Culinary Palette

Ashore, something for almost every musical taste and culinary palette will be on offer over the three days as Howth Yacht Club is transformed into an event site featuring a performance stage, casual food stalls, tapas bar options and semi-formal clubhouse dining.

Sailing Instructions

Howth Yacht Club has released key event information with just ten days remaining before racing gets underway.

Crews have the option of competing over three-days or just the classic Lambay Race on Saturday 2nd June.

The overall entry currently stands at 125 boats with late entries expected to take the number higher. The entry deadline expires today (Wednesday 23rd May) but the organising committee has opted to waive the €50 late entry fee for inaugural event for entries received no later than Wednesday 30th May.

Official documents including the handicap class bands, Sailing Instructions as well as the extensive social programme staged by event sponsor Michael JF Wright Hospitality are all available for download on the event website WaveRegatta.com 

Further information available from the event website here

Howth Yacht Club's Wave Regatta is set to be the biggest sailing club event on the East coast in 2018 and aims to deliver great racing afloat with an unmissable entertainment programme ashore. The arrival of Ireland’s long-awaited Summer weather has been matched by an increase in entries for next month’s inaugural Wave Regatta on the June Bank Holiday weekend (June 1st-3rd).

Entries currently stand at over 110 boats with the addition of almost 20 teams from the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) fleet. See the HYC Wave entry list here

Crews can choose between a three-day series or the traditional Lambay Race on Saturday 2nd.

Paul O’Higgins's Royal Irish based Rockabill VI was an early entry in the inaugural Wave Regatta Photo: Afloat.ie

“The long-awaited warm weather has finally arrived and the sailing season is catching-up. Since last week, we’ve seen a surge in interest for Wave Regatta so our previous goal of 100 boats looks set to be comfortably exceeded,” said Brian Turvey, Wave Regatta Organising chairman. “We have lined-up an incredible programme of racing and entertainment that we want to be our baseline for this regatta every two years. This inaugural event is going to be unmissable!”

"Crews can choose between a three–day series or the traditional Lambay Race"

In addition to the ISORA boats, the Dun Laoghaire Ruffian class has confirmed that it will include the Lambay Race as a ’starred’ event.

Additional marina berths will be available for visiting boats and Howth Harbour has arranged deep-water pontoon berthing with direct shore access accessible at all states of tide for bigger boats.

Visiting crews can avail of a special morning ferry service leaving Dun Laoghaire daily at 0815 to arrive in time for racing while local accommodation solutions are available at the on-site campervan facility and new AirBNB options for those preferring to stay local.

the Dun Laoghaire Ruffian class has confirmed that it will include the Lambay Race as a ’starred’ event Photo: Afloat.ie
Wave Regatta is also staging a series of initiatives in support of the Sailors for the Sea programme including installation of a permanent drinking water station at the club and providing reusable water bottles to every crew member in the event. Plastic beer drink containers and straws will also be banned and bike racks are being provided inside the club.

Howth Yacht Club's famous new arrival, the vintage World Championship winning Silver Shamrock is entered for the Wave Regatta Photo: Afloat.ie
Of the entries received to date, J80 Sportsboats that include Howth YC’s ‘Taste of Racing’ fleet are one end of the boat spectrum leading all the way up to 36–foot J109’s and bigger. As Afloat.ie previously reported, Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice from the Royal Cork YC will also be racing head to head with Jamie McWilliam’s Royal Hong Yacht Club team on Signal 8.

Puppeteer 22 footers that form the backbone of Howth Yacht Club’s racing fleet will be following the classic Lambay Race format while the traditional Howth 17 footers have rallied five boats despite the damage to the historic fleet wreaked in recent storms. The ‘seventeens’ will also race on Sunday close to the pier, adding to the weekend spectacle.

Entry forms and entertainment programme information are available here

Wave Regatta, the IRC & ECHO regional championships at Howth, is to champion Sailors for the Sea environmental initiative. Participants in the June Bank Holiday Regatta are being asked to take a lead role in the fight against environmental damage as part of the ‘Sailors for the Sea’ initiative.

Upwards of 1,000 competitors are expected for the three day event being staged by Howth Yacht Club (June 1st-3rd) and organisers have launched a series of initiatives to assist the scheme.

In place of buying slabs of bottled water for racing crews, the club will install a permanent drinking water machine on-site and is supplying all entrants with re-usable bottles. Other measures being taken by the Wave Regatta organisers include use of bio-degradable drinking glasses, avoid plastic food-wrapping, banning plastic straws and reducing the use of paper where possible.

“This isn’t about saving the planet in one go but making small changes that collectively can make a difference,” said Alistair Kissane, Wave Regatta Sustainability Officer. “As regular sea-users, we witness the harm being done to this resource so our programme aims to generate awareness and practical steps to halt the damage being caused.”

Crews are being invited to cycle to the regatta with secure bike parking facilities provided on-site and as a further incentive, someone sharing a photograph or video social media after cycling to the event will earn a free burger following racing.

For those travelling longer distances, car-pooling will also be encouraged while crews travelling from the southside of Dublin are being offered a special daily ferry service from Dun Laoghaire departing at 0815 on the St. Bridget and arriving in Howth in time for racing. Special DART train fares are also being negotiated.

“This will be the fifth year that Howth Yacht Club has participated in the Sailors for the Sea programme but as Wave Regatta will be our highest profile event yet, we think there’s a great opportunity to make an impact through simple measures,” said Brian Turvey, Wave Regatta Organising chairman. “Ultimately, this is in everyone’s interest so hopefully all our crews will get on board with us.”

With under a week remaining before the early bird entry deadline for Howth Yacht Club's Wave Regatta 2018, the latest entry for the June Bank Holiday weekend regatta at the north Dublin venue is planning a highly competitive campaign including several weeks of advance preparation.

Rob McConnell's Fool's Gold from Waterford Harbour SC is the latest of a number of high profile entires to sign up for the Dublin event. Earlier, Jamie McWilliam’s Signal 8 from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club was confirmed for the three-day series in Howth. The Ker 40 is one of four high-profile entries named here.

McConnell, a Welsh IRC and Sovereign's Cup champion, will be moving to Howth before June to begin training for the IRC European Championships at Cowes and Wave Regatta will be their final event before heading south.

"Wave Regatta fits in well with our season and preparation for the European Championships just one week later," said Rob McConnell, Fool's Gold skipper. "We'll be based on the East Coast and looking forward to good, competitive racing at Howth on the June Bank Holiday weekend."

With deep water berthing for big boats, Sailors for the Sea environmental programme, a range of accomodation solutions plus three days of racing afloat including an option to sail only in the one day Lambay Race, Wave Regatta is aiming to be the most memorable event on the East Coast this season.

The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Winner, a top Dublin Bay J109 as well as a leading overseas entry hve sign up for Howth Yacht Club's June Bank Holiday Wave Regatta. 

As entries for the inaugural event continue to build, Jamie McWilliam’s Signal 8 from the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has been confirmed for the three-day series in Howth. The Ker 40 is one of four high-profile entries received over the past week.

Royal Cork yacht Jump Juice is heading for Howth in June. Photo: Bob Bateman

Also entered is Conor Phelan’s Jump Juice from the Royal Cork YC, D2D victor, Paul O’Higgins Rockabill VI and Ronan Harris on Jigamaree, the first of the Dublin Bay J109 fleet to enter from the Royal Irish YC.

An early-bird discount scheme is in operation until and a further incentive is a fortnightly free-entry draw. The Wave Regatta organisers have a range of accommodation options available in addition to a special morning ferry service on each day of racing from Dun Laoghaire direct to Howth.

“The Wave Regatta concept aims to deliver the best racing afloat and an unforgettable hospitality experience ashore so we’re very pleased that these top crews will be competing in our inaugural year,” said Brian Turvey, Wave Regatta Organising Chairman. “This is going to be an unmissable event!”

The Wave Regatta offers competitors a choice between a three-day series from Friday to Sunday or a single day event that is the traditional Lambay Race fixture.

With just under four months to go before the inaugural Wave Regatta at Howth Yacht Club, organisers have announced details of the facilities available to visiting sailors and their friends over the June Bank-Holiday weekend.

For the most dedicated crews that prefer a bed ashore rather than live-aboard, a mini-accommodation village will be created on Howth’s middle-pier within a three-minute walk of the clubhouse and marina. With 24-hour security, the regatta village will feature a fleet of luxury motorhomes each with six berths so crews can enjoy a seaside location without missing any of the extensive shore-side social programme. Prices per person, per night are expected to be approximately €60 based on crew sharing a single booking.

Wave Regatta committee-member Melanie McCaughey is co-ordinating house rentals and a limited number of B&B options on the Howth peninsula for those preferring more conventional accommodation.

For Dublin-based sailors preferring to commute to Howth each day, the Wave Regatta has partnered with Dublin Bay Cruises for a morning ferry service leaving Dun Laoghaire at 08.15 on each day of racing arriving directly into Howth harbour. A special Wave Regatta price of €11 per day will apply.

Overseas visitors trailing sportsboats are being encouraged to email [email protected] to avail of exclusive ferry discounts for travel from both the UK and France.

“Our goal for the Wave Regatta is to deliver as many options as possible for visiting crews to take part,” said event chairman Brian Turvey of Howth Yacht Club. “With great racing afloat and an unmissable social programme ashore courtesy of Michael J. Wright Hospitality, this is going to be a regatta to remember!”

Online entry is open here including links for the accommodation and travel deals.