This weekend is expected to see the Entry List for the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race on June 22nd going through the 40 mark, with a good selection of boats already providing a healthy mix of internationally-renowned craft lining up against standard club entries, of which a notably high number are from Scotland and Wales.

Significantly, Entry 39 this week was Nicolas Guibal’s Class40 Unicorn from France, the first of the Class40s to spearhead a class which will have one of their main in-house events racing in offshore Irish waters later this year with the CIC Normandy Channel Race - from Caen in mid-September - taking in the Tuskar and Fastnet Rocks as turning marks.

NOT TAKING YOU HOME AGAIN, KATHLEEN

So what, you might well ask, has any or all of that to do with this weekend’s weather-battered programme of special early season events? After all, Storm Kathleen has been brought home whether we like it or not, making merry mayhem with the ongoing Youth Nationals at Crosshaven, causing the postponement of today’s inaugural ISORA Coastal Race from Dun Laoghaire, and leading to a sigh of relief that some of the traditional club annual “clear the deck” group launchings don’t occur for another week.

Normally the Jetstream weaves around in snake-like style, but today it has straightened itself out, all the better to target us.

Well, the fact that most enthusiasts will be cheered simply by looking beyond this weekend’s meteorological setbacks is symptomatic of the basic resilience of the Irish annual sailing programme and its participants, as it could reasonably be claimed that together they go back on an annual basis for 304 years.

Yet sometimes it can take a while to get your head around this, and accept the realities of living on a wet and windy island on the lee side of the Atlantic in a continually changing environment of thought and action, with this past week giving much to think about as we reach today, hiding as best we can under the current direct line of the Jetstream.

SELF-DELUDING APRIL FOOL?

This weird week began on Monday, April 1st, when we’d a complex morning story - for the special day that was in it - about Holyhead Sailing Club being allowed to revive the old Royal Holyhead Yacht Club title. Like all proper would-be April Fool features, there was enough in it to make it just possible that what was suggested in fantasy might truly be the case. Now, the Word From Wales is that we might well be hoisted by our own petard. The Royal Holyhead may yet be revived.

It surely deserves to fly again - the Royal Holyhead YC ensign has not been warranted for more than 150 years

It would be no more than we deserve. For instead of focusing the April First searchlight 54 miles eastward towards Anglesey, we would have been better sending a communications survey drone a thousand or so miles southeast to Mallorca and Palma Bay, where the weird old Gothic mega-shed that does duty as the Cathedral of Santa Maria was looming as usual over the bay. There, various hot classes of Olympic interest had fooled themselves into thinking that the first week of April might serve up some balmy breezes to provide ideally user-friendly conditions for the Princess Sofeo Regatta.

ILCAs racing in the 2024 Princess Sofeo Regatta at Palma in Mallorca below the Cathedral of Santa Maria. This photo can be seen in at least three ways. Dinghy sailors will marvel that they got racing at all in weather like this. Architectural anoraks will note the evidence of Gaudi’s late involvement in the cathedral’s design with the twin mini-spires at the far end. And your average Irish rural house owner will wonder how on earth they got planning permission for that mini-palace in splendid isolation hallway up the hillside, in a prime position alone among the trees

Now admittedly the drier less dense air of Palma as the Spring sunshine strengthens will exert significantly less pressure - windspeed-for-windspeed - than the current hyper-damp airstream in Ireland. Nevertheless on some days, the adjective “balmy” would not have sprung to mind. But in any case, though there have been some days that were marginal and it has ended with light airs, the Irish squad could tell themselves that it was all to the good to be pushing the envelope in experiencing a strong Mediterranean wind.

MISTRAL WINDS AT MARSEILLE FOR OLYMPICS?

For at the end of July this summer, they’ll be at Marseille for the opening of the ten-day 2024 Sailing Olympics, and by late July the chances of a Mistral-like wind are beginning to increase. Admittedly it was at the end of August 2018 that our 49er crew of Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove first leapt to global fame by winning the class’s U23 Worlds at Marseille. But it should be noted that this video is just of the first day. By the weekend conclusion, it looked like much of their best work in that series was done in Mistral-like conditions, even if the locals assure everyone that the true Mistral only occurs around the beginning of Winter and the beginning of Spring.

(above vid) First day at the 2018 49er U23 Worlds at Marseilles

Be that as it may, it seems that the Irish weather here at home this weekend is out to show that supposedly fierce weather in Mallorca is only in the ha’penny place. For in what was planned as an unusually busy weekend post-Easter, but before the regular club-sailing programmes are fully under way, has become something of a survival stakes.

RACE OFFICERS ARE STRONG-MINDED FOLK

Yet Ireland’s Race Officers are a strong-minded bunch. They have to be, as many competitors – people who often have no personal race organisation experience themselves – will loudly announce that they could do a better job. Believe me, it’s not remotely as easy as it looks. But in any case, our Race Officers have to be thinking of the bigger picture, and in Cork with the Youth Nationals the underlying thinking will have been to slam through as many races as possible while it could still be done in order to have a viable result, even if the last two days are lost.

Thus the more serious junior classes (how else can we describe them?) of the 29ers, ILCA6s, and 420s which started their racing on Thursday not only got in a packed day of good if rainy sailing, but with a basic result obtained, any further sport is a bonus.

WHY NOT DOUBLE POINTS FOR FIRST RACE WHEN ISORA FINALLY GETS GOING?

Yet Peter Ryan of ISORA, in looking at the prospects for this morning’s seasonal opener - a coastal from Dun Laoghaire – didn’t have any options of flexibility of timing. This 6th April event is blown clean away, though currently described as “postponed”. But we hurlers on the ditches of sailing would suggest that, as a super-inducement, they give double points to the next planned ISORA Dun Laoghaire coastal on April 13th, and forget about any later re-staging of today’s blocked race.

Peter Ryan of ISORA – can he be persuaded to allocate double points when and if the Association’s programme finally gets going on April 13th?

We’re dimly aware that this may contravene rules about the format and content and timing of the Notice of Race. However, a bit of flexibility is now surely needed to deal with the changes in climate that are currently being experienced and challenge the old ways of doing things.

304 YEARS OF IRISH SAILING PROGRAMMES

And perhaps it’s in this readiness to move on to the next fixture in the programme that we find the true resilience of our sailing. The Water Club of the Harbour of Cork had an admittedly rather broadly outlined and flexible fixture list for its first season in 1720. And nowadays the national programme is undoubtedly much longer and more complex. But in Cork Harbour this weekend, they know that the sailing life goes on, and there - and everywhere else - sailing spirits are kept up by contemplating any good news that’s coming down the line.

The Water Club of the Harbour of Cork on fleet manoeuvres in 1738. Although the club did not officially organise races until 1765, it had an annual programme from its foundation in 1720. From the painting by Peter Monamy, courtesy Royal Cork YC.

These days, the traditional club home programme may be seen as a reliably strong continuing background to the big signature events. But it means we know that by the end of April, club group launchings will have been completed, and the time-honoured annual home series of evening and weekend racing will be well under way.

MOST SAILORS HAVE SIMPLE PROGRAMME REQUIREMENTS

For a significantly large number of sailors, this is all they want from their sport and their club. Many of us live so close to our sailing bases that it would be an absurd waste of a convenient setup to have it otherwise. In these circumstances, there is no need to publicise regular entry lists, but where a special event is planned, there is no better time than early April to examine the cornucopia that is 2024’s sailing season.

CORNUCOPIA CLASH ’TWIXT HOWTH AND CLYDE AND KINSALE

And as ever with such a complex dish, there are clashes. People want their special major sailing specials to take place sometime between late May and early September, with the really hot dates traditionally being between mid-June and mid-August. Thus you’ll be treading on toes in trying to get your developing new event onto the fixtures ladder.

The Sun Fast 3300 Cinnamon Girl, sailed two-handed by Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt, is seen here winning the inaugural Kinsale YC Inishtearaght Race in 2023. They plan to race it again on May 24th 2024, and then go on to the Two Handed Class in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race in June. Photo: Robert Bateman

Howth Yacht Club may have been prepared to move their Porsche-sponsored Wave Regatta from the June Bank Holiday in recognition of that weekend’s growing importance as highly-rated family vacation time. But in doing so they’ve moved back to the last weekend of May, when they clash precisely with the Clyde Cruising Club’s Scottish Series at Tarbert on Loch Fyne, and Kinsale YC’s Inishtearaght Race, for which there are already 12 entries

Yet while the “boat entry overlap” may be numerically small, it has to be faced that it provides a quandary for some top contenders, with Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush SC and John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Royal Ulster YC, formerly top contenders at both the Clyde and Howth events, now having to make the choice.

The Howth YC club-owned flotilla of J/80s racing in the Universities Keelboat Championship last weekend. Photo: Emmet Dalton

That said, there are many other crews who will be better suited, and the recent Universities Keelboat Championship in Howth saw a building of the J/80 fleet at Wave, with Organising Chairman Brian Turvey signing on winners University College Cork, plus Technical University Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, to campaign three of the boats with their college teams throughout Wave.

Wave Regatta Chairman and former Howth YC Commodore Brian Turvey with college captains Mikey Carroll (UCC, left), Peter Boyle (TUD, centre) and Harry Twomey (TCD, right), whose clubs have signed on to race J/80s at the Porsche Howth Wave regatta in the final weekend of May.

NO SNAKES IN BANGOR

Looking on into June, the Bangor Regatta on Belfast Lough from June 27th to 30th may rule out boats still finishing the Round Ireland race, which might include RUYC’s own Alan Hannon with his new JPK 10.34 Coquine. But nevertheless each event has its own momentum and sphere of interest, and it’s entertaining to note that the acronym for the Bangor event has now become simply BR.

For, since the last regatta, Bangor has been elevated to city status. But many of the locals don’t take it seriously, and they’re certainly not going to make their steadily growing event - formerly known as the Bangor Town Regatta or BTR - into the menacing COBRA.

New magic-patterned North Sails testing aboard Alan Hannon’s Round Ireland-entered JPK 10.34 Coquine on Belfast Lough. Photo North Sails/ Maurice O’Connell

REMEMBERING THE “GREAT RACE” OF 1860

July then sees a celebration of the daddy of them all, the Ocean Race of July 14th 1860 from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour. Back in 1860 the premier fleet had racing in Dublin Bay, and then the venerable Admiral of the Royal Cork, Thomas G French, persuaded them to race to Cork Harbour for a similar series of local regattas. It was a true “first” in many ways, and Harry Donegan (1870-1940), that deservedly major figure in Cork sailing, managed to unearth the entry list for his History of Yachting in the South of Ireland, published 1908.

The Entry List for the pioneering Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race of July 1860. The winner was the 39-ton cutter Sibyl, sailed for owner Sir John Arnott by renowned amateur helmsman Henry O’Bryen

FINAL DRAMA IN CORK HARBOUR

It finished in dramatically close style in light airs in Cork Harbour at the historic Royal Cork building at Cobh, and though there was a sort of re-sailing in the immediately post-pandemic year of 2022 as the Fastnet 450, to combine the unavoidably-missed 2020 Tricentenary of the Royal Cork and the 150th of the National YC, in 2024 it is planned to make it a more straightforward “Kingstown to Queenstown Race” on Saturday 13th July, which will make it a part of the ISORA programme, the SCORA programme, and a feeder for Volvo Cork Week from 15th to 19th July.

The 1854-built former clubhouse of the Royal Cork YC at Cobh will be used as the finish point of the “Kingstown-Queenstown” Race of 2024, as it was in 1860

BACK TO DUBLIN BAY

For some, that may be a peak of the season, but for others there’s still Calves Week in August at Schull in West Cork, and then the focus swings back to the East Coast with the last days of August and the first fortnight of September closing in on the Key Yachting J Cup, the ICRA Nats, and the IRC Euros in Dublin Bay.

When you remember that all that we’ve been focusing on here is mostly the cruiser-racer programme, then the full scale of our sport is seen in the one-designs and dinghies being in another world altogether. Either way, while having Storm Kathleen come to call is definitely not something we’d have wished for, the resilience and variety of our sailing are such that it will all emerge from her malevolent impact just as it has emerged from everything else.

The 1720 Euros will be a well-supported highlight of Volvo Cork Week. Photo: VCW

The early bird entry for the Waterman Kelly Irish Sailing Youth Nationals 2024 is closing later this week at midnight on Friday 15 March.

This year’s event will be hosted by the the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven from Thursday 4 to Sunday 7 April.

The Youth Nationals is the premier event for Irish youth sailors in the Optimist, Topper, 420, 29er, ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 classes, and attracts sailors aged in their early to late teens.

While the event is open to all, it is expected that all competitors entering will be competent in sailing in a sustained fresh breeze and will have experienced competing in regional or national events for their chosen dinghy class within the last nine months.

The Irish Sailing Youth National Championships 2024 may form part of the selection trials for the 2024 World Sailing Youth Worlds, national squads, IODAI team selection and are an indicator, among other events, for the Irish Sailing Academy.

Places are limited and so all competitors are encouraged to enter early. All relevant details including Notice of Race, accommodation and lunch orders can be found on the Royal Cork website.

Ireland’s biggest youth sailing regatta will see numbers back up to pre-COVID highs with over 200 young sailors taking part in the 2022 Irish Sailing Youth National Championships this week.

This year the event is hosted by Ballyholme Yacht Club in Bangor, Northern Ireland from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 April.

Ballyholme is the biggest club in Northern Ireland and has a reputation of producing world-class sailors representing Ireland at international and Olympic level, including Liam Glynn and 49er Olympians Matt McGovern and Ryan Seaton.

Strategically, it also allows for a wide variety of race courses, with the whole of Belfast Lough to play with. Boys and girls under 18 will compete against each other on the water, with a rough 60:40 male/female split.

Irish Sailing says the Youth Nationals are unique in not only being the biggest youth sailing event held in Ireland, but also the only time that different youth classes come together to compete, gain valuable experience on the water, and learn more about advancing to the high-performance ranks directly from the coaches.

Young sailors from across Ireland will compete across six different classes of boat, identified as the best to facilitate progression through the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway: 420, Topper, ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7), ILCA 6 (Laser Radial), 29ers and Optimists — the latter of which are fully integrated for the first time.

And Irish sailing’s younger prospects will have to brace themselves for a cold four days as water temperatures in Ballyholme at this time of the year are still chilly, with average temperatures of 4-12 degrees Celsius and reliably windy conditions.

Irish Sailing and Howth Yacht Club have decided that it will not be possible to hold the Youth Sailing Nationals in compliance with current advice issued from HSE over Coronavirus spread.

It is not possible to run an event of this size and comply with separation protocols on the shore, and although these are currently in place until 29th March, HYC and Irish Sailing have taken the decision now to postpone the event, giving everyone as much notice as possible.

Details of the rescheduled event now planned sometime in the Autumn will follow.

Royal Cork's Seafra Guilfoyle consolidated his position at the top of the Laser 4.7 fleet with a second and sixth placing in  day Two of the Mitsubishi Youth Nationals.

Dublin Bay presented more challenging conditions for the 300 sailors than yesterday. (Scroll down for Gareth Craig's photos). The day started with a 12-14 knot north easterly breeze with a big swell. Big wind shifts and dropping to 2-3 knots meant that not all fleets completed all races scheduled for the day. On the yellow course the Laser Radials, Laser 4.7s and the 420s only completed two races.

On the orange course the Topper fleet only had two races whilst the Fevas completed three races. The Optimist trials on the Blue course completed all three races.

In really challenging conditions, sailors that were consistent did remarkably well such as Sophie Murphy who is the leading girl in the Laser Radial class and Christopher Eames also in the Laser Radial class who had a first and a third. It was a good day for the brother and sister crews in the 420 fleet. The Crosbies from Royal Cork YC won both races and the Dalys from Tralee Bay SC were second in the first race.

Provisional results as follows:

Yellow Course (Laser Radial, Laser 4.7, 420)
Laser Radial : (5 races completed) 1. Philip Doran Courtown SC  2. Eoin Keller, Lough Derg YC  3. Robbie Gilmore, Strangford Lough YC

Laser 4.7: (5 races completed) 1. Seafra Guilfoyle, RCYC,  2. Darragh O'Sullivan Kinsale YC,  3. Fin Lynch, Blessington SC
420: (5 races completed) 1. Emma Geary & Niamh Connolly (RCYC & Baltimore SC),  2. Patrick Crosbie & Chloe Crosbie, (RCYC) 3. Tara Flood & Lucy Bolger (Howth YC & RSGYC)

Blue Course (Optimist National Trials, First leg completed in Kinsale )
Optimist (11races completed) 1. Sean Donnelly, National YC, 2. Sophie Browne, Tralee Bay SC, 3. Harry Whitaker, Royal Cork YC.

Orange Course (Topper & Optimist & Feva)

Feva: (3 races completed) 1. D Johnston & L Flynn Byrne, Howth YC. 2. C Totterdell & S Craig, National YC/Royal St George YC, 3. C Mollard & J Harris, Howth YC

Topper: (5 races completed) 1. T Brow, Ballyholme YC, 2. Laura Gilmore, Strangford Lough YC, 3. Lucy Burrows Donaghdee SC,
Optimist: (Championship fleet, 1 race completed) 1. R Quirke, National YC, 2. C O'Sullivan, Malahide YC, 3. Jacob Martensson, Royal Irish YC,
For the sailors, this event is the most important in the annual calendar as it is the decider for the youth national titles and for sailors to compete internationally during 2011 and is the pathway for future Olympic sailors.

More photos on the gallery here