Greystones Sailing Club will officially open its new premises on Sunday at 3pm at the new South Pier at Greystones Harbour in County Wicklow. Health Minister Simon Harris TD will perform the official opening.

The Club, originally established in 1968, caters for over 350 members and is very much a family club, rooted in the Greystones community. Initially sailing was confined to Mirror dinghies launched from a rubber mat rolled out on the shingle on North Beach with boats transported to and from the harbour on the tops of cars. The old clubhouse was built in the early 1970’s and has continued to be a part of the Greystones community since then.

Now with the opening of the new facility, the club boasts over 100 dinghies and 20 keelboats and has one of the strongest junior sections of any club along the east coast and, say the club, is set to grow.

Sailing and cruising history of all sorts has been made at Greystones over the weekend reports W M Nixon, with the new harbourside clubhouse opening on Friday, and then on Saturday the new multi-function facility hosted its first event, the 2016 Annual General Meeting and start-of-season Rally of the Cruising Association of Ireland.

The new Greystones clubhouse had been open for less than a day when 79 hungry and thirsty Cruising Association members put the catering facilities to the test on Saturday night with a three course dinner. Photo: Aidan Coughlan

Commodore Nixon (GSC) and Commodore Brown (CAI) in a convivial burgee exchange. Photo: Aidan Coughlan

Evidently they’re not superstitious down North Wicklow way, as the clubhouse came into action on Friday 13th, and thirteen boats headed from various ports to take part in the CAI Rally. The AGM was put through with exemplary briskness, with Commodore Clifford Brown continuing in the top office of the CAI. Burgees were exchanged with Greystones Sailing Club Commodore David Nixon, and the still-barely-out-of-the-wrappers catering facilities were put to the test with 79 hungry and thirsty cruising and sailing enthusiasts tucking into a three course dinner as the afterglow of a perfect sunset lingered over the Wicklow hills.

The afterglow of a perfect sunset over Greystones Marina as seen from the new clubhouse on Saturday night. Photo: Aidan Coughlan

Greystones Sailing Club is saluting its first ever world champions tonight as Shane MacCarthy and Andy Davis lift the GP14 Worlds Trophy on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean at the conclusion of the Barbados hosted week long dinghy championships.

With two races left to sail today any one of three crews could have won the world title but provisional results hand it to the Irish duo.  A 22-boat Irish contingent were celebrating the historic win at Barbados Yacht Club, the biggest event the West Indies club has ever held.

Official results were still awaited from organisers but Irish GP14 President Stehpen Boyle has been able to confirm the result for Afloat.ie. 

The 105–boat fleet was barely back on the beach in Barbados when the news broke in Wicklow that MacCarthy and sailmaker Davis had done enough for one of the most coveted UK and World dinghy titles. The Wicklow crew outwitted a number of multi–world champions to seize the trophy, Ireland's first GP14 World Title win since 1991.

Boyle told Afloat.ie: ‘This is a fantastic result for Irish dinghy sailing and the GP14 Class in particular. The GP14 World Championship epitomises what small boat racing is about; large scale participation, racing for all ages and levels, and razor sharp competition at the top end. We are absolutely delighted that Shane and Andy have brought the world title back to Ireland’.

While the other contenders for the title won individual races MacCarthy, the current UK and Irish Champion, sailed a very consistent series and was never outside the top three for the duration of the event. Moving into the latter part of championship with four races to go over Sunday & Monday, MacCarthy & Davis were tied in second place with British pair Ian Dobson & Andy Tunnicliffe on 15 points, both two points adrift of the leaders Craig and Lewis of Great Britain on 13 points.

MacCarthy and Davis are the third Irish name on to the Worlds trophy and the first from the Republic. The Fekkes Brothers from Larne in County Antrim last won it in 1991 and Bill Whisker and Jimmy McKee from Ballyholme in County Down were winners in 1975.

The massive championship was hotly contested with the Irish pair prevailing over a star studded field which included reigning five time GP14 World Champions Dobson & Tunnicliffe, former World Champion Neil Marsden, former UK National Champion Mike Senior and multi class World and European Champion Nick Craig sailing with Toby Lewis and widely recognised as Britain’s most successful amateur sailor.

Shane and Andy, the new GP14 World Champions from County Wicklow –– Photo: GP14 class

Shane lifts the world championship trophy, the first Irish winners in a quarter of a century – Photo: Laura McFarland

Never tasted so good – well earned beers in Barbados – Photo: Laura McFarland

22 crews from Ireland travelled to compete in the event which attracted competitors from Sri Lanka, North America, Australia, Barbados and United Kingdom.

Sunday proved decisive with MacCarthy & Davis making their bid for the title scoring a 1st and 2nd for the day to catapult them into the lead four points ahead of Dobson & Tunnicliffe with Craig & Lewis slipping back to third. It was still all to play for heading into Monday with two races to sail and 4 points separating the three crews who could win the prestigious world title but MacCarthy & Davis wrapped it up in Race 9 finishing second to Craig & Lewis with Dobson & Tunnicliffe forced back into 3rd. This is a first Irish win in this prestigious event since the Fekkes brothers in 1991.

John & Donal McGuinness (Moville SC) in 12th were next best Irish, followed by Lough Erne's JP & Carolyn McCaldin in 14th with Sligo YC Keith Louden & Alan Thompson in 20th.

The GP14 is one of Ireland's most popular two person racing dinghy classes and regularly attracts fleets of 40-50+ boats. 

Top 10
1st Shane McCarthy Andy Davies
2nd Ian Dobson Andy Tunnicliffe
3rd Nick Craig Tobytastic Lewis
4th Matt Burge Paul Childs
5th Mike Senior Chris White
6th Sam Watson Andy Thompson
7th Graham Flynn Adam Froggatt
8th Neil Marsden Derek Hill
9th Richard Instone Jim Toothill
10th Dave Young Nicola Booth

Team Ireland also took home two other special trophies. Brenda Niblock took the ladies helm prize. John & Donal McGuinness took the family prize.

Full results are here

22 Irish GP14s took the first step on the journey to the Caribbean when they arrived on a drizzly wet Saturday morning at SureFreight's Yard off the Crumlin Road, Belfast. Barbados Yacht Club welcomes the international fleet of 72 GP14s for racing next month with high hopes for Greystones Sailing Club's Shane MacCarthy who won the British title last year, earning him a sailor of the month award in the process.

The full entry list for the worlds (updated to Feb 4) is downloadable below.

Ireland's newest harbour and marina facility at Greystones in County Wicklow got a further boost this month with the signing of the lease of the new clubhouse for Greystones Sailing Club just before Christmas.

The lease signed is from Wicklow County Council (WCC) to Greystones Sailing Club, the buildings having been built by Sispar as part of the PPP contract with WCC.

The building has been built to shell and core stage and the Club receives a cheque to fit it out which will take a few months.

The club is not the only construction work in Greystones at the moment, Sispar are building 358 homes next to the harbour, the first of which will be completed this May.

The leases for the new clubhouses of the Angling, Rowing, Diving Clubs and Sea Scouts are expected to be signed in January.

The previous premises of the Sailing and Angling Clubs have been Compulsory Purchased as part of the Harbour Redevelopment Plan and the new ones have double the previous boat parking and clubhouse space.

Cllr Derek Mitchell signs the new lease on behalf of Wicklow County Council

The Sea Scouts, Rowing, & Diving Clubs had no space previously and are getting smaller premise. The clubhouses are close to the sea wall and have been built very strongly as can be seen by the many reinforcing bars in the construction picture. The cost of these Community Clubs is around €4m.

‘These facilities, together with the marina and 2 public slipways, are all part of the Harbour Plan agreed by the Council in 2003, and will produce great marine leisure facilities for Greystones when they are up and running in Summer 2016’, said Cllr Derek Mitchell.

The large public square overlooking the harbour, which will be a central feature for the town, is also progressing well and will be mostly complete by the Summer.

Edward Coyne of Youghal SC crewed by Colman Grimes of Skerries, was victorious in this year’s Youth Championship raced in summer like conditions off Greystones in Co. Wicklow last weekend. David Johnson & Eanna Lawless of Sutton fought hard for second place just holding off 14 year old Sligo’s Jack Currin & Tim Corcoran who scored two seconds in the last two races and Adrian Lee & Ossian Geraghty from Youghal/Sligo who finished on the same points despite an OCS in race 3.

The first of the four race series was held in 12-16 knots with a strong Southerly tide. Ed & Colman lay down an early marker, winning from brothers Gareth & Richard Gallagher with Peter & Steven Boyle in 3rd. Gareth & Richard bounced back to win race 2 from Adrian & Ossian and Dan & Hugh Gill in 3rd. This left the Gallagher brothers as overnight leaders counting a first and second.

Jack Currin (left) U16 GP14 Champion with crew Tim Corcoran (right) with Greystones Sailing Club Commodore (centre)

Race 3 on Sunday changed things with David Johnson & Eanna Molony (last year’s youth champion) taking the win from Jack Curran & Tim Corcoran in 2nd and Samuel Wray & Alan Thompson in 3rd. Skippers Gareth Gallagher, Adrian Lee and Jack Buttimer fell foul of the black flag in this race which PRO Mark Usher resorted to using after numerous recalls due to a combination of enthusiastic starters and strong tide. In Race 4 Edward Coyne & Colman Grimes took another win again to seal overall victory with Jack Curran in second and Kevin Martyn & Norman Lee in 3rd. If there was a Hard Lesson Trophy, the heads up winners would have been Gareth & Richard Gallagher from Derry who sailed a great regatta and looked like clear favourites until they came unstuck with 2 OCS’s on Sunday while trying too hard, very unfortunate for them as they have been going so well all season.
Ed Coyne also scooped up the U18 Trophy with Jack Currin convincingly taking the U16 with 2 years to spare. Top home club team was Tom and Kevin Gillen closely followed by Grainne Allen & Neil Willis and Ciaran & Aine Keogh.
This was a really enjoyable event expertly run by hard working Greystones club members and should be the last run from the characteristic old clubhouse as Sisk have almost finished a fine new larger one situated prominently by the south harbour wall with commanding views over the harbour, the sailing waters and beyond to Bray Head, Killiney, Dalkey Island and Howth.

#sigma33 – The Dublin Bay Sigma 33 fleet held their inaugural race to Greystones last Saturday for the "Night Cap Trophy". A fleet of six boats competed. The race was from Dublin Bay to the Mouldich and then to the Greystones Sailing Club finishing line.

After leaving the Bay in a 14–knot westerly and an ebb tide the fleet separated with Rupert (Dick & Philip Lovegrove) setting a course to seaward under spinnaker and the rest of the fleet sailing towards Bray. Approaching Molditch the wind died to 4 knots with Rupert holding a substantial lead on White Mischief (Tim Goodbody).

It was only a mile to the finish from the Molditch on a close Spinnaker reach. In the light conditions and an ebb tide sailing became difficult. White Mischief gradually caught up on Rupert and for the last 20 minutes sailed to the finish line overlapped. It was a very tight race and after 2 hrs 49 minutes each boat drew on all their sailing skills to hold their nerve in the tense moments as the two boats approached the finish neck and neck in the light conditions. In the end the laurels went to the crew of Rupert. The fleet retired to Greystones Sailing club for the prize giving.

1st – Scratch Rupert (Dick & Philip Lovegrove)

1st – (Echo) Leeuwin (Henry Leonard & Bobby Kerr)

#hyc – Howth Yacht Club's annual cruiser Race to Greystones starts tomorrow. A course from HYC to the County Wicklow marina concludes with a prizegiving and reception at Greystones Sailing Club tomorrow at 5pm. The north Dublin 'Brass Monkeys' fleet will overnight in Greystones Marina. 

#gp14 – Greystones Sailing Club GP14 sailors Shane MacCarthy & Andy Thompson won the GP14 British Inland Championship at Carsington Water Sailing Club 9-10 May. This makes Thompson a double British Inland Champion after his successful win with Tom Gillard in the Fireball at Grafham Water a month earlier writes Mark Fleming.

The GP!4 win also comes on the back of some early season successes at home for the Wicklow dinghy ace. McCarthy has also clocked up win at the Irish GP14 Purcell Trophy and O'Tiarnaigh Challenge.

Windy conditions on day one of the event greeted the 24 competitors and they all took to the water for a 13:00 start. The race officer David Rowlands and his team, who I must say did a fantastic job on the water throughout the whole weekend, were ready and ensured that the racing got under way promptly.

The first race saw the fleet get away first time with only the one individual recall (yes, me!) and saw Shane McCarthy / Andy Thompson round first ahead of a chasing pack including Richard Instone / Jim Toothill and Justin Jones / Chris Anderson. Capsizes changed the order and put some sailors who may well have been contenders for top-five finishes further down the fleet. Another unfortunate incident was the mainsail of Sam Watson / Andy Hunter falling down mid-race due to a halyard failure. They managed to get this fixed on the water after retiring from the race, and started race two. Shane & Andy ended up winning the first race by a comfortable margin, with Justin & Chris finishing in a comfortable second and Richard / Jim in third.

The second race was very similar to the first, the only difference being that the fleet got away cleanly this time! Shane McCarthy & Andy Thompson rounded the windward mark first, closely followed by Graham Flynn & Adam Froggatt and Richard Instone & Jim Toothill. The race had many little battles within it as Sam & Andy were trying to fight back through the fleet after being bogged down at the start. Graham & Adam chased Shane & Andy and managed to overtake them and take the win for race two. Richard & Jim were showing their consistency with another 3rd-place finish.

The third race provided some excitement for those both spectating and involved! The fleet got away cleanly again but at least five boats were involved in a pile-up at the windward mark. This gave an early advantage to the likes of Sam Watson & Dave Young as they took advantage of the raft that had occurred. Once the boats had un-rafted themselves, some impressive sailing from Richard Instone & Jim Toothill (who were in the middle of the raft) got them back to the front and they ended up taking the race win, with Sam Watson & Andy Hunter in 2nd and Dave Young & Nic Booth in 3rd.

The raft in race three had displaced some of the championship contenders, meaning that it was an open event overnight with Richard & Jim topping the leader board with two thirds and a first – showing consistency was important. What would the next day bring?

Lighter winds on day two greeted the sailors for a 10:30 start. However, the forecast was for it to build – and it did...

Race 4 got under way after a postponement to allow the wind to settle down and a general recall. Everyone behaved under black flag and Shane McCarthy was first to round the windward mark followed by a motivated Graham Flynn & Adam Froggatt and Gary Deighan & Dale Knowles. After some hard-fought battles, Shane & Andy got off to the perfect start with a first-place finish with Graham & Adam in 2nd and Gary & Dale 3rd. Ian Willis / Keith Dutton, who were first grandmasters, finished a creditable 4th after an impressive burst from mid-fleet.

Race 5 was swiftly under way after the end of Race 4 with the usual suspects of Shane & Andy and Graham & Adam rounding second and first respectively. They were closely followed by Justin Jones & Chris Anderson and Dave Young & Nic Booth. The fleet remained fairly compact for this race with nobody taking the race by the scruff of the neck. There were a lot of places changing in the mid-fleet, which made for some great spectating and also the odd capsize here and there! The race finished with Graham & Adam in first and Shane & Andy in second place, which put Shane & Andy in the driving seat to win the event because Graham & Adam were having to count a sixth place from the previous day. Justin & Chris were able to fend off the chasing pack for 3rd place.

The sixth race started, and after an event where Sam & Andy weren't getting off the line as well as normal, they nailed the start and ended up rounding the windward mark first with Neil Gibson & Geoff Phillips in a close second. Justin & Chris and Richard & Jim were in hot pursuit of the two boats and the tight racing meant that, again, the leaders did not pull away from the pack. Having witnessed a lot of the event from mid-fleet, it was quite weird having both the back of the fleet and the front of the fleet so close to us after a couple of laps! Neil & Geoff slipped away from the top five to finish 7th as Graham & Adam and Shane & Andy came through after some rare poor starts. Sam & Andy managed to fend off the challenge of the chasing pack to take first place, a great way to end their weekend, followed by Justin & Chris in 2nd who had a very strong end to the competition and Richard & Jim in 3rd.

After six hard-fought races, Shane McCarthy & Andy Thompson were worthy winners of the Inland Championships, and Shane thanked Carsington Sailing Club for hosting a great event, the competitors for some great racing and everyone who helped organise it and ensure it ran so smoothly. I would certainly echo this.

Other prizes were awarded to first youth boat, which went to the brother & sister team of Nick & Ellie Devereux from Budworth Sailing Club, and also to the first female helm, Megan Hicklin of South Staffs Sailing Club.

#greystonesharbour – Delgany Brownies, Greystones Brownies and some of the Greystones Guides took part in a sailing taster day at Greystones Sailing Club on Sunday 5th October. The 40 girls spent half the day sailing Laser Picos with instructors outside the harbour learning how to sail while having lots of fun - the giggles and screams of delight could be heard by on lookers walking the newly opened North Pier. The girls loved their experience on the water with almost all of them having never sailed before. Event organiser and Senior Instructor Emma Hett said it was a "privilege to be able to facilitate the girls going sailing for the first time and I hope this will be the start of many more collaborative sessions between local community groups and Greystones Sailing Club." Emma also thanked the sailing club for hosting such a successful event and giving the girls an experience they will never forget.

The second half of the day was spent on shore with the girls completing their Irish Girl Guide Conservation badge and Water Safety badge. The girls completed a litter sweep of the local area collecting five large bags of rubbish. After the sweep the girls came back inside to learn about protected species in Ireland and make informative posters from recycled materials to illustrate all they had learned. Instructors Sarah Hoolahan (Greystones Sailing Club), Conor Duff-Lennon (Greystones Sailing Club) and Triona Harvey (Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club) all said they learnt lots about conservation and the importance of teaching these issues to the young girls. All the instructors said that while the girls had fun they too had a blast and were delighted to be involved in the day. Safety Coordinate and Senior Instructor Steven Tyner "it was great to have so many girls come down to go sailing and see their excitement on the water in boats."

At the end of the day Brownies, parents, instructors and club members all gathered together in Greystones Sailing Club for a BBQ with special thanks to The Steak Shop, Greystones for part-sponsoring the costs of the burgers. David Nixon, Greystones Sailing Club Secretary and Fiachra Etchingham, Greystones Sailing Club Trustee both welcomed new members to the club and re-iterated Greystones Sailing Club's openness to new members, both old and young.

The day was run completely by volunteers giving up their time and a special thanks has to go to the instructors who all volunteered their Sunday to give back to their local communities. Finally a special thanks must go to Cllr Grainne McLoughlin who sought sponsorship for lunches for all the instructors and also homemade chocolate brownies for them all which went down a treat.