Ten Irish boats from the 41 international entries for the forthcoming BMW J24 European Championships at Howth are availing of the opportunity to practise in the same race area this weekend by competing in the J24 Eastern Championships hosted by Malahide Yacht Club and sponsored by Malahide Marina.

The event will provide six races over two days, with Neil Murphy as Principal Race Officer, and the favourite to add to his string of titles will be Flor O’Driscoll on ‘Hard on Port’, who recently retained the national championship at Lough Erne.

Among those expected to challenge that supremacy are former champion Stefan Hyde and Howth’s Fergus O’Kelly while John Murphy and Martin Darrer in the recently-acquired ‘Sayonara’ could also be in contention. The forecast for the weekend is for fresh south-westerlies which will test the fleet fully in advance of the Europeans which start on September 12^th.

That event has attracted 41 entries with the latest entrant from Hungary bringing to nine the number of nations represented at that major championship. Seven of the top eight finishers in the recent UK J24 Nationals in Weymouth are travelling for the event, with a multi-national crew on ‘Reloaded’ (Mark Penfold) sailing under the US flag.