#santa – Santa Claus arrived by boat yesterday into Dun Laoghaire harbour and headed straight to a packed National Yacht Club where sackfuls of presents were handed out to children of all ages.  

Everyone – big and small – was entertained all day long, with the very special guest of honour arriving at noon and accompanied by his Elves.

Next weekend (December 14) Santa is scheduled to make another waterfront appearance at the Royal St. George Yacht Club and on the other side of Dublin Bay at Howth Yacht Club too.

#matchracing – Ireland's hosting of International Match racing events is set to to continue in 2015 with Howth Yacht Club's annuoncement that it will host the 2015 Nations Cup European Final on 7-10th May 2015. It follows the acclaimed 2014 staging of the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship at Royal Cork Yacht Club. 

The Howth result follows a recent decent decision by ISAF to award the worldwide regional finals to Buenos Aires (South America), Brisbane (Oceania), San Diego (North America), Tunis (Africa), Bahrain (Asia) and Howth (Europe). The Grand Final will be held in Vladivostok on 14-19th July.

As per the Notice of Race, the ISAF host member national authority may nominate an entry in each of the Open and Women's Division.

The event will be run in the ISA Sailfleet J80s and the full schedule will be announced in due course.

The ISAF Nations Cup was first introduced to the world in 1991. Open and Women's contests are run and it is based on a series of Regional Finals with the top crews meeting at the Grand Final.

Racing at the Regional Finals is preceded by an ISAF Match Racing Clinic, aimed to help develop match racing skills and officiating in that region. The winners of each Regional Final progress to the Grand Final, where they are joined by the defending nation and the host nation.

All relevant information will be published and available on the ISAF website - sailing.org

The aim of the event is to broaden the availability of match racing and provide international match racing competition for national authorities and sailors at a reasonable cost, whilst acting as an incentive for national match racing programmes.

#hyc – Ronan Cull continues to dominate the 40th Laser Frostbites at Howth Yacht Club. Cull showed no let up in demonstrating a master class in Laser sailing to the rest of the fleet. Concerns that the forecast of a dropping wind would impact the second race never materialised as the light westerly wind actually increased slightly through the morning.

The strong flood tide meant the race committee were forced in to having black flag starts in order to keep the fleet from being pushed over early after general recalls in both races.

In race 1 the fleet arrived in a tight bunch at the windward mark. The run against the tide proved to be tricky for the entire fleet and resulted in a group of five boats getting a small jump on the rest of the boats ,which they held to the finish line. While Cull had a built a good lead to take the gun, the race for the other podium places saw the next five boats having a great race with Daragh Sheridan taking 2nd, from Dave Quinn, Darrell Reamsbottom and Ian Mc Sweeney.

Race 2 followed the familiar pattern of Cull storming away from everybody once again to take the win. Ronan appeared to really sail the runs well each time to pull away from the chasing bunch. Dan O'Connell showed good pace throughout to take a well deserved 2nd place. He was followed by Daragh Kelleher in third and a very tight finish between Dave Quinn 4th, Daragh Sheridan 5th and Darrell Reamsbottom in 6th.

Unfortunately the Radial fleet was missing the presence of the front runners this Sunday who were away training elsewhere. Carla Fagan and Ben Jennings took full advantage of this to record a race win each.

Daniel Hopkins continues to lead the 4.7 rigs from Alex Kavanagh and S Gallagher.

Hopefully the relatively mild temperatures continue for the two remaining Sundays.

Overall Positions

Full Rig

1. Ronan Cull

2. Dave Quinn

3. Daragh Sheridan

4. Daragh Kelleher

5. Darrell Reamsbottom

Radial

1. Aoife Hopkins

2. C. Twohig

3. Ewan McMahon.

4.7

1. Daniel Hopkins

2. Alex Kavanagh

3. S Gallagher

#matchracing – In little over a fortnight Howth Yacht Club will host the Irish Match Racing Open bringing to a close a year that has seen reinvigorated participation in the discipline by Irish sailors.

Many of the female sailors who took part in June's Women's World Match Racing Championships in Cork have been active through the rest of the year at WIMRA events while in the men's division Philip Bendon and his Glenmar Match Racing Team made their debut on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour at the Dutch round in September and have reached an Irish high of 29th in the world rankings.

Several young Howth sailors have also spent time at the world renowned Chicago Match Racing Centre and their names have started to appear on crew lists at match racing events at the highest level. The recent establishment of match racing divisions in the top Irish sailing universities is yet another sign match racing is growing in popularity and participation.

The Irish Match Racing Open will take place on the 13th and 14th December and will bring together women's and men's teams from the World and European Tours in what is hoped will be the first of a series of domestic events in 2015 leading to the qualification of an Irish team for the Nations Cup and European Match Racing Finals. Entry is open until the 28th of November via the Howth Yacht Club events page. 

An open forum will be held on the evening of the 13th with the objective of identifying what the sailors want to get out of Irish match racing and how that may be helped to flourish. If you want to take part in match racing this is the place to make yourself known and heard.

#laserfrostbite – Overall Ronan Cull has a safe lead with five firsts at Howth Yacht Club's Laser frostbites series, followed by Dave Quinn and Darragh Kelleher while it's a family affair in the other fleets; Aoife Hopkins leads the radial fleet, with brother Daniel leading the 4.7's.

Yesterday's fourth day of the winter series started in 12 knots of wind from the west, brilliant sunshine with a sharp chill in the air and a strong ebb tide. Twenty-six Lasers competed on Sunday with the welcome return of the handsome Dan O'Connell and the brave but injury plagued Dave Mulligan.

A slight starboard bias at the start of race 1 favoured Darrell Reamsbottom, Dan O'Connell and Ian McSweeney, but it wasn't long before Ronan Cull and Dave Quinn emerged to be likely leaders at mark 1. The fleet split, but those on the middle left, playing the shifts, got out ahead, with Cull, Quinn, Mike Evans, Ian McSweeney, and Darrell Reamsbottom rounding first. While Cull and Quinn were safely away, there was a good fight for the next slots between McSweeney, Evans, Reamsbottom, Darragh Sherdan, and O'Connell. McSweeney was able to defend 3rd until O'Connell took advantage of a left hand shift at the top of the last full beat. McSweeney got back at him by beating toward the finish line, but a poorly timed tack allowed O'Connell to squeeze in at the pin taking 3rd. Darragh Sheridan finished 5th.

Date: 23/11/2014

Wind: SW, 12-14 knots

Races sailed: 7 & 8, Olympic triangle followed by Windward/Leeward,

Race length: 40 min each

Leader, standard: Ronan Cull

Leader, radial: Aoife Hopkins

Leader, 4.7: Daniel Hopkins

Race 1 - Standard fleet:

1. Ronan Cull

2. Dave Quinn

3. Dan O'Connell

4. Ian McSweeney

5. Darragh Sheridan

Approximately 1 second elapsed between the last finisher of race 7, and the warning signal of race 8 – PRO Liam Dineen opting for a windward/leeward course, making for challenging and competitve downwind legs. Dan O'Connell was on the money at the pin with a slight port bias, and at one point it looked like he was going to cross the fleet. He tacked and led the fleet toward the left, in a strengthening ebb. There was plenty of jostling for position off the line, and the majority of the fleet hit the left layline early. Dave Quinn, Darrell Reamsbottom, and Ian McSweeney led around mark 1, having played it more safely up the middle left. The second round saw Cull taking a convincing lead (from 4th around the leeward), not missing a shift, or any extra breeze on offer as the wind abated. Dave Quinn fell back to fourth and to a battle with Stephen Quinn, leaving McSweeney and Reamsbottom to fight for 2nd. McSweeney got ahead on the last full beat, Reamsottom having gone too far left, and a closely fought run ended with Reamsbottom establishing an inside overlap in the zone at the last leeward mark. McSweeney got a lucky jump ahead at the critical moment and was able to sneak around ahead and in 2nd place. Cull was well ahead at this stage and a worthy winner once more. 4th was also hotly contested by the two Quinns. They had split up the final beat and coming to the line Stephen - on starboard coming from the right – forced Dave to duck, and be postally pipped.

Race 2 - Standard fleet

1. Ronan Cull

2. Ian McSweeney

3. Darrell Reamsbottom

4. Stephen Quinn

5. Dave Quinn

#hyc – Howth Yacht Club sailors were treated to a mild day for the third outing races of the Laser dinghy Frosbite series off Ireland's Eye. A 12-15kt easterly made for an interesting change for sailors with a swell rolling down the channel. The 37 entries are enjoying ideal conditions for this 14–race series.

The race committee set a windward leeward course for the first race. With a low tide at 12:10, the big decision for race one was when the tide was going to turn. With the Ebb still running, those who went left on the first beat towards the Island gained the advantage. Ronan Cull and Darrell Ramsbottom came out best leading at the first mark. Ronan gave an exhibition in downwind laser sailing to extend away from the fleet. The rest were left to manage the waves and angles in his wake. Racing was tight with many place changes. Darragh Kelleher moved into second spot on the first run, a position he held to the finish. Darrell Reamsbottom, Mike Evans, Stephen Quinn and Dave Quinn were in close proximity all the way to the finish with Stephen Quinn pipping Dave Quinn on the finish line to get third

1st Ronan Cull

2nd Darragh Kelleher

3rd Stephen Quinn

4th Dave Quinn

5th Mike Evans

Race 2

By the start of the second race the tide had clearly turned. The second race saw a change of course to triangles. A committee boat bias and desire for the fleet to get right made for a busy committee boat start. Ronan Cull and Dave Quinn got off the line reasonably well and tacked right, as did most of the leaders. Ronan Cull, furthest right of the leaders, showed good speed to lead again at the first mark. A fast reach towards the Island mark spread the fleet out somewhat with Ronan Cull extending his lead by the leeward mark, followed by Dave Quinn and Darragh Kelleher. These positions didn't change for the sausage and final triangle. Daragh Sheridan recovered from a disappointing first race to finish 4th.

1st Ronan Cull

2nd Dave Quinn

3rd Darragh Kelleher

4th Daragh Sheridan

5th Darrell Reamsbottom.

Overall Darragh Kelleher leads on countback from Dave Quinn with Ronan Cull in third. Ronan is carrying a 13th so is very much in contention with all still to play for half way through the series. The Radial Class is also close with Aoife Hopkins just a point ahead of E McMahon.

#lasersailing – Thirty seasoned Laser sailors were greeted with a Westerly at 8knots at Howth Yacht Club for the second race of the 40th Laser winter series, slightly calmer conditions than last week! The Race Committee had their work cut out for them as both the wind and fleet were making things difficult.

After a General Recall, the fluctuating wind delayed the restart and eventually stabilized from a SW direction. Taking no prisoners, the RC went with a Black flag and needless to say managed to catch one over the line early! Half of the fleet went left and the other right. Things started to get tricky at the top mark with the boats from the right just edging out those from the left. A bunch that included Daragh Kelleher, Ian McSweeney, Oliver Keenan, Ronan Cull, Dave Quinn and Mike Evans all rounded in quick succession. Those who stayed to the left of the run or up tide managed to make some good gains and round the LW mark in good position. Sailors jockeyed for position throughout the race as picking up the little puffs and shifts on the beat made for tight tactical racing.

Ronan Cull was the one and only sailor falling foul of the Black Flag, leaving Dave Quinn to take the bullet ahead of Oliver Keenan.

Race 2 got underway in lighter conditions after the wind veered back to the West. A clean start this time, and a last minute right hand shift biased the committee boat for the start. Some boats headed left, but the leaders came in from the mid-right once again! Dave Quinn and Troy Hopkins took the lead around the WW mark with the fleet in hot pursuit. Darrell Reamsbottom showed some great pace on the light air reaches to pull up to third by the Leeward mark, and eventually climbed to first early on into the second beat.

Heart Rates began to rise as the Race Committee shortened the course and sailors could see the finish line at the WW mark. The three boats left of centre were looking pretty good until Darragh Sheridan put in a "Brilliant Performance" (best of luck Daragh with the new book) on the last beat to throw the cat amongst the pigeons leading a bunch of boats in from the right in slightly better breeze. The wind died in the final third of the beat, and Ronan Cull showed good speed in the home straight to take the win. Closely followed by Oliver, Daragh, Darrell and Dave, who were only separated by a mere boatlength on the finish line.

Race 1 - Standard fleet:

1. Dave Quinn

2. Oliver Keenan

3. Ian McSweeney

4. Darrell Reamsbottom

5. Darragh Kelleher

Race 2 - Standard fleet

1. Ronan Cull

2. Oliver Keenan

3. Daragh Sheridan

4. Darrell Reamsbottom

5. Dave Quinn

#lasersailing – Fifteen knots of wind and bright sunshine welcomed 31 Laser dinghies on the first day of the 40th Laser Frostbites at Howth Yacht Club on Sunday morning. It was a baptism of fire for some, conservative downwind sailing for most, and plenty of off-wind planning and gybe mark capizes. Shifty breeze under the west pier made the upwind legs tricky at times, but our equally effective and efficient race committee (Liam Dinneen, Richard Kissane, John Doran and veteran of the first series David Jones) ran two 38 minute races with practiced presicion.

For the standard fleet, Race 1 kicked off promptly at 10:50, with reformed golfer Dave Quinn leading the fleet from the slightly biased pin followed closely by Daragh Kelleher, Daragh Sheridan and Ian McSweeney. Quinn held the lead around mark 1 and until second beat, Kelleher grabbing it then, with Ronan Cull taking advantage of the left and rounding the second windward mark in 3rd. Cull got inside Quinn downwind and rounded in 2nd - and this is how it would finish.

Further back there was more shifting of places: Daragh Sheridan, Stephen Quinn, Darrell Reamsbottom and Mike Evans battling for the next slots. Sheridan came out on top of the group finding his usual top 5 form after some first-day jitters and a capsize at the first leeward mark.

Wind: SW, 14-22 knots

Races sailed: 1 & 2, Olympic triangles

Race length: 38 min each

Leader, standard: Daragh Kelleher

Leader, radial: E McMahon

Leader, 4.7: N Staunton

First capsize of the season: Carla Fagan

Race 1 - Standard fleet:

1. Daragh Kelleher

2. Ronan Cull

3. Dave Quinn

4. Daragh Sheridan

5. Stephen Quinn

True to his pre-race briefing, no time was wasted by race officer Richard Kissane and only 50 seconds elapsed between the last finisher of race 1 and the start of race 2. The breeze was freshening, and those nearer the pin gained from a left-hand shift within the last minute. The first four around mark 1 were Kelleher, Dave Quinn, Evans and McSweeney all having gone left upwind, and this was the order of finishing, with Sheridan catching up to 5th. Ronan Cull was conspicuous by his absence having broken his boom immediately after the start. Again there was plenty of close sailing throughout the fleet - a good omen for some close racing over the next few months.

Race 2 - Standard fleet

1. Daragh Kelleher

2. Dave Quinn

3. Mike Evans

4. Ian McSweeney

5. Daragh Sheridan

#MiddleSeaRace - As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Irish-crewed boats made the podium in the 2014 Rolex Middle Sea Race that came to a close last week. But they didn't mark the only Irish involvement in the gruelling offshore challenge.

Howth Yacht Club was represented twice among the fleet, with one team chartering Lucy Reynolds' Beneteau First 40, Southern Child, and HYC sailor Laura Dillon setting out on the S&S 41, Winsome.

The latter was forced to retire from the race after the extreme weather conditions that hammered the Mediterranean midweek, with Dillon describing the situation as "frightening" – though both boat and crew were able to shelter at the Italian island of Pantelleria, relatively unscathed.

Meanwhile, the crew of Southern Child elected to push on to the finish, helped by their more remote location out of the full impact of the Force 10 gales that rammed the fleet.

Despite that fortune, the return leg was heavy going in confused seas and waves as high as 10 metres, and it was only on crossing the finish line that the crew discovered they'd placed sixth in Class 4, which saw 75% of entered boats retire.

"Sustained wind strengths of 44 knots for a period of 24 hours really tested the spirit of the crew, and the relentless conditions were some of the most difficult that I've seen," said HYC's Kieran Jameson, who crewed Southern Child with Darren Wright, Colm Bermingham, Frank Dillon, Rick De Nieve, David Wright, Paul Walsh, Jonny White, Will Murray and Lucy Reynolds.

The final day of the MSL Park Motors Mercedes-Benz Autumn League was a fitting culmination of a hugely successful 6-weeks keelboat racing for this 35th year of Howth Yacht Club's annual autumnal regatta. The 15-25 knot southerly wind, accompanied by clear blue skies and very warm sunshine, afforded the two race management teams the opportunity to set superb courses north and west of Ireland's Eye.

While rights on some of the silverware had already been secured in the previous week, the boats within the 9 participating classes engaged in a fiercely competitive finish to this series which saw Scorie Walls and Declan Browne's Puppeteer Gold Dust win the Heineken Trophy for the overall prize and the 3-boat team of Rita (Howth 17), Harmony (Class 2) and Gold Dust win the Olympus Trophy team prize.

The forecasted strong wind with gale gusts led some teams to stay ashore on Saturday morning, but those that went to sea were treated with superb racing conditions for the 90-120 minute courses. The one-design fleet was led by the J80 Sailfleet class and a race win for the Phelan/ Sheridan/ Knowles partnership secured them the title from the Flynn/ Buckley boat. In the Puppeteer class, the aforementioned Gold Dust won their final race and the result meant that their margin of 6 points over second-placed Trick or Treat (Alan Pearson) was enough to win the overall regatta prize. In the handicap division, Cyprian Feeley's Cloud 9 took the honours from Susan Sheridan's Ibis which finished level on points but Cloud 9's two race wins early in the series ensured their winning separation from Ibis.The Squibs travelled to the inland regatta at Lough Derg, so their standings from last week's race remained as final. (Fergus O'Kelly's Selik winning on scratch and Ronan McDonnell's Fantome won the handicap prize). Having to do penalty turns early in the Howth 17's race ensured that Brian & Conor Turvey's Isobel put itself out of contention with event winners Rita (Marcus Lynch and John Curley) - the 116 year old did enough to take the scratch prize. Mary Faherty's Sheila won the handicap prize, despite finishing the last race with a DNF (did not finish).

Sailing due east of the one-design courses, the cruiser classes raced in stronger winds and bigger seas and Pat Kelly with his team on Storm revelled in the conditions, securing their 5th win in Class 1 IRC while ICRA Commodore Norbert Reilly and Alan Chambers' Crazy Horse won the ECHO prize. Their 3rd win in Class 2 IRC placed Anthony Gore Grimes and his crew on Dux firmly on the winner's podium. Findlater Viking (Kevin Darmody and Mark Patterson) won the ECHO trophy.

An excellent race win by the HYC Under 25 Keelboat team on Kilcullen was not enough to steal the Class 3 IRC prize despite finishing on the same points as Vince Gaffney's Alliance II as the latter team's 2 race wins in the series afforded them the trophy. Lionel McMurtry's Hellyhunter won the ECHO prize by just half a point from Jonathan Wormald and Sean Walsh's Stagefright.

A 4th place finish in the last race by Colm Bermingham's Bite the Bullet helped Tiger (Frank Hughes and Stephen Harris) win Class 4 IRC, but the Tiger team also did it in style by winning the final race. David Sargent's Indulgence had won the ECHO trophy after 5 races and they were happy to take a 2nd place in the last race to compete a very successful series.

Class 5 IRC was won by Emmet Dalton's Jebus and the Denis Wickham Trophy for Class 5 ECHO was collected by Gordon Knaggs and his team on Jokers Wild. The Mini Series prizes were won by Storm (Class 1IRC), Patrick Cruise O'Brien's Dear Prudence (Class 1 ECHO), Kilcullen (Class 3 IRC), Cri Cri (Paul Colton) in Class 3 ECHO, Tiger (Class 4 IRC) and Indulgence (Class 4 ECHO).

Afterwards, MSL Park Motors Group Managing Director Brendan Grace thanked Feargal Kinsella and his event team as well as all the competitors for taking part in the very successful event and looked forward to growing their relationship with Howth Yacht Club with this event in the coming 2 years. Commodore Brian thanked the sponsors and said that they had added real value to the event and had integrated seamlessly with the club. MSL Park Motors Mercedes-Benz also ran a prize draw in aid of the RNLI - to which they donated €1500 in respect of all the entries to the draw. A further competition and draw for 2 GoPro cameras in aid of St Francis Hospice raised €1785 including a substantial donation by the sponsors.

Howth 17s Cronin Trophy presented by MSL Park Motors Mercedes Benz Brand Manager Dean Fullston with crew of 'Rita' - Jim Potter, Cordula Hansen and John Curley

Howth 17's Alphida Cup winner 'Sheila' - Mary Faherty with MSL Park Motors Mercedes Benz Brand Manager Dean Fullston

Joanne Kavanagh presents the Duropal Trophy to Puppeteer Scratch winners 'Gold Dust' - Josh Kelly, Conor McGowan, Scorie Walls, Declan Browne, Nigel Harrison

Joanne Kavanagh presents the Puppeteer handicap 'Snowgoose Trophy' to Jacqueline Feeley (Cloud 9)

Rachel Grace presents the Impala Regatta Trophy (Class 5 IRC) to Conor Howard and Emmet Dalton from 'Jebus'

'Jokers Wild' team: Fergal Corkery, Len Gallagher and Gordon Knaggs with MSL Park Motors' Rachel Grace

Stephen Harris and Chris Howard receive the Sleator Salver from Ronal McCaul

Ronan McCaul presents Michael Fleming with the Class 4 ECHO trophy

Vince Gaffney collects the Habu Trophy from Ronan McCaul

Gordon Stirling, Cian Manly and Harry Cronin collect the PAB Travel Trophy from MSL Park Motors Group Managing Director Brendan Grace

Dean Fullston presents the Cuffe Smith Trophy to 'Dux' - Evan Dolan, Anthony Gore Grimes, Andy Mollard and Ken O'Neill

Kevin Darmody collects the Class 2 ECHO prize from Dean Fullston

Pat Kelly (Storm) with the Evora Trophy and Dean Fullston

Ian McCormack (Crazy Horse) is presented the Joliba Trophy by Dean Fullston

Overall winners of the Autumn League's 'Heineken Trophy' - Gold Dust with Brendan Grace from MSL Park Motors

The MSL Park Motors Mercedes Benz Marketing team - Joanne Kavanagh and Andrea Byrne

The celebrations continued into the small hours....