#HOWTH YACHT CLUB – The Hegarty's Eclipse was the winner of the Puppeteer Howth Yacht Club race today with Schiggy (G. Kennedy) second. In the White sails Xebec (T. Giles) took the honours. The full Howth Yacht Club results are below:

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. SATURDAY SERIES 1 (RACE) 19/05/2012 Puppeteer SCRATCH: 1, Eclipse A & R Hegarty; 2, Schiggy G Kennedy; 3, Cloud 9 C Feeley; Puppeteer HPH: 1, Schiggy G Kennedy; 2, Eclipse A & R Hegarty; 3, Arcturus C McAuliffe SAT WHITE SAIL White Sails IRC: 1, Xebec T Giles; 2=, Toughnut D Skehan; 2=, Bite the Bullet C Bermingham; White Sails HPH: 1, Xebec T Giles; 2, Bite the Bullet C Bermingham; 3, Starlet Bourke/Others TUE + SAT SERIES 1 17 Footer SCRATCH: 1, Oona P Courtney; 2, Deilginis Deilginis Group; 3, Anita Cassidy/Faherty; 17 Footer HCAP: 1, Anita Cassidy/Faherty; 2=, Deilginis Deilginis Group; 2=, Oona P Courtney

#J24 – With a third place in the opening race being his worst result in the six-race series, JP McCaldin in Jamais Encore from Lough Erne YC was an impressive winner of the Mediagasmic-sponsored J/24 Eastern Championships at Howth YC over the weekend writes Graham Smith.

Even National Champion Flor O'Driscoll on Hard on Port couldn't match the level of consistency that the northern visitors demonstrated while another feature of the weekend was the steadily-improving performance of the HYC K25 Team on Kilcullen Euro Car Parks who finished 5th overall.

Discarding an 11th in the first race, the crew - led by John Blake and with Cillian Dickson on the helm - clearly learned a lot as the days went on, culminating in top notch 2nd and 3rd finishes on the second day.

The Championship started on Saturday with four races in fresh north-easterlies and first blood was drawn by Howth's Jibberrish (Fergus O'Kelly & others) whose gamble of a left-side long tack paid off handsomely for a sweet victory ahead of O'Driscoll and McCaldin.

Race two, three and four saw Nyah (Hyde & Deasy, RCYC/RStGYC) and Jamais Encore take turns to head the fleet, with Nyah winning two to head the fleet overnight. The fourth race highlighted just how competitive the fleet was, with 12 boats finishing within five minutes.

Fortunes were reversed on Sunday when Nyah had a disastrous 9th in the opening race and then a 4th while major rival McCaldin by comparison, had a dream day on the water. The fifth race in the series saw the Lough Erne crew win by a massive margin and while they only had to sail safely in the last race, second behind Hard on Port was more than enough to secure the Eastern Championship trophy with a margin of four points.

The Mediagasmic-sponsored event attracted visiting boats from Malahide, Lough Erne, Lough Ree, Lough Swilly, Royal Cork and Carrickfergus and was considered an outstanding success by the 13 crews, with much praise heaped on PRO David Lovegrove and his team for the quality of the racing.

The top 5 Overall 

1 Jamais Encore JP Caldin LEYC 8.00

2 Hard on Port F O'Driscoll HYC 12.00

3 Nyah Deasy/Hyde RCYC/RStGYC 14.00

4 Crazyhorse M Shanahan HYC 24.00

5 Kilcullen Euro Car Parks HYC K25 HYC 26.00

#DEVELOPMENT - The International Sailing Federation's (ISAF) inaugural Development Symposium at Howth Yacht Club recently "promised much in the way of passionate discussion", according to its review of the two-day event.

Presentations were given by Tony Wright, training manager of the Irish Sailing Association, who outlined the ISA's national programme that keeps the focus of the sailor "at the centre of all that they do"; and Simon Jinks who walked through his new Guide to Offshore Personal Safety for Cruising and Racing.

Meanwhile, World Youth Sailing Trust coach Hugh Styles spoke on the subject of cohesive training programmes adding value to international events and leaving a legacy for host nations and teams alike.

Participants from the federation's member nations kept an 'ideas bank' which listed development ideas for future consideration, including a proposal for a development forum for sailing coaches, and using the model of the European Qualifications Framework as a reference for coaching competencies.

New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland and Turkey were also suggested as locations for future symposiums.

For more see the full review of the Development Symposium at the ISAF website HERE.

#TOPPER – The Topper Leinster sailing Championships at Howth Yacht Club on March 31st/April 1st is the first event of the season for the Irish Topper class and with qualification for the ISA Topper Squad at stake, a competitive fleet of up to 40 boats is expected from clubs as far apart as Wexford and Antrim.

To qualify for the 2012 ISA Topper Squad sailors must compete in both the Leinsters in Howth and the Mitsubishi Youth Nationals in Dun Laoghaire in mid-April. The Topper squads are training groups formed, co-ordinated and managed by the ISA (and RYA in the North).

The ISA squad comes under the Olympic pathway which allows for progression from the junior fleet to the Olympic classes. The squad will be re-selected in April after the Youth sailing Championships and will prepare the sailors to compete in the 2012 Topper World Championships at Workum in Holland.

Friday 23rd March is the deadline for discounted entry fees of €50/£45 (after which they increase by €10/£10) for the Leinsters and entry is restricted to members of the Irish Topper Class Association.

The event, under the guidance of PRO Richard Kissane and his team, has a schedule of six races over the two days.

#DEVELOPMENT - Representatives from the International Sailing Federation's member nations throughout the world will meet at Howth Yacht Club from 17-18 March for the inaugural ISAF Development Symposium.

The aim of the two-day conference is to develop the criteria and future strategy for sail training and development within the governing body of world sailing, based on three core requirements:

• Fulfilling requirement set out in the ISAF Constitution to develop the sport and increase participation;
• Providing a structure for the sport to grow to meet expectations of the International Olympic Committee; and
• Supporting member nations in growing the sport in their own countries.

"Training is the key that will unlock and secure the future for our sport," said the ISAF in its development statement at the federation's annual conference last year.

Dublin was chosen as the host location for this first symposium as it will be hosting the ISAF Youth Worlds in July, just before the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The international delegates, chaired by event organiser and ISAF training and development manager Dan Jaspers, will be supported by a group of ISAF representatives such as vice president Nazli Imre, development and youth committee chairman Olivier Bovyn, ISAF-nominated experts and the World Youth Sailing Trust coach, as well as invited specialist technical advisors.

More information about the ISAF Development Symposium is available HERE.

#NORTH SAILS SEMINAR – US Sailmaker Bill Gladstone of North Sails returns to these shores for a nine stop lecture tour of Ireland starting this Saturday at the country's biggest club, the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire. Gladstone was last here in 2009 and the series proved popular. From Dun Laoghaire the North Sails seminar heads West to Galway Bay. The full schedule is below.

Gladstone has been teaching sailing and racing for over 30 years. Topics this week, for the €20 pay at the door event, include starting tactics, upwind trim, wind shift Strategy to spinnaker trim and handling.

For more information, contact the club, Maurice O'Connell ([email protected] / 086 2364200) or Nigel Young ([email protected] / 087 2514434)

2012 SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Royal St George Yacht Club.....28 January 2012
9:30 am - 1:30 pm
National Yacht Club..................30 January 2012
7 pm - 11 pm
Galway Bay Sailing Club...........31 January 2012
7 pm - 11 pm
Tralee Bay Sailing Club...........01 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Cork Yacht Club.............02 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Kinsale Yacht Club...................03 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Irish Yacht Club.............04 February 2012
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Howth Yacht Club....................06 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Ulster Yacht Club*......... 07 February 2012
7pm - 11pm

Pay at the door. €20 per person. *RUYC £18 per person.

One of Ireland’s longest running dinghy frostbite series begins its 37^th running on Sunday 6^th November when Howth Yacht Club’s Laser Frostbite gets underway.

 

The Frostbite, which began in 1974, comprises a pre-Christmas and post-New Year series (starting January 8^th), a New Year’s Day Race (to blow away the festive cobwebs) and finishing with the traditional Round the Island Race and prize-giving on March 11^th.

 

First gun each day is 11.00am, with two short races of approximately 35 minutes duration. Courses are dedicated solely to the Laser Class with our own committee boat and support crews in the sheltered waters just to the West of Howth Harbour.

 

The end-of-series race round the island will also coincide with an ‘Inter-Club Masters’ Challenge’, introduced very successfully last year and which attracted sailors from Dun Laoghaire and Ballyholme.

 

The emphasis is on fun and camaraderie, with all standards welcomed. Former winners include Philip Watson and Gordon Maguire and standards are still high at the front of the fleet, with current No.1-ranked Laser sailor in Ireland, Ronan Cull, racing again this year.

 

The series has become famous for its welcome, with senior sailors always willing to coach and encourage newcomers, both ashore and on the water, and there is always lively banter in the bar afterwards.

 

Notice of Race and Online Entry are available on www.hyc.ie and there is a Facebook page for the event (Howth Laser Frostbites).

 

Howth Yacht Club's Autumn League is renowned for enjoying, on occasions, some of the best sailing weather in a single season and the penultimate day of this year’s event, sponsored by Team PR Reilly (with its WD-40 brand) was just one of those occasions.

Pleasant sunshine, a flat sea, a moderate 15-knot westerly breeze and a fleet of 150 boats enjoying themselves was the order of the day for race 3 in the series which saw a distinct pattern in three classes where the winning boats were recording hat-tricks of success.

Stephen O’Flaherty’s elegant ‘Bond’ boat ‘Soufriere’ led the Class 1 fleet home but it wasn’t enough to prevent Pat Kelly’s ‘Storm’ registering its third win in a row on IRC and so stretch its overall lead over nearest rival ‘Crazy Horse’ (Chambers/Reilly) to seven points. ‘Tiger’ (Harris/Hughes) continues to impress on ECHO with a third successive win and so stay six points ahead of ‘Storm’.

Another treble winner was Anthony Gore-Grimes ‘Dux’ in Class 2 in IRC, just ahead of Ian Byrne’s ‘Sunburn’ but opening up a 6-point margin over second-placed ‘Indigo’ (Ritchie/Eadie) overall, although those placings are reversed on ECHO after the third race which was won by ‘C’Est la Vie’ (Flannelly & Others).

It’s tight at the top of Class 3 now, with the Race 3 results having a significant influence on the overall standings. ‘Wild Mustard’ (P&D Coyle) won the IRC day from ‘Goyave’ (Camier/Fitzpatrick) from Malahide but series leader ‘Quickflash’ (Alfred Mayrs) from Antrim was back in 4^th, meaning there is now only one point separating the two visitors. ‘Goyave’ had the added satisfaction of winning on ECHO and now heads the table by a point from Ed Bourke’s ‘Starlet’.

‘Empress III’ (Fitzpatrick/Glennon) took the ECHO honours in Class 4 by just 17 seconds from ‘White Lotus’ (P.Tully) from Dun Laoghaire but it’s ‘Sojourn’ (Lacy/Blandford) that has the advantage going into the final day by quite a margin. ‘Flashback’ (Hogg & Others) won on IRC but its ‘Bite the Bullet’ (Colm Bermingham) and ‘Changeling’ (Kieran Jameson) who lead the fleet overall.

In something of a repeat of last year, the smallest boat in Class 5 – ‘Demelza’ (Ennis & Laudan) – is again showing the way and a double success on both handicap systems has given the veteran Shamrock a five point lead on ECHO over ‘Alphida’ (Harry Byrne) and second overall behind that rival boat on IRC by a single point.

In the one-design classes, Jay Bourke in ‘Dirty Protest’ continued his domination of the Etchells racing, posting his third win on the trot, this time ahead of ‘Gelert’ (J.Flynn) to stretch the overall lead to six points over ‘Glance’ (O’Reilly/Dix).

After missing last Sunday because of the ISA All-Ireland Sailing Championships at Lough Derg, J/24 National Champion Flor O’Driscoll (‘Hard on Port’) got back to winning ways in his own class, with a 30-second lead over Chris Shackleton’s ‘Johnny Bravo’ from Malahide. With the last weekend to go, two points separate the top four, with O’Driscoll sharing the overall lead with Mossy Shanahan’s ‘Crazy Horse’.

It was a very good day for the Walls/Browne partnership on ‘Gold Dust’ in the Puppeteers. Not only did they win on the double (scratch and handicap), in both cases ahead of Neil Murphy’s ‘Yellow Peril’, but the success also saw them assume the leadership in the overall standings on both tables.

There was a new winner in the Squibs, with ‘Chatterbox’ (J. Kay) heading Emer Harte’s ‘Puffin’ by less than 30 seconds (she won on HPH though), but it wasn’t enough to upset ‘Kerfuffle’s’ (Craig/Ruane) overall lead on both scratch and handicap.

Peter Courtney’s winning streak in ‘Oona’ was halted by Roddy Cooper’s ‘Leila’ who also won on handicap but he still has a comfortable lead overall on scratch while his HPH lead has been whittled down to a single point by Rear-Commodore Brian Turvey in ‘Isobel’.

The Autumn League comes to a close next Saturday with two back-to-back races to determine the outcome of the 10 competing classes.

Howth Yacht Club’s WD-40 Autumn League, sponsored by Team PR Reilly, got off to a blustery start on Sunday (25^th September), with the ten classes encountering fresh 26-knot southerlies, stronger gusts and tough sea conditions.

 

Perhaps it was the post-Rugby World Cup match euphoria or the gale forecast that was off-putting, but whatever the reason, around a quarter of the 150 boats entered for this year’s WD-40 Autumn League didn’t make it to the starting line for the first race of the series! As it was, some boats experienced gear damage and others were unable to complete the course.

 

It’s been a good season for Pat Kelly’s ‘Storm’ and the run continued with a comfortable win in Class 1 on IRC while ‘Tiger’ (Harris/Hughes) took the spoils on ECHO in a race which saw the first four boats crossing the line within a minute.

 

Line honours by a minute converted into a bigger IRC win for Anthony Gore-Grimes’ ‘Dux’ over second-placed ‘Superhero’ (Byrne/Banahan) in Class 2 and was also enough to earn top spot on ECHO too, in that case ahead of ‘Indigo’ (Ritchie/Eadie).

 

In Class 3, Antrim visitor Alfred Mayrs’ ‘Quickflash’ and ‘Starlet’ (Ed Bourke) battled it out at the head of the fleet, with the local boat taking the gun and ECHO honours (ahead of ‘Shenanigans’ – Douglas/Keane, MYC) and the northern crew heading the IRC standings.

 

Another visitor, Paul Tully of Dun Laoghaire Marina on ‘White Lotus’, clearly enjoyed heading the dozen Howth boats in Class 4 (White Sails) on ECHO while Colm Bermingham’s ‘Bite the Bullet’ did enough to beat ‘Changeling’ (Kieran Jameson) into second place on IRC. In the other White Sail division – Class 5 – ‘Demelza’ (Ennis/Laudan) had a good win over bigger rivals on ECHO and Harry Byrne’s Alphida’ topped the IRC rankings.

 

The Etchells was a match-racing affair, in effect, with Jay Bourke’s ‘Dirty Protest’ having a fairly comfortable margin of victory over ‘Glance’ (O’Reilly/Dix) while in the J24s, national champion Flor O’Driscoll (‘Hard on Port’) had a similar lead over second-placed ‘Crazy Horse’ (Mossy Shanahan). A feature of the J24 event is two boats – ‘Scandal’ and ‘Kilcullen’ – being sailed by two HYC Development Squad crews and they finished 3^rd and 4^th respectively.

 

The biggest entry and biggest fleet on the day was the Puppeteers and national champions ‘Harlequin’ (Clarke/Egan) filled their accustomed position at the top of the standings, with two minutes to spare over ‘Mojo’ (Callen/Stanley), although that order was reversed under the HPH handicap.

 

Biggest scratch win of the day was in the Squibs where ‘Kerfuffle’ (Craig/Ruane) had over 6 minutes in hand over ‘Too Dee’ (Dave Sheahan) and almost as big a win on HPH over ‘Arctic Fox’ (G.Barry). Only 22 seconds separated ‘Oona’ (Peter Courtney) and ‘Isobel’ (the Turveys) in the Seventeens after an hour and a half’s racing, but the latter had the consolation of winning on HPH.

 

The WD-40 Autumn League, sponsored by Team PR Reilly and supported by H.B.Dennis Airside and Windguru, continues next Sunday, 2^nd October, with the second race in the 6-race series.

Class 1 IRC
1. Storm, P Kell, HYC
2. Equinox, R McDonald, HYC
3. Tiger, Harris/Hughes, HYC

Class 1 ECHO
1. Tiger, Harris/Hughes, HYC
2. Riot, B Linehan, HYC
3. Storm, P Kelly, HYC

Class 2 IRC
1. Dux, A Gore-Grimes, HYC
2. Indigo, Ritchie/Eadie, HYC
3. Maximus, P Kyne, HYC

Class 2 ECHO
1. Dux, A Gore-Grimes, HYC
2. Indigo, Ritchie/Eadie, HYC
3. Maximus, P Kyne, HYC

Class 3 IRC
1. Quickflash, A Mayrs, ABSC
2. Starlet, E Bourke, HYC
3. Goyave, Camier/Fitzpatrick, MYC

Class 3 ECHO
1. Starlet, E Bourke, HYC
2. Shenanigans, Douglas/Keane, MYC
3. Goyave, Camier/Fitzpatrick, MYC

Class 4 IRC
1. Bite the Bullet, C Bermingham, HYC
2. Changeling, K Jameson, HYC
3. White Lotus, P Tully, DLM

Class 4 ECHO
1. White Lotus, P Tully, DLM
2. Sojourn, Lacy/Blandford, HYC
3. Bite the Bullet, C Bermingham, HYC

Class 5 IRC
1. Alphida, H Byrne, HYC
2. Demelza, Ennis/Laudan, HYC
3. Voyager, J Carton, HYC

Class 5 ECHO
1. Demelza, Ennis/Laudan, HYC
2. Alphida, H Byrne, HYC
3. Voyager, J Carton, HYC

Etchells
1. Dirty Protest, J Bourke, HYC/GSC
2. Glance, O'Reilly/Dix, HYC

J24
1. Hard on Port, F O'Driscoll, HYC
2. Crazy Horse, M Shanahan, HYC
3. Scandal, HYC Dev Red, HYC

Puppeteer Scratch
1. Harlequin, Clarke/Egan, HYC
2. Mojo, Callen/Stanley, HYC
3. Gold Dust, Walls/Browne, HYC

Puppeteer HCap
1. Mojo, Callen/Stanley, HYC
2. Harlequin, Clarke/Egan, HYC
3. Flycatcher, Dillon/Wright, HYC

Squib Scratch
1. Kerfuffle, Craig/Ruane, HYC
2. Too Dee, D Sheahan, HYC
3. Arctic Fox, G Barry, HYC

Squib HCap
1. Kerfuffle, Craig/Ruane, HYC
2. Arctic Fox, G Barry, HYC
3. Too Dee, D Sheahan, HYC

17 Footer Scratch
1. Oona, P Courtney, HYC
2. Isobel, B & C Turvey, HYC
3. Deilginis, Deilginis, HYC

17 Footer HCap
1. Isobel, B & C Turvey, HYC
2. Oona, P Courtney, HYC
3. Deilginis, Deilginis, HYC

The 2011 championship in Howth, North County Dublin, sponsored by SIAC Construction promises to be the largest Irish Squib Championship for many years, with 38 entries from fleets throughout the country, including 2 boats from Kinsale on the south coast, 2 boats from Westport on the west coast, 11 boats from Dun Laoghaire on the east coast, and 7 from The Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on the north coast.

Recent days have seen high pressure with light winds, but this is no guarantee that the conditions will not have changed by the weekend.
Last year when the UK Nationals were held in Dun Laoghaire there were 24 Irish boats competing, so an event with 38 entries is an excellent turn out. It shows the excellent state of the class in Ireland which now has fleets in Arklow, Wexford, Kinsale, Glandore, Westport, Belfast Lough, Strangford Lough, Howth and Dublin Bay. In any fleet there would normally be a pecking order, but in 2011 there are many northern boats which have never sailed against the southern boats and many eastern boats which have never sailed against the western boats. This shows the logic in holding the Championship in a central location, Howth. If I were a betting man, which I am not, I would put money on any of the following boats to win the event:

Gordon Patterson and Ross Noland in No. 820 'Quickstep III', who won the Irish Championships last year in Hollywood. Aidan O' Connell and Sian Mc.Cleave in No. 35 'Ruby Blue'. Peter Wallace and Kerry Boomer in No. 818 'Toy for the Boys' who won the recent Volvo Dun Laoghaire Week event.

However some of the quickest boats in the country such as 'Aficianado' ( 2nd. Place in Northern Championships), Lola (regular event winner), and Femme Fatale ( Southern Championship winner) are not entered. It is important for the class that the Class Officials select a date and venue which suites as many boats as possible, and which would attract visitors from Wales.