So far, so good. Truck-racing sailors in Ireland have got themselves successfully as a group - and hyper-successfully in individual boat cases – through a plethora of cruiser-racer championship titles recently. These emerged from the multiple interpretations of a healthy set of results provided by the ICRA Nats and the J-Cup Ireland in Dublin Bay during the past ten days, which saw Johnny & Suzi Murphy's J/109 Outrajeous declared the J-Cup overall winner, but John Maybury's Joker 2 became the J/109 European Champion.
Before that, there were results to be taken out of Calves Week in Schull in August, Volvo Cork Week in July, the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow in June when Bangor Regatta was also staged in Belfast Lough, plus Wave Regatta at Howth in late May. And on top of that, a numerically small number of participants in the international hurly-burly of Cowes Week produced one really excellent result.
Home from home. The Scottish J-Boat Jings (Robin Young) at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire. Photo: Afloat.ie
ROCKABILL ON TOP IN CALVES WEEK
Calves Week was for Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC), Cowes was the good time for the Jones family's J/122 Jellybaby from Cork, Volvo Cork Week was for Johnny Treanor's J/112e ValenTina from the National (and she later did well in the ICRAs), and top-placed Irish at second in the Round Ireland was Pete Smyth's Ker 46 Searcher, with the second generation of Smyth sailors continuing to draw inspiration from their parents' success with the UFO 27 Fool's Gold.
Putting the foundations in place. The late Peter Smyth Senior racing the family's successful UFO 27 Fool's Gold, The next generation has now moved onwards and upwards to the Ker 46 Searcher (below). Photos: HYC and Afloat
"WE GOT A RESULT"
In all cases, the outcomes came from a reasonably full set of results, although the ICRA Champs lost the final day to calm. Otherwise the winds - by and large - held up without going over the top, with first and even second discards coming into play. Whatever the general impression has been of the 2024 summer, "We got a result" was usually a confident statement, and not a desperate grasping at the straws of some heavily-shortened courses.
That said, it has been achieved in some very odd overall weather patterns. And none has been odder than right now, as crews somehow find some final surge of energy to bring to the Big One, the Maples Group Royal Ocean Racing Club IRC Europeans on Dublin Bay at the Royal Irish YC from this Thursday, 12th September, until Sunday 15th September.
Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI from the host club is at her best with a bit of a breeze. Photo: Afloat.ie
ODD WEATHER
The oddity of the weather is summed up in the fact that last Friday – September 6th – much of Ireland lay under a stifling heatwave so total and sun-glaring that it reminded you of Patrick Kavanagh's "tremendous silence of mid-July." But it wasn't July. We didn't have a day remotely like it in the real July of 2024. And Sunday and yesterday (Monday) savagely reminded us of what September can be like.
It looks like being even more crisp by Thursday, with winds uninterrupted from the Arctic, and already frost and snow reported in Scotland. But beyond that, the Dublin Bay area may hope for a milder Atlantic sou'west to west wind later on Friday, though there's a possibility it will get spread too thin by noon on Sunday to be much use for racing in the afternoon.
(Above and below) Karl Kwok's TP 52 Beau Geste (rating 1.418) from Hong Kong on a training run on Dublin Bay on Tuesday (September 10th) in advance of the Maples Group RORC IRC Europeans At Royal Irish YC starting on Thursday (September 12th) Photo: Afloat
ENTRY LIST
| Class | Cornithan | SailNo | Boat Name | Owner | Club | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 0 | IVB1997 | Beau Geste | Karl Kwok | RHKYC | 1.418 | |
| Class 0 | IRL2046 | Searcher | Pete Smyth | RIYC | 1.273 | |
| Class 0 | IRL2237 | WOW | T Kane | RIYC | 1.144 | |
| Class 0 | GBR8859R | Jacknife | Sam and Andrew Hall | Pwllheli Sailing Club | 1.143 | |
| Class 0 | C | IRL3129 | Valkyrie | David Maguire | HYC & RIYC | 1.129 |
| Class 0 | IRL66 | Checkmate XX | Nigel Biggs | Howth Yacht Club | 1.116 | |
| Class 0 | IRL9753 | JellyBaby | Jones Family | Royal Cork Yacht Club | 1.088 | |
| Class 0 | GBR4822R | Mojito | Peter Dunlop & Victoria Cox | Pwllheli SC | 1.086 | |
| Class 0 | IRL4240 | Prima Forte | Fergus Riley | RIYC | 1.078 | |
| Class 0 | IRL10800 | Rockabill VI | Paul O'Higgins | RIYC | 1.048 | |
| Class 0 | IRL3721 | Valentina | Johnny Treanor | NYC/RIYC | 1.048 | |
| Class 1 | IRL2729 | Blacksmith | Michael Eames | RUYC / SLYC | 1.038 | |
| Class 1 | GBR7536R | HotCookie | John O'Gorman | NYC | 1.033 | |
| Class 1 | IRL13500 | D-TOX | Kyran McStay | RIYC | 1.03 | |
| Class 1 | GBR5567L | Panache | Andy Deacon | PSC | 1.028 | |
| Class 1 | IRL4344 | Elixir | Ryan Wilson | QYC/CSC | 1.028 | |
| Class 1 | GBR1030X | Coquine | Alan Hannon | RIYC | 1.02 | |
| Class 1 | IRL1003 | FINAL CALL II | JOHN MINNIS | RUYC/RNIYC | 1.017 | |
| Class 1 | IRL1699 | Snapshot | Michael&Richard Evans | Hyc | 1.014 | |
| Class 1 | GBR8543R | JINGS | ROBIN YOUNG | RNCYC | 1.011 | |
| Class 1 | GBR 8529C | Mocking-J | Ben and Jono Shelley | Fairlie Yacht Club / Largs Sailing Club | 1.01 | |
| Class 1 | IRL2160 | Chimaera | Barry Cunningham | RIYC | 1.008 | |
| Class 1 | GBR8933R | Bon Exemple | Colin Byrne | RIYC | 1.008 | |
| Class 1 | C | IRL811 | RAPTOR | Hewitt & others | RIYC | 1.006 |
| Class 1 | IRL1206 | Joker 2 | John Maybury | RIYC | 1.006 | |
| Class 1 | GBR8799R | Jackpot | David Lean | SCYC | 1.003 | |
| Class 1 | IRL1242 | White Mischief | Tim & Richard Goodbody | RIYC | 1.005 | |
| Class 1 | IRL29213 | Something Else | Brian & John Hall | NYC | 1.002 | |
| Class 1 | IRL19109 | Outrajeous | John & Suzie Murphy | Howth YC | 1.001 | |
| Class 2 | GBR1510R | Only Just | Ian McMillan | SCYC/LYC/PSC/RMYC | 0.995 | |
| Class 2 | IRL44444 | Digital Built Consultants | Steve Hayes | Greystones SC | 0.975 | |
| Class 2 | IRL6697 | Jeneral Lee | Colin Kavanagh | Howth Yacht Club | 0.97 | |
| Class 2 | GBR2909 | Eazi Tiger | J Oliver & A Kyffin | Liverpool YC | 0.969 | |
| Class 2 | KZ3494 | Swuzzlebubble | James Dwyer | Rcyc | 0.959 | |
| Class 2 | IRL2269 | 2 Farr | P Kelly | RSC | 0.955 | |
| Class 2 | GBR5694 | Head Hunter | Adam Ovigton | RNYC | 0.952 | |
| Class 3 | FRA111 | ALLIG8R | P Ryan | RSGYC | 0.915 | |
| Class 3 | IRL4444 | Insider | Stephen Mullaney | Howth Yacht Club | 0.901 | |
| Class 3 | IRL90210 | SNOOPY | Joanne Hall / Martin Mahon | Courtown Sailing Club | 0.899 | |
| Class 3 | IRL4794 | Hard On Port | David Bailey | BSC/RIYC | 0.878 |
Making the best use of these typically 2024 "four seasons in a series" regatta conditions will be an intriguing fleet which ranges in size from Karl Kwok's TP 52 Beau Geste (rating 1.418) from Hong Kong down to J/24s such as Hard on Port (rating 0.878), formerly the mount of the great Flor O'Driscoll but now campaigned by a team headed by David Bailey of Bray SC.
The J/24 Hard-On-Port from Bray continues the spirit of original owner Flor O'Driscoll
VIKING REVERSAL PROGRAMME
We don't know if some even-more-demented-than-usual Viking ever got as far as Hong Kong, but Karl Kwok's 2024 programme with Beau Geste seems to be a reversal of any such possibility. She came to Europe to do the ORC Europeans 2024 in August in the Viking heartlands of the Aland Islands between Sweden and Finland, and duly won overall. And now she's in Dublin Bay hoping to do the same with the IRC Europeans 2024, which are being staged off a city that, around 1000 AD, had the dubious distinction of being the largest slave market in the Viking Empire.
The polite but sometimes intense competition between the two rating rules is maybe as near as we get these days to the seaborne raiding over a remarkably wide area by the Vikings. But the reality is that, as at the Aland Islands, Beau Geste is the highest profile and most-travelled competitor in Dublin Bay this week.
IRELAND'S BEST ACT
Nevertheless, Ireland is putting forward her best act of being a medium-sized island at the heart of the world. Just about every Irish boat that has been significantly in the frame at home or abroad these past two years is lined up to compete. And while some of them may only be household names in their own household, any look at the list will reveal household names in a true sense, many of them boats that have found true form during 2024.
We can take it that the competition will be hottest among the J/Boats, and hyper-hot among the J/109s. They might have been invented with Irish needs in mind, and though Bob Johnstone of J/Boats made a point of autographing a club-owned J/24 when he was in Howth some years back, they really should have some sort of sculpture celebrating the Universal J/Boat-buying Irish Yachtsman – sorry, Yachtsperson – in Stonington, Connecticut.
Bob Johnstone of J/Boat International leaves his mark in Ireland. Photo: W M Nixon
HALF TONNERS
As ever, the Half Tonners will be close. However, there's a twist here as Jonny Swan emerged just once with his Humphreys classic Harmony, but that was at the Worlds in Belgium where he slipped through to be best Irish at third overall.
"Get out when you're ahead" may be the Swan song, as Harmony isn't entered for this week's big series. But Too Farr of the Crosshaven-Rogerstown brotherhood and the Farr-designed Swuzzlebubble of Cork (James Dwyer) and others are gearing up to lead the Half Tonners and the near-sames back into Dun Laoghaire Harbour. All we need is for the breeze to oblige in a regatta in which one of the most welcome gestures will be the debut of a new trophy to make a special highlight of the best-placed totally Corinthian effort in the IRC Europeans.
Handsome is as handsome does. Swuzzlebubble may remind some folk of early Stephen Jones designs, but back in 1976 it was the young Bruce Farr who designed this fascinating piece of kit in New Zealand. Photo: Robert Bateman
