It takes a while for the full meaning of the double overall win, for Howth Yacht Club in the Maples IRC Euros 2024 this past weekend-plus at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire, to be fully appreciated out in Howth. But then it happened during a busy sailing weekend for the peninsula punters, what with the first race of the 43rd Annual Autumn League on Saturday, followed by the historic Studdart Cup races for the Howth 17s on Sunday.
And in Howth they've learned to be initially wary when one of their talented crews returns home from abroad with silverware. For there was a time about twenty years go when a young Howth crew were frequently racing out of Cowes, and were told they'd won the British IRC Championship in the Solent campaigning Roy Dickson's Corby 36 Rosie.
They were sent home by the organising RORC with the big cup despite the youthful skipper trying to tell the organisers that, with their complex scoring system, Rosie hadn't won - she'd been beaten by Peter Rutter's Quokka by one quarter of a point.
Roy Dickson's Corby 36 Rosie racing to yet another success, this time in the Scottish Series. Twenty years ago, she was sent home from the Solent with a big championship cup, but a hosting club calculation error caused it to be returned to Cowes the following weekend
MIGHTY PARTY
So inevitably they returned to find HYC had already organised a mighty party for the following evening, and in the midst of it didn't the phone ring with a plaintive request: "Can we have our Cup back please?" As it was Rosie's hyper-busy year, when she was doing major one weekend championship after another no matter how much she had to travel, they took the RORC cup back to Cowes the following weekend when they were doing the three day Corby Regatta, and were consoled by winning that overall by crystal clear points.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
So as rumours began to fly yesterday (Sunday) evening about good news emerging from the many permutations that could be placed on the multiple results emerging from Dun Laoghaire's Maples IRC Euros 2024, the height of the initial comment was: "Now wouldn't that be nice if it really was true?"
Well, it was true, and it was almost too good. A rather dazed J/109 Outrajeus crew arrived from across the bay into the clubhouse with this very solid cup, and confirmed that it was indeed true, they were Overall IRC Euro Champions 2024.
Friends win out – Corinthian Champion Checkmate XX's Dave Cullen (left) and Nigel Biggs (right) with Royal Irish YC Commodore Tim Carpenter. Photo: Sean Hannon
CHECKMATE BATTALIONS
And coming down the line was the Checkmate XX battalion with the Corinthian overall trophy for a real cruiser-racer which proudly affirms her Howth allegiance despite her additional RIYC allegiance, and shows that a hefty First 50 can be a real racing proposition in the right hands.
The Karl Kwok team from Hong Kong with the TP 52 Beau Geste won Class O. Photo: Sean Hannon
THE DON QUIXOTE AWARD
Beyond that again, 2 Farr – the orange boat from Rush but usually Howth-based - was posting her Half Ton win in the Euros on the Howth YC website, though refraining from adding that she's also the Don Quixote Trophy winner for tilting at windmills, but painfully felling something else altogether. Very modest of them.
Top Half Tonner Two Farr's crew from Rush, including Johnny Swan of Harmony (right), took several awards, the official one being the Class 2 Overall Championship. Photo: Sean Hannon
MAGNIFICENTLY OUTRAJEOUS
The Outrajeous campaigns involve so many talents that co-ordinating them is something of a human resource artwork, but Johnny Murphy gives so much thought and emotion to it that it was around 6 o'clock on a recent morning when he lobbed us an info missile from The Eagle's Nest in the Hills of the Naul, and it's worth hearing this cry from the heart again:
Neil Spain (my long time friend and crewmate) is the driver/helm of Outrajeous, and has been our driver since Suzie took a step back with the arrival of our four Children. Also worth noting that two of those children now form part of the crew, Thomas (16) and Charlie (13). Suzie had been sailing on Checkmate on a regular basis since returning to competitive sailing in recent years, but is now back on the Outrajous strength for the Euros.
Ross McDonald does indeed sail with us as an invaluable part of our crew as Trim 1 on Jib, with Paddy Good Trimming downwind. I allow myself the privilege of trimming the MainSail. Rory O'Sullivan on Bow, Cuan Whelan on Mast, Aoife McDonald (nee English) on Nav, Killian Collins on Tactics, Derek Moynan in the Pit.
A brilliant team, and we are very lucky to have each and every one of them. In these "crew sparse" times please give credit where it is due, before we lose any more good people to our sport...............
We trust that Captain Murphy was allowed to sleep on long after 6:00 am this Monday morning, up there in the clear salt–free air of The Naul.
The Gang's All Here, And They're The Supreme Champions. Outrajeous crew with family and supporters, with RIYC Commodore Tim Carpenter (centre) and former RIYC Commodore & RORC Commodore Michael Boyd (second left) - he played a leading role in getting the Euros staged in Dun Laoghaire. Photo: Sean Hannon
