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September's ICRA Nationals at Howth Will Be a Season 2023 Highlight

4th August 2023
John Minnis's Belfast Lough A35 Final Call II returns to Dublin this September for the ICRA National Championships at Howth Yacht Club
John Minnis's Belfast Lough A35 Final Call II returns to Dublin this September for the ICRA National Championships at Howth Yacht Club Credit: Michael Chester

Host club yachts will be among the expected top performers for the ICRA National Championships at Howth Yacht Club this September.

Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Commodore David Cullen is reporting solid entries for the Monday.com ICRA National Championships incorporating J24 National Championships with six weeks to go.

ICRA and Howth Yacht Club are encouraged to see entry numbers at 40 boats with six weeks left before the event.

Even more encouraging is to see several notable visitor boats attending, including the highly fancied J122 Jelly Baby and QuarterTonner Anchor Challenge from Cork, together with Hijacker and the A35 Final Call II from Northern Ireland.

Dave Cullen and Nigel Bigg's First 50, Checkmate XX from the host club Photo: Michael ChesterDave Cullen and Nigel Bigg's First 50, Checkmate XX from the host club Photo: Michael Chester

Defending 2022 ICRA Overall National Champion, John Maybury's successful "Joker II" is also entered, having recently had massive success in Kinsale during the Sovereign's Cup, whilst several local hot shots, including Snapshot, Dux, Checkmate XX and Storm are ready to fend off all visitors whilst providing a warm welcome at Howth Yacht Club.

Mike and Ritchie Evans's J99 Snaphot will be on home waters for the ICRA Nationals at Howth Photo: Bob BatemanMike and Ritchie Evans's J99 Snaphot will be on home waters for the ICRA Nationals at Howth Photo: Bob Bateman

The J24 fleet will provide a strong presence with up to 25 boats expected, including several Under 25-year-olds; ICRA partly funded K25 boats.

"Howth Yacht Club is hopeful that the rain will run out, and an Indian Summer has been ordered for 8th -10th September, John Leech of ICRA told Afloat.

Howth Yacht Club have arranged camping and campervan facilities at Deerpark nearby to offer accommodation options for those travelling from around the country.

The Howth Harbour Master has been accommodating to the fleet offering temporary berthing in the Fishery Harbour and delivering safe and comfortable facilities to all competitors during the spring tides over the weekend.

Entry can be made on this link for the monday.com ICRA National Championships 2023 incorporating the J24 National Championships.

Published in ICRA
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The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)