How quickly can we hope to return to the carefree style of sailing sociability which reflects the mood displayed above, as seen in the officially-accredited Sporting & Cultural Mission from Howth Yacht Club on its traditional biennial visit to the Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale?

Naturally, we can't go into any personal details or identification - what happens in Kinsale stays in Kinsale. But any contemplation of this display of dynamic camaraderie is a forceful reminder of how the past fourteen months have seen us pushed further and further from everything that makes Irish sailing so effortlessly sociable.

And "effortlessly" is the keyword here, for as you'll deduce, the HYC modus operandi includes taking a block booking in the hotel which is as close as possible to Kinsale YC and its marina, without actually putting the group on conspicuous display in a waterfront establishment.

As various commentators have already pointed out, the official Lockdown Easing pronouncements of recent days seem, on closer examination, to be a series of "definite maybes". But after everything that has been experienced, not to mention what may be yet to come, the sailing community does not at this stage expect its leaders to be setting completely finalised dates.

Ann Kirwan – seen here racing with co-owner Brian Cullen – may be noted for campaigning a Ruffian 23 called Bandit. But as Commodore of Dublin Bay Sailing Club, it is the Bandit skipper who will be clarifying the law-keeping for her many members

Thus Ann Kirwan, Commodore of Dublin Bay Sailing Club and thereby the actual and spiritual leader of the largest yacht race organisers in Ireland, got the tone just right when she expressed a hope for starts of sorts in mid-May, but made it clear to any thinking sailor that these things are being monitored on a day-to-day basis while we all hope for the best, and of course at every turn social distancing will continue for some time to be a major consideration.

TRAINING ELEMENT PLAYS SIGNIFICANT ROLE

Where training is involved, there is a significant element of school opening allowances in the equation, and Howth YC Commodore Paddy Judge has expressed the hope that training courses will be underway at or soon after April 26th, which brings a resumption of sorts within the almost foreseeable future.

When it was good, it was very, very good. The season of 2020 may have been truncated, but it provided some superb memories before lockdown returned, and one of the best was Howth's last keelboat race is notably warm weather on Sunday 13th September, with Simon Knowles' J/109 seen here chasing down three of the hot HYC Half Tonners. Photo: Judith Malcolm.

On the more complex question of sailing for everyone, the feeling was that DBSC got it pretty much spot on in the amount and timing of the racing it organized through 2020's truncated season. But if anything, the controlled success of last year puts even greater pressure on the organisers to make the right call and provisions as the new season approaches. For the background factors keep changing.

After all, every day we hear of increased Brexit-induced ferry connectivity with France, yet France has recently seen Pandemic levels rise to such dangerous numbers that they're now into a three-week lockdown in France, and especially in Paris.

April in Paris, yet the City of Light is closed? But in Paris, not all is as it seems. Once upon a time a long time ago, I met a guy in Paris, an American, who was still living off the regular royalties he'd inherited from the fact that his father had, among other popular works, written the song April in Paris.

Yet April in Paris can feel like winter, as is the case at the moment. However, it's nothing new – this man in Paris admitted that the romantic events in Paris which inspired the song that continued to keep him in such comfort had actually occurred in May. But all his father's skills as a songsmith simply couldn't get May to scan with the rest of the lyrics, so he shifted it to April, and blushed all the way to the bank.

April in Paris – rainy but romantic. The outcome of the current three week April lockdown in France may well play a pivotal role in some important aspects of the 2021 sailing season in Europe.

FRENCH LOCKDOWN MAY AFFECT FASTNET RACE 2021

This may all seem irrelevant to the opening or otherwise of the 2021 sailing season. But in fact what happens in Paris over the next three weeks will be of real importance to the sailing hopes of at least eleven Irish offshore racing crews with a taste for the international competition, as this August is scheduled for the first of the new-look RORC Rolex Fastnet Races finishing in France at Cherbourg, and they're entered for it.

But if the supposedly total three week lockdown in France, which started yesterday, goes astray by being ignored with extensive social unrest to compound the problem, and yet another massive COVID surge results thereafter, then events in August will experience a damaging knock-on effect.

It might even see the Fastnet Race organisers forced to revert to the historic finish port of Plymouth in order to keep all the shoreside activity within one national jurisdiction. And we hasten to add that this is not a belated April Fool notion.

The traditional Fastnet Racecourse in gold, with the planned 2021 extension to finish at Cherbourg in red. If the current newly-introduced Three Week Lockdown in France fails to curb the latest major surge of COVID-19, it's possible that the RORC may have to revert to the Plymouth finish in order to keep all shoreside activity connected to the Fastnet Race restricted to one relatively pandemic-free jurisdiction.

As it happens, we don't have to look to France for the need for restrained behaviour. Easter in Ireland with imposed social limitations will seem particularly irksome to a people accustomed to make this their great traditional Springtime get-together, especially so after the cancellation for a second year of St Patrick's Day.

Let us hope that it is not blind optimism to expect that the population generally will be carefully regarding the regulations over this long weekend. The nation has barely got things back in an even keel after the huge post-Christmas & New Year surge before this new threat is upon us. And vaccinations are still running at a worryingly low level, yet we find ourselves thrust back into a pressure-cooker situation to keep the virus-spread under control.

APRIL 20TH WILL BE DATE WHEN SITUATION CLARIFIES

All of which means that while we may talk of a significant easing of restrictions around April 26th, it won't be until the days around the 20th April – 14 days after Easter – that we'll have the actual figures and the accurate graphs to tell us the real story about the level of after-effect from any illicit Easter socialising, and what expectations can be realistically expressed about various levels of resumption of activity.

We'll have to accept that it must start quietly and in a restrained and socially distanced way, and all strictly at club level. Admittedly our clubs are of such variety in size and character that "at club level" will have different meanings at different sailing centres. But any sailor of responsibility and goodwill will know the limitations without them having to be rigidly enforced, for as we learned last year, the strength of the Irish sailing club tradition is such that the Commodores and Admirals are expected to quietly clarify the developing situation for their members, and this was done at all main sailing harbours through 2021, with a reassuring level of both thoroughness and rightness.

A moment of real hope. Proper and officially-sanctioned club keelboat racing finally gets underway on a glorious sailing evening at the Royal Cork YC in Crosshaven on July 9th 2020. Photo: Robert Bateman

The Pilot. Colin Morehead, Admiral of the Royal Cork YC. In January 2021 he was acclaimed as Cork's "Person of the Month" for the skilled way he had guided his club through the incredibly difficult experience of effectively cancelling his club's long-planned Tricentenary, and then being involved in arranging regulation-compliant events which included the offshore Fastnet 450 Race to optimize his members' severely constrained 2020 season 

However, the very nature of sailing as a vehicle sport, where crew numbers can quickly rise to threaten the limitations of family or bubble numbers, means that each situation may have to be decided on its own merits. We're told that in the current circumstances, sailing as a sport is grouped in with tennis, golf and cycling, but that obviously creates problems of interpretation.

Naturally the solo-sailing brigade are in something of a category of their own, but there's no escaping the fact that the invisible but very real on-water camaraderie of a fleet of solo sailors can very quickly translate into shoreside social-distancing problems as the group comes ashore in a wave of banter at race's end.

You can of course have two folk from the same bubble racing Lasers of Aero RSs or whatever in match events to their heart's content, though I suppose they'd have to make some sort of allowances for having a rescue boat. But if you want to push the fleet numbers out, it can always be designated as a training and coaching session, for once a certain level of competence has been attained, there is simply no better way of improving someone's solo sailing ability than through racing.

Now there's a real start……In pandemic circumstances, there are few healthier group sporting activities than big-fleet Laser racing – but problems arise when the fleet tries to get organised ashore.

Certainly, the charms of match racing can soon wear off, with it becoming a reminder – and here's something you mightn't have known – of the fact that in Scotland, there has never been a complete ban on playing golf throughout the pandemic. But since January 1st, it has been limited to a maximum of two players (and presumably a minimum of one), with the players regulation-compliant in every way, a dour enough situation perhaps, but it must have seemed like a relative paradise to unnecessarily restricted golfers in Ireland.

It's something to think about as we wait to see what the graphs and numbers are like on April 20th. Anyone who thinks otherwise has clearly forgotten about how the balloon went up in the second and third weeks of January. Meanwhile, it's arguable that there's currently no justification for prematurely cancelling any planned local events scheduled from mid-May onwards provided their local credentials are impeccable, and by June who knows, but we may indeed see the national season of 2021 get underway in style with the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race of Wednesday, June 9th, even if it is slightly subdued by shoreside restrictions.

Sacred activity. With the addition of face-masks, these two would have been allowed to continue their sport in Scotland through January, February and March.

Howth Yacht Club Commodore Paddy Judge says currently the 'only certainty' following yesterdays announcement of the easing of lockdown restrictions is that junior sail training can recommence from the 26th April with more general sailing probably in May.

‘We welcome the relaxation of the 5km travel restriction from the 12th April', he told Afloat. 'It will result in our cruising sailors being the first to get an advantage of the improving situation', he said.

The north Dublin club is the largest sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members and the biggest employers in Howth Village.

The Government has announced the phased easing of some Covid-19 restrictions during the month of April.

Judge says Howth Yacht Club is planning for a phased resumption of activity subject to Government restrictions later this season.

Howth Yacht Club Commodore Paddy Judge

The Government plans to continue its cautious approach, gradually easing restrictions, while a substantial level of the population is vaccinated during April, May and June, after which, it should be safe to reopen society more widely.

"Time will tell how quickly sailing events will happen, ' Judge added.

As Afloat reported previously, among the changes being considered at HYC are the purchase of more paddleboards and kayaks for members’ use, as well as more flexible coaching sessions and extra opportunities to get afloat on the club’s fleet of dinghies and J80s.

Paddy Judge, a long-serving committee member and flag officer with Howth Yacht Club, succeeded Ian Byrne as Commodore as the members were asserting the club spirit with an impressive entry in the competition for the best Christmas Festive Lights display, which has been much in evidence both on boats in the marina, and ashore.

Outgoing HYC Commodore Ian Byrne (left) and his successor Paddy Judge demonstrating the Two Metre Rule on HYC's popular "cleat seat".

The new Commodore, a former Aer Lingus captain originally from Mayo who subsequently served in a senior role with the National Air Accidents Investigation Unit, has long been noted as a willing volunteer in many areas of club life. For a significant period recently when HYC was re-structuring its entire administrative system, he was the Club Manager on a pro bono basis.

A willing helper in providing support for race organisation afloat and ashore, his own main interest in sailing is in cruising, undertaken with the Dubois-designed Liberator 35 Si Gaoith which he completed himself from a bare hull to professional standards in an impressive one-man project. 

Howth Marina in festive mood

Thus he brings a special range of skills and administrative experience to Ireland's numerically-largest sailing club. But although at Christmas in sending greetings to members he was able to confirm that the Club was in good shape thanks to the thorough utilisation of all governmental and local authority pandemic support schemes, he also expressed the expectation that training-based sailing could continue with a special socially-distanced event scheduled for New Year.

Lockdown and its effects on Howth Yacht Club

However, this morning (December 31st) he has issued a new and clearly serious bulletin on the return of total Lockdown and its effects on HYC:

Access to the Club premises is only allowed between 09.00 and 17.00 hrs. Outside these times the Club premises, hardstand and marina, are closed.

Boat owners or their designated representative are permitted to access their boat, whether ashore or on the marina, during the above times. An owner wishing to have a representative look after their boat must advise the Marina Office who will be visiting prior to them accessing the Club. Other visitors to the premises are not permitted.

Access to the Clubhouse is closed until further notice. Take away refreshments will be available between 12.00 and 16.00 hrs.

All sailing and training events are cancelled.

Whilst single household and single-handed sailing are permitted by the new Government restrictions, members are asked to stay ashore until January 11th to minimise the risks to others – an emergency whilst afloat will endanger those called upon to provide assistance.

Non-essential marina services are suspended.

Members must wear masks everywhere on the Club premises, including on the marina.

One staff member will be rostered daily for the Marina Office from 1st January. Routine checks of the marina and boats will be conducted. Owners who live beyond 5 km from the Club can request the Marina Office personnel to check their boats – contact them either by phone at 01-8392777 or email at [email protected]

The Administration Office from 4th January will have minimum staff and staff members who can work remotely will do so. Contact the Office either by phone at 01-8322141 or email at [email protected]

So for now, HYC activity is largely in limbo. But meanwhile, Commodore Judge salutes the 18 boats which entered the Festive Season Decorative Lights contest, and acclaims the outright winner, Simon Knowles' J/109 Indian, which was given the full decorative treatment by Rima Macken.

But the effort put in by the other 17 was so impressive that it was decided to draw four runner-up prizes, and they went to Diabolo (Eddie Stowe & Michael Heather), Sunburn (Ian Byrne), Valella 2 (John Boardman) and Equinox (Ross McDonald).

Howth Yacht Club faces the unique uncertainties of 2021 with a bright spirit

November sunshine plays tricks with how we see things. Maybe it's because it's so rare. But at the weekend at Howth – with just a month to go to the shortest day of the year – a special coaching course being run in Lasers by international champion Aoife Hopkins was taking place with a low-slung sun so powerful – under a sky of a blue so utterly blue that it hasn't got a name yet – that an educational circuit of Ireland's Eye under the watchful Hopkins' eye did strange things to vision.

Be careful in looking at this photo – when you get hold of the thought that the boat is going away and the sail is coming back again, the brain just won't let itself be re-set correctly

Maybe it's just us, and maybe it's time we re-visited the pioneering HYC Brass Monkey Winter Series creator Pat Connolly in his day job as an optician. But if you look at the pic above of the trainee flotilla of Abby Kinsella, Una Connel, Fiachra Farrelly and Charlie Keating heading eastward towards the Martello tower and the cliffs along the north coast of Ireland's Eye, there's no doubt that the nearest boat is going away, but the strong low light somehow makes it look as though the sail is coming back again…….

Either way, in the idyllic circumstances a circuit of Ireland's Eye provided an ideal opportunity for a multi-layered day of training, as there was pilotage, navigation and useful wildlife observation added to the mix, even if The Stack on the northeast corner – a summertime Gannet Central since 1989 – was winter silent, with just one gannet watchman left behind.

Closing in on The Stack on Ireland's Eye. In summer, it's Gannet Central...

……..but off season, just one lone gannet has drawn the short straw to be The Winter Watchbird

It was difficult to imagine the place in a harsh grey easterly, which in some Novembers is the default weather condition around Ireland's Eye. But in Howth, nothing is allowed to go to waste – as Aoife observed after winning the Laser U21 Euros 2017 at Douarnenez in Brittany in a week of extra-fresh westerlies, determined days of sailing in strong easterlies off Howth will set you up for anything, Breton westerlies included…..

Aoife Hopkins winning the Laser Euro U21s in strong westerlies at Douarnenez in Brittany

Howth Yacht Cub announced this evening that under the Level 3 Restrictions, HYC is suspending Club Racing and Training for the next three weeks, when the situation will be re-assessed.

The Club’s six weekend End-of-Summer Series – due to run until October 18th – had got off to a flying start last weekend with 79 boats taking part in nine classes.

With good sailing conditions expected this Saturday and Sunday, the absence of further competition, for the time being, will be a disappointment for racing-starved sailors. However, individual boat sailing is still permitted in household crews, but that too will be kept under review on a regular basis.

Congratulations have been pouring in for sailing legends Neville and Jean Maguire of Howth, who celebrated their 69th Wedding Anniversary in yesterday’s balmy weather aboard their Seaward 23 motor-cruiser Two Much in Howth Marina. These days, they’re best-known internationally as the parents of Australian-based international sailing superstar Gordon Maguire. But it took Gordon many years of top-level sailing achievement before his sailing record began to match that of his super-talented father, whose very varied sailing experience goes right back to the 1930s when he crewed at a very young age for noted designed and cruiser-racer skipper John B Kearney aboard the famous Mavis.

While still a schoolboy, Neville was a champion helm in the Mermaids, and in 1952 and again in 1954, he won the All-Ireland Helmsmans Championship. A much sought-after helmsman for boats of all sizes, with his own craft he won many inshore and offshore championships in everything from Olympic Finns through Dragons to Shamrock Half Tonners. Throughout all these busy times afloat and ashore (for Neville is also an engineer and model-maker to international standards), Jean has been supportively at his side, and Nevllle in his turn is both very much the family man, and someone who contributes greatly to the community, having been a quietly busy voluntary worker on many projects for Howth Yacht Club over the years.

We join all Irish sailing in heartfelt congratulations to this remarkable couple, who contribute so much to Irish sailing.

The Irish sailing community's response to the pandemic-induced prohibition on open events has seen some inspiring out-of-the-box thinking where there are significant local fleets. So although Howth Yacht Club has weathered two major setbacks in 2020 in being unable to stage its hugely-sociable biennial Wave Regatta and its time-honoured Autumn League, the key players in the peninsula club's administration have "Problems are Opportunities" as their mantra, and the newly-launched six-weekend End-of-Summer series got off to a flying start on Saturday and Sunday.

They were able to make a virtue out of it being "For Members Only", secure in the knowledge that during the shortened 2020 season Howth YC's already large numbers have taken on 191 new members and still counting, as people are keen to avail of the club's unique capacity to provide a safe environment within its enclosed clubhouse/marina complex.

Weather to dream of – The Big Picture leads coming to the gybe at the Rowan Buoy, with King One and Mata tucked in to starboard. Photo: Judith Malcolm

And as for potential boat numbers, the steady growth of turnouts for club evening and weekend racing from the keelboat racing season's tentative start in July was given further encouragement by lively competition for the two national championships which the club could stage for the Puppeteer 22s and the Howth 17s, as all boats involved happen to be Howth-based.

But the real light-bulb moment came with the decision to split the fleets across two days for the new series, with the One-Designs and small cruisers racing on the Saturday, and the bigger cruiser-racers strutting their stuff on Sunday. Not only did this optimise the use of strictly social-distanced hospitality spaces ashore, but it meant that hyper-keen sailing-starved matelots could get in two races in two very different boats during the two days, while J/80s could race as J/80s on Saturday, and IRC "cruisers" on Sunday.

For most, however, the attraction of a single race in a clearly defined time-frame was enough to start with, and with the alleged end-of-summer weekend actually providing weather more like high summer, with warm offshore breezes and bright sunshine on Sunday, even the most optimistic were pleasantly surprised by the turnout of 79 boats across nine classes.

The Puppeteer 22s managed the best turnout with 16 boats, and the closest finish, with Yellow Peril (pictured) winning by just five seconds from Trick or Treat, with the first five boats finishing within one minute and five seconds. Photo: W M Nixon

Puppeteer 22

The biggest single fleet was the Puppeteer 22s with 16 (and more to come, apparently), while the venerable Howth Seventeens are still putting boats afloat (in September, forsooth), and they'd a fine turnout of thirteen.

All classes used a pier start for this first weekend, but now that the show's on the road, it will be Committee Boats for at least the next three weekends. For although the conditions were so balmy as to be almost somnolent, the pent-up competitive spirit was much in evidence right across the board.

The Puppeteers again set the pace with ferocious competition which saw the first five boats finishing within one minute and five seconds, the winners (by five seconds) being Neil Murphy and Conor Costello with Yellow Peril from Alan Pearson and Alan Blay in Trick or Treat.

The Seventeens at the lee mark in Saturday's cloudier spell, with Rita well-rounded and consolidating her lead on Deilginis. Photo: Judith Malcolm

Howth 17s

The Howth 17s now have a form card for 2020, having completed their Nationals (won by Pauline) and their Lambay Race (won by Deilginis). But this time out it was Rita (Marcus Lynch & John Curley) which won by a squeak, just three seconds from Deilginis (Massey Toomey & Kenny).

Squibs

The Howth Squibs are also seeing their numbers gently increasing as people become accustomed to this back-to-front summer, and while they'd just seven boats out on Saturday, the word is there'll be more this coming weekend, and meanwhile Emmet Dalton in Kerfuffle won from Chatterbox (J Kay) with Tears for Fears (N Monks) third.

Neck-and-neck for the Classic Half Tonners with The Big Picture in the foreground, former World Champion (when owned by Paul Elvstrom) King One at middle, and Mata beyond. Mata came out tops in Sunday's race. Photo: Judith Malcolm

Half Tonner

Sunday's sunshine seemed almost too good to be true, but it was believed for long enough to give some intriguing racing, with the two stars of the show in Class 1 being the classic Half Tonner Mata (Wright brothers & Rick De Neve) and Stephen Quinn's J/97 Lambay Rules. Richard Colwell & Johnny Murphy's J/109 Outrajeous may have taken line honours, but Mata won on IRC and Lambay was second, while the position was reversed under HPH.

The Bourke/McGirr/Ball X302 Xebec had it every which way over sister-ship Dux (Gore-Grimes family) in Class 2, and so too had Stephen Harris's First 40.7 Tiger in the non-spinnaker division IRC, though Kieran Jameson's Sigma 38 Changeling won on HPH, while Class 3 (which had raced on Saturday) saw Vincent Gaffney's rare Laser 28 Alliance II on top.

Seasoned campaigners – Kieran Jameson's Sigma 38 Changeling (winner of Class 4 HPH) chasing Paddy Kyne's Maximus. Photo: Judith Malcolm

Going into the first races on Saturday, it was still anybody's guess as to how this unusual format might work out. But with good racing for 79 boats now recorded on the time sheets, it's a concept which might even find useful applications outside the current challenging circumstances.

Grabbing summer while it lasts – a mountain of pent-up sailing enthusiasm found its full expression on Sunday off Howth. Photo: Judith Malcolm

And for those who though pier starting downwind was just a little bit too retro, even in the exigencies of the time, the word is that this coming weekend will be Committee Boat and two windward-leeward races for the same lineup of classes each day.

Detailed results here

The Olympic sailing dream is of competition on a sterile racing area with weak to non-existent tides, well clear of any special wind effects that a nearby coastline and an island or two might provide, while of course using a meticulously-set Committee Boat start line and a cleverly-designed course to test several points of sailing. That's the way they want it. Yet if that's their dream - their perfect ideal - then Howth Yacht Club's traditional sixteen nautical miles of Lambay Race must be Olympic sailing's stuff of nightmares.

The original Lambay Course – raced at least since 1904, and probably earlier - was simply though Howth Sound inside Ireland's Eye after a pier start from Howth Harbour, then nor' eastwards to the east point of Lambay. Officially, it's The Nose, but few remember to call it that, they just call it the East Point, as we've a Nose of Howth already, and that's quite enough to smell the coffee on any one day.

Sixteen miles of sailing perfection – the classic Lambay course can serve up all sorts of conditions, but on Saturday it provided record times

The north side of Lambay seems like the Far Side of the Moon for most sailors, even those from Howth which is only seven miles away. And as you head west to double the island, there are various impairments to ease of navigation, such as Carrickdorish Rock and Harp Ear.

These are matters of even more concentration if you're beating against a westerly. But concentrating purely on sailing along there is difficult anyway, as Lambay is a natural wonder where the abundant wildlife - some of it on surprisingly spectacular cliffs - is augmented by a troupe of wallabies (don't ask), and Ireland's only colony of black rats, a cute little fellow who nevertheless would make life difficult for your average gannet settlement.

Getting going for record times – Leila and Zaida (Tom Houlihan) with freed sheets, on course with a fair tide with Ireland's Eye put astern. Photo: Annroi Blaney

However, the Fingal gannet seems a tougher proposition than those from elsewhere. Having established his first neighbourhood colony on the Stack at Ireland's Eye back in 1989, when that got crowded his descendants and relatives not only started spreading onto the main island itself regardless of its predators, but they set up an offshoot on a big rock close under the cliffs on the other side of Lambay six miles to the north.

That has prospered so much that they appear to have bludgeoned their way onto Lambay itself through being the Neighbours from Hell for poor little rattus rattus, who is now on the endangered species list. As for the wallabies, they can't be too pleased, as they used to top the Lambay attractions chart until these rock-star gannets came along.

Brian Maguire of Hyberno Droneworks follows the fleet.

All these interesting things are going on along the Far Side of the Moon, aka the north side of Lambay, making it difficult to think only of sailing - let alone racing tactics - in a locality notorious for its flukey winds and tricky tides. As a result, when the Lambay Race is on the agenda, the Howth sailing community is a bit thin on the community spirit, as the Single-minded Racing Purists think it's a very dodgy proposition in the first place, whereas the Broad-minded Historically-Concerned Philosophers think it's central to the very ethos of Howth sailing, an event which must be sailed in its traditional form each year as an Act of Worship .

Rita (John Curley & Marcus Lynch) was first to Lambay, but was halfway down the fleet in the final reckoning. Photo: W M Nixon

With such contrary opinions, the Lambay Race race has sometimes been messed about over the years, with extra marks being added to make it look more like a modern course. But in the difficulties of our current situation, the 1898-founded Howth Seventeens saw an opportunity. They wanted to celebrate getting a dozen boats of their ancient 20-strong fleet finally afloat despite 2020's truncations, and the best way seemed to be a race the traditional straightforward 16-mile Lambay Course on Saturday 5th September, as the tides suited – flood going north and favourable ebb coming back - and they could do it as their own thing, without trying to make an all-comers regatta out of it. 

The dark side? Gladys, owned by HYC Commodore Ian Byrne and Eddie Ferris, finds a bright spot on the north side of Lambay. Photo: W M Nixon

It made for a busy day at Howth in the day's brisk westerly, as a race of the Fingal Series for cruiser-racers went off around 1000 hrs, the Howth 17s buzzed northwards towards Lambay – just able to carry their topsails – in a starting sequence beginning at 1130 hrs, and then towards 1430 hrs as the Puppeteer 22s and the Squibs were squaring up for their weekly Saturday afternoon race, didn't the Howth 17s come roaring back down the Sound again with the full ebb under them after probably the fastest Lambay Race the class has ever recorded.

Yet far from being left on their own to get on with it, in this most peculiar sailing season they'd had an escort fleet dominated by the local flotilla of dark blue Seaward 23s and 25s carrying various photographers and a film team from TG4. For the word had got out that in this bleak year, a dozen Seventeens racing round Lambay would be a sight to cheer anyone up. And it was vintage stuff throughout, with real power to the dense-air wind at times, and flashes of vivid sunlight interspersed with curiously rain-free passing clouds, one or two so black they had the look of The End of Days about them.

Close encounter. Rosemary (12) and Pauline in classic juxtaposition at the Taylor's Rocks buoy. In March 2018, Rosemary had become the "flatpack boat" after her shed was smashed in during Storm Emma, while Pauline was almost lost in a fire. Yet in 2020 they're both fighting fit again, with Pauline winning the close-fought 2020 Nationals. Photo: W M Nixon

But for connoisseurs of Howth Seventeen sailing and the wonders of the Fingal coast, it was pure magic throughout. After an extremely fast and wet reach northward, appropriately it was the granny of them all, Howth 17 No 1 Rita (John Curley & Marcus Lynch) which was first at Lambay. But the wind flattened almost completely at the Nose such that the eight leading boat concertinaed into a straight line abreast, and first out of the traps in a private breeze which took them very close to Carrickdorish were the Massey/Toomey/Kenny syndicate in Deilginis with Keith Kenny on the helm, and Dave Mulligan with Sheila.

The going is good. Deilginis has taken the lead, and found her own flash of sunshine with it. Photo: W M Nixon

Thereafter, Deilginis played it very cool on the short but position-setting beat along the north coast on Lambay, not getting too far offshore where there was a boat-stopping sea running and the tides were all over the place, yet not getting too far into the alluringly smooth water inshore, where the wind might suddenly disappear completely.

They were first to reach the most northerly turn at the buoy marking Taylor's Rocks off Lambay's northwest corner, and had quite a decent gap on Sheila. But Dave Mulligan had to put in a virtuoso performance on the long reach back to Howth, as the pack were right on his tail.

The chasing pack are (left to right) Pauline, Sheila and Rosemary. Overall, they finished Sheila 2nd, Pauline 3rd and Rosemary 4th. Photo: W M Nixon

As it turned out, they were having enough in-fighting to let him build his lead a bit, but there was no way he could make any dent on the gap to the flying Deilginis, which was literally racing against time as her topsail – which had been setting perfectly on port tack heading north – was all over the place on starboard tack heading south, though enough of it stayed working for her crew to claim they'd been deploying a clever topsail-scandalising trick to de-power the sailplan in the stronger gusts.

With Lambay astern and the wind temporarily softening, Deilginis continues to maintain her lead on Sheila. Photo: W M Nixon

Whatever, they maintained their lead to finish in two hours 36 minutes and 14 seconds, which may well be a Howth 17 Lambay record. And as they tacked onto port to get into the harbour, lo and behold but wasn't the topsail suddenly setting perfectly again…..Sheila was just over a minute astern, then came 2020 champion Pauline (Shane O'Doherty, Ian McCormick and Michael Kenny) and Rosemary (George Curley, David Jones & David Potter, with the four leaders finishing within two minutes.

On handicap (a very import element in the continuing strength of the class) the winner was Echo (Bryan & Harriet Lynch) from Tom Houlihan's Zaida, with Sheila and Pauline re-appearing in the listings at 3rd and 4th. In a more complete season, it would be hoped that there would seldom be much overlap between scratch and handicap.

Deilginis storming home to win, with Portmarnock's Velvet Strand and the Pormarnock Hotel in the background. When Deilginis was being built by James Kelly of Portrush in 1907, the hotel was St Marnoch's House, home of renowned racing skipper Willie Jameson. Photo: W M Nixon

But in this weird year, the six Howth Seventeens which didn't appear in the top four under either system in the Lambay Race 2020 seemed happy to adopt the attitude of the New England whaling skipper who went clean round the world without so much as seeing a whale, let alone catching one. He said he'd had a helluva fine sail.

Howth 17 Lambay Race 2020 results (scratch)

1st Deilginis (Massey, Toomey & Kenny) 2:36:14; 2nd Sheila D.Mulligan) 2:37:18; 3rd Pauline (S.O'Doherty, I. McCormick & M Kenny) 2:37:44; 4th Rosemary (G.Curley, D.Jones & D Potter) 2:38:10. 

Handicap 

1st Echo (B. & H. Lynch 2:25:31; 2nd Zaida (T.Houlihan) 2:26:17; 3rd Sheila 2.37:18; 4th Pauline 2:37:44.

With sailing so restricted in 2020, every event attracted extra attention, and there were as many support boats as racers when the Howth 17s went round Lambay. Photo: W M Nixon

Howth's Patrick O' Neill and the crew of Mojo were crowned J80 Irish National Champions at the Royal St. George Yacht Club this afternoon after a closely fought seven-race series on Dublin Bay. 

14 boats competed from four different Dublin clubs that represent a building momentum for the Irish J80 class, one of the world's most popular sportboats.

In a show of strength for Howth Yacht Club entries, four of the top five places were taken by the North Dublin visitors but O'Neill's overall victory was ultimately only by the slender margin of half a point from host club runner up Jonny O'Dowd. In third place overall was 1996 Olympian Dan O'Grady sailing Jammy.

Four race wins on Saturday put O'Neill in a strong position overnight and even two protests in the final racers on Sunday could not stop the Mojo challenge.

1st Mojo IRL 1551 Howth Yacht Club Patrick O' Neill

2nd JABS IRL 1609 Royal St George Yacht Club Jonny O' Dowd 

J80 National Championships 2020 Results at the Royal St. George Yacht Club (Top Five)

1st Mojo IRL 1551 Howth Yacht Club Patrick O' Neill
2nd JABS IRL 1609 Royal St George Yacht Club Jonny O' Dowd 
3rd Jammy IRL 1097 Howth Yacht Club Dan O' Grady
4th Red Cloud 985 Howth Yacht Club Darragh O' Connor 
5th Headcase 1651 HYC, MSC, BYC, LRYC Ryan Glynn 

Full results are here

Although the Puppeteer 22 first appeared from Chris Boyd of Killyleagh on Strangford Lough in 1978, it was 1983 by the time some keen-to-upsize Squib sailors in Howth saw the potential of this user-friendly little sloop, with her sparse but usable accommodation, and a fractional rig that made for a much less-challenging crewing proposition than the powerful masthead -rigged Ruffian 23 to which she was inevitably compared.

By the time the Howth sailors became interested, local Puppeteer classes in the north had waxed and in some cases already waned. Yet in the best One Design traditions of the Greater Dublin area, once the Howth group became committed, they stayed committed, and while several ordered new boats, others found they already had a selection of second-hand craft to choose from to build a long-lasting local OD class

Designer and builder Chris Boyd helms the Puppeteer 22 prototype (restored to be the 2020 National Champion) on a trial sail in Strangford Lough in September 1978. Photo: W M Nixon

By 1985 the new class was up and running at its Howth base, and thriving so much that in due course an entire section of the then-new marina seemed to be filled almost exclusively with Puppeteers, ironically putting them in the berths nearest to Howth House where Herbert Boyd (absolutely no known relation to Chris Boyd) had designed the Howth 17s in the Autumn of 1897.

Yet the Seventeens and the Puppeteers happily co-exist, for each fills a very different niche in sailing, and by the turn of the Century, Puppeteer number in Howth were such that they regularly were mustering keen racing fleets of between 25 and 30 boats.

Puppeteers in strength in Howth Marina. In the background at the centre of the photo is Howth House, where Herbert Boyd designed the Howth 17s in the Autumn of 1897. Photo: W M Nixon

This means that in and around the Howth peninsula, there are mow Puppeteers which are more than forty years old. And while some are still immaculate, others are showing their age and then some, such that in one well-worn case, the family donated the boat last winter to the club.

Anywhere else, this might have been seen as a landfill proposition, to be quietly dealt with making as little fuss as possible. However, HYC's Simon Knowles - owner-skipper of the J/109 Indian – is action-man in normal times. But as Ireland was clearly heading into abnormal forced inaction with the COVI-19 lockdown looming, he offered to take on the little boat as a project to help pass the time. There was just enough space for a restoration up at his house house, and the eventual result - he stopped counting after logging 300 man hours on the job - is a little boat now rather better than new.

Puppeteers club racing - in a "normal year", their numbers will push above 20 for events like this. If the COVID-19 disruption continues into next season, it may well be that the class's availability of safe totally-local racing will see others joining those who have already taken on "tired" Puppeteers to make them race-ready. Photo: W M Nixon

But this particular piece of rejuvenation didn't take part in last weekend's Puppeteer 22 Nationals at Howth, as the Knowles energy was suddenly re-directed into the pop-up Fastnet 450 "Offshore Race That Came Out Of Nowhere", in which Indian gave a very good showing of herself. However, that campaign meant that the new-from-old Puppeteer didn't go afloat.

But there was another Puppeteer restoration coming down the line which did hit the Nationals start on Saturday morning. This was Shiggy Shiggy, Puppeteer No 1 that Afloat Magazine sail-tested on Strangford Lough way back in September 1978, and which Paul McMahon has been quietly beavering away restoring for something like two and a half years now. As longtime Puppeteer 22 sailor and keeper of the Class Records Neil Murphy now tells us, this was a Born-Again Event which rang all the bells:

Puppeteers Get New Champion by Neil Murphy

In a season where many key sailing events classed as 'National' have been chalked off as COVID consequences, the Puppeteer Class became one of the exceptions over the Aug 29th/30th weekend. With the sponsorship of Sutton Cross Pharmacy, Howth YC hosted the Class Championships, and after 6 races in a variety of conditions, the winner was Shiggy Shiggy, owned by Paul McMahon and Laura Ni hUallachain, while the winner on handicap was Philip & Roslyn Byrne's Odyssey.

Whilst the fleet racing in Howth YC in a 'normal' year extends to 20 boats and better with the hope of some visitors from the Northern Ireland fleet for the Championships, the COVID fallout and the complexities of putting a crew together for a weekend-long series - when club evening races are proving so popular - brought the entry on Day One down to eleven boats.

The competitors were greeted on a very grey Saturday by a 20 knots-plus northerly breeze with a lumpy sea that offered the fleet plenty of challenges, but not the conditions most of the crews had hoped for. Race Officer Harry Gallagher and his management team had a choice of course configurations to draw from - Windward Leeward, Triangle plus Windward Leeward or around the Howth YC fixed marks using one of the Club's week-night courses.

Idyllic conditions on Day 2 for Neil Murphy on the helm of Yellow Peril. Photo: Harry Gallagher

To make the opening race less demanding for the less well practiced, the first race used a Club course and a pattern that was to become apparent over the weekend was quickly established – the lead being battled for between defending champions Yellow Peril (Murphy / Costello), 2019 Autumn League winners Trick or Treat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay) and the newbies to the Puppeteer fleet on Shiggy Shiggy, sail number 1. Through dramas of broaches, fluffed gybes, gusts and place changes, the first race made its way to a conclusion with Yellow Peril taking the win and Trick or Treat and Shiggy in second and third.

Shiggy Shiggy (so good it was named twice) was purchased in 2018 by its current owners in a 'somewhat tired' condition. After being lavished with TLC over the last two winters and during the 2020 lockdown by Laser and SB20 ace Paul McMahon, she now looks as well and is certainly better kitted out than at any time in her 42-year history. with a mix of new sails from both UK Sails and North, with the latter supplying the spinnaker and no 2 jib, she is also probably going quicker than when first launched as the Puppeteer 22 prototype in September 1978.

Sunday was a day transformed

Howth's Puppeteers catch the last of the proper summer (Hybernia Drone Works by Brian Maguire)

After the excess of the first race, the wind eased enough over the following two races to allow most of the fleet hoist their larger headsails but the racing stayed just as close and the waves and temperature just as unpleasant. After three races, Trick or Treat and Shiggy had made it a three-way split of the winners' guns to leave Trick or Treat as overnight leaders with only two points covering the first three boats. However, the conditions over the day left three of the fleet out of action for Sunday through rudder loss, deck damage and mechanical problems.

Clinching it. The new champion confirms the title by winning the final race from Trick-or-Treat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay). Photo: Harry Gallagher

Sunday brought more benign conditions – 8 to 10 knots with sunshine and a flatter sea. Shiggy was quickly out of the traps and took the win in Race 4 with Yellow Peril just behind and Gannet (T Chillingworth) pushing Trick or Treat all the way to the line before Trick or Treat grabbed third. Race 5 saw Shiggy and Yellow Peril again in the top spots, but this time Gannet bagged the third rather than see it escape at the last minute. Going into the last race, the title chase was down to just two boats, Shiggy being the favourite and only having to finish third or better to win the title while Yellow Peril had to win and rely on Shiggy having a calamity. Shiggy again led Yellow Peril home with Gannet getting another third. Four wins and two thirds from six races is a winning score in any fleet and Shiggy Shiggy was confirmed as the 2020 Puppeteer 22 Class Champion.

The winning crew on their boat are (left to right) Ronan Cobbe, Terry Rowan, owner-restorer Paul McMahon, and Graham Curran. Photo: Harry Gallagher
The winner of the handicap event was Odyssey, which sailed a very consistent series and was always on the heels of the leading group on the water. Odyssey also collected the dubious honour of being the only boat called OCS at a start, despite the numerous close shaves that resulted from crews seeking to check the awareness of the Race Officer before breathing sighs of relief at the broadcast of 'Clear start'.

Handicap overall winners on Odyssey were (left to right) Grainne Costigan, Philip Byrne, Roslyn Byrne and Francis Hand. Photo: Harry Gallagher

A socially distanced presentation of the winners' cups was carried out ashore with the Class's appreciation for the continued sponsorship of Sutton Cross Pharmacy acknowledged by Class Captain, Peter Wilson, who also thanked the Race Management team and the Jury Chairman, Emmet Dalton. Hopefully, the volume of Arnica, Voltarol and other remedies required after Saturday's bruise-inducing racing will not overly deplete the sponsor's stocks.

Puppeteer National Championship Howth Yacht Club Results

Puppeteer National Championship Howth Yacht Club Provisional Results (Scratch) as of 22:14 on August 30, 2020