Racing at least once a year round the beautiful and unspoilt island of Lambay seven miles north of Howth has been part of the Howth Yacht Club DNA for so long that nobody is 100% certain when this intriguing sporting challenge was first introduced writes W M Nixon.

We know for sure that a cup for the race was first put up in 1899 in the early days of Howth SC, which had been founded in 1895. But it seems the earliest record of results of a race taking place date from 1904. However, there could well have been earlier stagings of it, but as Howth’s sailing functioned in a very laid back and often un-reported style as a contrast to the formality of Dublin Bay’s newspaper-highlighted grand manner of yachting, it’s possible a Lambay Race happened pre-1904.

Howth 17s Aura and Pauline off the north coast of Lambay. The Howth 17s date from 1898, and have sailed in every Lambay Race. Photo John Deane

Whatever, we know for sure that by 1921 it was a cherished part of the annual calendar, as noted by noted cruiser-racer enthusiast Pat Walsh, who wrote enthusiastically for a sailing journal about the race and his participation in it, with a second place gained in that year’s race.

The Lambay Race has definitely been scheduled every year since, and numbers have waxed and waned and waxed again. For 2017, this classic event is receiving a major boost with sponsorship from the Michael J Wright Hospitality Group, which owns and operates renowned establishments which make Howth such a magnet for discerning visitors.

HYC Commodore Joe McPeake (left) with Michael Wright of Wright Hospitality Group, whose newly-opened Thai restaurant, Diep in Howth, will be providing a €50 euro voucher for every boat entering the Lambay Races 2017

With a return to what used to be a weekend-long event, this year's HYC annual summertime keelboat regatta has been re-formatted to celebrate the traditional weekend that was the Lambay Races & Howth Regatta. The return to a historical format on the June bank holiday weekend (3rd to 5th June 2017) includes racing around Ireland's Eye on Friday night followed by the traditional Lambay Races on Saturday and a cruise-in-company/family day on Sunday.

While the emphasis is on fun sailing, Howth’s on-water racing administration is of international standard. So those who go to the Lambay Weekend for the hottest competition will be well catered for, but so too will other sailors intent mainly on pleasure afloat. As for pleasure ashore, with the Wright Group feeding in its welcome presence (which now includes the new Thai restaurant, Diep, in the group’s flagship pub Findlater’s) the après sailing buzz will be world class.

Afloat, competing classes will be divided into three fleets each with their own race management team. The large offshore fleet will comprise of five 'cruiser classes' along with the Shipman Class, while the inshore fleet includes One-Design fleets such as J80s, Ruffians, E-Boats, Puppeteers and the Squibs. Consolidating the theme of returning to the historical 'weekend' regatta, Howth's indigenous class, the Howth Seventeens will join the 'Classic Classes', starting and finishing off the East Pier. This will be the third year that visiting classic boats will join the event.
The short race on the Friday evening will conclude with a prize-giving in the clubhouse along with a reception for those visitors sailing from further afield and planning to race (or cruise) the following day and on Sunday.

The Lambay Races on Saturday provide a unique opportunity and challenge for racing teams to compete in what might at first glance appear to be a relatively straightforward windward-leeward race, but encompassing a variety of extras including coastal navigation, tidal considerations, shoreline rock-hopping and sailing in a variety of weather conditions on the different points of the course.

The Lambay Race caters for all sorts. This is the former World Half Ton Champion King One and the traditional Galway Hooker Naomh Cronan rounding Lambay in a patch of mist which had cleared to strong sunshine by race’s end. Photo W M Nixon

Speaking at the launch of the sponsorship announcement, HYC Commodore Joe McPeake said: 'The club is delighted to have the partnership with Michael and his team, and there is no doubt that the involvement of the Michael J Wright Hospitality Group will add a significant extra dimension to this ever-popular regatta.'

The club is encouraging everyone to get afloat that weekend - racing or not, there will be something for members and visitors of all ages to enjoy. A massive entertainment and hospitality programme is being assembled and it will include an event reception on Friday evening, live bands after racing on Saturday with themed bars and 'Diep' catering providing a lively party through to prizegiving and after the Lambay Dinner, more live music and dance into the small hours.

Sunday's cruise around Ireland's Eye and a family day ashore will no doubt be aided by the 'lay-day' that the Bank Holiday Monday will provide. And every boat that enters the Regatta also gets a €50 voucher for the newly-opened Diep restaurant, which makes the Lambay Weekend 2017 unique. Enter online here

“Lambay weather” as everyone remembers it. Photo HYC

Cork Harbour's Dave Barry will defend his SB20 Eastern title this weekend at the Eastern Championships at Howth Yacht Club. 

As Afloat.ie previously reported, the National 18s, the RS400 and RS200 fleets will share the limelight off Ireland's Eye. The SB20s and N18s will race on one course and the RS400 and RS200s on another. 

Back from the Vendee Globe, solo skipper Enda O'Coineen is set to rejoin the sportsboat fleet for the first championships of 2017 as is the National Yacht Club's Roger Bannon, who has taken on the role of class measurer. 

The 2017 season is an important build–up for the class as the SB20 Europeans will be staged by the Royal Irish Yacht Club in 2018.

Howth Yacht Club’s annual 'Brassed Off' Cup for Optimist Sailors wil be held on the traditional day of Good Friday, 14th April. This fun Optimist dinghy event is designed as a great opportunity for junior racers to dust off their gear and get sailing on the safe waters just north of Howth harbour.

The event has been building into a popular and well attended one over the past few years with more than 60 Main & Regatta Fleet sailors from across Dublin being expected to take part.

Three short races are planned from 12 noon and the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions are available here.

 

The 2017 Spring Warmer series sponsored by Key Capital Private came to a conclusion at Howth Yacht Club on Saturday. The final day of the season opener provided the sailors with some champagne sailing conditions with 15–knots of breeze and glorious sunshine.

In the Cruiser Class Paddy Kyne’s Maximus with two race wins took the honours by one point from the very consistent Flashback (Patterson/Paddy Gregory /Don Breen). In third place was Stephen Quinn’s Lambay Rules.

The J24 racing was dominated by Steve Atkinson’s Bad with three first places and a fourth. Second was Jumpin Jive (M. Usher). The new K25 team completed the podium. It was great to see three K25 youth teams out competing.

Howth Yacht Club’s “Taste of Sailing” initiative goes from strength to strength. The programme sees experienced sailors racing with those new to the sport or new to HYC. Five teams took to the club J80s for the Spring Warmer this year.

The SB20 fleet was the largest fleet with 10 boats. Locals Shane Murphy, Daragh Sheridan and John Phelan on Two Men & Their Monkey won the event with a race to spare from Colin Galavan’s Sacrebleu who scored a race win in the final race with a fantastic first run setting them up for a big lead which they never relinquished. Third place was Dave Barry on Lia.

The SB20s are staying in the same venue for their Eastern Championships to be held in two weeks’ time on 21 & 22 April.

The prizegiving took place with Vice Commodore Emmet Dalton on hand to present the prizes.

A lifetime of enthusiastic and effective dedication to voluntary work in international sailing administration has very deservedly resulted in the award of World Sailing’s Gold Medal to Ireland’s Helen Mary Wilkes writes W M Nixon.

She is originally from Scotland while her husband Robert is from England. But when they settled in Ireland in 1969, Howth became their home, sailing became their family sport, and both their sons Tom and Rupert sailed – and still sail - for Ireland.

However, the fact that Helen Mary and Robert together provided a brilliant administrative and creative team was quickly recognized locally and nationally, and it was recognition which became international when Howth Yacht Club took on the staging of the Optimist Worlds in 1981.

Wall-to-wall Optimist dinghies from dozens of countries at the Worlds in Howth in 1981 – this is how it looks in a double-page spread in the HYC Centenary History, published 1995

That would be a relatively straightforward business with today’s modernized facilities. But Howth in 1981 was in the throes of harbour re-development, yet bits of it still functioned as both a sailing and fishing port.

Thus the staging of the worlds was based on the beachside Claremont Hotel immediately west of the Harbour (it has long since disappeared into a large complex of up-market apartments), and much of the running of this huge event had to be developed from scratch.

But with Helen Mary Wilkes in the key position as Secretary to the Organising Committee and Robert in several other roles, the racing for hundreds of Optimists - in what was then the most international sailing event ever seen in Ireland - was successfully completed. The overall winner was Guido Tavelli of Argentina, while the top girl (and best Irish at 17th overall) was 13-year-old Denise Lyttle of the National YC.

Helen Mary Wilkes (centre) with Viggo and Edith Jacobsen, the founders in 1962 of the International Optimist Dinghy Association, at a major regatta in 1990

For most folk in Howth, that was enough involvement in international sailing administration until the new HYC marina and clubhouse were fully functional by 1987. But Helen Mary and Robert Wilkes had been spotted by the powers-that-be as talents that could usefully be deployed on the world stage, and Helen Mary’s subsequent rise through the global and national ranks of sailing administration has been so all-encompassing that it’s best summarized in a basic list:

International Sailing Federation (now World Sailing)

1982 - 1998 International Classes Committee
1990 - 1994 CPOC
1994 - 1998 Events Committee
1994 - 1998 Vice-chair, International Classes Committee (elected)
1998 - 2000 Match Racing Committee
2006 & 2008 Nominated for IOC Women & Sport Award
2008 ISAF President’s Development Award (jointly)
2008-2016 Vice-chair, ISAF Classes Committee

International Optimist Class
1978 - 1982 Secretary, IODA of Ireland
1982 - 1987 President, IODA of Ireland
1982 - 1985 Regatta Committee, IODA
1985- 1989 Vice-President
1989 - 1998 President
During that presidency the Class became the largest in the world:
- national membership rose by 78% to 87 countries
- participation at international events rose by 50% to 57 countries
1998 - 2005 Member of Honour
2005 - President of Honour

Match Racing
In 1996 Helen Mary was asked by Paul Henderson (ISAF President) to promote women’s match-racing towards Olympic status and became the first president of the Women’s International Match-Racing Association. The number of active teams and countries increased by nearly 50%.

Irish Sailing Association
1990 - 1998 Council
1992 - 2000 Olympic Committee/Group

World Sailing
March 2017 Gold Medal awarded to Helen Mary Wilkes by newly-elected World Sailing President Kim Andersen

While Helen Mary Wilkes’ many significant roles have made her the more prominent of this remarkable couple, Robert has been busy behind the scenes, and among other things - in addition to being Secretary for 35 years to the International Optimist Class Association - in 2007 he produced a profusely-illustrated history of the first sixty years of this incredibly successful little boat, with additional input from Clifford McKay Jr, who was the first Opty sailor in Florida way back in 1947.

Helen Mary and Robert Wilkes on being inducted into the Irish Sailing Association’s Hall of fame in 2009

Being the sons of such busy and interesting parents made for a special up-bringing for Tom and Rupert. It’s all of a piece that Tom should be involved on the technical side of sailing – he runs a carbon spar-making business in the Netherlands which, in honour of home, he calls Ceilidh Composites. As a result he is a veteran of several Fastnets and Sydney-Hobarts. Rupert has elected to work ashore, but it’s something equally interesting – he restores classic and antique buildings.

However, this week it’s their parents and their enormous contribution to national and international sailing which is deservedly top of the agenda. Our heartiest congratulations to Helen Mary Wilkes on her newly-awarded World Sailing Gold Medal.

Gold Medallist. Helen Mary Wilkes today

17 RS Feva dinghies participated in the latest round of coaching for the class at Greystones Sailing Club at the weekend writes Garett Donnelly. Conditions were perfect with coaching provided for all the sailors ranging in age from 11 to 17 years of age.

Sailors from Greystones, RStGYC, RIYC, Bray SC, Malahide YC and Howth YC took part.

Next up on the Feva 2017 calendar is coaching in Malahide Yacht Club from 8th to 10th April and then Howth Yacht Club for coaching on 19,20,21.

The Eastern Championships follow on 22 and 23 April. Entry for the Easterns is here.

Howth Yacht Club's traditional Key Capital Private Spring Warmer Sailing Series at Howth Yacht Club will run over two consecutive Saturdays with four Windward /Leeward races, starting on Saturday, 1st April with cranes and storage all included in the regatta entry fee.

There are starts for Cruisers 1, 2 & 3, SB20’s, J24’s, Puppeteers, Squibs and J80s. 'It’s a fantastic way to start the season and to get your crews back into full race mode, ' says HYC organiser Daragh Sheridan.

As last year, there will be particularly strong competition in Class two. The SB20s will also be looking to get in some time on the water with their Eastern Championships also being held in Howth later in April. More information in the notice of race downloadable below.

The 42nd year of Howth Yacht Club’s Laser Frostbites came to a conclusion on Sunday on a fresh morning with a moderate Westerly breeze. On the last day of the Spring series, the race officers took the opportunity to sail three races bringing the series total to 13. Five of the scheduled 18 races were lost due to the unpredictable weather, providing no wind or too much wind.

In the Standard Rig fleet, Daragh Kelleher took to the water knowing that he had the series in the bag, with Ronan Cull not available. Daragh finished with a flourish though and took three bullets - making four in total for the series. Daragh's consistant and smart sailing over the whole series made him a clear winner, he was 18 points ahead of Stephen Quinn in second. Darach Dineen pushed Stephen all the way though and there was only one point between them on the last day with Darach having to count a seventh in the last race. Fourth and fifth in the Spring series went to Dave Kirwan and Dan O'Grady.

In the Winter series, (pre-Christmas) the fleet sailed 12 of the scheduled 14 races in very mixed conditions with very little extreme conditions to excite (or scare) competitors in strangely warm temperatures. Paul McMahon took the series without even showing up on the last day, seven points clear of Daragh Kelleher in second. Paul showed his usual impressive form with five firsts in the 10 races he sailed! Stephen Quinn, Darach Dineen and Mike Evans (in that order) fought it out for third to fifth places with only 3 points between them.

In the Radial rigs, the Spring series was won by Aoife Hopkins followed by Alan Blay and Daniel Hopkins. On breezy days, Aoife demonstrated that she could push the leading standard rig sailors with her downwind speed and althletic upwind sailing. In the Winter series Shane O'Brien was the clear winner with a string of firsts followed by Aoife and Ewan McMahon.

In the 4.7s, Dylan McEvoy won the Spring series ahead of brother Rory in second and Ella Hemeryck third. Pre-Christmas, Eve McMahon and Sam Crawford battled it out for first place with six and five firsts respectively in the series. Third place went to Dylan McEvoy.

Class Two is certainly heating up and expanding this year writes Dave Cullen, Skipper of championship winning half–tonner Checkmate XV. The quality of the fleet must make it one of the most competitive with boats ranging from €15k to €150k all in with a fighting chance of the podium.

At the bottom of the rating band, Sigma 33s make up the numbers and the top end is dominated by J97s and Elan 333s.

Such are the numbers that a number of boats might find themselves unhappy participants in Class One which happened in Sovereigns Cup two years ago.

The fleet is diverse and includes a sizeable X302 fleet from Howth YC including the stalwart podium winner DUX, Maximus and Viking to name but a few.

Stephen Quinn’s J/97 Lambay Rules is at the top of the Class Two Rating Band Photo: Afloat.ie

Cork's George Radley adds his latest 'half' Half Tonner Cortegada to the Class Two fleet this season. Photo: Bob Bateman

David Cullen's Checkmate from Howth Yacht Club is the 2015 Half Ton champion

Popular Half tonner Harmony from Howth (Jonny Swan) is on the Class Two circuit Photo: Bob Bateman

Another quality Half tonner campaign from HYC, The Big Picture (Michael and Richard Evans). Photo: Afloat.ie

The Half Ton class is formidable and apart from the locals of Checkmate XV, Harmony, King One and The Big Picture, visiting boats planning on basing campaigns here include Nigel Biggs latest Checkmate XVIII ex Dick Dastardly, Paul Wayte from Swansea's HB31 Headhunter and the highly optimised Miss Whiplash returns to Dublin owned by Paul Pullen visiting from Swansea. Demolition from Falmouth is also likely to appear. George Radley adds his latest 'half' Cortegada to the pile of quality competitors.

The X302 fleet from Howth YC includes stalwart DUX Photo: Afloat.ie

Throw in DB1s, J80s, Corby 25 & 26s and the start line really shapes up with a sharp competitive fleet.

It's easy to predict the half tonners as dominating with light to medium conditions suit them for sure. The same applies with the Corbys. Throw in an extra few knots and the X302s pick up their heels as do the Sigma 33s which are never too far behind. Movistar Blue and Lambay Rules like a breeze too so the field is really wide open.

The Sigma 33 class, formerly a stand alone one design class, have joined DBSC Cruisers Two division this year, boosting numbers on Dublin Bay to 19 Photo: Afloat.ie

Checkmate XVIII – the old Emiliano Zapata, ex Dick Dastardly, ex French Beret, ex Concorde from 1985 is undergoing a refit in North Wales, launching early May

On Dublin Bay, there will be a reported 19 boats in this year's DBSC Cruisers two fleet boosted by eight Sigma 33s who join the division. 

As to predictions, any of the boats in the class can win but need to arrive on the line in good shape and well prepared. Rub your hand over the bum of any of the Class leaders and you will see the efforts put in as the best winning ingredient for race wins is boat speed.

I think a prediction is futile without a weather forecast so I would say for lighter traditional Dublin summer conditions, any of the half tonners or the Corby 25 will feature in a windward–leeward race, Lambay Rules (J97) prefers a reach round the cans races whilst a well sailed Sigma 33 has a real chance if they can stop the mighty Dux in breezy conditions.

Having answered the question like a politician would, if it was predictable none of us would bother, so place your bets and see how it fared out in October. I'll put a tenner on Biggsy though!

Dave Cullen of Howth Yacht Club is Skipper of Half–Tonner Checkmate XV and won the 2015 Half Ton Classics Cup with a race to spare

On the other hand, ICRA could equally mean 'Ireland’s Cool Runnings Assembly'. In the week in which the Travelling Community was granted Ethnic Minority Status, W M Nixon finds himself among two groups which might be equally deserving of such recognition.

You know how it is as we swing into Spring and its embarrassment of Saturday choices. There it was, Saturday 4th March coming up on the busy agenda, and the inevitable dilemma. Should we be in Cowes for the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Yachting Historians in the Squadron castle? Or was appearance mandatory at the Irish Cruiser Racing Association’s day-long Annual Conference in Limerick, followed by a mysterious awards ceremony that night in the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire?

The old Learjet being no longer airworthy, it was a case of staying on the Irish island rather than that of Wight, and trusting that our car-of-a-certain-age-of-a-Swedish-brand-which-is–no-longer-manufactured would be up to the rigours of the M7. For the fact that trains go only to railway stations rather than your actual destination made the car the only option for a trans-island logistical challenge in very limited time.

The ICRA Annual Conference has become a staple of the early Spring programme
I know some people do double journeys like this five days a week as part of their working lives, and take it for granted. However, as one who rates long-distance commuting right up there with wind farms as one of the crazier things about modern life, it’s quite an effort to get the body there and back again, and the soul takes even longer.

What on earth can it all be for? But then you step into the Conference Centre in the Castletroy Park Hotel with everyone – most of them acquaintances and many old friends - sat in companionable comfort around a mega-table as though we’re negotiating peace in Syria. And it’s like stepping into a judiciously-drawn bath of the perfect temperature. For these are kindred spirits, upwards of seventy of them from all parts of Ireland, and we’re going to talk about boats and sailing matters all day. Bliss.

For an outsider, though, I can see that this must seem like a separate species talking in their own language. The thought of Travellers rattling away in Shelta at the Ballinasloe Horse Fair springs to mind. So yes indeed, let’s give ICRA enthusiasts Ethnic Minority Status. After all, like Travellers, ICRA people’s special enthusiasm in life is to pack themselves into crowded damp spaces and try to move around and possibly get somewhere else at least as soon as the others. And when they do get there in any significant numbers, it disturbs the peace of the neighbourhood and creates nervousness in parents with daughters of a certain age, fearful that they might be attracted to the nomadic life.

Simon McGibney leads ICRA with energetic enthusiasm

But enough of such dreaming, there was serious business to be done. And with people of the calibre of ICRA Commodore Simon McGibney of Foynes YC and ICRA number-cruncher Denis Kiely of Kinsale as joint MCs, the pace was impressive.

Simon is the leaping-about man, making his points here, there and everywhere, and when he reckons he isn’t everywhere enough, his fellow Foynes yottie and sailing instructor Elaine O’Mahoney dances in to give assistance.

Denis by contrast is Buddha-like. He sits in the one place with a commanding view of everyone, and orchestrates proceedings and Q&A sessions with a natural authority which makes you think he should be right there in Geneva or wherever it is, bringing order and peace to the Middle East.

Denis Kiely gave us all an object lesson in how to orchestrate a conference and handle Q&A sessions

For people for whom sociable business conferences are a regular part of life, I presume all this is all run-of-the-mill. But I’m the single spy who works alone in a rat’s nest of an office with a clutter of material within arms reach when it’s not available on the proper-size screen which rules my life, so experiencing human interaction at this level is bracing, to say the least.

And the ICRA annual gathering is such a clearcut focal point for a certain type of sailing enthusiast that it attracts international attention. Last year, we had Dobbs Davis and Zoran Grubisa of the Offshore Racing Congress promoting their measurement rule. As one had travelled from America while the other had come from Croatia to spread the message, I suppose the fact that the man from the International Rating Certificate office had only come over from Lymington to talk to ICRA wasn’t such a big deal. But Mike Urwin is such an obliging bloke, and an entertaining speaker with it, that we can’t help but nurture a secret hope that the possible discussions under the aegis of the RORC about amalgamating the two systems go on for ever, for their success might deprive us of entertaining speakers….

Mike Urwin made the case for IRC in engaging style

What the IRC does

The prospects for IRC. Ireland is going to be the test-bed for the internationalization of the online service.

I’d an insight into the special role Mike fills in the international offshore racer community one summer’s evening a year or two back, when I’d an email from a guy on quayside in the Mediterranean where he’d found himself looking at the Ron Holland-designed Irish Mist II of 1975 vintage, and that very special boat had a Se Vende notice. She was built in Cork for Archie O’Leary to come out as a distinctly potent machine around 40ft long, and our man on the quay guessed that he might have a worthwhile performer for the Committee International Mediterannee (CIM) vintage IOR class, if only he could be sure that an IOR Rating for Irish Mist II from the 1970s could be given full provenance.

When you get such a message outside of what used to be called working hours, time was when you’d put off dealing with it until the next morning. But I simply fired off an email to Anthony O’Leary whom I knew to be doing Cowes Week in Antix at the time, and from the midst of some après sailing pub came the message: “Mother of God, does this guy think I carry a filing cabinet around with me? And anyway, in the 1970s I’d better things to do than look after the paperwork”.

But then half an hour later from another pub came the message “Rob Jacob says we should signal Mike Urwin, will let you know”. And believe it or not, before the night was out, we had the word that Mike had been able to access an IOR Rating Certificate for 1978 for Irish Mist II, and all was well with the world.

Nobby Reilly is convinced young Irish sailors will be looking to boats like the new Mark Mills-designed Cape 31. Old salts will know the original Cape One Designs of 1956 provided the hull shape for the famous Black Soo.
As to matters in Limerick, the conference got off to an energetic start with former Commodore Nobby Reilly of Howth analyzing what the new generation seeks in cruiser-racers to guide us into a theme of the day, the ever-present need to make the world aware that cruiser-racing – whether inshore or offshore - can be great sport. And the tinkering with your boat to maximize your rating is not a drawback - on the contrary, it’s part of the technical interest of the sport in its broadest sense. On top of that, there’s funding available from ICRA for clubs which want to develop cruiser-racing as part of their local programme, and there’s a wide range of support material which will raise the ICRA presence in your area and prove mutually beneficial.

A case study of corporate promotion was presented…..

….and we got the follow-up too
Particularly interesting was the presentation from Colin Moorehead with useful interjections from Denis Kiely about how the Training Grant scheme and the promotion with the ISA of the Try Sailing project in the context of Colin’s own club, the Royal Cork, had been so successful that at Afloat's and the ISA's National Sailing Awards at the end of January, Colin was singled out for an award himself.

Simon McGibney then took over for an energetic outline of the working of the Crewpoint scheme, to let people know that the most important thing – as in so many areas of life – is simply to turn up, ICRA and other volunteers will take it from there, and you’ll get your introduction to sailing.

Simply turn up – the ICRA, ISA and Club volunteers will take it from there

Need we say more?

All that ICRA ask is that you clearly display their banner and don’t just leave it in a cupboard, and you report back to them on the progress of the programme

Sensibly refreshed by lunch, we found any tendency to a post-prandial zizz completely blown away by Maurice the Prof O’Connell’s presentation on Embarr’s world championship win. It was riveting stuff, with the effort involved generally – and not just the superhuman dedication to achieving maximum fitness and optimum crew weight – giving a vivid illustration of the utter diversity of our sport, which takes in everything from gentle sailing in a local classic class to the Worlds of specialist boats like the Melges 24.

A mountain to climb – the target set for Conor Clarke’s Embarr

The programme to get there…

And the team that did it

It’s easy to complain that the existence of more than 150 recognised World Championships in sailing dilutes the impact of the sport. But the truth is that this diversity is central to the whole picture, and sailing benefits by so many valid prizes being available for the wide range of One Design classes.

And that’s before we moved on to Mike Urwin’s presentation on the added level of diversity which is dealt with through the IRC. Of particular interest in Ireland was his assertion that “protecting the existing fleet” is at the core of the IRC’s functioning, for the fact is many of us are optimising and actively racing boats which would be older than those found elsewhere.

We have a result…..Embarr on her way to winning the Worlds, November 2016

We do so through a crowded programme of events. ICRA tries as far as possible to take the mission to as many clubs as possible, thus it prefers to maintain the independence of its National Championship, rather than subsuming it into some larger regatta. So special attention was paid to Paul Tingle of Royal Cork, as he is organising the ICRA Nats there on from June 9th to 11th. It’s a time when the activity levels are soaring throughout sailing, but the lure of the Nationals carry their own appeal against what might be seen as rival events.

Certainly regular readers of Afloat.ie will be well aware of the energetic levels of discussion as to how the annual sailing programme might be better structured. But if you insist on amalgamating events and championships, you reduce the significance of the prizes involved. Not everyone aims to win a World championship, but it’s encouraging to any crew to finish with their name up in lights just now and again. So in tandem with the continuation of a crowded programme, the development of ICRA’s Progressive ECHO performance handicap system is another important part of this significant organisation’s contribution to Irish sailing.

As ever, the conference ended on the highlight of ICRA “Boat of the Year”. On Afloat.ie in the week from Monday February 27th until the conference itself on Saturday March 4th, we ran an online poll which had a very gratifying response. But as with other awards, it was done in the knowledge that such polls are only advisory, as judges have a job to do to keep populism under control.

Thus in the Afloat.ie poll. Jonny Swann’s Half Tonner Harmony from Howth topped the votes at 949 (39.9%) while John Maybury’s J/109 Joker 2 from the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire logged 831 votes to come in at 35%. Yet it was Joker 2 which became Boat of the Year 2016, and rightly so, but maybe somebody should have come up with an award for Boat Which Most Stylishly Survived A Port Tack Mark Rounding Event During A Major Championship Trophy for Harmony…

Taking the road home for that night’s awards event at the Royal Irish, the thought processes were at first dominated by ideas put forward by Peter Ryan the chairman of ISORA, and John Hughes who has now taken on the mantle in Wicklow of running the Round Ireland Race, as I’d been sitting with the two of them during the Conference.

Both as ever were bubbling with ideas, but John particularly has one which will be of interest, as on the same day as he starts the next Round Ireland Race in June 2018, he will start a much shorter co-event, from Wicklow to Cork Harbour, with the Royal Cork at Crosshaven hosting the finish.

George David’s Rambler 88 finding her way through a motley fleet at the start of the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016. What would it be like if the start of the classic Round Ireland Race in June 2018 was combined with its proposed new shorter sister, the Wicklow to Cork Race? Photo: W M Nixon

The debate was whether or not he should start the shorter race before or after the main event, but it was somewhere in the midst of zooming through a rainshower in Laois that I realized he should start them together. Boats would be invited to enter both races (at the full entry fee, of course) and then as they’re slugging to windward off Cork Harbour on Sunday night and in the small hours of Monday morning, when some sad and seasick crewman says he or she wishes they were racing to Cork Harbour, the kindly and generous owner-skipper can say: “We are!”, he then throws a right into Cork Harbur, but they still have a result…..

It was all a suitably daft scenario to get oneself in the right frame of mind for dinner through an evening and night in the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, an establishment of which a notably acerbic observer of Irish sailing has remarked: “Irish sailing is divided into those who get the Royal Irish, and those who don’t, and that’s all there is to it”.

“You either get it, or you don’t…..” The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, with the Fife-desgned 70ft Hallowe’en, line honours winner in the 1926 Fastnet race, berthed alongside. Photo: W M Nixon

Definitely a case for Ethnic Minority Status here too, one might think. But anyone who reckons this unique establishment is above the hurly burly of every day competition afloat would already have been put right by being in Limerick, and realizing that both Conor Clarke’s Embarr and John Maybury’s Joker 2 are part of the Royal Irish fleet. Nevetheless I’d received an invitation that could be interpreted ever which way, so the best thing was to hide oneself in a table of very good friends among whom the classic boat ownership included two Water Wags, three Howth Seventeens, and an indeterminate number of Dublin Bay 21s, two of which may have changed hands during the course of the evening.

Next door to us was the much larger and more boisterous assembly of George Sisk’s crew apparently - as since revealed in Afloat.ie - deciding they were by no means past it yet, and working towards supporting their skipper in a decision for a new Class Zero boat. The evening drew on, and then with classic laid-back RIYC style, Rear Commodore (Sailing) Patsy Burke oversaw the awards which saw the following honours:

Boat of the Year: Jim McCann & Paul Cadden (Peridot)

Cruiser of the Year: Des Cummins & Storme Delaney (joint winners)

Best International: Saskia Tidey and Andrea Brewster (49erFX)

Best IRC: Colin Byrne (Bon Exemple)

Best Cruiser-racer ECHO: George Sisk, WOW

Traveller Award: Paul Smith & Pat Mangan (Jill)

Best One Design Result: Ger Dempsey & Chris Nolan (Venue’s World)

Best White Sail Result: David Clarke (Fortitudine)

Contribution to Sailing: Henry Leonard

Most improved boat: Derek Butler (Borraine)

Best Big Boat Performance: Enda O’Coineen (Kilcullen Voyager)

Volunter of the Year (House): Winifred McCourt

Volunteer of Year (Sailing): Tim Carpenter & Kevin Leonard (joint winners)

Most improved Adult Sailors: Katherine Sheehan & Tony Barlow

Somewhere in the midst of it, your reporter received an award for scribbling, And as you’ll note the intrepid Enda O’Coineen was honoured for his astonishing achievements against the odds during 2016 in his Open 60 Kilcullen Voyager, for it was a cruel swipe of fate that his mast should come crashing down on January 1st 2017.

Thus your reporter was left looking like a stunned mullet, as for some reason I’d got it into my head that there was a literary dimension to it all, and the reason I’d been invited was to honour Enda O’Coineen’s best contribution to Irish sailing in 2016. We highlighted it here on Christmas Eve. But it’s well worth looking at again: