A Dublin-Wexford partnership won the 420 dinghy Investwise Irish Youth Sailing National Championships at Howth Yacht Club on Sunday.

The double-handed duo of Jack McDowell (Malahide YC) and Henry Thompson (Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club) won by four points from Cora McNaughton (Blessington SC) and Sean Cronin (Malahide YC) on 22. 

Ten races were sailed since Thursday across a range of conditions that concluded on Sunday in light winds.

Third place in the ten-boat fleet was taken by Max Sweetman (Waterford Harbour SC) and Roisin Mitchell Ward (Galway Bay SC) on 24 points.

Results are below

Waterford Harbour Sailing Club's Max Sweetman and Roisin Mitchell-Ward dominated a 12-boat 420 dinghy Munster Championship fleet at Kinsale Yacht Club. 

After six races sailed and one discard, the Dunmore East duo won four races to win by 15 points. Sean Lemonier and Killian Mathieu from Galway Bay were second on 24 points.

Blessington Lakes pair Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin took third overall.

The two-day championships were preceded by a class Spring Training Week at Kinsale, as Afloat reports here.  See day one photo gallery here

Waterford Harbour Sailing Club's Max Sweetman and Roisin Mitchell-Ward lead a 12-boat 420 dinghy fleet competing for Munster Championship honours at Kinsale Yacht Club. 

After four races sailed on the opening day and one discard, the Dunmore East duo are two points clear of Blessington Lakes' Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin on five points.

Sean Lemonier and Killian Mathieu from Galway Bay hold third place. 

Faced with an unpromising weekend weather forecast, Race Officer John Stallard PRO successfully staged four races to complete the minimum number of races to constitute a championship.

A mist gave way to  watery sunshine on the opening day of the 420 Munster Championships at Kinsale Yacht Club Photo: Bob Bateman

Stallard set short start lines and made use of the U flag when required in order to get the 12-boat fleet away. 

The two-day championships were preceded by a class Spring Training Week at Kinsale, as Afloat reports here

420 Munster Championship at Kinsale Yacht Club Photo Gallery By Bob Bateman

Ahead of the 420 Munster Championships starting today (Friday) in Kinsale, the class held the Craftinsure Irish International 420 Spring Training.

Hosted by Kinsale Yacht Club, the training is led by Graeme Grant and supported by Cara McDowell, Michael O Sullivan and (420 youth coaches) Hugo Micka and Henry Thompson.

The class is fortunate to have highly respected sailing coaches. These former 420 sailors have a wealth of experience in the sport ranging from Olympic campaigns, ISAF youth world and multiple World and European championship experiences.

32 young sailors have experienced a variety of challenging sailing conditions and bright sunshine which is a feature of the Irish south coast in February.

420 dinghies are ready to launch at Kinsale for the Craftinsure Irish International 420 Spring Training Week

Throughout the week, the coaches have helped the sailors continue improving their skills with training on rigging, boat handling and tactics. Sessions are designed to suit the skills of each team, and goals are set for the sailors to work in readiness for the next class association training event.

The 420 dinghies got a great mix of conditions at Kinsale for the Craftinsure Irish International 420 Spring Training Week

Apres sailing activities included a coaches presentation and motivational talk with Graeme, Cara and Michael recounting stories from their sailing careers and their journey through the class and how the skills learned in the class have helped them to continue enjoying sailing. The sailors also enjoyed the annual sailor dinner followed by a nautically themed table quiz which was a great way to bring the 420 sailing community together.

Apres sailing at Kinsale Yacht Club for the Irtish 420 class; activities included a coaches presentation and motivational talk with coach Graeme Grant

The 420 Munster Championships, which take place on Friday and Saturday, the 17th and 18th of February, promises to be an exciting event that will showcase the talent of the young sailors.

After a short break over Christmas and New Year, the 420 sailors are back out on the water at various clubs around the country.

The 420 class has a reputation for providing top-quality coaching, both through the clubs and at a national level.

The first of the 2023 open class training dates will be over half term week and hosted by Kinsale Yacht Club, with Graeme Grant leading the coaching team. As well as the daily training it is proposed to host some evening events so that everyone, parents and sailors, can socialise together whilst enjoying some food with talks on sailing.

This year the half-term training week will also see a number of the young 420 coaches looking to close out their coaching qualifications. This is an initiative the association started back in the Autumn in order to have a pool of certified coaches around the country that are available for any club to host their own club training during the year.

The final domestic race event of 2023 was the Ulster Regional Championship held at Malahide Yacht Club. But the association did see Max Sweetman of WHSC and Roisin Mitchell Ward of GBSC join forces to take part in the Christmas Regatta at Palamos in Spain. This is a hotly contested event on the continental 420 circuits and with the fantastic assistance of the GBR 420 association, it made participation run very smoothly. Max and Roisin were treated to the full range of conditions in an ultra-competitive fleet and logged a lot of excellent experience at this level of competition.

The first 420 domestic regional event of 2023 will be the Munster Championships on Friday, 17th to Saturday, 18th February 2023 at Kinsale Yacht Club, this will be followed by the National Youth Nationals that are hosted this year by Howth Yacht Club on Thursday, 13th to Sunday 16th April 2023.

The 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were held on the Broadmeadows Estuary in Malahide at the weekend, not quite within the province of Ulster but deemed far enough into the north side of Dublin to make it the venue for this year's 10-boat championships.

The relative shelter of the estuary is able to facilitate racing throughout the year even when other locations have to stand down fleets, a useful characteristic that was called into play for the first day of racing.

Sailing on Saturday brought prime 420 sailing conditions with 16 to 25 knots of breeze on the relatively flat waters in the estuary. The 'O' flag was hoisted at the start of the first race and remained hoisted for the duration of Saturday's racing, where the suspension of rule 42 allowed crews to use various technics to propel the boats at key points in the racing.

Three races were run on Saturday in the physically demanding conditions, and the leaders after the first day of racing were McDowell/Thompson with two races wins and second place, closely followed by Sweetman/Turvey and then Greer/McNaughton.

Day two brought bright sunshine and a more modest breeze that levelled the playing field. Several boats took their opportunity to secure top three placings in the day's first two races so that at the start of the last race, it was all to play for with three boats separated by a single point.

Sweetman/Turvey held a single-point lead over McDowell/Thompson and McGrady/O'Sullivan, who were on equal points.

The final race of cat and mouse around the course had the three boats within seconds of each at the start of the last beat, with Sweetman/Turvey eventually getting the better of the wind shifts to pull clear and seal the championship with a second race win in the series.

420 Ulster Championship Gold Fleet Podium

1st place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were Max Sweetman (Waterford Harbour Sailing Club) and Des Turvey (Howth Yacht Club) with Malahide Yacht Club Commodore, Ciaran O'Reilly

2nd place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were  Adam McGrady (Galway Bay Sailing Club) and Alistair O'Sullivan (Galway Bay Sailing Club)
3rd place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were Jack McDowell (Malahide Yacht Club) and Henry Thompson (Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club)

420 Ulster Championships Silver Fleet Podium

1st place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were Jessica Greer (Sligo Yacht Club) and Jack McNaughton (Blessington Sailing Club)

2nd place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were Archie Malcolm (Howth Yacht Club) and Jamie Malcolm (Howth Yacht Club)

3rd place at the 2022 Ulster 420 Championships were Sarah Whyte (Lough Ree Yacht Club) and Amelia O'Donnell (Malahide Yacht Club)

2022 Ulster 420 Championships results

Galway Bay Sailing Club's Adam McGrady and Alistair O'Sullivan were the winners by a margin of 11 points of the 420 National Championships at Rush Sailing Club in County Dublin at the weekend. 

The pair add the national title to the Leinster crown won earlier this month at Howth Yacht Club. 

Second overall was Jack McDowell and Max Sweetman of Malahide and Waterford Harbour Sailing Clubs.

Third place went to Blessington and Howth duo Jack McNaughton and Keelan Darby. 

Rush also hosted the two-day pre-event training led by Graeme Grant. This was the first visit by the 420s to the north Fingal club and the sailing area between the mouth of the Rogerstown Estuary and Lambay Island, a location that is a hidden gem to visit in the late summer sunshine. 

Although the wind forecast was for light winds over the three-day event, the full programme of races was achieved under the expert eye of race officer Harry Gallagher assisted by Liam Dineen. Such was the concern about the winds for the weekend that four races were run on the Friday. But on Saturday after a short delay on shore the clear blue skies delivered a steady easterly wind to allow three races to be completed leaving just two races for the Sunday.

The light breeze and strong tides provided plenty of challenges on the race course and there were five different race winners over the nine race series. But the consistency of the Galway Bay Sailing Club pairing of McGrady and O'Sullivan delivered them the 2022 national championships. Whilst other crews were chalking up single race wins the Galway pair collected a total of five races wins and maintained low scores in each of the other races to end up with a comfortable buffer to the remainder of the fleet in the final standings.

The second and third place podium places were not decided until the last race. Four boats were homing in on these places and swapping positions over the three days series. In the final shakedown a total of three points divided these four boats with a race win in the last race lifting the Malahide pairing of Campion/Soffe into third place overall (also the top all girls boat), a second place in the last two races also lifted the McDowell/Sweetman combination into second place overall. The silver fleet was won by the new pairing Cora McNaughton (Blessington Sailing Club) and Mark Greer (Sligo Yacht Club). 

The 420 Nationals are traditionally the last event prior to sailors returning to school or college. And as we head towards the end of the third quarter of the year the class has had over 30 different boats and 75 sailors taking part in the regional events and open class training. The busy season will continue with the Ulster Championships on the 1st and 2nd October at Malahide Yacht Club with the traditional half term training also progressing at the end of October. 

Gold Fleet

1st place - Adam McGrady (Galway Bay Sailing Club) and Alistair O'Sullivan (Galway Bay Sailing Club)

2nd Place - Jack McDowell (Malahide Yacht Club) and Max Sweetman (Waterford Harbour Sailing Club)

3rd place - Kate Campion (Malahide Yacht Club) and Amelie Soffe (Malahide Yacht Club)

Silver Fleet

1st place - Cora McNaughton (Blessington Sailing Club) and Mark Greer (Sligo Yacht Club)

2nd place - Archie Malcolm (Howth Yacht Club) and Jamie Malcolm (Howth Yacht Club)

3rd place - Karina Ryan (Sligo Yacht Club) and Sarah Whyte (Lough Ree Yacht Club)

The three day event concluded on Sunday with a further two races in light winds.

Nine races were sailed in total.

2022 420 National Championship Results

A grandfather, his daughter and grandson, ended up in the water when their 420 dinghy capsized East of Whitegate Oil Refinery in Cork Harbour.

The volunteer RNLI crew of Denis Cronin, Claire Morgan and two crew from Youghal Lifeboat Station, Karen Walsh and Noel Joyce (who happened to be in the station participating in a first aid Course) launched immediately to the scene, after being paged at 3.50 pm.

En route, it was reported the casualties had been taken from the water by a RIB, coincidentally crewed by two members of the Ballycotton Lifeboat (Alan Cott and Conor Philpott). Another RIB, Sea Safari “C Breeze," was also standing by.

On arrival, two of the casualties transferred over to the lifeboat and were medically checked while the dinghy was righted and returned to Cobh.

As the two casualties on the lifeboat were very cold, It was decided to head to Cobh and their vehicle, where dry clothing would be available.

Once landed, the lifeboat headed back to the dinghy and escorted it to a safe berth in Cobh.

The RNLI Shore Crew involved were Gary Heslin, Hugh Mockler, Sandra Farrell, Darryl Hughes, Kline Peneyfeather and Jonny Bermingham.

Howth Yacht Club hosted the Irish 420 dinghy Leinster championships racing over the August bank holiday weekend.

As Afloat reported previously, the Leinster Championships are the second regional event of the year for the class, with the Connaught Championships having already been completed at Galway Bay Sailing Club and attendance also made at the excellent biennial Double Ree Regatta hosted by Lough Derg Yacht Club.

Saturday at the Leinster Championships dawned with an unpromising drizzle and light winds for those boats returning from the 420 Junior European Championships as they rolled off the ferry in Dublin and headed to Howth early for the first day of racing. The weather improved steadily through the morning as the fleet launched and headed to the race course. A series of windward-leeward courses were set and with the wind steadily increasing through the day the race committee were able to raise the 'O' Flag allowing the suspension of Rule 42 so that 420 crews could pump, rock and ooch the boats when the breeze was steadily above 13 knots to provide some excellent racing.

After a break of a few weeks from the last event, the fleet was eager to get the racing started, and this did lead to some 'U' flags on the first race for those pushing the line a little too hard. Race one, after some close racing, eventually went to the local Malahide/Howth pairing of Hauer and Micka. Thereafter the Galway Bay Sailing Club pairing of McGrady and O'Sullivan continued their fine form from earlier in the year to win the next three races on Saturday. This gave the Galway pairing a clear overnight lead with the first discard kicking in after three races. The decision to run an extra race on the Saturday proved a visionary decision by the PRO Scorie Walls. The wind proved elusive on Sunday and the fleet were sent ashore early when any hope of a breeze materialising evaporated.

Howth Yacht Club again provided excellent race management and organisation for the event on the Fingal sailing waters. The next 420 racing will be at the Munster regional Championships to be held on the 13th and 14th August at Waterford Harbour Sailing Club and this will be followed by the 2022 National Championships on the 26th to the 28th August at Rush Sailing Club.

Gold Fleet placings at the 2022 Leinster Championships:
1st - Adam McGrady/Alistair O'Sullivan - Galway Bay Sailing Club
2nd - Jack McDowell/Henry Thompson - Malahide Yacht Club/ Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club
3rd - Kate Campion/Amelie Soffe - Malahide Yacht Club

2nd gold fleet- Jack McDowell/Henry Thompson - Malahide Yacht Club/ Wexford Harbour Boat and Tennis Club

Silver Fleet placings at the 2022 Leinster Championships:
1st - Jack McNaughton/Keelan Darby - Blessington Sailing Club/Howth Yacht Club
2nd - Karina Ryan/Sarah Whyte - Sligo Yacht Club/Lough Ree Yacht Club
3rd - Cora McNaughton/Amelia O'Donnell - Blessington Sailing Club/ Malahide Yacht Club

1st place silver fleet Jack McNaughton and Keelan Darby of Blessington Sailing Club/Howth Yacht Club

2nd place silver fleet Karina Ryan/Sarah Whyte of Sligo Yacht Club/Lough Ree Yacht Club

Download results below

The young sailors in the Irish 420 fleet continued their Summer itinerary last weekend with a visit to Howth Yacht Club, where the Leinster Regional Championships were hosted in warm sunshine. 

Galway Bay Sailing Club was represented by Adam McGrady (helm) and Aly O’Sullivan (crew).

Four races were run off in good order on Saturday in light to moderate winds.

The Galway boys had to scramble for third place in the first race after snapping a trapeze wire but made hasty repairs on the water and recovered to win the remaining three races of the day: 3-1-1-1.

David McDowell of the Irish 420 Association presented the prizes on the balcony at Howth

On Sunday, the wind died completely and after two hours on the water the Race Officers declared a series and towed all the boats home.

420s entering Howth Harbour under tow on a bright, warm but windless Sunday afternoon

Happily, Aly and Adam had done enough on Saturday to win Gold Fleet and bring the Sheaffer Cup back to Galway. Jack McNaughton and Keelan Darby (Blessington and Howth) were first in Silver.

Aly O’Sullivan, Paul McGrady, Martin Whyte of the 420 Association and Colin Thompson enjoying the sunshine at Howth Yacht Club.