In May 2022, a sailing incident transformed Kevin Doyle's life. While competing in an ILCA dinghy, Kevin suffered a spinal injury that not only tested his resilience but also reshaped his connection to the sport. Ten months later, he found himself charting new waters at his club, the Royal St. George Yacht Club, steering his 2.4mR boat 'Miss Lizzy' with a renewed spirit and purpose. Unable to resume his previous professional work due to his injury, Kevin turned his attention to a unique aspect of sailing that blends skill, creativity, and community: the intricate art of splicing control lines for fellow sailors.

During his hospital stay following an on-the-water incident in an ILCA in May 2022, Doyle's attention turned to the 2.4mR class. He researched the class thoroughly, and upon his discharge from the hospital in December 2022, he found himself back on the water by March 2023.

Royal St. George Yacht Club member and Laser sailor Kevin Doyle's (above) attention has now turned to the 2.4mR class (below)

The transition from a wheelchair to the 2.4mR “Miss Lizzy” was a significant milestone for Kevin on his road to recovery. The transition from ILCA to 2.4mR also brought a new learning curve in terms of boat handling and control. In particular, he was struck by the dramatic increase in control lines from three in the ILCA to fifteen in the 2.4mR.

Having made contact with the current 2.4mR World champion, Heiko Kroger, and learning how to optimise the setup, he put a plan together on how to rig the boat. With the assistance of staff and members at the club, Kevin set about rigging his 2.4mR for use tailored to his own disability.

With the volume of lines and knots in the 2.4mR, Kevin set about learning how to splice lines in order to improve the performance inside the cockpit. Following some further research and taking some hints from how ILCA lines are set up for maximum depowering capability, he set up the cunningham in his 2.4mR with an 8:1 setup. The outcome was so much better than he thought it would be.

After that, there was no holding back. Soon the remaining lines in the 2.4mR were spliced which drew the attention of fellow club members, including some ILCA and Fireball sailors.

Marco Sorgassi, the 2023 ILCA Ireland Master Champion, took particular interest as he was looking to fine-tune his rigging.

Marco asked Kevin about the possibility of splicing his control lines for his ILCA. "We took Marcos's existing pulleys, and he provided me with his newly selected primary and secondary control lines from our friends in Viking Marine. I did a custom fit for Marco's setup. We took the standard measurements for the control lines but tailored them to his preferred lengths.” said Kevin.

(Above and below)  Kevin Doyle (left) with some of his fellow sailors who have benefited from his splicing skills (Dave Coleman and Oisin Hughes are pictured) 

Word soon got around about the quality and attention to detail of the splicing, and shortly afterwards, Doyle set about his second splicing project, a new vang, cunningham and outhaul, for another club ILCA sailor, Brendan Hughes. It seems that standard pre-spliced lines from international chandeliers are not always perfect for individual setups, so Kevin has found a niche in customising the settings to people’s needs.

One of Kevin Doyle's neat splices for the ILCA dinghy rigging

What started as a necessity for Kevin has blossomed into a valuable service for fellow sailors, illustrating how personal challenges can sometimes lead to new opportunities. Kevin has continuously expressed his gratitude to the local sailing community who rallied around him after his injury, and he sees this as a way he can pay back the kindness he was shown.

As Kevin says, “For me it's more than just splicing, it's my anchor. I’ve found my tribe in the Royal St George Yacht Club and the ILCA class. I find it massively therapeutic, to be honest, as there's something about working with my hands. Along with that, and even more importantly, I still feel that I belong. Doing some splicing is my way of saying thanks to all the people who supported me over the past year. What’s great is that I can also see the impact of the work I do splicing in real time on the water.”

The Royal St George Yacht Club has announced their 2023/2024 winter training for Topper dinghies.

"The club is keen to build a fleet of the exciting and durable dinghy in anticipation of even greater demand for single-handed sailing", former Commodore Richard O'Connor told Afloat.

The coaching schedule has been timed to complement a busy winter dinghy offering at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and participants of the Royal St George’s schedule will be able to join up with other winter squads on occasion.

Toby Hudson Fowler, who has extensive coaching experience, having coached numerous National and Regional champions in multiple fleets, will lead the Topper training

The coaching is open to participants from other clubs and will be run very similarly to the Topper fleet’s Traveller Events, keeping costs down as much as possible. Coaching will commence this Sunday, October 22nd.

Bookings can be made here

Dinghy sailors faced a variety of wind conditions while competing in Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta on Dublin Bay.

The event featured nine Melges 15 and 50 ILCAs.

Melges 15 and ILCA dinghies launch for their Sprint regatta at the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour

The sailors had to navigate through shifting winds throughout the races, ranging from 15 knots to near-calm conditions. 

The race course under Race Officer Barry O'Neill (below) was located in the northwest of Dublin Bay and attracted nine Melges 15 and 50 ILCAs for October's Sprint regatta at the Royal St. George Yacht Club

Race Officer Barry O'Neill and his team conducted five ILCA races and six Melges 15 races to complete the event.

McCartin and Kinsella Reign in the Melges 15

Barry McCartin and Conor Kinsella sailed the demo boat for the Melges 15 Regatta, held in the bay for the first time.

Melges sailors coping with one of many wind resets during the  Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta on Dublin Bay

Darragh O'Connor, a Howth sailor, joined the fleet with Sligo Yacht Club's Lauren Donaghy. The crews consisted of various family and friend combinations, including husband and wife, father and daughter, and uncle and niece teams.

Mary O'Loughlin and Karena Knaggs (563) were one of the all-female teams in the Melges 15 fleet

Barry and Conor won the first two races, thanks to their cool decision-making in windy conditions. The Melges sailors got a chance to sail the angles downwind and achieved top speeds of 16.3 knots as the wind picked up. After the dust settled, it was Barry and Conor who won the race, with John and Katie leading the Melges' charge.

The impressive brand new Dublin Bay Melges 15 fleet line up for one of six starts at the Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta off Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Eve McMahon is ILCA 6 Sprint Winner

The ILCA fleet, featuring just over 50 boats, was equally impressive, with the ILCA 6 fleet comprising 30 boats.

An ILCA start at the Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta on Dublin Bay

Eve McMahon emerged as the winner throughout the day, while Sean Craig from the host club won the Masters category.

ILCA s blast to spreader mark at the Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta on Dublin Bay

The ILCA4s saw some extremely tight racing, with Marcus Shelley taking the win, while Tom Coulter emerged as the winner of the ILCA7 race.

Grant Thornton played an important role in the event as sponsors. Both fleets were grateful for their support throughout the event.

Despite the different angles and speeds, the ILCAs and Melges 15 boats managed to perform well throughout the races and are already looking forward to next year's Sprint Regatta.

Royal St. George's Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta Results

Fifteen SB20s are expected to be on the Dublin Bay startline for next weekend's Eastern Championships, which will experiment with a change of race format in the sportsboat class.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club hosted event will see shorter courses and more races – up to ten more – subject to time constraints.

"The courses will be tweaked for flexibility to run one, two or three rounds with a time deadline of  20 to 30 minutes per race", RStGYC Race Officer Barry O'Neill told Afloat.

As regular Afloat readers know, Irish SB20 fans got an early season boost with the news that leading boat TED were runners-up in the Cascais Grand Slam in Portugal this month.

While TED is now in transit to the Worlds in Holland, the crew of Michael O'Connor, David Taylor, and Ed Cook will still compete this weekend on home waters in a second boat, 'Ted Blue'.

April's runaway winners of the Northern Championships at Lough Ree were the Gold Digger crew from Royal Cork Yacht Club, of Mel Collins, Donie Hegarty, and owner Aidan MacSweeney and they are expected to be in Dun Laoghaire.

Also on the form is Richard Hayes, who leads the local DBSC club racing with five wins from six races this season in the AIB summer Saturday Series.

The sailors are waiting patiently with an AP flying for the wind to build inshore for the last day of the Mapfre Euromed Cup at St Paul’s Bay in Malta.

It’s all to play for in the ILCA 6 fleet, where Royal St George sailor Daniel O’Connor lies in fourth place overall, three points behind 2022 ILCA 4 European champion Irene De Tomas Perello. A further three points ahead is local Mathew Flores, with Dmytro Karabadzhak 9 points clear and in the lead.

Emily Conan had a superb day yesterday, especially in race 5, where she scored a second place. She goes into today lying in eighth place overall, and she is joined by her fellow Royal St George sailor Jessica Riordan in the top 10 after some very consistent sailing. Howth’s Charlie Keating closely follows them in 11th overall.

In the Optimist fleet, Carolina Carra remains the best Irish performer in a very competitive fleet. She had a good day yesterday, again sailing very consistently and finished the day in 60th place overall. Jude Hynes-Knight sailing under Tralee Bay Sailing Club’s burger, is in 80th overall and Felix Dion, sailing from the National Yacht Club, is 88th.

Full results here:

ILCA 6

ILCA 4

Optimist

In the 69-boat Optimist dinghy Senior Fleet, Dun Laoghaire Harbour's Royal St. George Yacht Club had eight sailors in the top 15 of the 2022 IODAI National Rankings, namely Jules Start (1st boy and 1st overall), Caoilinn Geraghty- McDonnell (1st girl and 2nd overall), Conor Cronin (2nd boy and 3rd overall), Abigail Murphy (2nd girl and 5th overall) and Carolina Carra (4th girl and 7th overall), Marcus Shelley (7th boy and 12th overall), Hannah Scott (6th girl and 14th overall) and Zita Tempany (7th girl and 15th overall).

In the 58-boat Junior Fleet, a further seven George sailors finished up in the top 15 of the 2022 IODAI National Rankings, namely Lily Donagh (1st girl and 1st overall), Emily Donagh (2nd girl and 2nd overall), Maeve Donagh (3rd girl and 6th overall), Max O’Hare (5th boy and 8th overall), Juliette Ryan (5th girl and 10th overall), Finn Foley (6th boy and 11th overall) and Ella Rock (6th girl & 12th overall).

"These results are a testament to the hard work these and all of the other 20+ George sailors competing in Main Fleet at IODAI National Events have put in both on and off the water throughout the year", RStGYC Optimist Performance Program Organiser Gavan Murphy," told Afloat.

"Recognition must also go to Sarah Fogarty and Peter Fagan, who runs the Oppie performance coaching programme in the George", Murphy added.

The Waszp national championships were hosted again this year in the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin on August 6-7th.

There were 18 boats competing, including two boats from overseas, one from Hawaii and one from Wales!

Fresh from the world championships with 9th place, Charlie Cullen RSGYC was back to fight for the National title against Henry Start RSGYC and Max Goodbody RIYC, who were in Gold fleet at the recent world championships as Afloat reported here.

The racing got off to a good start, with Race officer Barry O'Neill getting three good races in on Saturday morning August 6th, before the breeze turned off. Barry commented that the standard of competitors was up significantly since last year with most boats completing all laps. Some notable new faces since last year included current RS400 national champion Robert Espey BYC and current RS200 national champion Frank O'Rourke RSGYC along with 2x 49er Olympian Matt McGovern of BYC.

18 Waszps competed including two boats from overseas, one from Hawaii and one from Wales

The fleet was certainly a star-studded line up with almost every sailor having competed internationally for some years.

After day 1 Charlie Cullen had a commanding performance with 3 bullets with the internationals Zac Blomeley (Funsport Rhosneigr Wales) in 2nd and Gavin Ball (Hawaii Kai Boat Club) in 3rd. The fight for first girl and first master was as tight as can be with both having two competitors on equal points.

The sailors then had dinner at Royal St. George Yacht club and got up early for 10am first gun to get four races in before the breeze vanished again.

When all the races were completed Charlie Cullen only dropped one race and finished in first on 6 points winning the Irish National Championship and the Nations Trophy for Ireland.

Georgia Goodbody managed to separate from Elysia O'Leary to win 1st girl and Frank O'Rourke managed to get some points between him and the defending Masters champion Tom Hogan to secure the victory. Second place went to Zac Blomeley and 3rd to Gavin Ball, definitely the farthest to travel to the Irish Nationals!

Max Goodbody finished as the 1st Junior and Robert Espey won the Apprentice category.

Henry Start, Chairperson to Irish Waszp Association and competing sailor commented "Everyone was happy to get good races over the weekend in fabulous conditions and I'd love to see even more boats next year!"

Gavin Ball from Hawaii Kai Boat Club, USA, said "Tight racing in exciting conditions made for fun and competitive racing".

The fleet has continued to grow with its diverse age and weight groups with sailors from 16 to 60 years old sailing with competitors ranging from 50 kg to 90 kg.

After a hiatus of two years due to Covid, the Schools National Team Racing Championships are being hosted by the Royal St.George Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club, home to team racing in Ireland welcomes 13 School Qualifiers from Connacht, Munster and Leinster.

As part of its team racing history, the club has two flights of Fireflies and organises Team Racing Clinics for Schools, Transition Year Modules and any groups who wish to learn more on this aspect of sailing. Details can be found on the club website.

The Royal St.George Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour

School team racing is increasing in popularity due to a successful government grant that provided a new national flight of Fireflies and a second order is on the way.

Team racing can be comprised of 2 boats v 2, 3 v 3 or as the Oppies class like to do it, 4 v 4.

"Team racing by nature is very inclusive as everyone has to work as a team, the races are short and the racing is very tactical", says Royal St.George Yacht Club's event organiser Eunice Kennedy, Royal St.George Yacht Club Event Organiser.

"It is not about being the first to get a good start and to be the first over the finish line. It is all about teamwork, covering your opponents, and setting mark traps to assist your teammates into a winning combination. It is like a game of cat and mouse" she says.

"It enhances inclusivity between the stronger helms and the weaker ones, combined girl and boys teams, and time to make friends with other teams between races. The list is endless as to the value of Team Racing for developing young sailors and helps retain Junior involvement in the sport of sailing during their teenage years", Kennedy adds.

The event this weekend is taking place in the harbour with the East Pier providing an idyllic viewing platform. It is a colourful sight, with green, yellow, red and orange sails.

Royal St. George's Tom Higgins might be focused on his preparations for the upcoming ILCA/Laser U21 Europeans, but local rivalries are still on his mind as he looks forward to the first Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta of 2022.

The Dún Laoghaire Harbour ILCA/Laser fleet in conjunction with the Royal St. George Yacht Club piloted a one-day sprint regatta format in 2021. The first sprint regatta in July which consisted of five short trapezoid races back to back proved so popular that the organisers hosted a second event in October which was sold out within days.

The organisers, buoyed by the success of the format in 2021, have announced that there will be five sprint regattas throughout 2022 once again supported by Grant Thornton Ireland.

As Afloat reported previously, the first event takes place on Saturday, April 02 marking the official end of the winter season following the end of the local DMYC Frostbite series.

At the first Grant Thornton Sprint Regatta held in July last year, local favourite and Ireland team member Tom Higgins took home the gold medal in the Standard fleet. The October event, titled the Race of Champions saw Higgins pipped on the line on three out of five races by fellow RStGYC sailor Peter Fagan.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club piloted a one-day sprint regatta format in 2021 that is expanded in 2022

With the standings at one all to the pair, both Higgins and Fagan have announced that the first sprint of 2022 is in their sights and both seem out to prove a point. Higgins, who will be representing Ireland at the 2022 EurILCA Under 21 European Championships from April 14-21 2022 in France, is looking to demonstrate who is the more consistent performer. Meanwhile, Fagan is looking to serve another Verstappen-like upset on the dominant Higgins.

The one-day regatta is open to Laser sailors both junior and adult and in all rigs; 4.7, Radial and Standard. There is particular emphasis from Race Officer, Richard Kissane of Howth Yacht Club on ensuring a fast-paced and fun event for competitors of all ages and abilities. Novice sailors are welcome as this provides a unique format to be involved in racing at the highest level across the local fleet.

Commencing at 2 pm, there will be a minimum of 5 races in quick succession for each fleet, with each race lasting between 20-30 minutes. Prizes are awarded for the top three positions in each fleet with separate prize categories for male/female, under 30s and Masters. The entry fee for the event is €20 with entry limited to 80 boats.

The event is open to all ILCA Lasers based in Dún Laoghaire. Travelling boats are welcome to enter, however, due to the ongoing space pressures across the local clubs, visiting boats are invited to launch from the public slip in the Coal Harbour.

Speaking at the launch of the 2022 series, Mick Shelley, Audit Partner at Grant Thornton Ireland and himself a local ILCA sailor said that; “We're delighted to put our name to this format once again in 2022. The ILCA Laser is the largest fleet locally and is accessible to the widest range of sailors. We're happy to support such a fleet that makes the sport of sailing more accessible to a wider group of people.”

Full details of the event and registration is open on rsgyc.ie.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club were the convincing winner after 24 races of the J/80 Millennium Bowl Team Racing event at Dun Laoghaire Harbour at the weekend.

Saturday saw Dublin Bay Race Officer Barry O'Neill complete 18 races that put the hosts easily ahead in club J/80s.

Despite the threat of a gale warning, another six races on Sunday in some shifty conditions saw the John Sheehy captained local side produce an overall victory against visitors Royal Thames Yacht Club in second and the Royal Northern & Clyde Yacht Club in third. 

The tri-club competition is held annually between the George, Royal Thames YC and the Gareloch's Royal Northern and Clyde.

The inspiration for the competition was provided by the late Harry Maguire who decided in 2000 after a challenge race against the Clyde that an event should be expanded to three clubs and run to involve senior racers in keelboats. The Thames agreed to join and allocated a significant meter high silver trophy presented by Kaiser Willhelm II for the Race between the German and British Royals (specifically his cousin Edward VII who he never beat). Probably why he started the First World War!! The Trophy is taken from the club vault and shown only whenever the Thames host the event in London.

This year's event was run in Dun Laoghaire and sailed in the club's six J80's crewed by four crew whose total age has to exceed 160 years with at least one crew of opposite gender and one crew over 55 on each boat. The George fielded a very strong team comprising John Sheehy, Nick Smyth and Andrew Fowler & supporting crews. The Clyde team led by Nichole McPhearson are long time team racing stalwarts of the Clyde and former holders of the trophy. Thames, the current holders, fielded a solid group of ex Firefly team racers in years past, one being Jon Redding of Nottingham Outlaws fame who were multiple winners of the Wilson Trophy in West Kirby.

The George opened their account to the positive early taking wins from Thames and the Clyde. The weather was perfect for the sport and racing continued in sunny and mild 14 knots westerly on the M shaped course skilfully managed by SRO Barry O'Neill and his team. The George continued to rack up wins but Thames came back in a purple spell in the afternoon taking back a couple of points from the George and hammering the Clyde who despite valiant team racing found themselves unable to hold onto precarious winning combinations to the finish line. The team skills improved as experience gained on the water accumulated and match victories pivoted on a place lost or the decisions of the Umpire Team led by Ailbe MIllerick who were kept relentlessly busy in the close manoeuvring.

The George however was most artful at turning over results in the last couple of legs giving lessons in coordinated team demolition. After 12 races apiece, the teams retired for refreshments, tall tales and gutter boat racing ashore. The George's tally was an unassailable 8 1/2 wins, Thames 4 1/2 wins and despondent Clyde 2 wins. After overnight gales, the teams took to the water again in the eye of the storm sunshine on Sunday morning. Overall placings were unlikely to change but pride had to be salvaged afloat. Clyde took a race from Thames and ran the George close as did Thames the race lead changing on all four legs alas to no avail.

RStGYC John Sheehy (Capt. helm), Peter Bowring, Moselle Foley & Owen Laverty. Andrew Fowler (helm), Max Treacy, Martin Byrne & Stephanie Bourke Nick Smyth (helm), Jenny Andreasson, Heather Craig & Ben Cooke

RTYC  Katie Greenland (helm), William Edwards, Ollie Dix & Capt Ben Clothier. Ian Dobson (helm), Chris Griffiths, Harry Edwards & Jon Redding (helm) Jo Redding, Emma Geary & David Robertson.

RN&YC (helms) Nichole McPhearson (Capt), Griogair Whyte & Theo Hoole

Umpires Ailbe Millerick, Vincent Delany, Dave Sheahan & Eunice Kennedy

SRO Barry O'Neill

The next edition of the annual Millennium Trophy will be held in Scotland.