A fleet of 29 Flying Fifteens have entered the penultimate regatta of the Irish domestic scene – the East Coast Championships, to be hosted by the National Yacht Club this weekend.
With participation from all four provinces and venues such as Carrickfergus, Portaferry, Killyleagh, Whitehead and Strangford in the North, Connemara in the West, Dunmore East in the South and the two Dun Laoghaire clubs in the East, this must be one of the most comprehensively represented Flying Fifteen fleets to have gathered at one venue for some time. It is also a considerable upturn from the number of Irish boats at the British Isles Championships hosted by Strangford Lough Yacht Club earlier in the season.
The newest boat in the fleet, Shadowffax, 4128, Niall Meagher and Nicki Matthews (National Yacht Club) will compete with a series of sail numbers that goes as far back as 3729 and Robin Hilliard & Shaun Curran (NYC). Over half the fleet have sail numbers in the 4000s, a testament to the continued investment by the Irish fleet since the 2019 Worlds, also hosted in Dun Laoghaire. In the latter Thursdays of Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the class was also getting 20+ boats out to race.
At a Jekyll & Hyde Nationals in Dunmore East two weeks previously a light weather start to the three-day regatta saw no racing on the Friday and only two races on the Saturday before breeze allowed proper racing to be enjoyed on the Sunday. Shane McCarthy & Hugh McNally (4116) prevailed on the Sunday with a second and three firsts to win by a seven-point margin over Niall & Ronan O'Briain (4092), with Ian Mathews & Alan Green in third, nine points adrift. Thereafter the finishing order was Peter Kennedy & Stephen Kane (3920) and Lee Statham & Andy Paul (4070).
Father and daughter Peter and Juliette Kennedy of Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club won the Flying Fifteen Nationals on Dublin Bay in 2022 Photo: Afloat
While there is a crew change in the Kennedy boat, we must remember that father and daughter won the Nationals in Dun Laoghaire two years ago and if my trawling of Facebook is correct Ms Kennedy has just won a significant event in N. Ireland recently. So, no slouches here then!
David Gorman & Chris Doorly
So who else will be looking to get into a podium place? The list has to start with David Gorman & Chris Doorly (4099) who seem to have the hoodoo on the rest of the DL fleet when it comes to Saturday sailing in Dublin Bay. David claims when he sails with Chris that the latter just sniffs the breeze to get them to the head of the fleet. Similarly, on Thursday nights, Phil Lawton & Neil O'Hagan (3803) dominated the series with Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey also putting together a good Thursday night run to finish second overall. Third to fifth on Thursdays were only concluded on the last night of racing, which means there are three more boats on form if the right conditions permit.
And what of the travellers? The second Connemara boat, Dermot Flaherty & Joe McDonagh (4083) don't travel simply to make up numbers and had a great British Isles Championship result in Strangford in June, and Killyleagh visitors Andy McCleery & Colin Dougan (4120) are always ready to give it a go! In truth, a couple of good race results for anyone can really upset the applecart in terms of the perceived pecking order.
As Dunmore East showed when the breeze goes light, the complexion of the front of the fleet can change quite radically but the forecast (XCWeather) for the weekend shows breeze on both days – 10/11 knots NE gusting 17/18 for Saturday and 12/15 knots gusting 23/25 for Sunday.
With twenty-nine boats it should be an extremely competitive weekend.
