The Howth Seventeens have survived and prospered for 121 years by doing things their own way, so for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2019, eight of them packed a lot of sailing miles into a compact programme by racing across the bay from their home port on the Friday afternoon, joining in the Dun Laoghaire parties through Friday night, then they’d three great races in the bay in the sunshine of Super Saturday with partying to follow, and today they rounded it all out by racing back home around the Baily and into Howth Harbour.
Conor & Brian Turvey with the 1988-built Isobel put down a marker with a win in the passage race across the bay to Dun Laoghaire, with second going to third-generation Howth 17 sailor Peter Courtney with Oona, while Ian & Judith Malcolm with Aura (one of the original 1898 boats) were third.
It was Aura which roared into form on Saturday, logging two firsts and a third, and though John Curley & Marcus Lynch won today’s passage race home to Howth in another of the originals, Rita No 1, Aura was second and thus took the overall title with 7 points, with Isobel getting second overall with 8 points while Oonagh took third on a total of 11.