During this past week, competitors in the Simply Blue Sovereign’s Cup at Kinsale have been sailing at a venue much of which is a time capsule of the picturesque town attached to a naval base of the 1700s.
Today (Sunday), further west in Baltimore, a dozen crews from Howth have been limbering up for a week of sailing among Carbury’s Hundred Isles in boats which are themselves time capsules, as the design of the Howth 17 has remained unchanged from 1898.
Thus the most senior of the 12 boats that have been road-trailed to West Cork for a highlight of their 125th birthday year were already six years old when the emblematic Fastnet Rock lighthouse started operating in 1904.
Howth 17s Class Captain Dave O’Shea (left) with Malachy Harkin of Cape Clear Distillery, one of the sponsors of the Howth 17s’ 125th Anniversary Celebration Week in West Cork
Planned track for the Howth 17s in West Cork. They intend to be in North Harbour in Cape Clear on Wednesday afternoon.
The energetic Class Captain David O’Shea has devised a programme that will include a circuit or two of the Fastnet Rock on Wednesday. It’s a return visit for some, as several of the boats were here twenty years ago when they took a westward expansion from their participation in the Glandore Classics Regatta of 2003.
Peter Courtney’s Oona in West Cork – the Courtney family have been involved with the Howth 17s since 1907
Howth 17 Eileen heads seaward past Baltimore Beacon, aka “Lot’s Wife”. Photo: David O’Shea
This time round, Baltimore is their most easterly port, while Crookhaven is furthest west, the programme being Baltimore-Schull on Monday, Schull to Crookhaven on Tuesday, Crookhaven to Fastnet Rock and North Harbour Cape Clear on Wednesday, followed then by options on Sherkin Island on the way to rounding out the celebrations with some serious racing off Baltimore on Friday.
The call of the open sea. No 20 Sheila – built by Charlie Featherstone of Wicklow and finished by Dougal MacMahon of Athlone – revelling in open waters conditions off Baltimore. Photo: Dave O’Shea
Ian Malcolm’s Aura – one of the 1898 boats – thrusting through Gascanane Sound after Sunday’s “shakedown circuit” clockwise round Cape Clear Island. Photo: David O’Shea
That will be followed by the awards ceremony in Baltimore Sailing Club on Friday night, leaving Saturday clear for the logistics of group lift-out and preparation for that very long drive home. Regular road trailing was completely unknown when the Howth Seventeens first sailed, but despite the rigging complexity their crews have shown themselves sufficiently enthusiastic to undertake the hassle in order to provide the best of sailing sport in a very special setting.
In fact, their enthusiasm was already shown to have an extra edge today (Sunday), when their shakedown sail saw some of them leave the shelter of the harbour and slug their way down to Cape Clear before heading north of Cape Clear Island and returning to Baltimore via Gascanane Sound.
David O’Connell’s Anita returns to port after the open sea sailing. The 1900-built Anita was the only Howth 17 that had to be completely re-built after Storm Emma wrecked the Howth 17s’ storage shed on Howth Harbour’s East Pier in March 2018. Photo: Dave O’Shea