Three New Melges 15 Teams Make Their Debuts on Dublin Bay

22nd June 2023

John Sheehy and Katie Moynihan catching zephyrs across Dublin Bay in their Melges 15 dinghy

Race three of the Melges 15 dinghy Wednesday series on Dublin Bay saw three new teams on the water for the first time.

Nick Smyth and Rachel Macmanus's long-standing team racing partnership debuted to a flyer in race one, only to be overhauled by the fast-finishing Jacques Murphy and Russell Bolger downwind. A few years of trimming kites in a 29er seems to add up to super-fast M15 speed offwind.

The two other debutantes were fathers and son teams, Robbie and Seth Walker and Gerald and Lachlan O’Driscoll. Once the Walkers got used to the fact that there were three sails to trim, not one as they are used to in their Lasers, they were flying, pushing hard for the podium in each race.

Freshly arrived from Austin, Texas, the O’Driscolls were busy focused on getting up to speed with the intricacies of Dublin Bay on a light Summers evening.

Demo sails continue, and anyone wishing to try out the Melges 15 can book in here

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About the Melges 15 Dinghy

The Melges 15 was designed by Reichel/Pugh and built by Melges.

The design prioritises stability, comfort, ease of use, and performance.

The Melges 15 is built to be sailed by everyone from friends and couples to families and kids. The design offers performance, comfort, and stability in one sleek package.

The Melges 15’s stable hull shape and ergonomic cockpit make it a suitable layout for adult racing and educational sailing. Easy conversion from a club configuration (non-spinnaker) to a one-design setup, provides more versatility to club programs and options for individual owners.

“The Melges 15 creates a clear pathway for junior sailors to get started and stay excited about sailing while also being comfortable and accessible enough for adults to learn, race, or cross-train,” according to Harry Melges III.

With the main design goals focused on stability and performance in various conditions, the boat features a narrow overall beam and a flat cross-section shape for stability, righting moment, and ease of planing. For a more forgiving feel upwind and to navigate larger sea states, the Melges 15 has just the right amount of fore and aft rocker.

Melges conducted extensive research and product testing to produce this layout factoring in cockpit depth, backbone height, and floor plan. The result, they say, is a comfortable environment for both the skipper and crew. The deeper cockpit takes the load off the sailor’s knees helping them feel locked into the boat while the high boom and gnav vang system work together to make the boat easier to manoeuvre.

The asymmetric spinnaker offers an additional performance element, while the single-pull launch and retrieval system makes handling the sail easy and fast.