Local Howth Pair Lead Irish Melges 15 Championships

25th August 2024

John and Katie Sheehy and RStGYC lie second overall after four races sailed at the Irish Melges 15 National Championships at Howth Yacht Club

John and Katie Sheehy of the RStGYC lie second overall after four races sailed at the Irish Melges 15 National Championships at Howth Yacht Club Credit: Afloat

Howth's Darragh O'Connor and Teddy Byrne lead the Melges15 National Championship fleet after four races sailed on their home waters.

Race officer Richard Kissane and the team delivered the exciting windward-leeward races for the 19-boat fleet on Saturday (August 24th).

In winds up to 19 knots, sailors had fun with long beats but exhilarating downwind sleigh rides off Ireland's Eye.

The Melges 15s converge on a Weather Mark at the Irish National Championships off Howth Photo: Afloat

The class's adoption of Vakaros race sense was judged a success, with sailors and race management enjoying synchronous starts and instant OCS displays.

The strong conditions suited brothers-in-law Byrne and O’Connor, whose superior upwind speed allowed for the occasional poor start to be recovered by the top mark.

Teddy Byrne and Darragh O’Connor blast downwind on day one of the Melges15 National Championship at Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

The duo leads on five points from class promoter John Sheehy and Katie Sheehy from Dun Laoghaire, who have ten. Lying third is another Howth pair, father and son Mike and Andrew Evans, who have 11.

Race officer Richard Kissane and the team delivered four exciting races for the 19-boat Melges15 National Championship fleet on Saturday, (August 24th) Photo: Afloat

Racing was close across the fleet with four different race winners, with the Evans pair winning the day's final race. With local knowledge, they worked the right-hand side of the upwind legs and didn’t look back.

Racing continues on Sunday with a strong wind forecast.

Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in Melges 15, Howth YC

Published in Melges 15

Tagged under

Melges 15

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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.