Fahy & Higgins Win M15 Western Championships

20th April 2026

lough derg

Podium Pride – Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins celebrate their Melges 15 Western Championship win at Lough Derg Yacht Club alongside organisers after a competitive weekend of racing

After five great races, Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins emerged as winners of the Melges 15 Western Championships held in Lough Derg Yacht Club last weekend. 14 boats travelled to a sunny Dromineer for the first ever ‘away’ event for the class. The sailors were rewarded for their commute with a super welcome from the host club and some classic lake sailing.

Tight fleet battles on a shifty Lough Derg start line

Saturday delivered the best wind, with wind varying from 2 knots to 14 knots, with some big wind shifts to keep everyone on their toes. Race 1 was perhaps the best example of this, with a game of snakes and ladders and a wind range throughout the race of close to 90 degrees. New owners, Gary and Alex Haughton from the RIYC, were denied a famous win at the finish line as Jack and Henry took the win. This race perhaps illustrated that learning to sail on the lake and childhood summers sailing there was a definite advantage, as despite a disastrous start on the pin, Jack and Henry started to climb every ‘ladder’ from then on to ultimately reach the top rung at the finish.

Downwind charge under spinnakers on Lough Derg

Others to show strongly on Saturday were Tim Norwood and Becky Lowney, who especially liked the lighter conditions of the first three races to deliver a 2,2,1 scoreline. Perhaps they also learned to sail on a lake as they, too, made it look easy. Great sailing from Tom and Jamie McMahon saw them finish the day fifth overall to lead the Howth Armada. A final race win on Saturday lifted Jack and Henry into first overall as the fleet headed to Whiskey Still for a well-earned meal.

Conditions on Sunday were always forecast to be very light, and so it proved. Despite zephyrs promising to fill in, they never quite materialised into anything, and a rigged-up fleet stayed ashore. Some super race management from Tom McGrath had expected this, and his team extended Saturday’s racing to five races, which were ultimately all that was achieved. The event was a first for the Vakaros Race system on Irish Inland waters. With half the fleet OCS in Race 2, a General Recall was avoided by the auto OCS detection displayed on each boat, and racing continued.

The class now looks forward to the next regional, the Easterns, to be held as part of the Dun Laoghaire cup hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club on May 23rd and 24th.

1^st Jack Fahy Henry Higgins LDYC/RSGYC

2^nd John& Katie Sheehy RSGYC

3^rd Tim Norwood & Becky Lowney RIYC/TCD

4^th Andrew Fowler & Cian Lynch RSGYC

5^th Jack & Tom McMahon HYC

To view the full standings of the Melges 15 Western Championship, click the link here.

Published in 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.

At a Glance - Melges 15 Specifications

LENGTH 15 ft
BEAM 5 ft 6 in
DRAFT 2 ft 7 in
HULL WEIGHT 230 lbs
SAIL AREA
MAIN 93.6 sq ft
JIB 39.8 sq ft
ASYMMETRICAL SPINNAKER 156 sq ft
CREW 2

At a Glance - Irish Melges 15 class calendar for 2026

April 18–19 – Western Championships, Lough Derg Yacht Club
May 23–24 – Eastern Championships, Royal Irish Yacht Club (as part of Dun Laoghaire Cup)
June 20–21 – Northern Championships, Howth Yacht Club
July 3–5 – European Championships, Riva del Garda, Italy
August 22–23 – Irish National Championships, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Dublin Bay
September 19–20 – Sprint Style Event, Royal St. George Yacht Club (16 races targeted)
Winter 2026/2027 – Additional frostbite racing (dates TBC)