Dun Laoghaire Melges 15 Summer Series Builds Momentum Fast

6th May 2026

Afloat.ie Team

Kite Night — Colourful Melges 15 spinnakers fill in light airs off Dun Laoghaire as the summer series gets under way on Dublin Bay

Dun Laoghaire Melges 15 Fleet continued its Summer Series on Tuesday night with four races completed in light and shifting conditions. Winds of between three and six knots tested crews across the harbour, placing a premium on boat speed and staying in pressure.

Close racing off Dun Laoghaire as the harbour series gathers pace

Sailors Tim Norwood and Becky Lowney dominated the evening racing, winning all four races in the light-air conditions. Consistent performances from father-and-son pairing Nick Smyth and Ben Smyth saw them strengthen their early position in the overall standings after building on results from the opening Tuesday series.

Organisers have scheduled five mini-series across the summer programme, including four Tuesday evening series and one Saturday series.

The Saturday racing began last weekend with brothers Jacques Murphy and Conn Murphy taking four wins from five races in stronger 10 to 12-knot conditions. Strong downwind speed and efficient spinnaker handling proved decisive during the harbour racing.

Yellow spinnaker drawing as the Melges 15 fleet settles into summer racing

Attention now turns to Howth Yacht Club, where Thursday night marks the start of the club’s own Summer Sailing programme for the Melges 15 fleet. A Northside-Southside rivalry is expected to intensify ahead of the class Eastern Championships at Royal Irish Yacht Club on 23 and 24 May.

Published in Melges 15, Howth YC, Royal Irish Yacht Club

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)