Fahy and Higgins Win Melges 15 Northern Championship

21st June 2026

Afloat.ie Team

Northern Winners — Royal St George Yacht Club's Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins celebrate victory in the Melges 15 Northern Championship at Howth Yacht Club. Toby Hudson Fowler and Kathy Kelly were second, with Andrew Fowler and Cian Lynch third overall

Royal St George Yacht Club's Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins claimed the Melges 15 Northern Championship after a dominant performance at Howth Yacht Club over the weekend. The Dublin Bay pairing secured the title with a race to spare after seven races sailed across two days of sunshine and sea-breeze conditions.

Fahy and Higgins built their advantage on Saturday when a strengthening afternoon breeze produced fast planing conditions. Consistent starts and strong downwind pace helped them establish a commanding overnight lead after four races.

Red Runner — Darren Wright and Aodhan Malone of Howth Yacht Club power downwind under a bright red spinnaker during the Melges 15 Northern Championship, finishing 12th overall in the seven-race series

Class newcomers Toby Hudson Fowler and Kathy Kelly emerged as the closest challengers. Two race victories highlighted an impressive championship debut and helped them secure second overall. A closely fought final race featured a degree of sibling rivalry and match-racing tactics, but Hudson Fowler and Kelly held on to finish runners-up ahead of Andrew Fowler and Cian Lynch in third.

Sunday's lighter winds presented a different challenge. Strong tidal flows around Ireland's Eye rewarded crews that positioned themselves correctly, while others were caught out by the current.

Ballyholme Yacht Club's Paddy Oliver and Diane Nelson finished fourth overall. Howth Yacht Club's Jack McMahon and Natasha Hemeryck were the leading host-club crew, finishing fifth. Among the other standout performances, Karena Knaggs and daughter Hanna opened the regatta with a second-place finish in Race One. Peter Fagan and Brian Kennedy matched that result in the final race of the series.

Podium Finishers — The top three crews at the Melges 15 Northern Championship in Howth. Winners Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins (centre) are flanked by runners-up Toby Hudson Fowler and Kathy Kelly (right) and third-placed Andrew Fowler and Cian Lynch (left)

The Melges 15 fleet now turns its attention to the European Championships at Lake Garda, which begin in ten days' time. The class will then return home for the Irish National Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club on 22–23 August.

Published in Melges 15, Howth YC

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)