Royal St George Yacht Club sailors Jack Fahy and Mike Huang have won the inaugural Melges 15 Sprint Championships after an exciting high-speed two-race Medal Series finale in Dún Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday.
The new event format, partly inspired by the Medal Series used at this summer’s ILCA World Championships on Dublin Bay, produced ten short races over the weekend, culminating in Sunday’s heavy-weather finale.
As Afloat reported in its Sprint Championships preview, the season-ending class championship was designed around short, high-intensity racing before a two-race decider.
Fahy and Huang Take Six Saturday Wins
Eight qualifying races were sailed on Saturday in south-westerly winds of 10 to 20 knots, with crews managing shifts of as much as 25 degrees on a tight race track off Salthill.
The shifting and sometimes streaky breeze meant positions changed rapidly, producing both major recoveries and costly reversals throughout the day.
Fahy and Huang, a new combination for the event, quickly found their rhythm and won six of the eight races. Their partnership brought together considerable short-course experience across generations. Fahy is the 2026 Irish Team Racing champion, while Huang won a US team racing title in 2000.
The Howth Yacht Club pairing of Fiachra Farrelly and Jamie Malcolm also impressed, completing Saturday in third overall.
The racing was tracked using the Vakaros RaceSense system, with its newly launched 3D Race Player allowing competitors to review races afterwards as part of their post-race analysis.
Race replay: The new RaceSense 3D Race Player brings the Melges 15 Sprint Championship action to screen, allowing crews to replay the short-course racing and analyse the gains and losses that shaped the results
40-Knot Gusts Delay Sunday Finale
Sunday brought the strong winds that had been forecast, with Race Officer Barry O’Neill initially keeping competitors ashore as gusts of up to 40 knots and heavy rain swept through Dún Laoghaire.
Conditions eventually moderated as the wind shifted west, leaving a solid 22 to 23 knots in the harbour, with gusts still reaching 30 knots. That was enough to proceed with the two-race Medal Series, producing a spectacular conclusion to the championship.
Speeds surged across the fleet, with a new event “Top Gun” mark of 20.2 knots recorded during the finale.
Fahy and Huang held their nerve through both medal races to secure the inaugural Sprint Championship title.
Fahy Caps Strong Melges 15 Season
The victory completed a particularly successful domestic season for Fahy. As previously reported by Afloat, he had already won the Melges 15 Western Championships, the Eastern Championships and overall Dún Laoghaire Cup honours and the Northern Championship at Howth with different crews during 2026.
His only domestic championship podium finish outside first place came at August's Irish National Championships, where Fahy and Adam Hyland finished third, just two points behind winners Sean Donnelly and Greg Arrowsmith.
The Melges 15 fleet now turns its attention to the Irish Sailing Dinghy Champions Cup in Dún Laoghaire on 3–4 October, where the class has been selected as the supplied boat for the championship.
