#national18 – The National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire will be hosting the National 18 Irish dinghy sailing Championships, the first time since the mid 1960's that this exciting trapeze class will hold their Championships in Dublin.
The event will be held at the NYC from 15th & 16th June 2013.
The traditional stronghold for 18 sailing is based in Crosshaven and Monkstown in Cork where an active fleet of over 30 boats enjoys close racing on a weekly basis. They are a 3 person boat with essentially a one design GRP hull shape, with a large sail area flown on a carbon rig with one crew member using a trapeze.
They have an exhilarating performance being quicker than a Dragon upwind with gobsmacking speed downwind in any sort of a breeze. The fleet is peppered with quality sailors including former and current Olympians. Racing is lively, close and ferocious with the boats all matched with similar speed.
The hosts confidently expect a fleet of 25 boats to participate, augmented with entries also attending from some of the hotspots for 18 sailing in the UK. The fleet will have a division for Classic 18s, some of which are well over 60 years old and beautifully restored with their original clinker planking and wooden masts.
The photo of Fingal 226 below is of one of the famous rule bending so called "sticky" Parker (The famous UK builder of world beating 505s) built plywood boats constructed for Jack Flannagan of Skerries in the 1960's when the event was last held in Dublin.
Both this boat and Finola 227 a sister ship built for Jack's brother, the famous Leo Flannigan, have been restored by enthusiastic owners to brand new condition and are still actively sailing in their original 1960's configuration. These outstanding boats being built of glued plywood planking, completely eclipsed the then commonplace traditional spruce planked boats and ultimately led to the adoption of the Proctor designed GRP smooth hull, which is still used today.
