In recent years, the large and varied membership of Howth Yacht Club have seen so many major anniversaries come and go – after proper programmes of lively celebration afloat and ashore – that casual observers might expect an element of festival fatigue to be creeping in.
Not a bit of it. Last year may have seen the 125th Anniversary of the unique Howth 17 One Designs, with the highlight being a boisterous Cruise-in-Company to some of the choicest destinations in West Cork. But this year it’s the turn of the ultimate Sailing Secret Society to celebrate forty years as a recognised club class at the peninsular port, which they naturally insist we recognise as being in East Fingal rather than the usual off-hand designation of North Dublin.
For in sailing, there are secret societies, there are top secret societies, there’s the Forbidden City, and then there are the Howth Puppeteer 22s. These manageable little boats-with-a-lid may have originated with designer-builder Chris Boyd of Killyleagh in Strangford Lough in the 1970s. But by 1984 enough of them had found the sailing and racing waters off Howth to be so congenial to their needs and capabilities that the class has just grown and grown, until nowadays most of the Puppeteer 22s in active existence are with this one class in this one location.
Trick or Teat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay) will be defending her Puppeteer 22 National Champion status during 2024
A WORLD OF THEIR OWN
And they seldom interact by going anywhere else, for Howth’s sailing area with its two islands of Ireland’s Eye and Lambay is its own maritime universe. But the outside world was given a glimpse into this mini-universe recently with the Puppeteer 22 Annual Dinner and Prize-giving in the HYC clubhouse. It behoves us to publish the official report in its entirety, with the observation that despite being One Design, like the Howth 17s the Puppeteer 22s diligently maintain a parallel handicap division.
BIGGEST KEELBOAT OD CLASS AT HOWTH
“The Dinner marked the start of the celebrations for the fleet’s 40th year as a standalone Class at Howth Yacht Club. During that time the Club’s fleet has grown from its initial four boats to being the biggest one design keelboat fleet at Howth, or indeed any Irish club. The first four were Snowgoose, Sanderling, Gannet and Ibis, three of them still in the same families, and they are still among the fastest in the fleet. It now counts 32 boats afloat with four more in HYC, currently either resting ashore or undergoing refurbs.
Made for each other…..Puppeteer 22s with Ireland’s Eye beyond. Photo: HYC
2023 saw two additions to the fleet, Ms Emma (B Mohan) making a long journey by road from northern parts, while Pinocchio (J McMahon) made a relatively short but incident packed voyage from its previous abode in Malahide.
EACH BOAT TABULATED
A programme of birthday celebrations is planned for 2024 and the awards night saw it get underway when each boat was presented with an encapsulated sheet featuring a photograph of the boat sailing, and a list of its ownership history and record of successes. Gerry Sargent is ‘Mr Puppeteer’ in Howth YC and his records of each of the 54 boats, which were built in Northern Ireland to Chris Boyd’s design, is an invaluable archive of the history of a unique 32 county story of sailing success. Mary McDyer and Olibhe Ní Bhraonain are sharing the party planning, and the awards night was a fantastic start to the celebrations.
Twenty-four boats took part in Club racing in 2023 and, with 18 afloat on a number of the evenings, competition was keen. The three series over the summer and the short end of season Mini-Series were dominated by Yellow Peril (Murphy/Costello) and Trick or Treat (Pearson/Blay). In the scratch series, each enjoyed two wins and two runner-up positions while, in the handicap events, the four wins went to Odyssey (P&R Byrne), No Strings (T. Harvey) and Gannet (T. Chillingworth) with Blue Velvet (G. Kennedy) and Papagena (K&B Barker) getting on the prize winners’ list as runner-ups. The two Saturday Series were won by Odyssey and by WeyHey (I. Dickson).
Always there or thereabouts – Yellow Peril (Neil Murphy& Con Costello) finished last season on a high. Photo: W M Nixon
The undoubted star performer of 2023 was Trick or Treat which, apart from its share of success in Club racing, won the Lambay Races, National Championship and Autumn League to take a clean sweep of the three major Class events of the year. Outgoing Class Captain Paul McMahon thanked the sailors for supporting the Class and Club racing and congratulated the prizewinners. Club racing starts again on April 23rd and competition promises to be fierce with both newcomers and increasingly quick old-timers determined to challenge the 2023 dominance of Trick or Treat.
With plenty of other Puppeteer 22s still racing, particularly in Northern Ireland, the Howth fleet looks forward to welcoming their Classmates this summer to share the celebrations and sample the racing area that so well suits these beautiful and long-lived boats”.
