The 2023 Squib Easterns at the weekend hosted by Howth YC and sponsored by Challenge, the Medical Insurance Company, provided an event held with light breezes, but basking in the glow of the recently unfamiliar glare of glorious sunshine. The fleet of 23 boats included sailors from all over Ireland, with the leading boats in particular apparently taking a leaf out of classes such as the International 29er in having different sailing centres provide the basis of the two-handed racing teams. This can surely only help in enhancing understanding among the various tribes of our socially-complex sport.
Saturday morning’s clearing fog left Principal Race Officer Derek Bothwell with no option but to delay for a short time before the pea soup diluted, and the fleet snaked out of the harbour.
Once the breeze settled, Derek promptly sent the competitors on their way, with a long-held early lead by the host club’s Kerfuffle - Emmet Dalton of Howth crewed by Royal Cork’s Neal Merry - being eventually overtaken by the Granat team of David Stewart & Brian Hare from the Royal Irish YC to seal the Race 1 deal. Howth’s Cool Beans (Class Captain Tom O’Reilly and Phil Merry) pocketed a tasty second place as Dalton & Merry kerfuffled their way down to fourth on the line, where Robert Marshall of Killyleagh was ahead in third.
The Spit Mark in Howth Sound is one to be avoided when the tide is strong, except in a complete flat calm when it makes for a handy mooring as you wait for the sea breeze. Photo: Emmet Dalton
“DROVE HER LIKE SHE WAS STOLEN”
The bit was now between Granat’s teeth, and they drove her like she was stolen to dominate Race 2, but Kerfuffle was back in touch with second, while third was Dogwatch (Terry Rowan from Royal North of Ireland YC, with total personnel mixing on board as his crew was HYC Puppeteer 22 Class Captain Crew Paul McMahon). Speed was of the essence to rein in Granat and Kerfuffle as they hit the hyperspace button for a Race 3 win. The second swift RIYC boat Ruby Blue (Aidan O’Connell & Ben O’Donoghue) followed, with Blue (David Hanna & Brian Kelly from Killyleagh YC) taking 3rd.
FRIED BRAINS
The delayed start to the first day and fried brains from the downwind legs sent the fleet ashore for recuperation and a dinner arranged in a characteristically weird Tetras layout (Afloat.ie Webmaster’s Note: This “weird” was in the report as posted by the Squib Association) Kerfuffle was leading Granat by a single point as the balmy and convivial night set in. Yet while Sunday morning may have seen the fleet being “spat out of the harbour and sent up the Sound on Sunday morning by a strong flood tide”, the near-zero breeze caused some boats to moor by a line the Spit Mark at Ireland’s Eye to wait for the fun to begin. Once the wind appeared, the Race Management team wasn’t long opening the traps for Race 4.
That magic moment when a developing sea breeze becomes a racing proposition – Emmet Dalton’s Kerfuffle coming to life with justified anticipation. Kerfuffle laid her claim to that race, chased by multiple championship winners Quickstep III (Gordon Patterson & Ross Nolan from RNIYC), with third going to the fleet’s oldest boat, Squib 24 Femme Fatale (multi-club Vincent Delany & Jamie Fenton representing RStGYC and Arklow SC)
BATTLE ROYALE
At this stage, Kerfuffle and Granat were locked in a battle royale, and the two boats knew the championship outcome would depend on one leading the other over the line in the final two races. Sacrificing a maybe, coulda-woulda-been Race 5 win, the Howth boat made sure the Dublin Bay boat didn’t escape. It was maths at play. Femme Fatale took that race win ahead of Quickstep III, with third going to Howth’s Durt (Fergus O’Kelly & Robert Stanley).
SHOWDOWN AT HOWTH SOUND
Last race…. Granat had to beat Kerfuffle by 5 places to take the title. Pre-start match racing was the order of the day, but the Howth boat shook off its rival at a bumpy start line and kept the points gap high enough to take the silverware and keep the trophy on the Peninsula. Kinsale’s Outlaw” (Ian Travers & Keith O’Riordan) demolished the fleet in this final race, chased by Quickstep III and Durt, a performance which rocketed the Kinsale boat up the rankings “Outlaw” to nip into second overall and split Kerfuffle” and Granat overall while Cool Beans (Tom O’Reilly & Phil Merry) took the Silver Fleet honours just ahead of Howth’s Tears in Heaven (Tom McMahon & Jill Sommerville)
At the tea and medals ceremony, Commodore Neil Murphy acknowledged the work put in by Class Captain Thomas O’Reilly, Fergus O’Kelly, Ronan MacDonell and Emmet Dalton for pulling the event together. Derek Bothwell went away well balanced with a bottle of his favourite tipple for each arm and sponsors Challenge were given a warm round of applause from the assembled sailors and supporters.
Peak Squib time at Howth – 105 boats on the starting line during the 1995 combined Irish & British Championships. Photo: Mandy Murnane
In all, the event served as a reminder of how well suited the Squib is to both Howth conditions and the volatile times in which we live, and the news that Howth YC will be staging the 2024 Irish Squib Nationals has reinforced rumours that at least two noted Peninsula sailor are scrolling through the Squibs for Sale listings.
