On Saturday, the Leinster rugby team will be playing against Munster in Croke Park in front of an expected crowd of 80,000 supporters. That is not the only 'Battle of the Giants' to be held on the weekend of 11th to 13th October, Lough Derg Yacht Club will be holding their Annual Keelboat regatta incorporating the Squib Irish Inland Championships. The Dragon fleet consists of only two boats, the Flying Fifteens, seven boats and SB20s, two boats. However, The Squib Class have forty-one entries to date, with more late entries expected, making this the largest-ever Squib event in Ireland which was not connected with the UK Nationals.
Unlike in Croke Park, within the Squib fleet, there will be one English entry, three from Wales, four from Ulster, five from Leinster, two from Connaght and twenty-four from Munster. It will be like all the five nations' matches rolled into one.
In the Irish 2024 regional and national Squib events, Kinsale sailors dominated, with Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan in 'Atomic' winning most of the regional events in Belfast Lough, Baltimore and Dublin Bay, and Michael O'Suilleabhain and Michael O'Sullivan in 'Mucky Duck' winning the Nationals in Howth in July. Will this Kinsale pair be able to dominate the fleet? Probably not, as previous National Championship winners will push for domination of the huge Squib fleet. Peter Wallace and Martin Weatherstone in 'Toy for the Boys' from Royal North of Ireland YC are always in with a chance, as is Howth's Emmet Dalton and Neal Merry in 'Kerfuffle', and Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan in Quickstep III also from Royal North, and of course Dick Batt, the sailmaker, has won the UK nationals more than once, and it is in his interest to show that his sail work under all wind conditions.
There are plenty of 'Dark Horses' in the entry list, including Aidan O'Connell and Lauren Donahht in 'Ruby Blue.' Will he be supporting Munster? Will Dave Stewart and Brian Hare play for Wales in' Granat'? Of the Connaght contingent, some will be putting their money on Philip Despard and Stefany Gorski in 'Sinbad' to be the strongest contender from that province. Of the strong Lough Derg home fleet Tadg and son Robert Murphy in former championship winner 'Outlaw' could lead the home fleet.
Most of the ladies taking part are crewing, but there will be four helming: Tonia McAllister from Dublin Bay in 'Selik', Jill Somerville from Howth in 'Archimedes', and locals Catherine Staines in 'Adora' and Patricia George in 'Dorado.' It will be a great battle between the first two mentioned.
The Squib class do have special prizes for 'Hunter' built boats. I think 'Selik' having won the Irish Eastern Championship, would be in with a chance of winning again.
