Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Vincent Delany and Joe O’Byrne’s Femme Fatale remains at the top of the unofficial Irish Squib Ladder following the Irish National Championships at Killyleagh Yacht Club.

The latest ranking, compiled by Delany following the 14-16 August championship on Strangford Lough, contains 62 Squibs representing 12 home clubs.

The Ladder is based on boat names rather than individual owners or crews and combines results from five Irish championship events over the past year.

Femme Fatale Holds Top Spot

Royal St George Yacht Club and Lough Derg Yacht Club’s Femme Fatale leads on 27 points after finishing third at the Irish Nationals.

Delany and O’Byrne have built their position through consistent attendance and results, with scores of third at the Nationals, sixth in the Easterns, first in the Northerns, fourth in the Inlands and 13th in the 2025 Southerns.

Prodigal is second on 39 points, while Royal Irish Yacht Club’s Ruby Blue, sailed by Aidan O’Connell with different crews during the series, is third on 44.

Atomic Fourth Despite Nationals Victory

Perhaps the most striking position is that of Kinsale Yacht Club’s Atomic.

Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan won the Irish National Championship at Killyleagh but sit fourth in the unofficial Ladder on 46 points.

Delany points out that Atomic would be at the head of the ranking but for missing two events over the period covered by the Ladder.

The Kinsale boat has won or finished second in three of the five events in which its ranking is based, including victory at Killyleagh this month.

Howth Yacht Club’s Durt is fifth on 47 points, followed by Chili of Lough Derg Yacht Club on 63.

62 Squibs Represented

Former leading campaigners Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan are seventh in Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club’s Quickstep III on 68 points.

Kinsale’s Crackers is eighth on 70, with Howth’s Kaizen and Kinsale’s Flora completing the top ten, both on 79 points.

John Driscoll’s Aficionado, which finished second at the Irish Nationals, lies 11th. Delany notes that the Royal North of Ireland boat has achieved second place at each of the events it contested but missed three regional championships.

The 62 boats included in the latest unofficial Ladder demonstrate the spread of Squib championship participation around Ireland, with no single club dominating the top of the ranking despite particularly strong fleets at Kinsale and Lough Derg.

Download the full unofficial ladder as an excel file below