Dublin Bay Glen Sailor Pete Hogan will give an illustrated talk tomorrow evening in Lough Derg Yacht Club, County Tipperary on ‘The Log of the Molly B’.

Hogan sailed the self–built 30' gaff rigged ketch solo round–the–world, one of only a few Irishmen to complete the global circumnavigation.

On a subsequent voyage he lost the yacht in a storm in the Med.

There were ideal saiing conditions at Lough Derg Yacht Club for the 22 boats competing at this year's IDRA 14 dinghy national championships writes Philip Hackett.

I set off for this year’s nationals thinking that a fairly sedate affair was in store; light winds set to weaken and lots of 70th anniversary yarns to sit through...fool me. The unexpected moderate winds and sunny spells made for ideal conditions in a superb location. That combined with the excellent facilities and hospitality afforded to us by LDYC made this one of the best nationals for our class in my experience.

New build IDRA 14 #166 Wicked Sadie

A quiet few days on the Shannon away from the crowds?.... The start line was worse than the M50 on a Friday bank holiday weekend and far more exciting. All very bad for the blood pressure but the starts really helped to mix up the fleet and gave some people a taste of glory up front for a while (Gordon and Mark race 6) and made the front runners work hard for points, having to battle up from the back of the fleet in several races. That all helped to make this event very competitive with a tight fleet and lots of tussles, front, middle and rear. The exception being the #1 spot with Alan Henry and Simon Revill (#134 Dubious) dominating the front without any serious challenge until they got snarled up on the start line on the final race. A little more on that later.

134 Dubious ….sometimes it's lonely at the top

The first day ended following a double win for #134. Pat O’Neill/Oisín O’Conor (#15 Delos II) tied for second position with Alan Carr/Ian MC Cormack (#38 Starfish) and third position also tied between myself/Fiachra Collins (#163 Chance), Frank Hamilton/Marjo Moonen (#140 Dunmoanin) and Andy Sargent/Callum Maher (#4 Dusk) and several others in close position thereafter.

The second day saw 134 again with a double win and second position still tied between Alan Carr/38 and Pat O’Neill/15. Pierre Long/John Parker(#161 Dart) moved up into 4th place behind them. The second race on this day had to be restarted due to the leeward mark drifting….post race chat revealed that most people reckoned the race was theirs if only it hadn't been restarted….indeed. Other notable events of the day saw Jim Lambkin/Wendy Rudd(#1 Error) mistakenly returning to the line for someone else's individual recall and Pat O’Neill receiving a schelp from our boom following an inadvertent jibe on the start line (sorry again Pat).

Pat O’Neill and Alan Carr….stern chasing

The final day was showdown time for second place between Alan Carr and Pat O’Neil but both were badly hemmed in on the start line in the first race and they finished 5th and 6th respectively. Second place went to Frank Hamilton/140 and third to Pierre Long/161. Running into the final race Alan Henry/134’s winning streak remained unbroken and just one point separated Alan Carr ahead of Pat O’Neil. The Committee Boat end of the line had been particularly busy in several of the previous races and so several people decided that the pin end would be the smart place to be…...however the pin end in this final race turned out to be the veritable eye of the needle….several  of the leading contenders either coming into contact with each other or the the mark or else stalling in the general melee. Myself and Fiachra managed to stay clear of it and crossed the start line with good speed and time. We kept our clear lead for the rest of the race. Gordon Kelly/Mark Masterson(#129 Del) had a lengthy taste of potential glory holding a good second position for most of the race until suffering a capsize at the end of the final reach.  Pat O’Neill started at the very back of the fleet and  #134 helmed by Simon Revill with Alan Henry now crewing also trailed the fleet at the start. However both these boats battled their way up through most of the fleet with Pat finally finishing 4th and Simon 2nd. Alan Carr also worked hard to make his way up and finished in 7th. Another very notable result being that of 3rd place taken by Catherine Martin/Brian Murphy(#122 Diane). Catherine is new to the class and had little prior experience of spinnaker sailing.

The final results saw Alan Henry/Simon Revill take 1st, Pat O’Neill/Oisín O’Connor  2nd and Alan Carr/Ian McCormack 3rd.

One very welcome innovation at this year’s Nationals being a rescue boat with a sun deck and onboard bar facilities…..Donal Heney/Louise Coulter(#71 Atomic) being taken in tow and aboard by a spectating motor cruiser. Ageing boy scouts John Lynch/Stephen Harrison(#158 Stoked) lived up to the motto Be Prepared by having a spare tiller to hand when they also suffered similar equipment failure.

The number of family members, over a 3 generation spread, racing with or against each other was also very notable this year...with the youngest competitor, SDC’s Caoimhe Fleming, aged 14 and the oldest being in his mid sixties. There was also a  big contingent of younger sailors from CYBC’s junior section attending the event with four boats either being crewed or helmed by them, Pat O’Neill’s crew, Oisín O’Connor, being one of these.

A thoroughly enjoyable and successful event. I am looking forward to returning to Lough Derg again soon.

Lough Derg Yacht Club..Race Officer John Leech with the IDRA 14 fleet

Counting four race wins in a ten race series, recently crowned British open Optimist Champion Tom Higgins of the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire added the Irish title in Lough Derg YC on Friday. With a scoreline of  1, 1, (33), 1, 5, (23,) 3 and 1, Higgins beat Royal Cork's Harry Twomey by a single point. The full results are here.

Senior Division, Gold Fleet

1st- Tom Higgins, Royal St.George YC (27 pts)
2nd- Harry Twomey, Royal Cork YC and Crookhaven Harbour SC (28 pts)
3rd- William Pank, Norfolk Broads YC, GBR (42 pts)

Best Irish Sailor at the European Championships- Leah Rickard, National Yacht Club
Overall Best U13 Irish- Harry Twomey, RCYC
Best Overseas Boy- William Pank, Norfolk Broads YC, GBR
Best Overseas Girl- Emily Mudler, RLym YC, GBR

Senior Gold Fleet, 1st Girl- Leah Rickard, NYC
Team Prize, Senior Fleet- Royal Cork Yacht Club: Harry Twomey, Rory O'Sullivan, Cillian Foster

National Senior Champion- Tom Higgins, RStGYC
Open Senior Champion- Tom Higgins, RStGYC

Irish Sailing Association Medals- Senior Fleet
1st placed Irish Sailor- Tom Higgins, RStGYC
2nd placed Irish Sailor- Harry Twomey, RCYC
3rd placed Irish Sailor- Harry Bell, HYC

North Sail Prize- Eoin Horgan, RCYC
Thomas Chaix Prize- Iseult Hogan, RStGYC
Best Irish Boat without a race win- Moss Symington, RStGYC
Best Mid-fleet Boat- Emily Riordan, RStGYC
Craft Insure Prize- Ella May, Sutton Dinghy Club
Craft Insure Prize- Grace Fahy, RStGYC and LDYC

Senior Division, Silver Fleet

1st place and Champion of the Senior Silver Fleet- Kitty Flanagan, RStGYC (239 pts)
2nd- Eoghan Turner, National YC (288 pts)
3rd- Kate Horgan, Royal Cork YC (364 pts)

1st Girl, Senior Silver Fleet- Kitty Flanagan, RStGYC
Best Local Sailor, Senior Silver Fleet- Eva Barrington, Lough Derg Yacht Club

Junior Division
Sailed:10, Discards:2, To Count:8, Entries:107

Junior Division, Gold Fleet

1st-Henry Heathcote, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (35 pts)
2nd-Ella Lance, Hayling Island SC, GBR (40 pts)
3rd- Hector Bennett, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (47 pts)

Junior Gold 1st Girl- Alejandra Peleteiro, Kinsale YC
Team Prize, Junior Fleet- Royal Cork Yacht Club: Justin Lucas, Jonathan O'Shaughnessy and Jamie Venner
Best U12 at the British Nationals- Justin Lucas, RCYC
Irish National Junior Champion- Justin Lucas, RCYC
Open Junior Champion- Henry Heathcote, RLymYC, GBR

Irish Sailing Association Medals- Junior Fleet
1st placed Irish sailor- Justin Lucas, RCYC
2nd placed Irish sailor- Luke Turvey, HYC
3rd placed Irish sailor- Johnny Flynn, HYC

Junior Division, Silver Fleet

1st Sailor in Junior Silver Fleet and winner of perpetual trophy- Johnny Flynn, Howth YC (95 pts)
2nd-Thomas O'Neill, Howth YC (258 pts)
3rd- Eimer McMurrow-Moriarty, Tralee Bay SC (259 pts)

Junior Silver First Girl Perpetual Trophy- Eimer McMorrow-Moriarty, TBSC
Best Local Sailor in the Junior Fleet- Neil O'Leary, LDYC
Best U11- Luke Turvey, HYC
Best U10-Peter Williams, RStGYC
Best Overseas Boy- Henry Heathcote, RLymYC
Best Overseas Girl- Ella Lance, HISC

Regatta Fleet

1st and Overall Champion in Regatta Fleet, Russell Bolger, RStGYC (19 pts)
2nd-Jessica Riordan, RStGYC (22 pts)
3rd- Hugo Anderson, Royal Lymington YC, GBR (34 pts)

205 sailors have registered for the Irish National Optimist and Open Championship at Lough Derg Yacht Club, Dromineer, Co.Tipperary from Monday 15th to Friday 19th August 2016. One hundred and fifty five (155) will sail in the Main Fleet and fifty (50) in the Regatta Fleet.

The main fleet comprises sailors with enough experience to compete for the Junior and Senior Optimist Championships. Competitors aged under 12 on 1st January 2016 will compete for the Junior prizes and those aged over 12 but under 15 on 1st January 2016 will compete for Senior Prizes. Both of these categories will be further divided into Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets in accordance with sailors' results in the regional championships held earlier this season. The regatta fleet will combine coaching and racing for sailors from eight years and upwards who are relatively new to racing.

On Sunday 14th August 2016 at 17:00 the event will be opened by Dr. Phyll Bugler, elected representative for Nenagh on Tipperary County Council. A Pipe Band will lead a parade of sailors, their families and supporters, and event volunteers through the village of Dromineer to the Lough Derg Yacht Club (LDYC) club house. After a formal welcome from LDYC Commodore David Meredith and speeches by Cllr. Bugler and President of the Optimist Association of Ireland (IODAI) Aidan Staunton, hospitality will be provided for all.

It is hoped that competitors will sail ten races during the five-day event. Weather conditions will determine this outcome. However, the event organisers have scheduled two races for Monday 15th and Friday 19th August. Three races have been scheduled for Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th August and Wednesday 17th is designated a lay day. In the event of unsuitable weather on the Monday or Tuesday, the Race Officer may decide to use Wednesday to catch up on missed races.

The main prizegiving will occur at the clubhouse on Friday 19th after the last race. Daily prizegiving will be held at the clubhouse at 09:00 from Tuesday 16th to Friday 19th inclusive.

Lough Derg Yacht Club is proud to host the National Optimist Championships again. Event organiser Niamh McCutcheon has rallied a volunteer crew of over one hundred and twenty persons to run the event both on the water and ashore. LDYC has honed its hospitality over many years of hosting national and regional championships for the Optimist, Mirror, Topper and Laser classes and we love to welcome new and returning sailors as they make progress in the sport, and their families who enjoy watching their young sailors become more skilled and autonomous.

This year we will welcome over forty sailors from England and Wales, sailing under the GBR burgee. Greece and Spain are each sending two sailors, as is Bermuda. One sailor is visiting us from Australia.

At present, there is representation from the following Irish sailing clubs:

Baltimore Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)
Crookhaven Sailing Club……..Two sailors (2)
Dingle Sailing Club……………….One sailor (1)
Foynes Yacht Club………………..Four sailors (4)
Galway Bay Sailing Club……….Two sailors (2)
Howth Yacht Club………………….Seventeen sailors (17)
Kinsale Yacht Club………………..Ten sailors (10)
Lough Derg Yacht Club………….Twelve sailors (12)
Lough Ree Yacht Club…………..Seven sailors (7)
Malahide Sailing Club…………..Two sailors (2)
Monkstown Bay Sailing Club..Four sailors (4)
National Yacht Club……………..Nineteen sailors (19)
Royal Cork Yacht Club………….Twenty-eight sailors (28)
Royal Irish Yacht Club…………..Five sailors (5)
Royal St.George Yacht Club…Thirty sailors (30)
Skerries Sailing Club…………….Four sailors (4)
Sutton Dinghy Club……………..One sailor (1)
Tralee Bay Sailing Club………..One sailor (1)

(The discrepancy in total numbers is due to the fact that some sailors are members of more than one yacht club or sailing club).

Lough Derg Yacht Club's freshwater regatta completed the 2015 one design season for the SB20s, Flying Fifteens, (see our earlier report here) and Dragons last weekend. The Squib class also counted the inland event as a Midland Championships.

With a combined turnout of 54–boats across the four classes and some tight races on Lough Derg there were some noteworthy winners including a second overall for debutante Squib campaigner (and London 2012 International Race Officer) Jack Roy sailing with daughter Jill. Squib winners, with by far the biggest fleet of 25 boats, were Jeff Condell and Jeff Cochran.

Full results for all classes below.

Ignis Caput sailed by National Yacht Club pairing David Mulvin and Ronan Beirne were overall winners of the Flying Fifteen end of season keelboat regatta sailed at Lough Derg Yacht Club in Tipperary today. Second were Dun Laoghaire club–mates Niall Meagher and Keith Poole with County Antrim's Brian Willis and John McPeake third in the six boat fleet. Full results downloadable below.

The biggest Irish Fireball fleet of the year, seventeen boats had a mixed bag of weather over the weekend just past for their Munster Championships at Lough Derg Yacht Club. On Saturday we had healthy winds, rain squalls that upped the strength of the breeze but fortunately didn’t give us too much rain, followed by sunshine. On Sunday we had much lighter breezes and drizzle that turned to heavy rain as the racing concluded.

With two of the more successful skippers missing this weekend, there was going to be change to the podium places at this regatta and so it proved. Another combination who have had a lean time of it in terms of regatta wins recently got back to winning ways in a dominant style and there was a healthy turnout of boats for the Classis Trophy. In addition to the Dun Laoghaire cohort we had participants from nearby Killaloe, Youghal and Skerries. The event was shared with the 420s who were sailing a Connaught Championships and the Wayfarers who were enjoying the latter stages of a cruising event that had started the previous weekend.

As Afloat reported earlier, at the skippers’ briefing on Saturday morning, Race Officer John Leech, and Vice Commodore of LDYC, postponed the start of proceedings as rain squalls over the race area were producing a white water scape and given the amount of time we had, discretion was deemed to be the better part of valour.

A more subdued race area met competitors when proceedings did get underway and a trapezoid course was set – a compromise position to accommodate both Classes. However, the physical size of the course proved to be much too small as stronger breeze came in to render the race a 20-minute session – an unusual error for the Race Officer to be caught out on his home waters.

The balance of the day’s racing was in this stronger breeze and more than one of the top combinations took a swim for their pains. After the first race aberration, Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (15061) dominated proceedings to record five race wins, allowing them to throw away the 3^rd place of the first “sprint” race. On Saturday evening in the racing post-mortem they admitted to capsizing on one of the downwind legs, but they were sufficiently far ahead that it didn’t cost them any places.

The first and second placed boats in the first race “sprint” also built on their success to secure podium finishes overall and their success was warmly applauded by their peers at the prize-giving. Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer (14938) finished second overall, tied with Jon Evans and Aidan Caulfield (14748) on eighteen points but taking second place on the basis of a third in the final race versus a seventh for the latter boat.

The Clancy brothers, Conor & James, secured yet another fourth place overall – a habit that most of us would envy, but one I’m sure they would prefer to break.  Fifth place went to Mike Murphy & Alex Voye.

At the close of racing on Saturday evening the first three boats in the Classic Trophy were separated by a point. However an excellent fifth race for the “Youghal youngsters” Adrian Lee and Edward Coyne (14044), finishing ninth, combined with a conversely poor race for the division leaders, saw a major swing in the points in favour of the younger combination. John Bolger & Jay Dalton of Killaloe (14150) also scored well on Sunday to secure second overall in the Classics.

Adrian Lee (L) & Edward Coyne (R) – Classic Trophy winners

In the Silver Fleet, the victors were the Class Chairman, Marie Barry and Cariosa Power (14854), who finished in 9^th place and they were also the first ladies, followed immediately by Louise McKenna & Hermine O’Keeffe (14691).

LDYC were excellent hosts with a superb meal served in the clubhouse on the Saturday night and a late bar. Race Officer John Leech and his team turned races around very quickly and set good courses which was quite a challenge in Sunday’s lighter airs circumstances.  At the prize-giving he complimented the Class on their racing prowess and indicated that LDYC would be keen to host the Fireballs again. The hosting of three classes at the one venue over a single weekend worked well – though in reality the Wayfarers were doing a distance race on the Saturday so the rest of us only saw them onshore.

Fourteeen 420s travelled to Lough Derg Yacht Club this weekend to take part in the Connacht Championships.

Three races were completed in Day one in windy but predominantly dry conditions on Saturday. Three firsts placed Douglas Elmes / Colin O’Sullivan (HYC), who recently took the National championships in Cork, in first place overnight. After the day’s racing the fleet was split into Gold and Silver.

A good call by the race officer meant that despite extremely light conditions on Sunday morning, racing began as scheduled, with the first general recall of the event in Race 4. Race 4 was shortened as the light conditions persisted but by race 5 the breeze had picked up slightly.

Elmes / O’Sullivan took race 4, but Cliodhna ni Shuilleabhain / Niamh Doran (KYC) gave them a run for their money in the subsequent two races, taking two firsts.

Overall, the results were Elmes / O’Sullivan first, Ni Shuilleabhain / Doran second and Kate Lyttle / Niamh Henry (RSGYC) who sailed a consistent series being placed third overall.

Silver fleet was won by Alix Buckley / Emma Parker (SSC).

The event saw a great turnout from the 420 fleet, with boats attending from the home club LDYC, from Northern Ireland and from Galway and Wexford, as well as Dublin and Cork clubs, all sailing in a challenging set of weather conditions.

Holding the event in conjunction with the Fireball Munster Championships meant a busy weekend in Lough Derg.

The penultimate regatta of the Irish Fireball regatta season has seen the best turnout of boats this year–16 writes Cormac Bradley.

Sailing with the 420s (15 boats) on Lough Derg and hosted by Lough Derg Yacht Club, the fleet took advantage of favourable conditions to have four races today. The first race was an abnormally short trapezoid – abnormal because Race Officer John Leech, Vice–Commodore of LDYC, doesn't normally make mistakes like that.

Niall McGrotty & Neil Cramer (Skerries/ 14938) were the beneficiaries with Jon Evans & Aidan Caulfield (National YC/14748) second and Noel Butler & Stephen Oram (National YC/15061) third.

Thereafter normal service was resumed with Butler/Oram taking three wins over a second trapezoid and two Windward/Leeward courses. 2nd places were shared between McGrotty/Cramer, Mick Creighton & Joe O'Reilly (RStGYC/1506) and Mike Murphy & Alex Voye (National YC/14908).

Conor & James Clancy (RStGYC/14807) claimed two thirds in these races with the other third going to Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly (DMYC/14713).

The nett effect is to give Butler/Oram a five point cushion on McGrotty/Cramer who have two points on Evans/Caulfield.

Competition for the Classic Trophy is much tighter with this correspondent of the view that this is being led by Owen Sinnott & Cormac Bradley (31pts) followed by John Bolger & Jay Dalton (32pts) and Adrian Lee & Edward Coyne (32pts). These three occupy 10th, 11th and 12th.

Leading ladies are Class Chairman Marie Barry crewing for Cariosa Power.

Two races are scheduled for tomorrow

#mirror – Eighteen months ago brother and sister Ryan and Michaela Robinson, from Boskop Yacht Club in Carletonville, approximately an hour's drive outside Johannesburg, won the Mirror World Championships hosted by Lough Derg Yacht Club.

They won against competition from the Philippines, GBR and Irish crews among others. Fireball correspondent for Afloat, Cormac Bradley, raced against and worked for their father, Michael, during his time in South Africa and after the regatta in Lough Derg, Michael wrote a piece on the campaign to compete in the Irish hosted Worlds. The essence of Michael's article is that it isn't necessary to have the latest boat and sails in order to win a Worlds and he chronicled how the family had engaged with the Mirrors from a relatively modest investment of time and money to a full blown Worlds campaign.

The article obviously struck a chord because on revisiting the story on the Afloat website recently, it had received over 5,000 reads!

So, as a follow-up to that widely read article, Bradley reports that Michaela and Ryan successfully defended their Worlds title, but with their roles in the boat reversed, Michaela helmed and Ryan crewed.

This time the strongest threat to the defence came from a concerted British team which had a number of combinations finishing at the top end of individual races. However, Michaela and Ryan were able to defend their title with a race to spare! The 2015 Worlds were held in Theewaters Kloof Dam outside Cape Town. Regrettably, there was no Irish presence at the 2015 Worlds.

A full review of the double win by the Robinsons has been posted HERE.