#HYC - Ahead of the eagerly awaited Wave Regatta, Howth Yacht Club is getting ready to host the Sportsboat Cup 2018 this coming weekend — but it’s a contingent from Cork who are looking to retain the top prize for the Rebel County.
Defending champion T-Bone, the Durcan/O’Shea boat helmed by All Ireland Helmsman Champion Alex Barry, returns to the European Championship 1720 fleet where they will no doubt face a strong challenge from Antix — which has Fionn Lyden taking the place of Anthony O’Leary as skipper for this event.
Boats from Dun Laoghaire, Cork, Baltimore, Galway and Wales are set to converge on the Howth Peninsula for the 1720 title alongside a mixed fleet of Half and Quarter Tonners, among them Conor Fogerty’s vintage Silver Shamrock. (Download the sailing instructions below.)
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, this year’s Sportsboat Cup also incorporates the inaugural J/80 Irish National Championships, with Pat O’Neill’s Mojo having the jump on a small but experienced fleet with past Olympians, national champions and sailmakers involved.
The event runs back-to-back with Howth Yacht Club’s Wave Regatta on the weekend of 1-3 June, and its hoped many of the Sportsboat Cup competitors from the UK will stay on to race with the Irish fleet.
Andrew Algeo’s Juggernaut leads the J109’s into division one but faces stiff competition under IRC, as reported earlier today on Afloat.ie.