If variety is what you hope to experience in sailing, then Howth is the place to be in action this weekend. Top of the agenda is the 40th Anniversary Championships of the Puppeteer 22 Class, for it was 1984 when these handy little Chris Boyd-designed mini-cruiser-racers first began to race at Howth. They have come on so well as a class that they now have their own allocated area in the marina. It's known as Puppeteer City, and ironically it's the nearest part of the HYC Marina to Howth House, where the Howth 17s were designed by the very young Walter Herbert Boyd in the Autumn of 1897.
"Puppeteer City" in Howth. The modest Georgian building at centre is Howth House, where Walter Herbert Boyd designed the still-racing Howth 17s 127 years ago. Photo: W M Nixon
Defending Champion in the Puppeteers is Trick or Treat, campaigned by Alan Pearson and Alan Blay. The former - whose family have been part of the Howth sailing scene for more than a hundred years – is also current Puppeteer 22 Class Captain, and is seeing to it that the up-coming championship is rounded out by a suitably celebratory 40th Anniversary Championship Awards Lunch in the clubhouse on Sunday (August 25th), while Alan Blay uses any spare energy as an ace helm with the GP14s over at Sutton DC.
Puppeteer 22s have been providing excellent One Design racing at Howth for forty years
HOWTH 17s' RACING
As for the venerable Howth 17s, on Saturday afternoon they'll have their time-honoured racing with a pier start and – if conditions are reasonable – they'll be carrying full sail including jackyard topsails, for they continue to race exactly as designed 128 years ago.
OLD GAFFERS BOUND FOR HOWTH
There'll be other gaff-rigged boats around as well, as the weekend is scheduled for the annual Howth visit of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association, led by DBOGA President Adrian "Stu" Spence in his clipper-bowed ketch El Paradiso. The programme includes a Round Ireland's Eye Race on Saturday followed by a "highly sociable" evening with supper in the Abbey Tavern on Saturday. This will include the annual presentation of a substantial cheque to the Howth RNLI, well funded for the DBOGA's favourite charity from a modest but regular levy raised during each mid-week nautical-themed winter show organised by DBOGA in Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club.
Old Gaffers and Howth 17s get together. Photo: W M Nixon
You'd think all that is enough to be going on with, but if conditions suit on Sunday, there'll be more racing for the Gafffers the Pierhead Cup and the Sean Whiston Trophy, which may be cleverly used as the prizes to speed the Old Gaffers back to Dublin Bay with a race.
MELGES 15s CELEBRATE THE FUTURE WITH LATEST RACE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY
Amidst all this antiquity, there's a distinct "Blast from the Future", as Howth YC is hosting the first Irish National Championship for the expanding Melges 15 Class on using a very mid-21st Race Management system.We've already carried the story on Afloat.ie about this event's advanced race management, but ICYMI here it is again:
"All the bells and whistles" for the first Irish Melges 15 Nationals this weekend (24-25 August)
Race Officer Richard Kissane and the team are getting ready for a new challenge as they prepare for the upcoming Melges 15 nationals in Howth on August 24th and 25th.
The championships will see the Irish debut of RaceSense, a new innovative digital way to run racing. New technology solving old problems.
Every boat will be fitted with a Vakaros Atlas unit, a GPS device already popular in the class that displays headings, speeds, timing, and trims. Built into every unit is RaceSense, an operating system for racing. With the committee boat and marks also fitted with a device and GPS accuracy to the cm, the PRO can run race organisation from a tablet.
OCS DETECTION AND DISPLAY
Timing is synced up from the committee boat, OCS detection is automatic and displayed on each boat, and General recalls are a thing of the past! Competitors are notified milliseconds after the start if they're over or not and when they have dipped the start to clear themselves, so it's easier than ever to restart and get racing.
With finish positions recorded and future upgrades to include mark zones and boundaries, the Irish class is excited for a taste of America's Cup-style technology to enhance their racing—not to mention the opportunity to brag about who was the 'Top Gun' recording the quickest speed of the day.
RECENT MELGES RACING
All-Ireland Melges 15 racing is still unknown territory, but in recent class club racing in Howth it was intriguing to note that people with strong links to the sportier end of the J/Boat cruiser-racer range such as Mike Evans and Stephen Quinn seemed to be in the frame.
