The 2025 HYC Autumn League, supported by Fingal County Council, concluded last Saturday (October 18th) after providing spectacular racing for the eighty-three entries which competed on two course areas in eight different Classes. The latter part of the series came up against the inconsistency of October's weather, with races lost to both excess and absence of wind, but the outstanding memory of this year's event will be the conditions enjoyed during the event's first three Saturdays in September — challenging or exciting depending on perspective.
And as the Race Officer teams maximised the opportunities to get in as many races as possible while the going was good, despite October’s frustrations, a proper result was achieved.
They may be the oldest keelboat class in the world, but the 1898-vintage Howth Seventeens lived up to their reputation for close racing and came to a tie-break in the final tally.
INSHORE FLEET
The Inshore fleet comprised the one-design Classes — Howth 17s, Puppeteer 22s and Squibs. The Howth 17s lived up to their reputation for close racing, and the tie-break process under the Racing Rules had to be applied to determine if Deilginis (Massey, Toomey and Kenny) or Isobel (Brian and Conor Turvey) took top place on scratch. The two race-wins of Deilginis trumped their opposition's single gun and thereby added the Autumn League title to their victory in the Class's 2025 National Championships. The results in the handicap event saw the placings reversed, with Isobel taking top spot.
Jill Sommerville, HYC Rear Commodore and HYC Open events Co-Ordinator, with champion helm Andy Sargent of the Puppeteer Nimon
MOST NUMEROUS OD
The Puppeteer 22s, Howth's most numerous one-design, were the largest Class in the regatta, but Royal Irish YC entry Nimon (Nigel Biggs) secured a clean sweep of race wins over the other seventeen boats and had the luxury of discarding a first-place result. Shiggi Shiggi (Paul and Laura McMahon) finished as runner-up, while the handicap results saw Snowgoose (Sarah Robertson) winning from Gepetto (O'Reilly & McDyer). The immaculately presented Nimon, with experienced HYC Pup skipper Andy Sargent helming, also took the Heineken Trophy for the best boat of the Autumn League. After a ten-year break ashore resting on a farm before its restoration last winter, Nimon's success rounded out a great comeback season that also saw the boat crowned Irish National Champion.
First raced informally by the Squib Class in 1979, and an official part of the HYC calendar since 1982, the Autumn League has acquired an interesting selection of trophies in its 40-plus years
TEARING UP IN SQUIBS
The Squib Class saw the similarly named Tears in Heaven (Tom McMahon) and Tears for Fears (Niall Monks) dominating. Tears in Heaven scored four firsts and a third to win overall from the four seconds and a third of Tears for Fears, whilst the handicap results saw the overall order reversed to give Niall Monks the victory.
There was ample opportunity for the new wave of Sportsboats to strut their stuff
OFFSHORE
The Offshore fleet included the five Cruiser Classes, three racing with spinnakers and two as White Sails. In Class 1, the consistency of The Big Picture (Michael & Richard Evans) brought them first place on IRC in three of the five races sailed and put them on the top step of the podium on both IRC and HPH, with Indian (Simon Knowles) the runner-up.
“Winner jackets all round……” The comprehensive success of Team Evans with the J/112 The Big Picture provided a fashion parade at the prize-giving
In Class 2, Impetuous (Noonan & Chambers) held off the challenge of Mata (Wright & DeNeve) to take the IRC win by just two points, and the same order was maintained on the HPH results, again with two points separating the boats.
Jill Sommerville and Tom McMahon, prize-winner in Squibs
Stephen Mullaney's Insider and Vincent Gaffney's Alliance II were the IRC star turns in Class 3, sharing the top two places in all the races, but Insider's four wins assured their overall win on IRC. Battling J, Malahide YC's club-owned J24, did its name justice on the HPH results with its three race wins securing its overall victory, while Alliance II again took second.
The Tops! Malahide YC’s J/24 Race team
NON-SPINNAKERS
The bigger non-spinnaker cruisers raced in Class 4, and a close-fought battle on IRC across the series between Splashdance (John Beckett & Andy George) and White Pearl (David Greene) saw them tied for first place in the second race of their series. However, Splashdance's first and second places in the other two races were enough to take the overall IRC victory by just one point. White Pearl secured some consolation by winning on HPH, seeing off the challenge of Changeling (Kieran Jameson).
Eight boats enjoyed Class 5 non-spinnaker racing on the HPH handicap system. Leeuwin (Eamonn Burke & Jason Murray) won all three races, thereby attesting to the long-term success and durability of the Sigma 33s with wins in both Classes 3 and 5 to belie the seniority of the 1978 design. Kyran O'Grady's Bandersnatch, competing under the burgee of Wicklow SC, took the runner-up spot.
OLYMPUS TROPHY
The Olympus Trophy saw teams of three boats drawn from different Classes competing on their aggregated individual HPH results. A close competition ensued but, when the points were totalled, the winning team comprised Tears in Heaven (Tom McMahon), which dominated the Squib Class, Impetuous (Noonan & Chambers) from the hard-fought Class 2, and Class 4's Changeling (Kieran Jameson).
John Beckett & Andy George of the successful Dufour 40 Splashdance.
The two handicapping systems in use for the event were IRC and HPH (Howth Performance Handicap). In addition, results were run in the background using ECHO and ORC systems to test how boats performed under the various handicap systems and which may be best suited for adoption in future events. An analysis will be undertaken over the coming winter with a view to assessing what the Club will adopt for the 2026 season.
Full results below
