#E-Boat - Pat O’Neill sailed OctupussE consistently to a deserved victory in the E-Boat National Championships held on the second weekend of June, writes Findlay MacDonald.
A fleet of nine boats gathered, with one from Howth Yacht Club and three enthusiastically representing the Skerries fleet.
Conditions for the weekend were lively both days. Saturday saw large wind shifts (as much as 30%) making course-setting near impossible for PRO Ian Sargent.
Squalls further delayed racing and boats returned to moorings once postponed was called.
Nevertheless, two races were run in Force 3-4 once the breeze had moderated.
Windward-returns were set within the confines of Dublin Port inside Bull Island, making for an excellent course with good wind and a slight chop, and close competition throughout the fleet with visitors placed well in the results.
Favourites OctupussE (HYC) scored firsts, with local boat Aoife in close contention. Indeed, only an OCS in race one and and an error with spinnaker drop at leeward mark in race two cost Aoife otherwise attainable firsts.
The Skerries boats — Easygo in particular — showed their worth, battling and placing great results, and ensuring home fleet did not dominate.
Racing was close, with boats changing positions frequently and finishing within boat-lengths of one another.
Sunday saw more challenging conditions, averaging Force 4.5-5. Only four boats ventured to the start area, with one retiring with gear failure. The remainder stayed ashore as the weather was forecast to freshen.
Though blustery, the wind direction was stable and three races were completed.
Race four saw the recently restored Enchantress, with an adventurous rookie crew, around the weather mark first but unable to hold off Aoife and OctupussE downwind.
Aoife was the only boat to hoist a kite — but a few near-broaches negated any advantage made, allowing Enchantress and OctupussE to slip by at the leeward mark.
Conditions remained lively for races five and six, and racing became closer.
Enchantress did well to compete and challenge the experienced boats sailing on windward legs to often round in second, but unable to make good downwind. Local boat Aoife lost out to OctupussE at the finish line.
Thanks go to all crews, particularly visitors from Skerries, for participating and supporting the class.
The class this year has seen renewed interest in the fleet. New crew are engaging, and several boats this year were restored and brought back into service.
A successful class-training event was also held at the beginning of the season in Skerries.
The class is always keen to hear from people wishing to sail E-Boats. For further enquires please contact class captains at Skerries Sailing Club or Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club.
The Annual Conference of the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), an absorbing all-day affair in Limerick this Saturday (March 4th), has an intriguing agenda writes W M Nixon. But for many sailors from all over Ireland and the other side of the Irish Sea, the high point of it all will be the announcement of the ICRA “Boat of the Year” selected by the ICRA judges.
We revive memories of the great year of 2016 by running our own informal poll - just click as you wish on this alphabetic list at the bottom of this story to see whose achievements rise up the ranking. We can only say that that the wealth of choice speaks highly of the great good health and re-growing popularity of “waterborne truck racing”
QUARTER TONNER Anchor Challenge – Paul Gibbons from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
Anchor Challenge: Paul Gibbon’s classic Quarter Tonner from Crosshaven was good on enthusiasm, and good on performance, her top line being the overall win in the IRC Europeans at Crosshaven in July, which he plans to defend at Marseilles this summer.
KER39 Antix – Anthony O'Leary from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Paul Wyeth
Antix:Anthony O’Leary’s Fast Forty+ may not have had her most successful season ever in 2016, but many crews would give their eye teeth to have a record as good, topped with the Class O win in the IRC Europeans in Cork Harbour in July.
Bam!: With the complexities of the RORC Caribbean 2017 still fresh upon us, we realize just how good was Conor Fogerty’s Class win in 2016 in this demanding maze of a race around the islands with his Sunfast 3600 Bam!. And on top of that, it was all just part of an extraordinary season with thousands and thousands of miles of sailing and racing
HALF TONNER Checkmate XV – David Cullen from Howth Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
Checkmate XV: David Cullen’s beautifully-presented classic Half Tonner Checkmate XV found form to rocket to the top in the ICRA Nats at his home port of Howth in June in a very convincing style. Dave also skippered the J/109 Storm to a class win in the Volvo Round Ireland as Euro Carparks, but maybe that should count as a success for the Kelly family’s Storm, which also won the J/109 Nationals
QUARTER TONNER Cartoon – Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
Cartoon V: Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack (RIYC) with their characterful Quarter Tonner came sweeping through the IRC Nationals to win their class in style.
DUBOIS 37 Dark Angel – Tony Ackland from Swansea. Photo: Bob Bateman
Dark Angel: Tony Ackland from Swansea turned all heads with his handsome boat which in a previous life was well known in both Cork Harbour and Galway. There’s more than just looks to the Angel – she won IRC 1 in the Europeans at Crosshaven.
HALF TONNER Harmony – Jonny Swan from Howth Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
Harmony: Jonny Swan’s wooden-built classic Half Tonner Harmony benefitted from an under-deck laminated fore-and-aft girder installed by Dougal McMahon of Belmont in County Offaly literally to provide a bit of backbone, and it worked a treat. In many victories, Harmony won IRC 3 in the Europeans at Cork.
J24 Ireland's Eye Kilcullen – HYC under-25s from Howth Yacht Club
Ireland’s Eye Kilcullen: The HYC nippers – aka the under-25s – in the club-backed J/24 showed there’s still life in this classic Johnstone design. In open events they took second place in Class 4 at Cork Week and the IRC Europeans, they also took third overall in the J/24 Under 25 Europeans. And in the class in Ireland they won the Nationals (7 wins in 7 races), the Northerns, the Southerns, and the Westerns.
KER36 Jump Juice - Conor Phelan from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
Jump Juice: Like good wine, Conor Phelan’s Ker 36 from Cork improves with age. They won the RORC Easter Challenge in ferocious weather in the Solent overall, and they won Class O in convincing style at the ICRA Nats in June.
J109 Joker 2 - John Maybury from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
Joker 2: If you wanted a demonstration of the J/109’s all round ability, John Maybury’s Joker 2 provided it in 2016. She recorded a back-to-back win in the ICRA Nats – the only boat to do so in 2015-2016 – and under the skippering of Commandant Barry Byrne, she was the first winner of the new inter-forces Beaufort Cup including winning its Fastnet Race. Same boat, but completely different crews – Joker 2 makes a special claim for top boat of the year
E–BOAT OctopussE - Pat O’Neill from Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
OctopussE: The Julian Everitt-designed E Boat is a blast from the past, a miniature offshore racer in which the vertical keel can be retracted completely into the hull. The fleet at Clontarf deserve every credit for their multiple use, including club racing and canal cruising. But it is Pat O’Neill who carries it all through with competition in the ICRA Nats, and he won IRC 4.
JPK 10.80 Rockabill – Paul O'Higgins from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
Rockabill VI: It takes courage to start racing in a boat with a massive international success record like the JPK 10.80, but Paul O’Higgins was game for the challenge when he took Rockabill VI fresh out of the wrappings to do the Volvo Round Ireland Race in June, and came within an ace of a class win. He then re-surfaced for the IRC Europeans at Cork in July – and won IRC 2.
Howth Yacht Club is the largest members sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members. The club welcomes inquiries about membership - see top of this page for contact details.
Howth Yacht Club (HYC) is 125 years old. It operates from its award-winning building overlooking Howth Harbour that houses office, bar, dining, and changing facilities. Apart from the Clubhouse, HYC has a 250-berth marina, two cranes and a boat storage area. In addition. its moorings in the harbour are serviced by launch.
The Club employs up to 31 staff during the summer and is the largest employer in Howth village and has a turnover of €2.2m.
HYC normally provides an annual programme of club racing on a year-round basis as well as hosting a full calendar of International, National and Regional competitive events. It operates a fleet of two large committee boats, 9 RIBs, 5 J80 Sportboats, a J24 and a variety of sailing dinghies that are available for members and training. The Club is also growing its commercial activities afloat using its QUEST sail and power boat training operation while ashore it hosts a wide range of functions each year, including conferences, weddings, parties and the like.
Howth Yacht Club originated as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. In 1968 Howth Sailing Club combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club. The new clubhouse was opened in 1987 with further extensions carried out and more planned for the future including dredging and expanded marina facilities.
HYC caters for sailors of all ages and run sailing courses throughout the year as part of being an Irish Sailing accredited training facility with its own sailing school.
The club has a fully serviced marina with berthing for 250 yachts and HYC is delighted to be able to welcome visitors to this famous and scenic area of Dublin.
New applications for membership are always welcome
Howth Yacht Club is one of the most storied in Ireland — celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020 — and has an active club sailing and racing scene to rival those of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs on the other side of Dublin Bay.
Howth Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Howth, a suburban coastal village in north Co Dublin on the northern side of the Howth Head peninsula. The village is around 13km east-north-east of Dublin city centre and has a population of some 8,200.
Howth Yacht Club was founded as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. Howth Sailing Club later combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the village’s West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club.
The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.
As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Ian Byrne, with Paddy Judge as Vice-Commodore (Clubhouse and Administration). The club has two Rear-Commodores, Neil Murphy for Sailing and Sara Lacy for Junior Sailing, Training & Development.
Howth Yacht Club’s burgee is a vertical-banded pennant of red, white and red with a red anchor at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue-grey field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and red anchor towards the bottom right corner.
The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.
Among its active keelboat and dinghy fleets, Howth Yacht Club is famous for being the home of the world’s oldest one-design racing keelboat class, the Howth Seventeen Footer. This still-thriving class of boat was designed by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 to be sailed in the local waters off Howth. The original five ‘gaff-rigged topsail’ boats that came to the harbour in the spring of 1898 are still raced hard from April until November every year along with the other 13 historical boats of this class.
The current modern clubhouse was the product of a design competition that was run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in 1983. The winning design by architects Vincent Fitzgerald and Reg Chandler was built and completed in March 1987. Further extensions have since been made to the building, grounds and its own secure 250-berth marina.
Yes, the Howth Yacht Club clubhouse offers a full bar and lounge, snug bar and coffee bar as well as a 180-seat dining room. Currently, the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Catering remains available on weekends, take-home and delivery menus for Saturday night tapas and Sunday lunch.
The Howth Yacht Club office is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Contact the club for current restaurant opening hours at [email protected] or phone 01 832 0606.
Yes — when hosting sailing events, club racing, coaching and sailing courses, entertaining guests and running evening entertainment, tuition and talks, the club caters for all sorts of corporate, family and social occasions with a wide range of meeting, event and function rooms. For enquiries contact [email protected] or phone 01 832 2141.
Howth Yacht Club has various categories of membership, each affording the opportunity to avail of all the facilities at one of Ireland’s finest sailing clubs.
No — members can join active crews taking part in club keelboat and open sailing events, not to mention Pay & Sail J80 racing, charter sailing and more.
QUARTER TONNER Anchor Challenge – Paul Gibbons from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
KER39 Antix – Anthony O'Leary from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Paul Wyeth
SUNFAST 3600 BAM! - Conor Fogerty from Howth Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
HALF TONNER Checkmate XV – David Cullen from Howth Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
QUARTER TONNER Cartoon – Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
DUBOIS 37 Dark Angel – Tony Ackland from Swansea. Photo: Bob Bateman
HALF TONNER Harmony – Jonny Swan from Howth Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
J24 Ireland's Eye Kilcullen – HYC under-25s from Howth Yacht Club
KER36 Jump Juice - Conor Phelan from Royal Cork Yacht Club. Photo: Bob Bateman
J109 Joker 2 - John Maybury from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
E–BOAT OctopussE - Pat O’Neill from Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
JPK 10.80 Rockabill – Paul O'Higgins from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Photo: Afloat.ie
