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Over the weekend of 20 and 21 August, Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Bangor will be hosting two sailing competitions, the RS Elite Irish Championships and the Laser SB3 Northern Area Championships writes Betty Armstrong.  These events, which are sponsored by BT Infinity, will bring together some of Ireland's top sailors to compete in Belfast Lough.

In the RS Elite fleet defending Irish Champion John Patterson with crew David Kelso and Stephen Polly in Momentary Lapse will be up against some of the highest scoring boats from the recent National Championships at the Royal Forth Yacht Club, namely Simon Brien's Kin who finished third at that event and John McDowell's Sea Breezes who came fifth.

RS_ELITE_AND_SB3

John Patterson, David Kelso and Stephen Polly who will be defending their Irish RS Elite title. Credit Thomas Anderson

In the SB3 Class local sailor Peter Kennedy and his crew in Ridgefence will be looking for revenge after Howth's Ben Duncan in Sharkbait beat them into second place at the Western Championships in Galway in June this year. Sharkbait is the boat in form, having won the Best Small Keelboat trophy at the recent Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta when she topped the 33 strong SB3 Class.

Royal Ulster Yacht Club is delighted to bring BT Infinity on board as event sponsor and with their help the event will be "bringing it all together" for two days of great racing.

"It is really a great opportunity for BT Infinity to support the major sailing championships this year at Royal Ulster", says Peter Morris, Consumer Director, BT in Northern Ireland. " Effective communication through the use of the latest technology is at the very heart of our business and as we rollout Superfast fibre optic broadband speeds, not just in Bangor, but across Northern Ireland, slow down, as in racing, just isn't a factor. The best of luck to all the crews and have a safe and successful competition".

Royal Ulster YC also acknowledges the support of North Down Borough Council and Quay Marinas, Bangor Marina in the running of this event.


Published in Racing
It's not just Ireland that has a love affair with this dinghy sailing class, Malta has become the latest country to launch the RS Feva class, with a sixteen boat fleet recently delivered and more expected in the coming months. Following evaluation of boats suitable to provide a pathway from entry level sailing to bigger youth dinghies, the spearhead Maltese Birzebbuga Sailing Club selected the Feva and asked Paul Debono of Fairwind Sailing to become an RS dealer to co-ordinate the orders and import the boats.

Paul Childs, a qualified instructor from RS Sailing, visited Malta to run an initial coaching weekend, helping to set up the boats and introduce the young sailors to Feva sailing techniques. "As usual, the kids were really excited about the Fevas and they had a brilliant time on their first weekend" he reports. "Some of them are clearly already talented young sailors and I reckon we'll see some of them heading towards the top of the class pretty quickly. But the main thing is... they all had fun."

Adoption of the RS Feva class means Malta follows the pathway adopted by an ever increasing number of nations. The Feva can be used for training as well as racing, with the rotomoulded polyethylene construction system giving a durable and affordable boat. Young sailors are attracted by the performance, modern style and asymmetric spinnaker.

The 2011 RS Feva World championships, sponsored by Allen Performance Hardware and Magic Marine, take place in Holland in late July with entries expected to exceed last years 150 boat fleet from as far afield as Hong Kong.

You can find out more information about the growth of the RS Feva class in Malta by contacting Birzebbuga Sailing Club – www.birzebbugasailing.com and full details of the RS Feva can be found at www.RSsailing.com or the International Class Association at www.RSsailing.org .

Published in RS Sailing
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Howth Yacht Club information

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 FAQs

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 says it has one of the largest sailing memberships in Ireland and the UK; an exact number could not be confirmed as of November 2020.

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.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has an active junior section.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club hosts sailing and powerboat training for adults, juniors and corporate sailing under the Quest Howth brand.

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.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has a fleet of five J80 keelboats for charter by members for training, racing, organised events and day sailing.

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.

Fees range from €190 to €885 for ordinary members.
Memberships are renewed annually.

©Afloat 2020