A resurgence in demand for top-grade team racing events has resulted in the revival of the renowned George Invitational. The event maintained over twenty years of continuity in the sport in Dun Laoghaire in the
70's, 80's & 90's until the club ran the second World Team Racing Championships in 1999. It continued into the mid-2010's; now, it has made its triumphant return. In times past the Invitational welcomed the top team racers from the UK, Ireland & the US to Dun Laoghaire to compete for the George Invitational Trophy.

Set against the backdrop of the home of Team Racing in Dun Laoghaire, the George is organising two days of Swiss League team racing aboard Fireflies dinghies followed by knockout sailing on May the 25th and 26th. The event is a celebration of the clubs long & successful history as the cradle of Irish team racing and the birthplace of the sport almost eight decades ago. In addition to the thrilling racing, team racers, both past and present, will have the chance to connect and immerse themselves in the excitement of the event. Moreover, all sailors, race officials, and volunteers are invited to join in the Saturday night dinner at The George dining room.

Teams are encouraged to enter now to avail of the early bird offer that expires on the 31st of March. The event website can be found here

The Royal S George YC in Dun Laoghaire may have been founded in 1838, but its involvement in front-line Team Racing is right up to date in 2024

Optimist sailors from the Royal St George achieved stellar results at the UK Spring Nationals in Rugby over St Patrick’s Weekend.

Five of the Dun Laoghaire club’s nine-strong youth group placed in the top 25 out of 120 boats taking part in the event at Draycote Water Sailing Club on 16-17 March.

And three cracked the top 10, with Maeve Donagh placing third overall in the Main Fleet, echoing her success in last August’s British Nationals.

“Huge thanks to Jason Crawford for organising, to their coach Rian Geraghty-McDonnell and also to Draycote Water Sailing Club and the UK Optimist Association for their hospitality,” the RStGYC says.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club is running an inaugural Melges 15 'Sprint' championship this Saturday with ILCA/Laser dinghies invited to the Dun Laoghaire Harbour event.

The Grant Thornton sponsored Melges 15 & ILCA ‘8-Race Championship’ is open to Laser Standard (ILCA 7), Laser Radial (ILCA 6) and Laser 4.7 (ILCA 4) and the new Melges 15 fleet.

Up to nine of the Melges 15 dinghies are entered, and up to 40 plus ILCAs are excepted to compete with the biggest fleet expected to be the ILCA 6 or Radial.

To live up to its event billing, Race Officer Barry O'Neill is aiming to run eight races on the day, even though the weekend forecast shows light winds.

Dun Laoghaire's Royal St George has worked hard to create a coaching programme to support our youth sailors, and it's great to see it bear fruit with great results at the recent Youth Sailing Nationals at Howth Yacht Club writes club sailing manager Ronan Adams.

Most of the coaches are ex-Oppie and ILCA sailors from the club. This is a key element of our programme, where we try to get each generation to support the next one. Our values of sporting excellence, family, friendship and fun are instilled in the ethos of our Royal St George teams.

Our young sailors had some tremendous results over the weekend over in Howth, so many in fact, it's hard to know where to start. In the Optimist fleet, where 30% of the competitors were sailing under the George burgee, Caoilinn Geraghty McDonnell finished in second place. She was joined in the top five by Jules Start, and they both now have earned the right to represent Ireland at the World Championships in Spain.

Royal St. George Yacht Club sailors made up a third of both the ILCA 4 and Optimist fleets at the Youth Sailing Nationals at Howth Yacht Club

They had plenty of company in the top ten, with clubmates Conor Cronin, Abigail Murphy, Maeve Donagh and Max O'Hare making up the rest of the top 10. They were closely followed in 12th place by Carolina Carra, and those five can now represent Ireland at the Europeans in France.

Qualifying for the Irish Development Team going to the French International Optimist Regatta this year were Emily Donagh, Marcus Shelly and Finn Foley. A big well done to all competitors, coaches and support staff (that's code for parents) on a tremendous regatta. Special mention for Juliet Ryan, who got scarlet fever and could not race on the last day. Get well soon.

In the 29er class, Lucia Cullen helmed her way into a very credible third place in an uber-competitive fleet.

In the Topper fleet of 40 boats, Kate Molloy was our sole representative, she performed admirably, finishing in 21st place, which in other circumstances would mean she would win the silver fleet. 

In the ILCA 4, we had a huge entry with the George again making up a third of the fleet with 11 of 33 sailors. Krzysztof Ciborowski led no fewer than five George sailors in the top ten. He came 2nd, Seth Walker 4th, Patrick Foley 5th, Thea Daly 6th, and Lucy Ives 10th.

In the massively competitive ILCA 6 fleet, we had sailors again vying for silverware and eventually, three George sailors ended up in the top 10. Sam Ledoux sailed an incredibly consistent regatta, finishing in 4th, with Fiachra McDonnell in 6th and Daniel O'Connor in 10th place overall. Also racing under the George Burgee in the ILCA 6 were Bran Carroll and Peter Williams. 

Laser/ILCA Ireland has announced that their End of Season 2022 regatta will be hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire this September 24-25.

The two-day end-of-season event is the final Laser class ranking event in the 2022 calendar for ILCA Ireland. This event was introduced in 2021 as an exceptional event outside of the regional and national calendar. Last year’s event in Kinsale proved so popular that the association has decided to make it a standard part of the annual event series.

As with all other regional and national events in 2022, ILCA Ireland sailors between the ages of 18 - 30 can participate in this event for free. This initiative is aimed at encouraging young adult Laser sailors who might otherwise take a break from sailing to stay connected with the class. It has been a very welcome initiative throughout the season, with higher numbers of younger adults competing.

This will be the second regional ILCA Ireland event hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club in 2022.

Fleet to support local Laser sailor 

The fleet is making the return to the club in support of a local Laser sailor Kevin Doyle who sustained injuries during a regatta earlier in the season. ILCA Ireland and The Royal St. George Yacht are raising funds for Kevin and his family for his care.

Proceeds from the event will be placed in a fund to support Kevin's care needs over the coming months. The club has established a GoFundMe page where people can make contributions.

Early bird entry for the event closes on Friday, September 16, with late entry closing on Wednesday, September 21.

Further details of the event are available on the ILCA Ireland website and the Royal St. George Yacht Club website.

The Royal St George Yacht Club’s Cruickshank Junior Regatta on Wednesday 27 July was hailed by the Dun Laoghaire waterfront club as “a massive success”.

A total of 142 youth sailors across 64 boats in the Main Fleet and 57 boats in the Harbour Fleet took park in the event that enjoyed perfect conditions with 8-12 knots of breeze on Dublin Bay.

Sailors came primarily from the Dun Laoghaire clubs with the Royal St George, National YC and the Royal Irish YC making up the majority of entries — not to mention safety boats from all three clubs working in unison.

Outside the harbour, the five fleet categories comprised the Optimists (topped by Harry Dunne, RStGYC), Laser 4.7s (Ava Ennis, RStGYC), Laser Radials (Brian Carroll, RStGYC), RS Fevas (Dylan Leonard & Gabriel Barral, RIYC) and PY Class, the divided into the Terra (Ronan Blake Hickey & Dylan de Vre) and 29er (Hugh Meagher & Alex Tricket), both representing the NYC. Main Fleet results in full HERE.

Inside the harbour, meanwhile, Oisin Healy topped the Optimists for the home club and Curtis Culliton (RIYC) led the PY Class (Terra) fleet. Harbour Fleet results in full HERE.

While sadly not everyone could stand on the podium, the Junior Regatta T-shirts sponsored by A Stitch In Time were in popular demand — and even look good on Murph the mascot.

Murph the mascot in his RSGYC Cruickshank Junior Regatta T-shirt

Following the event, the Royal St George expressed its thanks to all who made the day possible.

“The RSGYC Cruickshank Junior Regatta would not have been able to go ahead without the help and support of so many volunteers,” the club said. “Huge well done to all the race officers, mark layers, safety officers, results committee, parents and everyone in attendance for the monumental work achieved.

“Massive well done to all the competitors! The event could not have gone ahead without you all!”

This weekend saw a record turnout at the ILCA/Laser Ireland Leinster Championships 2022 hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club in association with MGM Boats.

90 sailors entered the ILCA/Laser fleet’s Leinster Championships in Dun Laoghaire this weekend making it the largest event so far this season for ILCA Ireland, the new name for the Irish Laser Association. With challenging conditions on both days for both the race management team and sailors alike, this turned out to be quite an eventful competition.

Chris Bateman (157561) and James Murphy reaching in the ILCA 7s at the Leinster Championships 2022 on Dublin Bay

All the signs were that Howth’s Jamie McMahon would dominate the ILCA 7 (Standard) fleet, taking a bullet on both race one and two in 30-knot gusts on Saturday. However, an injury saw him retire on race three and cede the lead to Royal Cork’s Jonathan O’Shaughnessy who had achieved two seconds and a third. Dun Laoghaire’s Dan O’Connell won the third race and Saturday having scored a 6 and a 7 in the first two races. However, Dan continued his form into Sunday completing the hat-trick with two more bullets, giving him the championship.

Dan O'Connell ILCA 7 Leinster Champion (centre) with Royal St. George Yacht Club's Richard O'Connor (left) and Ross O'Leary of MGM Boats

O’Shaughnessy, who only recently moved from the ILCA 6 (Radial) into the ILCA 7, finished one point behind and took the prize for first Under 30 and second overall. Daragh Kelleher of Skerries finished two points behind to take third overall.

Dan O'Connell (219127) leading the ILCA 7 fleet

In the ILCA 6 fleet, it was a weekend for the ladies. The event saw entries from Howth’s Aoife Hopkins plus guest appearances from the world’s number one ranked female ILCA 6 sailor Vasileia Karachaliou plus Ukraine’s Sofiia Naumenko. These three took the top spots in all races across the weekend bar two; with the National Yacht Club’s Benjamin Reeser taking third in race one and the Royal St. George Yacht Club’s Sean Craig taking third in the last race of the event. Hopkins started well with a bullet in the first race of the weekend however Vasileia soon showed why she is the world’s top sailor, taking all bullets for the remainder of the weekend and winning the championship. Aoife finished second overall and Sophia took third place for Ukraine.

Aoife Hopkins (left) and Vasileia Karachaliou (centre) and Sofiia Naumenko

Benjamin Reeser, a USA athlete now sailing from the National Yacht Club dominated the male fleet across the weekend and was followed in the U30 category by East Antrim’s Tom Coulter and Tom Fox from Skerries. Meanwhile, Sean Craig who finished fifth overall led the Masters fleet. He was challenged by Australia and Royal Cork’s Robert Jefferies with just five points separating them at the end of day Saturday. However, Craig’s consistency on Sunday meant the trophy had his name on it by the time prizegiving came round. Conor Clancy of the Royal St. George Yacht Club was third master.

Sean Craig - Leinster Champion - ILCA 6 Master

The ladies masters fleet had a tough weekend with the strong winds. Alison Pigot of the National Yacht Club took the honours, followed by Shirley Gilmore of the Royal St. George Yacht club.

Vasileia Karachaliou Leinster ILCA 6 Champion 2022

Sofiia Naumenko of Ukraine - Third ILCA 6 Champion

The ILCA 4 (4.7) fleet was led from the outset by Ballyholme Yacht Club’s Hannah DadleyYoung from Belfast Lough, securing two bullets and two firsts across the weekend to secure the championship.

Hannah Dadley Young Leinster ILCA 4 Champion 2022

Second girl in 8th overall was Royal St. George’s Ava Ennis with third taken by Aisling Kelly of Rush Sailing Club who finished in 11th overall. The boys fleet was less clear-cut across the weekend. By the end of racing on Saturday Daniel O'Connor and Max Cantwell both of the Royal St. George Yacht Club were tied in second place on equal points. However, a second and first place in Sunday’s racing by their clubmate Krzysztof Ciborowski, saw him taking the boy’s category by just one point from Daniel with Max in third.

Seth Walker of the Royal St. George YC competing in the ILCA 4s division of the Leinster Championships 2022

The dominant feature of the weekend was the wind, creating a unique challenge for the race team lead by the compelling triumvirate of Harry Gallagher, Richard Kissane and Liam Dineene. Relatively consistent southerly breezes on Saturday meant that three races were delivered in quick succession. Sunday was a different story with 75-degree wind shifts after race 2. This meant that laying a proper course was extremely difficult with race officers and mark layers thwarted at every turn. The ILCA 7 fleet’s first attempt at a third race had to be abandoned. Finally, after some relaying of course and false starts, the race team decided they were beat and sent everyone home for prizegiving.

Richard Kissane, Harry Gallagher, Liam Dineen and jury member Vincent Delany (right) were the ILCA 7 Laser Leinster Championship race management team at the RSTGYC

Event supervisor, Kevin Doyle, praised the entire race team saying “We were privileged to have such a competent race management team led by three national race officers. It is a testament to their good race management that our national jury Vincent Delany had no hearings to deal with after racing. The event team at the Royal St. George Yacht Club has proven once again that Dun Laoghaire is the premier location in Ireland for national events.”

Full results are available below.

Next up for the ILCA fleet is the 2022 National Championships this year being held at Tralee Bay Sailing Club from August 18-21

Under the picturesque mountain faces of Lake Garda Italy over 160 competitors gathered for Foiling Week. Foiling Week is a World Sailing Special event for which the top foilers from various classes come from all over the world to share new ideas, give demos and to race.

There was a large gathering in the Moth Fleet with the likes of Olympic Gold medallists Dylan Fletcher, Paul Goodison and Rugero Tita, racing in the regatta.

In the 66-boat Waszp fleet, 2021 Waszp U20 & Slalom European Champion Charlie Cullen (20) of the Royal St. George was reckoned to join the usual protagonists at the top of the Waszp Fleet.

Day one of the Foiling Week saw a tricky gusty 10-knot Ora south wind, which Charlie took advantage of, taking an early lead in the regatta, with a race win in race 3 of the day. But with Italian Enzio Savoini getting 2 bullets in race 1 and 2 and Jann Schuepbach of Switzerland 1 point behind, the competition was going to be tight.

Under the picturesque mountain faces of Lake Garda Italy over 160 competitors gathered for Foiling Week Photo: Angela Trawoeger

Day two came with similar conditions. Charlie, staying consistent, maintained his lead grabbing another race win on the day. Enzio Savoini jumped to second overall after another race win

Day three saw very light conditions with at times no foiling. Italian sailor Ettore Botticini thrived in this wind getting a 3, 2, and 1 on the day. After these results and a 2nd discard kicking in the Italian took the overall lead, with Enzio holding 2nd and Charlie dropping to 3rd overall.

Going into the final day any of the top 5 could take the title. This also included 29er European Champion Ewan Wilson of Scotland and Italian Emanuele Savoini.

However, Charlie maintaining a consistent score throughout the regatta had great discards guaranteeing himself a spot in the top three. After super tough light wind racing on the final day, after 10 races the overall win went to Ettore Botticini on 23 points with Charlie taking 2nd with 25 points and first U25 - behind and Enzio Savoini on 28 points took 3rd. 

Waszp winners - Ettore Botticini (centre) with Charlie Cullen (left) second and first U25 with Enzio Savoini third

“It was super fun racing” Charlie told Afloat. “ Conditions were incredibly tough, super shifty and patchy winds – but I was happy with my consistency in these conditions which is really promising going into the worlds Championships which will also be here in Lake Garda in the next weeks”

Charlie took the final race win, finishing on a high and securing his silver medal for the second year running. His super consistent scores during the regatta meant he finished with a total of 46 points with the next best having a total of 99 points.

Other Irish at the event, some of whom had also competed at the Weymouth UK Nationals in June as Afloat reports here, were sibling pair Max and Georgia Goodbody of the Royal Irish and Marcus O’Leary & Andrew Conan of the Royal St. George who all also had great performances during the regatta.

There are expected to be six Irish boats at this year’s Waszp World Championships that will be held from the 11th to 16th of July in Fraglia Vela Malcesine in Lake Garda.

Results here

After the disappointment of the blowout of last weekend’s (June 25) RIYC Regatta, this weekend’s Royal St George big event on Saturday 2 July is much anticipated on Dublin Bay.

The Frank Keane BMW George Regatta brings to a close the annual waterfront regattas for 2022 at Dun Laoghaire, which began on 12 June with the DMYC Regatta and was followed a week later by the Davy NYC Regatta.

Online entry is still available for the event, which comes with an equally packed onshore programme that promises a great day of fabulous food and family entertainment along with the excitement of racing on the water.

What’s more, the RStGYC Regatta Dinner is back this Saturday evening in the clubhouse. Click HERE to book a table at €55 per head and for any further questions contact Elle at 01 280 1811 or email [email protected].

The high-performance foiling 69F class is hosting its first grand prix in Puntaldia, Sardinia this weekend.

And it marks the first time an Irish sailor — and club — will race in an event for the foiling monohull, which takes a crew of three or four.

Waszp sailor Charlie Cullen and his team-mates have collaborated to represent the Royal St George Yacht Club under the name International Youth Foiling Team in this weekend’s regatta.

Charlie (20), with his foiling knowledge, will be flight controller, with Spanish Waszp sailor Jaime Frames (19) taking the helm and Brazilian 49er brothers Mathias and Leonardo Crespo (19) trimming the sails.

Marina di Puntaldia in Sardinia is hosting the second European round of the 69F Cup | Credit: Kevin Rio/69F media

“I’m super excited for this event. The 69F is an incredible machine and I can't wait to get racing,” Charlie told Afloat.ie before racing got under way.

“The learning curve will be steep with only three days of training before the regatta, but I look forward to the challenge and to race against some big names in the sport.”

The competition this weekend is tough, with world-class sailors competing in this grand prix. This includes 49er Spanish Olympian Lago Lopez, who finished fourth in Tokyo, and London 2012 49er bronze medallist Allan Norregaard from Denmark. Keep track of the latest results HERE.

Charlie Cullen and his team-mates representing the Royal St George in Italy this weekend