It's March 1st and depending on who you talk to there is either tremendous optimism that the 2021 Irish summer sailing season can get underway as scheduled or alternatively, the ongoing pandemic will force us to navigate a stop-start season like we did last year.

Certainly, with an estimated 82% of the population vaccinated by the sixth month of 2021, the hope is it could be full steam ahead. Some pundits say such a timeframe will, unfortunately, be just too late for some early fixtures that are now 'fifty-fifty'. Others predict the season will get away alright but not until June. 

Despite the unpredictability of the challenges, ICRA Commodore Richard Colwell told Afloat this weekend, he is hopeful that the season ahead will be a good one even if there might be difficulties early on.

Other regatta organisers say they are much more confident of regattas going ahead than they were even two or three weeks ago, such is the changing scenario but there is no doubt confusing messages and lack of clarity is raising the ire of a weary nation.

The Government’s revised plan published earlier in the week focuses on the phased return of schools and childcare. There is little change to the published five levels of the ‘Living with Covid Plan’. You can read the full Government update here

Ireland remains under current Level 5 restrictions until 5th April at the earliest when Government has stated that the “staggered start of easing of other areas of restriction with a focus on outdoor activities including sport” may be considered.

Organisers of big yacht racing events have made plans to be COVID compliant, including Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta that will be split over two weekends in July Photo: Afloat

Mary O'Connor, CEO of the Federation of Irish Sport, has called on the government to produce "a detailed roadmap" on the reopening of sports so that their 81 national governing bodies can make plans for a return "in a safe manner". In sailing's case that would certainly make a lot of sense both for volunteer organisers and competitors alike.

Clubs planning major regattas – often a year or more in the making – are again faced with impossible decisions. 

Already, May's Scottish Series on the Clyde has been reformatted in a bid to cope with restrictions. Irish boats face quarantine requirements if they travel.

ISORA’s new early-season cruiser-racer fixture along the Dublin coast was cancelled in January's lockdown restrictions Photo: Afloat

A new ISORA 'Early Season Series' originally planned for January was to continue the offshore's body's successful 2020 coastal racing out of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. However, the current lockdown put paid to those plans, leaving ISORA boss Peter Ryan to reschedule for later in 2021.

The 2021 Irish Youth Sailing National Championships planned for April has moved out to October at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

June's Bangor Town Regatta has been scrubbed entirely on Belfast Lough. 

Buds of the new season are, nevertheless starting to appear. This weekend and last weekend's warm westerlies on Dublin Bay, the country's biggest boating centre, showed plenty of activity out from Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Solo sailing or sailing in pods is proving popular with RS Aeros, four Fireballs, two foiling Waszps, a GP14 as well as a number of sailing cruisers all enjoying some recreational sailing and boating. 

The National Yacht Club lift-in of sailing cruisers and keelboats is currently going ahead on April 9th and so is the Royal St. George on April 10th, both key signs of a determination to get 2021 underway. 

In the latest Commodore’s Update from Howth Yacht Club, Paddy Judge has outlined its plans for a hopeful restart to sailing if restrictions allow from April.

2020 DBSC Turkey Shoot and 2021 Spring Chicken Series racing fell to Covid-19 on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the umbrella organisation that runs racing for all four waterfront clubs in a combined fleet of 250 sailing cruisers and dinghies and 1,200 members, is scheduled to start on Saturday, April 24th. New Commodore Ann Kirwan has the unenviable job of trying to prepare for a season that includes the significant cost of laying over 20 marks across the bay and preparing for a first race while at the same time trying to keep an eye on transitions between Government COVID levels, where there will be ‘amendments’ published, based on the most recent medical advice at the time.

Dun Laoghaire Laser sailors racing inside the town's harbour in 2020. It looks like the single-handed DBSC class will get a further boost this summer thanks to the continuing threat of COVID-19 Photo: Afloat

The question is will Ireland possibly go from Level 5 to Level 2 from April 5th to April 24th, a scenario that would allow the first DBSC race of 2021 get underway on schedule?

Either way, it will be another altered season with hospitality and clubhouses not scheduled to open till mid-June. Certainly, the Government Advisory in operation against all non-essential international travel will impact events such as Dun Laoghaire's staging of the Laser 4.7 World Championships planned for August.

DBSC was a bellwether in 2020, achieving a remarkably full programme in 2020 when Pandemic Regulations permitted, a feat that led to the club picking up the Mitsubishi Motors Sailing Club of the Year Award.

Certainly, if DBSC gets underway it will provide great hope to other race and regatta organisers such as June's Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, O'Leary Insurance's Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale and July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, where they have already put in place pandemic restriction measures to reduce numbers. 

Increasingly though it looks like international travel restrictions will kerb UK visitors to the 2021 Irish regatta circuit.

Keith Miller’s Yamaha 36 Andante from Kilmore Quay is one fo ten Irish yachts registered for August’s Fastnet Race where COVID protocols are likely Photo: Afloat

In the UK, RORC has announced it expects to return to overnight offshore racing and the London club is planning a return to its Spring Series on the Solent in April.

But for now, even for events as late as West Cork Calves Week in August or the ICRA Nationals in September, the advice of Afloat's WM Nixon given last December still rings true; Irish Sailing Fixtures for 2021? The Best Plan is to Keep Planning.

There will be updates from regattas organisers at next weekend's ICRA conference. More here. 

If you have any observations or queries, please email Afloat and we will do our best to clarify any of the Government’s guidelines.

The Government is preparing for a 'controlled and gradual return to sport' and the 2020 sailing fixtures are being tentatively redrafted by yacht clubs across Ireland as the country enters a new phase in dealing with the Coronavirus.

The Taoiseach told the Dáil this week that the Government would like to set out a roadmap before 5 May on how the COVID-19 restrictions might be eased. In turn, as Afloat reported, Sport Ireland has asked national governing bodies for information on the challenges they face.

In further good news in the fight against the disease, in an interview on RTÉ's The Late Late Show last Friday night (April 17), Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that the COVID-19 curve has now been flattened and that there is no 'peak' coming. Report here.

Scroll back through Afloat's original 2020 sailing fixtures preview published last November here and you will find most of the early summer events are wiped out. Even Afloat's article, What will happen to this Summer's Sailing Events? dated March 18th seems very old now, so much has happened in the meantime. One month later, we certainly have some answers to that question and only last Friday (April 17th) the Fireball World Championships slated for Howth in August became the latest casualty to be scrubbed, organisers citing 'the impossibility of getting any fix on the timing of a return to normality'.

Like all sports, sailing is trying to work out what happens next in 2020 and if there can be a return to activities and what shape it can take.

Flag officers and regatta organisers are beginning to lay out new plans, formulate COVID-19 protocols and put a new calendar in place. It's far from plain sailing but the fact that clubs, industry and sailors are all talking about a return is evidence of progress as we enter a new phase in dealing with the disease. Maybe there is a chance of a competitive and rewarding season, after all? 

National Yacht Club Commodore Martin McCarthy in Dun Laoghaire told cocooned members this week that the 'end is almost in sight'. McCarthy says the NYC continues to 'scenario plan' and 'hopes to be back in the water in June or July'. 'After the storm is at its worst, the new weather starts coming into sight', he said in this week's NYC email update.

Coming up with a tailored approach to what can be done safely within the government guidelines and communicating that strategy to get the sport through 12 to 18 months while we wait for a vaccine seems the right thing to do.

Dublin Bay Sailing - "Be prepared and ready to race"

Chris Moore, the Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), the country's biggest racing club, says the emphasis is definitely on going sailing this summer. "We are looking at various scenarios, and it's still tough to call". There could be no sailing at all, or it could be a hectic second half of the season!"

DBSC Commodore Jonathan Nicholson told members 'before racing can commence, clearly, the restrictions imposed by our government must be lifted, approval is given by our national governing body Irish Sailing and the lift-in of the boats from the various waterfront clubs completed. When these preconditions have been met, it is our intention to commence the revised programme immediately. Please be prepared and ready to race".

There have already been great sacrifices in the sailing calendar as big events move to the end of the summer to give them the best chance of happening. Even with that, some are saying, 'it is still very much 50:50' and shoreside gatherings are very much in doubt.

WAVE Regatta & ICRA Nationals

As regular Afloat readers know, ICRA Commodore Richard Colwell has been forced to move the cruiser-racers from Cork to Howth for its Championships after Cork Week was cancelled. 'It's prudent in the current environment, to delay the important National Championships until as late as possible to try and ensure it goes ahead this year, so we have taken up the offer from Howth Yacht Club to combine the event with the WAVE Regatta in September.'

The Irish IRC season has always been very front-loaded, with nearly all the significant events completed by mid-July. This year, if we are lucky, the season will only likely be starting then.

Even if the season extends into October, many classes will be trying to run championships. Hence, there is a need to rationalise what can be done and avoid congestion in the remaining squeezed timeframe.

Round Ireland Race

The news that the Round Ireland Race has been postponed for two months until 22nd August is excellent news for owners concerned this classic offshore race would be running at all.

With a good run-in needed for the Round Ireland due to qualification requirements, it was doubtful that the race would ever have gone ahead in June anyway. The fact that the new date was greeted with such enthusiasm is, as Afloat's WM Nixon points out, a measure of the 700-mile race's importance to Irish sailing.

Some other significant events were not so fortunate, however, and they were not in a position to postpone to a later date. The Scottish Series is gone in May and following events like Bangor Week in June and Cork Week in July have both been lost. Cowes Week in the UK has confirmed it is still planning to go ahead in August as has the Welsh IRC Championships.

Call it wishful thinking but based on what is currently being talked about, here are some non-exhaustive 'thoughts' to get value from boats this season and some competitive racing to boot.

• Dublin Bay SC racing -  twice weekly in July, and after that, right through to late September is a scenario being considered.
• Dun Laoghaire Club Regattas  - A new date for a three day combined event for all waterfront club regattas is currently being hatched for July or August. This could include the National Yacht Club's Sesquicentennial event. UPDATE:  July 31st has been announced for the 'Dun Laoghaire Club's Solidarity Regatta'.
• ISORA racing - in June, July, August and September would still produce an excellent series even though losing early coastal and offshore races mean ISORA will rejig its calendar. 
• Glandore Classic Regatta - Glandore, West Cork (July 18th)
• Dun Laoghaire Club's Solidarity Regatta (31st July-3 August)
• Calves Week, Schull West Cork (4th to 7th August)
• SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race (22nd August)
• Dragon Gold Cup - Kinsale, (September 3rd)
• WAVE Regatta, incorporating ICRA Nationals (13th September)
• Autumn Leagues - Howth and Royal Cork Yacht Club (October)
• Dublin Bay SC Turkey Shoot - November 1st

That's an outline of the season, without even mentioning class championships or the one design calendars at this early stage.

There seems to be plenty of options depending on whether crews want to stay local or are keen to venture further afield.

If ISORA rejigs its programme, as expected, and reschedules the Kingstown to Queenstown race for July 31st, it would, as Afloat's WM Nixon points out here be a way of getting boats to Cork and then on to Calves Week in West Cork.

For those not wanting to go to Cork, there looks like there will be club regatta options on Dublin Bay and there is the Welsh IRC Championships in Pwllheli from the 14th to 16th August. The following week there is Abersoch Keelboat Week but this date clashes with the Round Ireland Race.

On the West coast of Ireland, WIORA will have their popular week at Tralee Bay, presently scheduled for late June, but this may also need to be moved to a later date.

As WM Nixon says here, if the ISORA Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race is implemented, crews could be campaigning almost continually from July 31st until the conclusion of the ICRA Nationals in the Wave Regatta at Howth from September 11th to 13th.

It is certainly shaping up to be a season like no other. With luck, if planning and new protocols are successful, sailing will be back and there can still be a rewarding season ahead.

This week sees the launch of the fixture list for the East Coast Coastal Rowing regatta circuit 2017. Crews of men, women, and children from Skerries in the north to Arklow in the south will compete for the individual regatta medals and trophies, for the championship league positions, and for the overall club shields. Fixtures can be found below.

To facilitate the recent growth in the sport, this year sees the season being extended earlier, into mid-May, and later, into mid-August. The 139th Wicklow Regatta will be held on the August Bank Holiday Monday, but in a break with tradition, there will be an official regatta after this fixture, hosted by Dalkey Rowing Club.

Regattas are held largely on Sundays on the 'home' courses of each club. All regattas feature races from Under 12s through to Senior Men and Senior Women, with 5-12 boats per race and up to 13 races spread over the afternoon.

This fixture list arises off the back of Sunday's East Coast Rowing Council AGM, where exciting prospects for the season ahead were discussed. Skerries Rowing Club’s regatta will be held in conjunction with the Skerries Water Festival and St. Michael’s Rowing Club of Dun Laoghaire will be collaborating with the Volvo (sailing) regatta and the Dun Laoghaire Harbour bicentennial. The newly formed Fingal Rowing Club was also admitted to the ECRC.

Last year was a hugely busy and successful year on the East Coast, with the Wicklow Regatta beating the all-time record for entries and 125 crews. The two Ringsend clubs managed to share the overall spoils between them, with St. Patricks taking the Senior Shield, and Stella Maris taking both the Junior Shield and the Overall Shield.

2017 events and regattas

Arklow Rowing Club, Arklow Sun 21 May
Skerries Rowing Club, Skerries Sun 18 June
Bray Rowing Club, Bray Sun 25 June
St. Michael’s Rowing Club, Dun Laoghaire Sun 9 July
Stella Maris Rowing Club, Ringsend Sun 16 July
St. Patrick’s Rowing Club, Ringsend Sun 30 July
Greystones Rowing Club, Greystones Sat 5 August
Wicklow Rowing Club, Wicklow Mon 7 August
Dalkey Rowing Club, Sandycove Sun 13 August

Things are on the move again. There’s a buzz in the air. W M Nixon anticipates the sailing possibilities for 2016 in a fixtures list so diverse that he reckons that anyone who thinks they know everything that’s going on clearly doesn’t.

If you want anything done, then ask a busy man to do it. And the busier people are ashore, the keener they are to get afloat when they can. There was nothing more sluggish than the sailing and boating scene during the recession years. There was less zest for going sailing when you’d all the time in the world to do it because there was nothing to do ashore. And anyway, as a vehicle sport, sailing was a very identifiable expense which could be reduced or even discarded as the recession rumbled on.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that. Anyone with businesses to run knew they’d to keep a very close eye on things all the time if they were to survive at all. Thus we became experts at the short sailing break. The four day regatta became all the rage, and even if the good times roll again as never before, it seems likely the four day regatta is going to stay popular.

It’s indicative of amazingly changed times. Today, it’s beyond imagination to realise that at the height of Scotland’s industrial pomp around Glasgow for eighty years into the 1960s, there used to be a Clyde Fortnight. Two whole weeks of sailing on the trot. Except for Sundays of course, when the church services became yachting events. But even with that spiritual input, it was conspicuous consumption gone mad to be able to show you’d the resources and free time to go off yacht racing for a clear fortnight, knowing your employees – or rather, your inherited company’s employees – would keep those profits and dividends rolling in while you swanned about on the bonnie waters of the Firth.

It took special stamina, too. But times and tastes have changed in any case. There are so many other sports, entertainments and interests vying for our attention these days that sailing has to keep re-inventing itself to make its mark. Yet beneath it all there’s still that elementally simple appeal so eloquently expressed by the folksy Floridian Clark Mills, who in 1947 created the Optimist dinghy:

“A boat, by God, it’s just a gleamin’ beautiful creation. And when you pull the sail up on a boat, you’ve got a little bit of really somethin’ God-given. Man, it goes bleetin’ off like a bird’s wing, you know, and there’s nothin’ else like it”.

It’s still as simple as that. So apart from the usual frostbite races and leagues, it’s more than appropriate that the first major sailing event in Ireland in 2016 is the legendary Optimist Training Week at Baltimore during the half term break in February. Yes folks, February. For sure, we know that in the old Irish calendar, February 1st is St Brigid’s Day, and officially the first day of Spring. But for many sailors, St Patrick’s Day on March 17th is about as early as we want to get. And for most of us, Easter is quite soon enough, thank you.

A harvest of Optys – Optimists racing at the Cork Dinghyfest 2015 in conditions rather different from those they’ll be expecting at Baltimore in February. Photo: Robert Bateman

Nevertheless we salute the keen Opty kids who in February drag their families along with them down to Baltimore – even unto the family dog – in a caravanserai which tells us much about Irish sailing. But what we also know is that Irish sailing is universal, and from times past we’re well aware that our new season is reckoned to start with the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race on December 26th in the dying days of the old year. So the up-coming dash to Hobart is when our new year begins, and back in December 2012 when Gordon Maguire won it overall - his second overall win in this great Australian annual classic - he was undisputed Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for January 2013.

As we’re on the cruiser-racer theme, we’ll stay with it for now through to the August fixtures, and anyone totally into dinghies and nothing else is invited to scroll down a dozen paragraphs to where we emerge from the world of truck-racing for a consideration of the Olympics, the inshore racing classes, and the dinghies.

But for now staying with cruiser-racers, in recent months Gordon Maguire has been making the Mediterranean scene with success aboard the Mark Mills-designed Max 72 Caol Ila (ex-Alegre), but as the Australian season currently swings back into top gear, he’s in the Matt Allen camp aboard the Carkeek 60 Ichi Ban. However, another Irish line of interest continues with Wicklow-based designer Mark Mills, whose newest 45ft footer Concubine – fresh built in Dubai – is going to an Adelaide owner who will have her at optimum trim for her first big outing in the Hobart race.

Flying machine. The new Mark Mills-designed 45ft Concubine arrives in Australia on November 22nd

Meanwhile, notwithstanding the Optimists gearing up for their February Sailfest in Baltimore, things at home really start on Friday February 4th when the Irish sailing focus closes in on the august yet friendly premises of the Royal College of Surgeons on Stephens Green in the heart of Dublin for the annual ISA/Afloat.ie National Sailing Awards. Sailors of the Month, Sailor of the Year, Mitsubishi Motors Club of the Year and many other well-earned awards will be swept through in a festival of mutual congratulation and camaraderie which perfectly captures the spirit of a sport which has a longer history in Ireland than anywhere else.

Can they do it again? The Royal Cork Yacht Club – with Marine Minister Simon Coveney – at the ISA/Afloat.ie Sailing Awards 2014 ceremony in the RCSI in Dublin on Friday 6th March 2015, when they swept the board and took the Mitsubishi Motors “Club of the Year” award for good measure. The 2015 awards will be presented at the same venue on Friday, February 4th 2016.

University sailing also comes top of the bill in the Springtime, with the Irish championship seeing titleholders UCD defend a position which also saw them representing Ireland at the Student Yachting Worlds in France in October, when they placed third overall. It sounds reasonable enough, but Ireland has won the Worlds a couple of times in the recent past, so there’s work to be done here.

Another area where work is being done is in the growing interest for Under 25 Squads in doing great things with revitalised J/24s. Cillian Dickson of Howth led his Under 25 group to success both in J/24 and open racing in 2015 with the J/24 Kilcullen, and the word is that 2016 will see at least three similar teams making the scene at national and local events.

But for boats with a lid, the top item on the agenda has to be the fact that this is a biennial Commodores’ Cup year, and we’re the defenders. In 2014, thanks to the single-minded determination of Anthony O’Leary, a competitive three boat team was somehow assembled from some very disparate parts, and the title - won in 2010 but undefended in 2012 in the depths of the recession - was re-taken in very positive style after a week of ferocious racing in late July in the Solent.

Ireland nicely placed at the start of the Round the Island Race in the Commodore’s Cup 2014, with two British boats neatly sandwiched between Catapult (red hull) and Antix (silver hull). Catapult is now Antix, while the former Antix has been sold to Sweden.

The RORC Brewin Dolphin Commodore’s Cup 2016 will be raced from Cowes from 23rd to 30th July 2016, and far from having to scrape around to assemble a team, the word is that ICRA may be mounting a two team defence/challenge on our behalf, as the RORC event has seen the rating band lowered to 1,000 to make it attractive to boats like J/109s. These super boats are finally taking off in Ireland as a premier class. It has taken some time, but as we’ve been saying for years, the J/109 might have been designed with the Irish context in mind, and they’re going to be a major part of our sailing for many years to come.

They might have been designed precisely with Irish requirements in mind…….the J/109 class is finally beginning to take off at all main centres.

Through the season, cruiser-racer events swing into action at every level, both at home and nearby abroad, with the RORC Easter Challenge in the Solent (Antix defending for Ireland here), the Silver’s Marine Scottish Series at Tarbert from May 27-30 (Rob McConnell’s A35 Fool’s Gold from Dunmore East is the defender) and then the big home one, the ICRA Nats at Howth from June 10th to 12th, staged just a week after Howth’s at-home major, the Lambay Races on June 4th.

ICRA racing at its best – Liam Burke’s Corby 25 Tribal from Galway making knots at Kinsale in the ICRA Nats 2015. The ICRA Nats 2016 are at Howth from June 10th to 12th. Photo: ICRA

Meanwhile the re-vitalised ISORA programme (defending champion is Shanahan family’s J/109 Ruth from the National YC) will have swung into action in the Irish Sea with a stated commitment to impinge adversely as little as possible – if at all – on long-established events, but for serious old salts the real story in June will be the countdown to the Volvo Round Ireland Race from Wicklow on Saturday June 18th.

Volvo Cars Ireland are in for the long haul on this one. So their first outing with the classic biennial circuit will be run fairly conservatively in the knowledge that legislation is going through the Dail to re-organise the administration of Wicklow Harbour (among other ports). Thus it’s on the cards that in the future, Wicklow Sailing Club and their supportive new sponsor will find they have a harbour much-improved to host visiting boats. But for 2016, the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire will be providing support berths for larger craft, as too will Greystones Marina in between.

International participation in the biennial Round Ireland Race – Piet Vroon’s famous Ker 46 Tonnere de Breskens making away from the Wicklow starting line on a perect summer’s day. In 2016, Volvo Cars Ireland will be starting a longterm sponsorship of the race.

But even with the current facilities, it’s going to be quite a happening with serious multi-hulls involved for the first time, and Grand Prix racers of the calibre of George David’s Rambler 88 stepping up to the plate, while in the body of the fleet the Shanahan’s Ruth has unfinished business – in 2014 they missed the win by seven minutes to Richard Harris’s Tanit from Scotland.

Until this late-June stage of the season, the south coast will have been fairly quiet in terms of events with an international flavour, but all that changes between 10th and 15th July when the Royal Cork’s Volvo Cork Week swings into action with the added interest (to put it mildly) of the IRC European Championship. This completely new event – a joint venture between the RORC and the RCYC – is still at the developmental stage, but with some far-thinking organisers behind it such as Anthony O’Leary of Royal Cork and Michael Boyd of RORC, it has all the makings of something very special indeed, and will blend in well with July’s expanding European programme as teams work on their performance with the Commodores’ Cup at the end of July providing the Grand Finale.

But of course not everyone seeks the international limelight. There are plenty of local events to keep cruiser-racers busy, and the WIORA Championship 2016 will be from June 29th to July 02nd, hosted by the very venerable Royal Western of Ireland Yacht at Kilrush, which is itself a place re-born since the marina and harbour were taken over by leading harbour engineers L & M Keating.

Inevitably with the August Bank Holiday Monday being precisely on August 1st, traditional events in 2016 will find themselves being compressed into that first week of August, but if you were really keen it might be just be possible to finish the WIORA at Kilrush and then hare round to Schull for Calves Week from Tuesday August 2nd to Friday August 5th, but there are probably too many temptations on the way as you progress along Ireland’s top cruising coast.

However, if you’re not into total relax mode by the time August arrives, then there’s the Olympics in Rio to gather you up in its crazy five ring circus with the sailing events in a continuous tapestry from 5th August 21st August. The Irish challenge for the 2016 Olympiad is still in something of a state of flux as three places have been secured with other possibilities, but the whole thing is total melting-pot stuff, so it’s too early yet to make predictions.

But you don’t have to look to Rio for stellar performance in 2016 as we’ve top level dinghy racing coming to Ireland with the Laser Radial Youth World Championship being hosted in a joint venture by Dun Laoghaire Harbour and the Royal St George YC from Saturday July 23rd to Saturday July 30th, yet another event which has relevance in a different context as the administration of Dun Laoghaire Harbour could well be in a new context in the near future.

Any overview of the dinghy and inshore keelboat scene soon reminds you of the exasperation some observers feel at a global sport which boasts something like 143 recognised World Championships in its annual international programme. And that’s only counting World Championships. Add in Europeans, and numbers increase exponentially, but we have a Europeans in Ireland in 2016 with the Mirrors gathering from 7th to 12th August for racing with one of the most interesting little boats afloat at the RCYC in Crosshaven.

Yet another new boat design. But the new Phil Morrison-designed National 18 has been making a very good impression in Cork Harbour. Photo: Robert Bateman

For their owners, all boats are interesting - that’s the way it is with boats. Indeed, for many participants, it’s not so much the sport as the vehicles themselves which are the raison d’etre of the whole business. And thus we find that in Ireland as elsewhere, traditional, classic and vintage boats are moving ever higher up the agenda with each season’s programme-making.

It could be argued that there’s nowhere better in the world to find such intriguing and individual boats playing an accepted and natural role in the sailing scene than in the Greater Dublin region. 2016 may also be witnessing the centenary of the Easter Rising and the Irish Revolution. But despite the turmoil of a hundred years ago, we’re basically a very settled and civilised society, and when we find a boat type we like, we tend to stay with her. And equally as a reasonable society we will happily accept the restrictions of one design racing in order to provide affordable sport.

Thus around Dublin we can find the Water Wags whose class organisation dates back to 1886, even if the boats themselves are the new-fangled version from around 1902 or thereabouts. Equally part of the scene are the Howth 17s, undiluted since 1898. And even boats which we think of as new – such as the International Dragons – are now vintage and some of their best racing in 2016 will be in Glandore where the presiding genius is Don Street and Gypsy, numbering 167 years between them, though it’s rude to ask which way the division falls.

Back to her birthplace. Ian Malcolm’s Howth 17 Aura at Carrickfergus, where she was built by John Hilditch in 1898. Several vintage Hilditch-built boats plan to join the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Carrickfergus Sailing Club and the Royal Ulster yacht Club on Belfast Lough next June. Photo: Damian Cronin

Part of the traditional and classic boat scene in Dublin is the annual Leinster Trophy Race of the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association at the June Bank Holiday, and newly-elected DBOGA President denis Aylmer with his Cornish Crabber Mona is defending champion. But this year the classic focus shifts to Belfast Lough at the end of June, as both Carrickfergus Sailing Club and Royal Ulster Yacht Club are celebrating their 150th Anniveraries.

They’ll have many separate events, but as Carrickfergus was also the location of the famous Hilditch boat-building yard where many famous wooden one designs were built between 1892 and 1914, there’ll be a Hilditch Regatta at Carrickfergus morphing into a RUYC Classic Yacht Festival across Belfast Lough at Bangor between Wednesday June 22nd and Monday June 27th, with vintage fleets eligible including Strangford Lough Rivers, the Glens, Howth 17s, Belfast Lough Waverleys, Ballyholme Bays and indeed any classics willing to travel such as Water Wags and vintage Dragons.

Senior Hilditch boat. The Mylne-designed Belfast Lough Island Class yawl Trasnagh, seen here under her new Bermudan rig in 1933, is expected to join the 150th Anniversary celebrations in Belfast Lough in the summer of 2016. Photo courtesy RNIYC

As she was, so she is again. Tern – seen here in 1898 – has been so faithfully restored in 2015 that she even has replicated the inverted 2 for her sail number 7. They couldn’t find a 7 in the sailmakers loft when the boats were being commissioned in a hurry in May 1897. Photo courtesy RUYC

There may even be an appearance by two of the Hilditch daddies of them all, the Fife-designed Belfast Lough Class I 25ft LWL OD Tern of 1897 vintage which has re-emerged in the Mediterranean so effectively restored that she won her class at Les Voiles de St Tropez in September 2015, and the Mylne-designed 39ft LOA Island Class yawl Trasnagh, built in 1913 to join her sisters at Cultra anchorage to make up a fleet of the worlds first true cruiser-racer one designs.

At the other end of the size scale, one of the best new events of 2015 was the Dinghyfest at Royal Cork in August, which was such a success straight out of the box that they’re going to run it again in 2016 on much the same format, and the word is that classes are already queuing to take part in something which could well be a very welcome distraction from Olympic angst.

MAIN 2016 SAILING EVENTS OF IRISH INTEREST 

February 4th ISA/Afloat.ie Annual Awards RCSI, Dublin

May 27th to 30th Silver’s Scottish Series Tarbert, Loch Fyne

June 10th to 12th ICRA Nats Howth

June 18th Volvo Round Ireland Race Wicklow

June 22nd to 27th Belfast Lough Classics Carrickfergus & Bangor

July 10th to 15th Volvo Cork Week & IRC Europeans Royal Cork YC

July 23rd to 30th Laser Youth Radial Worlds RStGYC

July 23rd to 30th Brewin Dolphin Commodore’s Cup Cowes

August 5th to 21st Sailing Olympics 2016 Rio de Janeiro

August 7th to 12th Mirror Europeans Royal Cork YC

October 1st to 2nd All-Ireland Helmsman’s Championship

October Student Yachting World Cup France

October 22nd Rolex Middle Sea Race Malta

2016 ISA FIXTURE LIST

Start	End	Name	Boat Class	Venue
06/02/16	07/02/16	IUSA Westerns	Fireflies	Killaloe SC
25/02/16	28/02/16	IUSA Varsities	Fireflies	Kenmare
26/03/16	27/03/16	Munster Championships	Laser	Baltimore Sailing Club
10/04/16	10/04/16	Traveller 1	Topper	East Down YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	Mirror Westerns	Mirror	Sligo YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	Ulster Championships	Laser	Coounty Antrim Yacht Club
23/04/16	24/04/16	RS400 Easterns	RS	Royal St George YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	RS200 Easterns	RS	Royal St George YC
24/04/16	24/04/16	Traveller 2	Topper	Lough Derg YC
08/05/16	08/05/16	Traveller 3	Topper	Wexford Harbour B&TC
14/05/16	16/05/16	Leinster Optimist Championships	Optimist	Royal St George YC
14/05/16	15/05/16	Optimist Leinsters	Optimist	Royal St George YC
21/05/16	22/05/16	Ulster Championships	Topper	Donaghadee SC
21/05/16	22/05/16	GP14 OT & Purcell	GP14	Swords Sailing & BC
21/05/16	22/05/16	J/24 Northerrns	J/24	Sligo YC
21/05/16	22/05/16	RS400 Northerns	RS	Cushendall Sailing & Boating Club
27/05/16	29/05/16	Sportsboat Cup 2016	Various	Howth YC
27/05/16	29/05/16	Dragon East Coast Championship	Dragon	Royal Irish YC
28/05/16	29/05/16	Squib Northern Championship	Squib	Killyleagh SC
04/06/16	04/06/16	Lambay Races 2016	All Classes	Howth YC
10/06/16	12/06/16	ICRA National Championships 2016	Cruisers	Howth YC
10/06/16	12/06/16	Wayfarer National Championship	Wayfarer	Ramor Watersports Club
11/06/16	12/06/16	Optimist Connaughts	Optimist	Foynes YC
18/06/16		Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race	Cruisers	Wicklow SC
18/06/16	18/06/16	Royal Alfred Bloomsday Regatta	All Classes	National YC
18/06/16	19/06/16	Leinster Championships	Topper	Skerries SC
25/06/16	26/06/16	GP14 Ulsters	GP14	East Down YC
25/06/16	26/06/16	RS400 Westerns	RS	Sligo YC
25/06/16	26/06/16	RS200 Westerns	RS	Sligo YC
01/07/16	01/07/16	Optimist VP Team Racing Cup	Optimist	Malahide YC
01/07/16	03/07/16	White Sails and Non Spinnaker Team Challenge	Cruisers	Royal St George YC
01/07/16	03/07/16	Dingy West 2016 - Sailing the Wild Atlantic	All Dinghies	Galway Bay Sailing Club
02/07/16	03/07/16	Connaught Championships	Laser	Lough Derg YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	Optimist Ulsters	Optimist	Malahide YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	J/24 Southerns	J/24	Royal Cork YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	Fireball Leinsters	Fireball	Wexford Harbour B&TC
02/07/16	04/07/16	Irish Nationals	Topper	Royal Cork YC
10/07/16	15/07/16	Volvo Cork Week & IRC European Championships	Various	Royal Cork YC
15/07/16	17/07/16	Ruffian 23 National Championship	Ruffian 23	Dun Laoghaire MYC
16/07/16	17/07/16	Optimist Crosbie Cup	Optimist	Lough Ree YC
16/07/16	17/07/16	Leinster Championships	Laser	National YC
17/07/16	17/07/16	Traveller 4	Topper	Carrickfergus SC
22/07/16	24/07/16	Mirror National Championships	Mirror	Sutton Dinghy Club
23/07/16	30/07/16	Laser Radial World Championships (Men's & Youth's)	Laser	Royal St George YC
23/07/16	24/07/16	GP14 Leinsters	GP14	Sutton Dinghy Club
23/07/16	24/07/16	RS400 Southerns	RS	Lough Ree YC
23/07/16	24/07/16	RS200 Southerns	RS	Lough Ree YC
23/07/16	29/07/16	World Championships	Topper	Ballyholme YC
29/06/16	02/07/16	WIORA 2016	Cruisers	Royal Western YC
30/07/16	01/08/16	Arklow Maritime Festival	All Classes	Arklow SC
06/08/16	07/08/16	J/24 Westerns	J/24	Lough Ree YC
07/08/16	07/08/16	Sutton Dinghy Regatta	All Classes	Sutton Dinghy Club
07/08/16	12/08/16	Mirror Europeans 2016	Mirror	Royal Cork YC
09/08/16	11/08/16	420 Nationals	420	Howth YC
12/08/16	13/08/16	Sailability President's Cup	Various	Kinsale YC
12/08/16	14/08/16	Fireball Nationals	Fireball	Howth YC
15/08/16	19/08/16	Optimist Irish Nationals	Optimist	Lough Derg YC
19/08/16	21/08/16	Squib Irish National Championship	Squib	Kinsale YC
20/08/16	23/08/16	National Championships	Laser	Galway Bay Sailing Club
26/08/16	28/08/16	RS400 Irish Nationals	RS	Schull Harbour SC
26/08/16	28/08/16	RS400 Irish Nationals	RS	Schull Harbour SC
27/08/16	29/08/16	GP14 Irish & Masters	GP14	Skerries SC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Munster Championships	Topper	Kinsale YC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Mirror Northerns	Mirror	Royal North Of Ireland YC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Topper Munster Championship	Topper	Kinsale YC
28/08/16	28/08/16	Taste of Greystones Cruiser Regatta	Cruisers	Greystones SC
31/08/16	04/09/16	Dragon Irish Championship	Dragon	Kinsale YC
02/09/16	04/09/16	J/24 Nationals	J/24	Royal St George YC
03/09/16	04/09/16	Wayfarer Inland Championship	Wayfarer	Callaun SC
10/09/16	11/09/16	Optimist Munsters	Optimist	Royal Cork YC
10/09/16	11/09/16	Fireball Munsters	Fireball	Killaloe SC
11/09/16	11/09/16	Traveller 5	Topper	Killyleagh SC
17/09/16	18/09/16	All Ireland Inter-Schools Championship	All Classes	Sutton Dinghy Club
24/09/16	25/09/16	GP14 Autumn & Youth	GP14	Sligo YC
24/09/16	25/09/16	ISA All Ireland Youth Championships	TBC	TBC
01/10/16	02/10/16	ISA All Ireland Senior Championships	J80	TBC
15/10/16	16/10/16	Squib Inland Championship/Freshwater Regatta	Squib	Lough Derg YC

Start	End	Name	Boat Class	Venue
06/02/16	07/02/16	IUSA Westerns	Fireflies	Killaloe SC
25/02/16	28/02/16	IUSA Varsities	Fireflies	Kenmare
26/03/16	27/03/16	Munster Championships	Laser	Baltimore Sailing Club
10/04/16	10/04/16	Traveller 1	Topper	East Down YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	Mirror Westerns	Mirror	Sligo YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	Ulster Championships	Laser	Coounty Antrim Yacht Club
23/04/16	24/04/16	RS400 Easterns	RS	Royal St George YC
23/04/16	24/04/16	RS200 Easterns	RS	Royal St George YC
24/04/16	24/04/16	Traveller 2	Topper	Lough Derg YC
08/05/16	08/05/16	Traveller 3	Topper	Wexford Harbour B&TC
14/05/16	16/05/16	Leinster Optimist Championships	Optimist	Royal St George YC
14/05/16	15/05/16	Optimist Leinsters	Optimist	Royal St George YC
21/05/16	22/05/16	Ulster Championships	Topper	Donaghadee SC
21/05/16	22/05/16	GP14 OT & Purcell	GP14	Swords Sailing & BC
21/05/16	22/05/16	J/24 Northerrns	J/24	Sligo YC
21/05/16	22/05/16	RS400 Northerns	RS	Cushendall Sailing & Boating Club
27/05/16	29/05/16	Sportsboat Cup 2016	Various	Howth YC
27/05/16	29/05/16	Dragon East Coast Championship	Dragon	Royal Irish YC
28/05/16	29/05/16	Squib Northern Championship	Squib	Killyleagh SC
04/06/16	04/06/16	Lambay Races 2016	All Classes	Howth YC
10/06/16	12/06/16	ICRA National Championships 2016	Cruisers	Howth YC
10/06/16	12/06/16	Wayfarer National Championship	Wayfarer	Ramor Watersports Club
11/06/16	12/06/16	Optimist Connaughts	Optimist	Foynes YC
18/06/16		Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race	Cruisers	Wicklow SC
18/06/16	18/06/16	Royal Alfred Bloomsday Regatta	All Classes	National YC
18/06/16	19/06/16	Leinster Championships	Topper	Skerries SC
25/06/16	26/06/16	GP14 Ulsters	GP14	East Down YC
25/06/16	26/06/16	RS400 Westerns	RS	Sligo YC
25/06/16	26/06/16	RS200 Westerns	RS	Sligo YC
01/07/16	01/07/16	Optimist VP Team Racing Cup	Optimist	Malahide YC
01/07/16	03/07/16	White Sails and Non Spinnaker Team Challenge	Cruisers	Royal St George YC
01/07/16	03/07/16	Dingy West 2016 - Sailing the Wild Atlantic	All Dinghies	Galway Bay Sailing Club
02/07/16	03/07/16	Connaught Championships	Laser	Lough Derg YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	Optimist Ulsters	Optimist	Malahide YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	J/24 Southerns	J/24	Royal Cork YC
02/07/16	03/07/16	Fireball Leinsters	Fireball	Wexford Harbour B&TC
02/07/16	04/07/16	Irish Nationals	Topper	Royal Cork YC
10/07/16	15/07/16	Volvo Cork Week & IRC European Championships	Various	Royal Cork YC
15/07/16	17/07/16	Ruffian 23 National Championship	Ruffian 23	Dun Laoghaire MYC
16/07/16	17/07/16	Optimist Crosbie Cup	Optimist	Lough Ree YC
16/07/16	17/07/16	Leinster Championships	Laser	National YC
17/07/16	17/07/16	Traveller 4	Topper	Carrickfergus SC
22/07/16	24/07/16	Mirror National Championships	Mirror	Sutton Dinghy Club
23/07/16	30/07/16	Laser Radial World Championships (Men's & Youth's)	Laser	Royal St George YC
23/07/16	24/07/16	GP14 Leinsters	GP14	Sutton Dinghy Club
23/07/16	24/07/16	RS400 Southerns	RS	Lough Ree YC
23/07/16	24/07/16	RS200 Southerns	RS	Lough Ree YC
23/07/16	29/07/16	World Championships	Topper	Ballyholme YC
27/07/16	30/07/16	WIORA 2016	Cruisers	Royal Western YC
30/07/16	01/08/16	Arklow Maritime Festival	All Classes	Arklow SC
06/08/16	07/08/16	J/24 Westerns	J/24	Lough Ree YC
07/08/16	07/08/16	Sutton Dinghy Regatta	All Classes	Sutton Dinghy Club
07/08/16	12/08/16	Mirror Europeans 2016	Mirror	Royal Cork YC
09/08/16	11/08/16	420 Nationals	420	Howth YC
12/08/16	13/08/16	Sailability President's Cup	Various	Kinsale YC
12/08/16	14/08/16	Fireball Nationals	Fireball	Howth YC
15/08/16	19/08/16	Optimist Irish Nationals	Optimist	Lough Derg YC
19/08/16	21/08/16	Squib Irish National Championship	Squib	Kinsale YC
20/08/16	23/08/16	National Championships	Laser	Galway Bay Sailing Club
26/08/16	28/08/16	RS400 Irish Nationals	RS	Schull Harbour SC
26/08/16	28/08/16	RS400 Irish Nationals	RS	Schull Harbour SC
27/08/16	29/08/16	GP14 Irish & Masters	GP14	Skerries SC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Munster Championships	Topper	Kinsale YC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Mirror Northerns	Mirror	Royal North Of Ireland YC
27/08/16	28/08/16	Topper Munster Championship	Topper	Kinsale YC
28/08/16	28/08/16	Taste of Greystones Cruiser Regatta	Cruisers	Greystones SC
31/08/16	04/09/16	Dragon Irish Championship	Dragon	Kinsale YC
02/09/16	04/09/16	J/24 Nationals	J/24	Royal St George YC
03/09/16	04/09/16	Wayfarer Inland Championship	Wayfarer	Callaun SC
10/09/16	11/09/16	Optimist Munsters	Optimist	Royal Cork YC
10/09/16	11/09/16	Fireball Munsters	Fireball	Killaloe SC
11/09/16	11/09/16	Traveller 5	Topper	Killyleagh SC
17/09/16	18/09/16	All Ireland Inter-Schools Championship	All Classes	Sutton Dinghy Club
24/09/16	25/09/16	GP14 Autumn & Youth	GP14	Sligo YC
24/09/16	25/09/16	ISA All Ireland Youth Championships	TBC	TBC
01/10/16	02/10/16	ISA All Ireland Senior Championships	J80	TBC
15/10/16	16/10/16	Squib Inland Championship/Freshwater Regatta	Squib	Lough Derg YC

February 23rd: RORC Caribbean 600

April 9th-12th: ISA Topper Youth Championship (Royal Cork YC)

April 25th: ISORA Coastal Day Races @ Holyhead, and Dun Laoghaire to Arklow

May 7th – 10th : ISAF Nations Cup – Euro Final (Howth YC)

May 16th: Baily Bowl (Royal Alfred YC)

May 22nd - 25th: 40th Annual Scottish Series (Clyde Cr C, Gourock-Tarbert)

May 22nd - 24th: Baltimore Wooden Boat & Seafood Festival

May 22nd-24th: ISORA Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead-Isle of Man series.

May 31st – June 1st DBOGA Leinster Trophy and Dublin Riverfest (Poolbeg Y&BC)

June 6th Howth YC Lambay Races (inc Classics)

June 12th: Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

June 13th: Royal Alfred YC Bloomsday Regatta (Royal StGYC)

June 24th - 28th: Kinsale: Sovereigns Regatta & ICRA Nats

June 19th – 21st Squib Irish Nats (Howth YC)

June 27th – July 3rd: Squib Inter-Nationals at Howth

July 2nd – July 5th: Tall Ships, Classics & Old Gaffers in Belfast

July 3rd RORC Lyver Trophy Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire (Royal Dee YC & ISORA)

July 9th-12th: Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta (inc Royal Dee YC Bicentenary Series)

July 18th – 24th: CH Marine Glandore Classics Regatta

July 22nd – 25th: WIORA Championship @ Galway Bay SC

July 31st to Aug. 2nd: Peel Traditional Boat Weekend (IOM)

Aug. 3rd: Baltimore Regatta

Aug. 4th – 7th: Calves Week (Schull)

Aug. 15th: Howth YC Double-Handed Race Challenge

Aug 15th: ISORA Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli

Aug. 16th: Rolex Fastnet Race (Cowes)

Aug 16th – 20th Optimist Irish Nationals (Lough Derg YC)

Aug. 21st – 23rd: Crosshaven Dinghy Mini-Week

Aug. 29th: ISORA Races from Pwllheli & Dun Laoghaire to Greystones

Aug. 30th: Taste of Greystones Keelboat Regatta

Sept. 5th – 6th: DBSC Cruiser Challenge

Sept. 12th: ISORA Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire

Sept. 12th - 13th: Helmsmans Championship

Oct. 17th : Rolex Middle Sea Race (Malta)

#FLYING FIFTEEN – At Monday's Irish Flying Fifteen Fleet AGM at East Antrim Boat Club 2012's sailing fixtures were agreed with five regional events planned. The cost of new boats now running to €20k was seen as a deterrent to new members but as a means of promoting the class a suggestion was made to hold an open evening at events to try to encourage new blood using four or five boats.

2012 Fixtures

May 19-20 Northern Championships - Strangford SC

June 23-24 or 15-16 Sept Southern Championships - Carlingford

Aug 17-19 Championship of Ireland - Strangford Lough YC

TBA West Coast Championship - Carrickfergus SC

Oct 6-7 East Coast Championship - National YC

July 20-23 British Championships - Largs SC

Aug 27-31 European Championship - Lake Garda