Outlaw, sailed by Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan, is nearing overall victory in the Squib Class of the Frostbite Series at Kinsale Yacht Club.

They sailed to one first and two second places in Sunday’s three races. Outlaw is closely pursued by Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward in Allegro, which won two of those races but dropped to fourth at the finish of the third on Sunday.

Outlaw has 18 points overall going into the final day of the series this Sunday. Allegro is on 23.5. That should make for an interesting battle between these two crews for the final placings. Third is Fifty Shades (Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly) on 36.5 points and unlikely to affect the top two placings.

Three different winners in three races on the fourth day of the Frostbite series at Kinsale Yacht Club on Sunday showed close competition at the top of the Squib fleet, where Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan continue to lead in Outlaw.

Allegro won the day's first race, sailed by Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward, who is in second place overall on 17.5 points. The second winner was the third overall crew, Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly, sailing Fifty Shades. The third race was won by Mucky Duck, sailed by the O’Sullivans – Michael and Micheál.

Outlaw had second place in the first race, followed by a third in the second and a fourth in the third. The second discard of the series has been applied, and Travers/O’Riordan are on a nett 13 points overall at the top, followed by Allegro 4.5 points behind and Fifty Shades on 27.5 in third. Mucky Duck is fourth overall on 33. 

It is a long way to Tipperary and Lough Derg Yacht Club at Dromineer from the Squib strongholds on Belfast and Strangford Loughs in the North.

Dromineer lies on the shores of Lough Derg, on the River Shannon and 10km north of Nenagh.

Not to be deterred, at least seven Northern Squib owners will trail the 200 miles to the Freshwater One Design Regatta from 14th to 16th of October.

From Killyleagh on Strangford Lough and leading the charge will be the Irish Class Chairman, Robert Marshall with Slipstream, Simon Watson’s Volante and Stephen Bridges in Firecracker. From Royal North on Belfast Lough, last year’s winner Gordon Patterson will no doubt try to hold on to the top slot in Fegan: In Toy for the Boys is Peter Wallace, Stephen Stewart in Second Chance and Dot’s Boat sailed by Terry Rowan.

Robert Marshall is looking forward to the competition: “I’m hoping for a big entry for the last regional event of the year and seeing boats from England and Wales in Dromineer. The Commodore of LDYC, Joe Gilmartin, no doubt will provide top-class racing and social events”.

The new Squib trophy to be presented at Lough Derg

So who will claim the brand new Irish Squib Class perpetual trophy that will be presented to this year’s victorious Squib?

Bryan Willis and John McPeake (4074) at the Northern FF championships Photo Kathryn Anderson

Another Northern entrant, but this time in a Flying Fifteen will be Bryan Willis in Simply Gold from County Antrim Yacht Club on Belfast Lough. He had a mixed season he said: “We were second in the Northerns at my home club and expect strong competition in this event.  As far as I am aware, we are the only Northern Flying Fifteen entry, but perhaps there’ll be more before entries close on Wednesday 12th “.

It’s a double bill this weekend at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club on Belfast Lough where the RS Elite Irish Nationals and the McMillan Shield for Squibs will be held.

It has been a busy year for the local Elite fleet, with many of them having travelled to England for various events, culminating in the Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix in Cowes, with 43 boats on the start line. Of these, Royal North’s Simon Brien finished fifth in Kin. The Irish Elite event will be smaller with ten expected, to be joined by ten Squibs.

It looks as if the RS Elite lineup could be an open field this year with Stephen Polly on Storm and Mike Browne’s Love Bug stiff competition. Polly took runner up in last year’s Irish Nationals Tiffany Brien will be helming the family’s Kin and given past performance will be in the pack. Jeff Ralston will also be a contender in Up Front along with the Vaughan family on Joint Venture.

The Squib Easterns at Howth Photo: Paddy Judge

The Squib line up for the McMillan Shield looks like being headed up by Gordon Patterson on Fagan who won the Northerns at Killyleagh in May and more recently the Easterns at Howth. The RNIYC Squib Fleet are super competitive, and David Eccles on Inshallah will want to win this event. Hot on his heels will be Peter Wallace on Toy for the Boys who might be a thorn on the side. The Killiners are on Maximus are relatively new to the fleet so it will be good to see how they progress.

Race Officer is Sam Lynas, formerly of Squib Worm, and he will have a good understanding of both these fleets but given that the forecast is for light winds, may have to deal with delicate situations!

Racing gets underway on Saturday (27th) at 11.30 and again on Sunday 10.30 at Cultra.

“Mixed feelings” might describe the ordinary host club members’ feelings in contemplating the results of the Squib Easterns at Howth. For although Derek Bothwell, one of HYC’s elite squad of Race Officers, managed to pull a very complete set of results out of what might be seen in future as the “last rose of summer” event, with sunny breezes having to be set off against king-sized Spring tides, the overall results sheet showed that the visitors did very nicely indeed, thank you.

The overall winner in the Gold Fleet was Fagin from Royal North of Ireland YC, sailed by Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan. And the overall winner of the Silver Fleet was Tiger Roll, sailed by Carla Fagan of the host club. Enthusiasts of Dickens will have a field day with all this, meanwhile, HYC members are increasingly wondering if the women sailors on the peninsula do all the winning while the men are fit for nothing but the washing up.

Rising star – Carla Fagan’s Tiger Roll enjoying the heatwave by stayng cool – and first in the final race – out in Fingal Bay

Maybe ’twas ever thus. Anyway, in a good fleet of 24 boats in which the most northerly came from Belfast Lough, the most easterly from Holyhead in Wales, the most southerly from Kinsale and the most westerly from Lough Derg, it was actually Emmet Dalton and Neal Merry of the host club who were tops of the locals in fourth in the Gold Fleet. But rising HYC star Carla Fagan crewed by Stephen Quinn had the dream trajectory, as she started with a very L-plate 19th, but thereafter it was onwards and upwards with 13th, 3rd and 1st to provide first in the Silver fleet.

Striking a blow for the Crews’ Union – winning pit man Ross Nolan (RNIYC) with HYC Commodore Paddy Judge

Silver stars – crewman Stephen Quinn with Silver Fleet winner Carla Fagan and Paddy Judge

However, as the result sheets show, there was no gainsaying the fact that it was Fagin of RNIYC on first with 4,1,1,2, Firecracker of Killyleagh (Steven Bridges & Matthew Bolton) on second with 1,2,2,9, and Granat of Royal Irish YC (David Stewart & Brian Hare) on third at 2,5,5 and a discarded 11. It’s no wonder so many visitors have since been in touch to send thanks to HYC for providing such a lovely time……..

It was a very satisfactory spread of entries

The fleet set out in classic Kinsale weather with 20 knots and waves. The championships were both decided on the water in the final race at the Bandon Co-op Squib National Championships.

After the many black flags of yesterday, the fleet got off first time with just an individual recall flag showing. Once again it was RicO’Shea who took an early lead and were well off into the distance (more on that later) however it was the Irish fleet who really had the hang of the big weather and it was going to be a hard-fought race throughout with Fagin, Allegro and Outlaw and Fuggles all battling for the win.

Fantastic surfing on the downwind legs was had by all and in the end, it was Bacchante VII, Joe Henry and Roly Wilson who took the win ahead of local Kinsale Commodore, Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly in Fifty Shades.

Championship Winner Tom Jeffgate and Mark Hogan receive the Chris Hogan Memorial Trophy From John O' Looney Bandon Co-Op Photo: Bob Bateman

The team of Sean Murphy and his father Paul in Fuggles took a well-deserved third to assure that as crane driver the fleet would be lifted out in a super-efficient manner.

Ric O Shea were unfortunate to be one of the receivers of the individual recall flag.

John O'Looney of Bandon Co-Op presents Irish Squib National Championships winners Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan with their trophy Photo: Bob Bateman

Overall a fantastic week was had by all, with superb racing organised by the Race Offer, Peter Crowley, and his team on SpareTime and all the fleet are hugely appreciative of their time and effort in ensuring a great week of racing.

The Bandon Co-op Irish National Champions 2022 are local team Outlaw, Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan, second went to Royal North of Ireland team Fagan, Gordan Patterson and Ross Nolan whilst Kinsale’s Allegro, Colm Dunne and Rob Gill took the bronze.

The Squib National 2022 was won by South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club’s Ric O Shea, Tom Jeffcoate and Mark Hogan. Second place went to Lucky Counts, Jono Brown and Chris Agar from the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club ahead of team mate Spoof, Micky Wright and Alex Porteous in third.

Squib Championships Kinsale 2022 Prizewinners Photo Gallery by Bob Bateman

The weather came in and the Bandon Co-op Squib Nationals fleet left the harbour to embark on a three-race day, the gentle breeze turned southerly and the first race today was race four of the Championships, a nice 10 knots saw the fleet split and the favoured side saw the newest squib in the fleet Harry VI take line honours ahead of the Lucky Counts and the ever quick Ric O Shea.

By race two, the predicted win was up just shy of 20 knots plus knots. A few starters fell fall foul of the black flag start penalty, including previous race winner Harry VI and Lady Penelope.

Ric O Shea had no such problems and won race five. Kinsale locals Outlaw took second and the highest placed first boat thus far this week. The third place was Lucky Counts.

The final race of the day and the wind had built further along with the wave, the ever consistent Ric O Shea took the lead from the start whilst the battle for second and third developed behind. Ultimately it was Aquabat who took second place whilst Spoof were able to reel Allegro in to grab third place. Ric O Shea is now the overnight leader in the final day’s racing.

On the other side of the results, the Irish nationals are being led by locals Outlaw with The Royal North's Fagin hot on their heels, Allegro sits currently in third having had an unlucky race 5 with an outhaul issue.

Results are provisional here

The third day of the Bandon co-op Squib National Championships at Kinsale Yacht Club gave the competitors the chance to do boat repairs and check out the settings of the competition as the race officer, Peter Crowley, was forced to raise the postponement flag.

The forecasted rain has not appeared but despite some promising sunshine the clouds have kept the much hoped-for sea breeze away and ultimately the decision has been made to postpone Race 4 until tomorrow.

Evening entertainment will go ahead as scheduled on the balcony of the Club.

Day one of the Bandon Co-op Squib National championships in Kinsale started in a strong 16kt northern breeze with significant gusts.

The Traditional Practice race gave visitors a good beat and run across the racecourse before Race 1 officially got underway.

The record will show that it was Kinsale locals Colm Dunne and Rob Gill won the ‘Practice’ race in Allegro.

They stayed out to the right side and came home ahead of Portsmouth’s Joe Henry and Roly Wilson in Bacchante VII. 3rd were last year’s UK national champions in Harry VI, Mike Budd and Mark Greaves.

After a short break things got serious and the fleet launched off the start line at the first attempt.

The wind had eased slightly to 14kts and Race officer Peter Crowley and his team set a 3-round windward /leeward course.

A three-round windward/leeward course was deployed for the first race of the Squib championships Photo: Bob Bateman

First to the windward mark was Lady Penelope, Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Carley who held the lead from start to finish and won Race 1 of this year’s Combined Championships, a number of the hot favourites were in their slipstream with a number of positional jockeying going on showing that the rest of the week is sure to be a hotly contested event.

The final run sorted the positions and it was the UK’s RCYC from Burnham that had the podium 1,2,3.

Following Lady Penelope was Lucky Counts, Jono Brown and Chris Agar whilst 3rd was Spoof helmed by Micky Wright and crewed by Alex Porteous.

The Irish Championship leader overnight is Allegro, followed By Outlaw with regatta Director Ian Travers and Keith O Riordan, and local Commodore Matthias Hellstern helmed Fifty Shades with Colm Daly crewing.

Results are here

Squib Photo Gallery Day One by Bob Bateman

The Bandon Co-Op-sponsored week-long British & Irish Squib Nationals getting underway this weekend in Kinsale - with the first racing on Sunday, June 19th - is an eloquent example of the imaginative thinking that is needed to get sailing back to post-pandemic normality. Or maybe it’s some sort of new normality.

Whatever, the notion that we can emerge from paralysis by combining formerly constrained major fixtures seems to be working in this case, with 58 top entries. They’re drawn from all the Squib racing centres in Ireland and the main ones in England and Wales, the furthest travelled being from Suffolk on the East Coast and Portsmouth in the south. Their efforts, in particular, look like being rewarded, as the ten-day forecasts are suggesting that next week will see a fair effort at real summer in Ireland, but across in England, they’ll be under their own private low-pressure area, with much rain to match.

Kinsale Harbour is at the heart of The Land Flowing in Milk and Honey, and next week’s championship may provide appropriate summer weather for its full enjoyment

Kinsale meanwhile may well be firmly in line next week for the contest for Central HQ of the Land of Milk and Honey and Sunny Summertime Stakes. And that - combined with the picturesque port’s reputation for hospitality and the sponsorship of a multi-faceted locally-based agri-business – will give some idea of the developing flavour of an event in which the notable camaraderie of the Squib class will interact dynamically with the special venue’s unique sense of itself.

For although the Squib Class in Ireland – headed by the affable Class President Robert Marshall of Killyleagh on Strangford Lough – seems to be a by-word for amiable sport, that’s just a matter of keeping to the spirit of this attractive little 19th keelboat. In fact, they race at least as competitively as anyone else, but it’s regarded as distinctly un-Squibbish to give the impression of trying too hard.

While the Squib Class may like to project a laid-back approach, they race as hard and close as anyone else

Thus in order to deal with a fleet of 58 hot crews determined to get in as much competitive racing as they can while appearing to be simply going out for some agreeable sailing with a spot of racing thrown in, Organising Committee Chairman Ian Travers and his team, with Fiona Sugrue-Ward looking after communications, have been building up a formidable corps of volunteers to ensure that all the various logistical challenges are calmly met, while the legendary Peter Crowley – former RCYC Admiral and ISA President – is in the key role of Senior Race Officer.

As for the competition, while there were restricted-movement British Nationals at Abersoch in Wales and an Irish Championship at Killyleagh in 2021, the mood for the class in Ireland going into the winter lockdown was set at the Freshwater Regatta on Lough Derg in October when – after some great sport – “See you in Kinsale in June” was the parting greeting, and so it has come to pass.

Lough Derg is another Irish centre whee the fleet is growing, in this case at LDYC at Dromineer. Photo: W M Nixon

On current form, Gordon Patterson & Ross Nolan of Royal North of Ireland YC at Cultra on Belfast Lough with Fagin seem to be continuing their good form of 2021 as we look at 2022’s early results. But Dick and Pam Batt of Chichester Harbour – no strangers to racing with the Irish fleet – are always a force to be reckoned with, as are Kinsale’s Colm Dunne & Rob Gill, and Ian Travers himself.

Kinsale combines history with modern amenities – Squibs racing past the harbour guardian of Charlesfort. Photo: Robert Bateman

But after the pandemic shrinkage, 58 boats is a large and strong fleet. It’s going to be fascinating seeing who emerges from the pack. And if we sought a vivid example of the colourful diversity of Irish sailing, we need look no further than next week, when the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race all round our coast, and the Bandon Co-Op Squib Championship at Kinsale, are taking place at precisely the same time.

Squib entry list here