Some placings waxed and waned, occasionally quite spectacularly, in Day 2's racing in the Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals at Howth, as wind and weather struggled to stabilise themselves after the theatrically unsettled conditions experienced earlier in the week.

Nevertheless, in a testing time for Race Officer teams, the more senior classes, which had already notched two races on the opening afternoon on Thursday (Day 1), got themselves three further completed contests, while the newbies in the Toppers and ILCA 4s stepped up to the plate to start their championships with two races logged.

Already there'll be competitors who will be hoping for a full slate of finishes by the time racing concludes on Sunday, as two of the overnight leaders may be looking for everything that further discards have to offer. In the substantial Optimist fleet (43 boats racing), overnight clear leader Caoilinn McDonnell (Royal St George Yacht Club) scaled the extremes of experience with a UFD, a first, and a retiral to put her back to 15th overall despite having a neat lineup of three bullets for her three fully finished races.

An Optimist dinghy competitor sails past the Martello Tower on Ireland's Eye at Howth Yacht Club Photo: HYC

There was excitement for the home Optimist fleet when local rising star Harry Dunne won the day's first race, and then a fifth in the second kept him up in lights, but a DNF in the third dropped him back to 7th OA at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, the Young Crusaders of Royal St George kept up their assault across a broad front, as Jules Start moved into first OA with a 13,3,1 while clubmate Conor Cronin took up second OA ahead of Andrew O'Neill of Royal Cork Yacht Club.

At the other end of the five-class regatta fleet, the ILCA 6s saw local stars Rocco Wright and Luke Turvey find their mojo with persistent performances in the frame, but Rocco was glad to have the first discard kick in as he was disqualified in the day's first race, but then made amends with two clear wins. Luke meanwhile had a first and two seconds, so it needed a tie-break to put Rocco ahead, as both are on 7 points total. Overnight leader Tom Coulter of East Antrim went back to 12 points total, as he'd to make do with a discarded 8th, and a retained 3rd and 6th.

World youth sailing gold medalist Rocco Wright leads the ILCA 6 division in his home waters at Howth Photo: World Sailing

It looks as though we're going to have to get used to spelling Krzysztof Ciborowski's name properly, as the young Royal St George YC helm ended the day on tops in the ILCA 4s after logging a 4th and 1st to put him ahead of Royal Cork's Oisin Pierse in another tie break, as both are on a total of 5, with another gong for Royal St George with Seth Walker third OA on a 5th and 2nd in a class of 34 boats.

The Toppers put out a fleet of 40 to see Tom Driscoll of Ballyholme become a clear overnight leader with two firsts to the 6th and 2nd of Cormac Byrne (SSC & BYC), with Lucy Moynan of Royal Cork keeping it cross country on third from a 4th and 5th.

TWO HANDERS

Ben O'Shaughnessy of Crosshaven's Royal Cork YC and Ethan Spain of the National YC continued on form in the 29ers with a 2,1,2. When you're discarding a second, the smart money bets you're overall leaders, and so they are, yet it's only on a tie-break against the Van Steenberges (Clementine & Nathan) from Dun Laoghaire, while Lucia Cullen (Royal St George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork) are third on 11 to the leaders' 6.

International 29er performers Lucia Cullen (Royal St George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork) are lying third in Howth at the Youth Sailing Nationals 

The 420s saw Jack McDowell of Malahide and Henry Thompson of Wicklow have a great day on the water - with third and two firsts; they shot into the overall lead one point overall ahead of Malahide's Kate Campion and Amelie Soffe, while the cross-country mix of Max Sweetman of WHSC (Dunmore East) and Roisin Mitchell Ward of Galway Bay stayed in the frame on third overall.

When seen in the context of the week's earlier weather, it wasn't a bad day at all, but the promises of significantly warmer conditions have generally held back to Saturday (Day 3) when we hope to see a more steady southerly keeping this stylish and entertaining regatta on track.

Storm Antoni has been making quite a lot of noise and bother all over Ireland in recent days, but now he has moved east just in time for the Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals 2023 to move in on Howth from the west, with a fleet of 168 boats in six classes keen to show that they're the youth stars of today and the adult stars of tomorrow in four days of increasingly intense competition concluding on Sunday.

Optimist, Topper, ILCA 4, ILCA 6, 420s and 29ers classes are competing.

Principal Race Officer David Lovegrove is looking at a scenario in which conditions promise to improve as the weekend moves in, and a forecasted rise in temperatures will be particularly welcome.

Further details here

Howth Yacht Club again hosted the annual Irish Universities Sailing Association Keelboat Student Nationals in the Club J80s in its traditional time slot of the last weekend in March.

The weather provided a bit of everything on Saturday, but we started off in a Westerly breeze of about 14kts, which was ideal.

Flight 1 sailed their series without any real incident, with some excellent racing resulting in Technical University Dublin (TUD)1 leading the way with the slenderest of margins of 1 point over University College Cork (UCC)1. MTU (Munster Technical University) were the third boat left, anxious to see if they would claim the spot in the final.

Flight 2 got off after a swift changeover and turnaround and started uneventfully; however, when approaching the windward mark at the end of the first downwind leg in Race 1, a squall blew in, leading to much excitement and, unfortunately, a badly ripped jib. This led to a long delay whilst the sail was taken ashore and repaired.

During this delay, the wind started fading rapidly, and Races 2 & 3 were sailed in lighter conditions with full sails; the reefs have been in up to that point. Unfortunately, it was not possible to sail races 4 & 5 that day as the wind had now died completely, so it was therefore decided that the flight would continue on Sunday morning.

The weekend brought a wide variety of weather, but late on Saturday the wind departed to force a prompt start on Sunday – despite the clocks going forward.

Sunday dawned, and despite losing an hour’s sleep due to the beginning of Summertime, we were all set to go on time for the 10AM gun. The wind was 15-16 knots in a very lumpy North Easterly, making life uncomfortable for all, and the Race Committee took the decision to leave the spinnakers in their bags and sail under white sails only.

This led to TUD2 winning the group, again by only one point from University College Dublin (UCD)1 who did very well as they had to count an OCS. Queens University Belfast (QUB) finished third and scored exactly the same points as MTU had in the first flight. This meant that the countback tie-breaker had to be employed, leaving MTU as the unlucky losers.

By the time we were ready to start the final series, the wind had dropped to about 12kts, so the spinnakers were back in. The racing was incredibly close, with the two top teams from Flight 1 renewing their recent rivalry. UCD1 were also determined to show their strengths, with these three teams sharing out the race wins between them.

Now an established Varsity sailing fixture in the last weekend of March, the Keelboat Champs in Howth’s J/80s can usually find a hint of Spring

In the final race, UCC1 led TUD1 by one point, with UCD1 a further two points back. At the bottom mark the first time around, TUD1 held the lead and the Micheal O’Suillebhain-captained UCC1’s woes were worsened when their spinnaker got snagged at the top of the mast, and they struggled to retrieve it - but retrieve it they did, without losing too much ground. They then showed us why they had gone into the final race ahead by sailing a brilliant second half of the race and coming out on top.

A fantastic weekend’s sailing was capped by some incredibly tight racing which was a real joy to watch.

Final scores:

• UCC1 18pts 1st
• TUD1 21pts 2nd
• UCD1 22pts 3rd

Finally, with a weekend like this, there are nearly as many volunteers as there are competitors. A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped to make this event the great success it always is.

Report by Scorie Walls

The Howth Yacht Club Spring Frostbite series was concluded on Sunday (March 5th) when the final day of the series achieved delivery of 100% of the planned races, with the host club giving deeper meaning to “generous hospitality” by allowing visitors to take the title in all but one of the four classes. Aisling Kelly (Rush SC), Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) and Ronan Wallace (Wexford HB&TC) took the overall victories in the ILCA 4, 6 and 7 Classes while Daragh Sheridan was the only Howth winner to take the overall prize in the PY Class with his RS Aero 7.

Although the westerly wind was a relatively modest 10 – 12kn, the air temperature was the main topic of conversation. The sunshine of recent weeks was intermittently repeated, but nature’s link to the thermometer appeared to have disconnected, and the chill gave another reminder of why the event has justified its ‘Frostbites’ title since it started back in the 1970s.

Let’s hear it for the Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club! Southeast star Ronan Wallace on his way to another overall win. Photo: Neil Murphy

Race Officer Jim Lambkin decided on Windward-Leeward courses for the two races, and despite the anxiety of some of the ILCA sailors to get racing a little before the start guns for both, only one general recall was needed with the individual recall signal sorting the rest.

With the wind oscillating through 20 degrees and a strong ebb tide running more strongly down one side of the course, the good strategists (and the fortunate) were able to capitalise on getting to the right place at the right time, but there was plenty of place-changing in both races. The strong tide setting the boats down on the starboard tack approach to the windward mark caused some a lot of grief, and judging the right amount to overstand what would normally have been the correct layline made a big difference to how long and how many extra tacks were needed to get around it.

Two further variants on the 14ft theme – Alan Blay in the vintage Geep hangs in ahead of Jeremy Beshoff in the B14. Photo: Neil Murphy

Tristan Nelson and Peter Freyne, who normally sail single-handed RS600s, brought out their International 14 to get some practice in for the upcoming Round the Island Race. It added considerably to the Sunday morning spectacle on the Sound, not only when the boat was vertical and travelling very fast, but also while it was transitioning to horizontal mode.

Given the complexity and performance of these thoroughbreds of the dinghy racing world, an occasional lie down is a fate to avoid. Having clocked up 12kn+ on Sunday in a breeze of around the same velocity, their boat speed should make them a favourite for line honours in the Round the Island this Saturday...but their opposition will be taking inspiration from the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Malahide’s Daragh Peelo keeping cover on Paul Hassett Photo: Neil Murphy

Most of the ILCA 4 fleet were afloat early for a pre-race coaching session with Aoife Hopkins. The initial six boats enjoyed great racing, but Cillian Twomey (HYC) was a model of consistency and took the winning gun in both races. Glenda Gallagher (MYC) and Aisling Kelly took the other podium places in the first race, while Thea Daly (HYC) came out for the second race and added to the fun, finishing third behind Ciara McMahon (HYC) in second. Aisling Kelly’s consistency over the series brought her to first overall with Viktor Samoilovs (MYC) taking second.

In the ILCA 6s, Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) added to his tally of race wins in the first race of the day, his 12th victory out of the eighteen races, and it secured his overall win for the series. In the second race, Fiachra Farrelly (HYC) sailed exceptionally well to grab the final race win of the event, while Marco had to be content with third. Darragh Peelo (MYC) rounded out the podium in both races with a third and then a second, which was enough to secure him second place overall.

The ILCA 7s had a lower turnout than usual for the last day with both Dan O’Connell (Cove SC) and Conor Murphy (HYC), two of the usual front runners, not racing. In Race 1, Oisin Hughes (RStGYC) sailed a great race to fend off second-placed Ronan Wallace, with Rory Lynch (Baltimore SC) taking third. Ronan was back in front in Race 2 with Rory as runner-up, while Dave Kirwan (MYC) added to his very consistent results over the series with a good third place.

Conor Twohig chases the Street boat in the GP14s while the ILCAs suss out the hydrography of the south end of Ireland’s Eye. Photo: Neil Murphy

Dave has the distinction of having won races in both the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Classes during the event, choosing the rig size that best suited him on each day to secure 11 ‘top 3’ finishes, including 4 wins, out of the 18 races completed. The top three finishers for the overall series in the ILCA 7s were Ronan Wallace, Dan O’Connell and Rory Lynch, with only two points separating Conor Murphy in fourth from fifth placed Oisin Hughes.

The PY Class completed their first Frostbite Series after 40+ years of the event being restricted to Lasers and then ILCAs. The 13 entries enjoyed close racing as the numbers built over the series and the results proved that the PY ratings are a fair reflection of how boats from the various Classes should perform.

Daragh Sheridan (HYC) opened a comfortable lead during the first part of the Series in his RS Aero, which allowed him enough of a cushion to secure first overall despite not racing on the last day. The wide range of boat types competing included two RS 600s, a B14, Fireball, three RS Aeros, an RS 800, the International 14 and five GP 14s.

Match racing practice within the GP 14s for the Street and Blay boats. Photo: Neil Murphy

The GP14s proved themselves well able to sail to their handicap, and once their crews became familiar with the intricacies of racing on Howth Sound, proved a match for the RS Aeros. Daragh’s tally of eleven race wins stood to him in the end, but the GP14s took first on corrected time in seven of the last nine races, albeit with Alan Blay (SDC) taking six of them and Denis Cully (Blessington SC) the seventh. Alan and Denis each took a win on the last day to confirm Alan as runner-up to Daragh Sheridan, while Conor Twohig (SDC), also in a GP14, took third overall to finish just ahead of Jeremy Beshoff’s B14.

The Round the Island Race will take place on Saturday next, March 11th, and all those not entered are reminded that entries close at midnight on Wednesday, March 8th. There is already a great entry of ILCAs and a wide variety of PY Class boats, so come and join the fun and work out your solution to the eternal quandary of this race – clockwise or anti-clockwise!!

Report by Neil Murphy

The penultimate morning's racing on Sunday, 26th February, for the Howth Yacht Club Spring Series 2023 finally experienced an onshore wind. Yet it was no Beast from the East, but more of an often sunny though sometimes brisk 12-15 knot easterly breeze that welcomed the contenders to the sailing area, where Harry Gallagher got two races cleanly away.

A triangular course followed by a windward-leeward, with separate starts for the ILCA and PY fleets. This week's racing gave the competitors their 4th and final discard, which has shaken up the leaderboards.

All the fleets have podium spots still to fight for, setting up what will be a hotly contested final series race on Sunday, March 5th. The winter season isn't quite over, though; the annual come-all-ye Round the Island Race takes place on Saturday, 11th March, which gives the ultimate bragging rights for the HYC winter sailing.

Out on his own...ILCA 7 National Champion Dan O'Connell of Cobh logged two wins on Sunday for the Howth leaderboard. Photo: Neil Murphy

The ILCA 7s saw Dan O'Connell demonstrating why he was crowned National Champion in Tralee Bay 6 months ago, closing the day with two wins from two. He led each race the whole way around, keeping Ronan Wallace at arms length, only allowing Ronan 2nd in each race. Conor Costello delivered his strongest day of the series, clinching a 4th and a 5th. Richard Tate swapped the 4th and 5th with Costello, while Zander took home 6th in each race. Dan's two wins aren't enough to unseat Ronan from the top spot in the series overall, while Conor Murphy fills in 3rd. Oisin Hughes and Rory Lynch will be fighting with Murphy for the final podium place, unfortunately, gear failure just before race 1 precluded Lynch from taking part.

Dave Kirwan of Malahide fighting off Marco Sorgassi of Dun Laoghaire.....Photo: Neil Murphy

......with a spot of gybing to sharpen the mix as they shape the final approach the mark. Photo: Neil Murphy

ILCA 6s saw the same finishing order of Dave Kirwan, Marco Sorgassi and Charlie Savage in both races. They showed remarkable speed to keep in the mix with the ILCA 7s around the course in both races. Marco holds an insurmountable lead in the series overall, regardless of what happens next week. The rest of the fleet will need the next 2 races to straighten out, with Kirwan, Darragh Peelo and Fiachra Farrelly fighting for the final two podium places, each are on 50 points.

"The Heavies" lead the Geeps. Fresh from collecting some silverare at the Puppeteer 22 dinner in HYC the night before, Alan Blay had the McNally might aboard in the morning to help display his GP14 expertise. Photo: Neil Murphy

The ILCA 4s had the strongest turnout of the day, with 9 sailors showing their skills that they've been learning from HYC's Aoife Hopkins in recent weeks. Charlie Keating took 1st in both races, while the rest of the top 6 saw plenty of changes between the two races. Glenda Gallagher and Aisling Kelly took a 2nd each, while Viktor Samoilovs and Ciara McMahon took home a 3rd each. Kelly leads the series overall with 31 points, followed closely by Samoilovs and Riaghan Boardman.

Personal testing of the product....Series Organiser Conor Murphy has been in every race sailed. Photo: Neil Murphy

The PY fleet had a range of classes making up the 8 boats on the water, and the results show an apparent preference that the different classes have for the different courses. The fast reaches of the triangle favour the RS Aeros, leading to Daragh Sheridan's win in
race 1, followed by the GP 14s of Alan Blay and Conor Twohig. Race 2's windward-leeward course favoured the GP14s, with their symmetrical kites giving them the boost they needed downwind to overcome Sheridan's Aero. Blay took first, followed by fellow GP14s
Conor Twohig and Peter Boyle. Mike Evans was joined by HYC's own ILCA ace Ewan McMahon for the day, but they couldn't break into the podium places in the handicapped fleet. Sheridan has a safe lead on the series heading into the final weekend of racing, while Blay has moved into 2nd overall, followed by Jeremy Beshoff's B14 in 3rd.

There's plenty to play for in the final races of the series next week, and the long-range forecasts are promising some great conditions. The Round the Island Race follows the series on Saturday, 11th March, and there are already entries from all over the country for all sorts of boats in addition to our usual classes, including whispers of Mermaids and International 14s coming to compete for the annual prize. Don't miss out; make sure to get your entries in.

For the seventh weekend in a row in the Spring Series of the HYC Dinghy Frostbites, two races went ahead on schedule in the waters north of Howth Harbour. A 11-15 knot south-westerly breeze, with a maximum gust of 23 knots, welcomed the sailors to the start line. Race Officer Liam Dineen got two races away for the ILCA and PY fleets, the first around a windward-leeward, then the second around a triangular course. A strengthening ebb tide made the beats "interesting" and the laylines difficult to judge, but by the end of the racing the sun had come out, making the racing that bit more enjoyable.

Early leaders Dan O'Connell (Cobh) from Conor Murphy (Howth) and Dave Kirwan (Malahide). Photo: Neil Murphy

With only two more weeks of racing before the season-closing Round the Island Race on March 11th, the fleets are tight-knit. The ILCA 7s had some of their closest racing yet. In Race 1, there was stiff competition to start at the pin end, however with the ebb tide pushing everyone towards it, Ronan Wallace ended up striking the pin mark as the start gun went. As he did his 360 penalty, the rest of the fleet moved on up the beat.

Conor Murphy, Dan O'Connell and Rory Lynch had a very tight battle around the first two laps of the course, however on the third lap, while those three original leaders fought it out with each other, Wallace sped cleanly up the beat and got right back in with the pack. By the finish line, he had stolen 1st, Lynch 2nd and O'Connell 3rd, making it Wexford, Balitmore and Cobh without a Howth boat on the podium, though after a 35 minute race, only a few boat-lengths separated the top four.

The Comeback Kid. Despite taking a 360 at the start, Ronan Wallace came through for the bullet and is now overall leader on countback, tying with Dan O'Connell. Photo: Neil Murphy

Con Costello brings his ILCA out of a tack while Tristan Nelson sails serenely by in the RS600

Dave Kirwan was unfortunate to be called OCS, but recovered well in Race 2 to take 5th, after the same 1st to 4th places as in race 1. Wallace leads the series overall, but is tied on points with O'Connell. Rory Lynch follows 5 points behind in third, while Conor Murphy and Oisin Hughes fight it out for fourth with only two points between them.

Marco Sorgassi from Dun aoghaire continues to show the ILCA 6s what's what, with another 2 wins to solidify his overall lead. Daniel O'Hare showed consistency and took two 2nd places. Darragh Peelo took 3rd in race 1 and Fiachra Farrelly took it in race 2. Peelo and Farrelly are tied on 41 points apiece for 2nd place, so with 4 races to go, the rest of the podium after Marco is all to play for.

Aisling Kelly keeping things under control in the ILCA 4s with Mackay, Savage and Daragh Sheridan in the RS Aero astern and to lee. Photo: Neil Murphy

The ILCA 4s saw Aisling Kelly solidify her overall lead with a 3rd and a 1st. Des Turvey won the race 1, but unfortunately didn't complete race 2. Viktor Samoilovs and Maedbh Butterly took home the rest of the podium places for the day. Aisling Kelly has a 3.5 point lead over Viktor Samoilovs in the series, who in turn has a 7.5 point lead over Riaghan Boardman.

Malahide's Daragh Peelo demonstrating that an hour or two of good winter sailing is as much of a morale booster as a whole day in summer. Photo: Neil Murphy 

The PY fleet again saw its now usual mix of RS Aeros, 600, 800, GP14s and a B14. Alan Blay's GP14 and Daragh Sheridan's RS Aero swapped 1st and 2nd in each race. The windward leeward of Race 1 favoured the GP14, allowing Blay to win by over a minute on corrected time. However in Race 2, the fast reaches favoured Sheridan's RS Aero, and he took first by a narrow 11 seconds on corrected time. Tristan Nelson's single-handed trapezing RS600 took third in both races. Overall in the series, Sheridan still has a healthy lead, but only 9 points separates Jeremy Beshoff (B14) and Alan Blay in the fight for secnd. Four more more races and one more discard could make or break the series.

Renaissance Man....the multi-talented ICRA "Boat of the Year" co-skipper Mike Evans takes RS800 racing in his stride. Photo: Neil Murphy

Boss Woman....Aisling Kelly leads the ILCA 4s. Photo: Neil Murphy

Puppeteer 22 ace helm Alan Blay hones his skills with GP 14 racing success, and won the first race by a clear minute. Photo: Neil Murphy

Full results are available below. Meanwhile make sure to get entries in for the Round the Island Race, taking place on Saturday 11th March.

Another Sunday, another good turnout for the HYC Dinghy Frostbites. A hint of sunshine and a gentle southerly breeze with slowly clearing skies welcomed 28 boats to the race course, as race officer Neil Murphy sent the fleets on two races around windward-leeward courses. The breeze brought plenty of shifts, gusts and lulls, while a flooding tide - the exact opposite of the previous weekend - encouraged most sailors close towards the shore for rock-crawling or sand-shuffling to get up the beats in the slackest water. And with the tide-imposd discipline, all the starts got cleanly away.

Time is whistling by, and now only three Sundays and six races remain in this series which is noted - so far - for the regular completion of its full weekend programme in 2023, regardless of the winter weather being experienced elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Admittedly hints of a "Beast from the East" meteorological experience in the next two or three weeks may upset the current clear picture, but already the leaderboard has a meaningful set of results in place. Thus all hope for the best in the three weekends between now and the Big One, the season-closing Round the Island Race on Saturday 11th March for which we are told there'll be a fleet of "ludicrous variety" added to the seasoned campaigners emerging from this current Spring Series.

On Sunday, the ILCA 7s saw Dan O'Connell of Cobh and Rory Lynch of Baltimore returned after their St Brigid's Bank Holiday Weekend absence - presumably home in the Rebel County - and both came back with a bang with a win each. Conor Murphy rounded out the top spots of the day, taking whatever podium places left from the other two. Dan, taking his first win of the series in the second race of the day, now leads the series overall with 24 points. Ronan Wallace of Wexford, Rory Lynch, Conor Murphy and Oisin Hughes fill out the rest of the top 5 for the series. With only 4 points separating 2nd to 5th, and one more discard to come, expect plenty of position changes over the next few weeks.

Let's hear it for the Rebel County! Dan O'Connell of Cobh has his first race win in the Spring Series at Howth on Sunday, but thanks to consistency he now has a narrow overall lead. Photo: HYC

Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) returned to the top of the ILCA 6s with two clean wins, sailing fast and rubbing shoulders with the ILCA 7s most of the way around the course. Fiachra Farrelly and Darragh Peelo swapped second and thrrd in each race to fill out the rest of the podium places. Marco leads the series with an impressive 9 points after 12 races, but only one point separates Howth's Fiachra Farrelly and Malahide's Darragh Peelo, so this one might go to the wire.

Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) consolidating his overall lead in the ILCA 6. Photo: HYC

The ILCA 4s had two new race winners in MYC's Glenda Gallagher and HYC's Des Turvey. MYC's Viktor Samoilovs continues to rack up some great results, and clinched the remaining podium places for the day's racing. There was even a photo finish required for the second race of the day,
as Viktor and Des crossed the line together after two complete laps of the windward-leeward course. With the race committee ultimately unable to separate the two, both were awarded 2.5 points for the race. Aisling Kelly leads the series overall, but Viktor is only 0.5 points behind in second and Riaghan Boardman (Rush) is only another 3.5 points behind him in turn.

The PY fleet and their growing numbers earned them their own start again this week. Another impressive display from Alan Blay in his GP14 saw him take two firsts, firmly unseating Daragh Sheridan's long streak of winning at least one race each weekend in his RS Aero. Conor Twohig and Matthew Cotter's GP14 swapped second and third with Daragh Sheridan's RS Aero with nail-biting margins - separation of 2 seconds and 4 seconds on corrected time in each race.

Three more weekends, six more races, and if the weather holds up there's no reason to not continue the brilliant quality of racing achieved this weekend. Full results from this weekend are available here: www.hyc.ie/results

Everybody is at it - Stephen Quinn, better known for campaigning his J/97 Lambay Rules, keeps himself ahead of Daragh Sheridan's RS Aero. Photo: HYC

While the Howth 2023 "Spring Series" section of the annual dinghy frostbites saw every race completed in January, at times, the weather was anything but Springlike. Yet the new Bank Holiday of St Brigid's Weekend saw Sunday's first races of February sailed in the sunshine and a gentle south-to-southeast breeze in which competitive conditions benefitted greatly from the sharpening effects of strong weather-going Spring ebb. That said, this meant the long run back up Howth Sound against the tide provided a real test of downwind skills, but it gave the trio of vintage enthusiasts in GP14s setting their good old-fashioned spinnakers a chance to shine, and they took it in style.

Further education in sorting things out after a General Recall was another by-product of that pushy tide. And although the new Bank Holiday Weekend effect seems to have resulted in some regular faces being absent for the long weekend - presumably to check out their Mallorcan villa or the family beach hut at Bettystown - there were more than enough newcomers to provide rising starter numbers in the continuing countdown to the come-all-ye Round the Island Race on Saturday 11th March.

With long runs up Howth Sound against the tide, the GP 14 spinnakers were worth their weight in gold, and Alan Blay (Sutton DC, left) took one of the PY wins by three seconds. Photo: HYC

The strong turnout across all the fleets brought a new race winner in all classes, with some long-standing winning streaks coming to an end.

The shifty and light southerly breeze brought challenges that most of the competitors haven't experienced in a while. Thoughts shifted from focusing on keeping the boat flat in weeks gone past, to considering lifts and headers this time round. Race Officer Richard Kissane ran two starts, one for the ILCAs and one for the growing PY class. The first race was windward leeward, one of the first of the year, while the second was a triangular course. In the first race, the ILCAs were pushing the line hard and only got away on the third attempt. A "U" flag start followed for all fleets, and while the first race eventually got away cleanly, the second race saw many sailors fall foul of the U flag.

In a banter-prone fleet like the Howth Frostbites, it takes guts to make your debut with an RS600, but Tristan Nelson gave as good as he got. Photo: HYC

The ILCA 7s were missing some of the series leaders to date, and there were two new race winners in Oisin Hughes and Dave Kirwan. Oisin Hughes made the most of the light weather and established a solid lead in Race 1, while Dave Kirwan, Conor Murphy and Stephen Quinn battled it out for 2nd place with a few position shifts within that group as they proceeded around the course. A late surge from Aidan Breen saw him clinch 4th place. Race 2 saw Oisin Hughes, Dave Kirwan and Stephen Quinn establish themselves as the leading pack, but as Oisin was one of the victims of the U flag, Dave Kirwan took home first place. He was followed closely by Stephen Quinn, while Conor Murphy was a distant 3rd. Conor Costello made his return to the series, finishing the day just behind Zander Mackay and Richard Tate. While Ronan Wallace still tops the overall table, consistency brings Oisin Hughes up to 2nd place, joint on points with Dan O'Connell in 3rd.

Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC, left) hanging in to get a second and third to maintain his substantial overall lead. Photo: HYC

The ILCA 6s saw a new race winner in HYC's Luke Turvey, who walked away today with two first places, beating not only all the ILCA 6s but holding a lead on many of the ILCA 7s for a lot of the racing. Series leader Marco Sorgassi settled for a second and a third, but still has a convincing lead in the overall series. MYC's Daragh Peelo and Rush's Daniel O'Hare took the remainder of the podium places for the day's racing. The fleet was delighted to see the return of Peter Hassett in his first racing of 2023.

The ILCA 4s, most of them fresh from a pre-racing coaching session from HYC's Aoife Hopkins, were eager to show their new skills in the light weather. They also saw a new race winner in HYC's Thea Daly, who took home first in race 2. Charlie Keating, fresh from winning two races last week, took first in Race 1, but he - along with three other ILCA 4s - fell victim to the U flag in Race 2. MYC's Glenda Gallagher and Rush's Aisling Kelly clinched the rest of the podium places on the day in two tight races. Aisling Kelly still leads the series overall with 19 points after 10 races, but Riaghan Boardman of Rush and Viktor Samoilovs of Skerries aren't far behind.

Sweet sailing for early FebruarySutton DC, - and it may get een better for the Big One, the Round the Island Race in four weeks time on March 11th. Photo: HYC

The PYs welcomed yet more fresh faces to the fleet, adding the RS600 of Tristan Nelson to their numbers this week. The PYs also had a new race winner in Alan Blay and his GP14, ending Daragh Sheridan's long running streak with the RS Aero, after they narrowly snatched victory by three seconds on corrected time in Race 2. Daragh still leads the series with an impressive 8 points in 10 races after 2 discards, while Jeremy Beshoff's B14 sits in second place overall. Third place in the series will be hard fought over the coming weeks, with the GP14s of Conor Twohig, Alan Blay and Peter Boyle and Mike Evans' RS800 not separated by many points.

Dave Kirwan of Malahide recorded a useful win after an intense battle in Race 2. Photo: HYC

Whatever about weather extremes being experienced elsewhere in the world, Howth is apparently in its own little magic microclimate. January has served up four Sunday mornings on the trot with good racing for the MG Motor "Sailing Club of the Year 2023" and its current Spring Series section, with fleet numbers building steadily as the different classes get into the countdown for the Mother-of-all-Concluding Races, the annual scramble around Ireland's Eye on Saturday, March 11th, with its added spice of circuit direction being an option for each competitor.

Sunday's fourth week of the Spring Series welcomed some new faces to the mix. Regular competitors were joined by yet another GP14 entrant, building the growing numbers across the classes.

A strong westerly breeze, accompanied by a strengthening flood tide going in largely the opposite direction, made for a race-course with a variety of conditions across it. After a quick postponement, two races were completed around triangular courses, with only one individual recall for the mostly well-behaved fleet. The three ILCA classes started together, with the growing PY fleet starting immediately afterwards.

Cork-Wexford ding-dong - Dan O'Connell of Cobh just managing to keep his wind clear to lee of Wexford's Ronan Wallace. Photo: Harry Gallagher

The ILCA 7s saw Ronan Wallace and Dan O’Connell fighting for the lead around the race course as usual. While it was neck and neck at the beginning of the third lap of the first race, Dan had to take a penalty, while simultaneously, Ronan’s kicker failed. The Wexford helm managed to make it to the top mark in the lead, and limp his boat home even while the Cobh sailor reeled him back in. Ronan did well to just about hold onto the lead crossing the finish line.

Conor Murphy got his first podium of the season, but couldn’t get close enough to take advantage of the difficulties in front of him. Then some quick jury-rigging between races gave Ronan a makeshift kicker, and he went on to win the second race as well. Richard Tate and Andrejs Samoilovs swapped 5th and 6th in each race, while Oisin Hughes took home fourth in both races, and a guest appearance from Conor Gallagher added an international element to the day’s racing.

The ILCA 6s saw Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) deliver two convincing wins, beating not only the rest of the ILCA 6s, but also most of the ILCA 7s! Dave Kirwan of Malahide again opted for the ILCA 6 instead of the 7, and was a close second in the first race, while in the second race, an individual recall and a capsize allowed Dan O’Hare to take seconnd . Marco has a 6-point lead in the series after 8 races, and with 10 more races to go, there are still plenty of opportunities for the fleet order to change.

Looking good and going very good....Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) is so dominant in the ILCA6s that he frequently finishes in the middle of the ILCA7s. Photo: Harry Gallagher

The ILCA 4s were fresh from some training on Saturday with HYC’s Aoife Hopkins, although there were very different conditions between the 2 days! Charlie Keating improved on his showing of last week with two first places, while the rest of the fleet swapped places between the first and second races. In the series overall, Aisling Kelly maintains her lead over Riaghan Boardman of Rush and Viktor Samoilovs. Time will tell if some of the more recent entrants can climb the leaderboard by the end of the series.

The PY Fleet grew again with the addition of Puppeteer 22 ace Alan Blay’s GP14 from Sutton Dinghy Club. However, Blay could only manage send in both races against Daragh Sheridan, who made the most of the breeze to blast down the reaches and runs in his RS Aero to take two 1sts. Matthew Cotter was joined by Aoife Hopkins (now very much back tp private sailing) in their GP14, but gear failure on the water prevented them from competing in the racing.

"The Men Upon The Wire" - Mike Evans and Troy Hopkins racing the former's RS800. Troy's daughter Aoife, having stood down from public full-time international competition, went very private on Sunday with a spot of GP14 crewing. Phoo: Harry Gallagher

Mike Evans’ RS800, Peter Boyle’s GP14 and Jeremy Beshoff’s B14 rounded out the rest of the fleet.Full results from the day and series are available here [1]. There are 5 more Sundays and 10 more races in the series, as well as the annual Round the Island race on Saturday 11th March, so be sure to join in the growing winter Dinghy fleets.

When the brief notice of the death of Brian Murphy at the age of 77 was posted on the Howth YC Facebook page recently, the response from members said everything about a remarkable - indeed a unique - sailing enthusiast and man of many parts. Within a day or two, 33 sad but very fond and favourable responses were made public, each one giving an extra insight into why his decidedly offbeat approach to life had provided an entertaining and rewarding - if sometimes maddening - input into the experiences of those with whose lives his own sometimes erratic existence became beneficially intertwined.

In national sailing terms, he is still best remembered – after 43 years – as a leading member of that special group which sailed in the first Round Ireland Race from Wicklow in 1980. Typically of Brian Murphy, his David Thomas-designed Hydro 28 Crazy Jane – which he’d completed himself from a bare hull – was the smallest boat to finish the course. And equally typical of the man, although he never finished another Round Ireland Race in a boat of his own, such was the impact of his engaging personality back in 1980 that for decades afterwards he was thought of as “Brian Murphy of Howth, the Round Ireland veteran”.

Brian Murphy at the helm of his own-finished Hydro 28 Crazy Jane preparing for the start of the first Round Ireland Race from Wicklow in 1980. Photo: W M Nixon 

The first Round Ireland Race start at Wicklow in 1980 was the first time offshore racers from elsewhere (the 16 entries came from all over Ireland and North Wales) began to learn about the power of the south-going ebb off Wicklow pierhead. But the quick-thinking Brian Murphy was in control, and the little Crazy Jane had the best of a rather ragged start. Photo: W M Nixon

As for Crazy Jane, his propensity for innovation soon had her changed. He lengthened the boat considerably and frequently – the amounts could vary from year to year – while you could never be too sure which style of rig he might appear with each season. Show most people a collection of broken International Dragon class masts, and they would see a heap of scrap metal. But show Brian Murphy that same heap of scrap, and he would see the basics of a very innovative needle spar rig for Crazy Jane.

This photo of Crazy Jane manoeuvring before the Round Ireland start in 1980 is a last glimpse of her in her original form. Before that season was out, Brian Murphy had made several modifications which continued throughout his long and successful ownership. Photo: W M Nixon

He and fellow can-do types at Howth such as the great Neville Maguire quietly operated a world-class action group in alloy spar re-purposing, while any bigger boat offshore racing campaign which had seemingly been completely de-railed by a broken mast knew that, in Brian Murphy, they could find salvation for their plans when the professional spar-makers were quoting hopelessly long replacement times.

Inevitably this taste for emergency engineering meant that he was easily distracted from one of the many aspects of his varied career, when at one stage he was running his own highly innovative engineering company, which at its peak employed 18 people. Inevitably they were drawn by their charismatic leader into precision challenges which few other engineering companies would undertake, and none with Brian Murphy’s flashes of pure genius.

Needless to say he was way ahead of everyone else in comprehending computers and their full potential, so much so that at times he was speaking a different language. Yet if there was something to do with sailing he would happily adapt himself to the technical expertise of the “client”, and over the years one of his contributions to Howth sailing was his willingness to listen to race officers and fabricate some peculiar and specialist pieces of kit in order to facilitate their work aboard the Club’s Committee Boats, with the effective flagship Star Point becoming a classic case of “handsome is as handsome does”.

HYC’s Senior Committee Boat Star Point has become a very successful race organization platform thanks in part to Brian Murphy’s willingness to implement sometimes decidedly quirky changes requested by Race Officers. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Brian Murphy’s intellectual and cultural interests were many and varied, and when he was engagingly talking or explaining about something which had newly attracted his attention, he was a magnetic and sometimes wildly funny conversationalist, with a wicked line in concluding put-down lines.

The late Brian Murphy, long past retirement age but with his quizzical and amused brain as sharp as ever

His latter life was partly dominated by a struggle to keep his weight under control. Yet when he really cared about something, somehow the weight fell away, and the sparkling-eyed and charismatic younger Brian re-emerged.

Roger Cagney, Howth Yacht Club Commodore 2011-2012, as painted by Brian Murphy

Art became a passion for much of his later life, and having taught himself to paint, he set up an art group within HYC in which his aptitude for instruction and example inspired many, while he himself continued to hone his skills with a speciality in deft portraits which - apparently effortlessly – captured the spirit of the individual portrayed, while his landscape and event paintings of life along the East Coast reminded his fellow members that it isn’t essential to go to the mighty Atlantic seaboard in order to get the full flavour of life in Ireland.

Now this astonishing and always interesting man – often dubbed “the mad professor” – is gone from among us. But he leaves an extraordinary array of memories and achievements. Our thoughts are with his family and his many close friends and colleagues.

WMN

The spirit of the East Coast – the special excitement of Laytown Races captured by the late Brian Murphy