Despite the Yellow Weather warning for County Down last weekend, six Waszp dinghies did turn up at Ballyholme Yacht Club for the first ever Northern Irish championships section of the Four Nations Cup. But with little respite from the North Westerly gusting over 30 knots and the long fetch producing big waves the starting line up was reduced somewhat. At the end of the two days, Bob Espey had dominated the racing, with seven wins out of the ten races.

The farthest travelled was Andy Bridgman from Guernsey. He was just back from the Waszp World Games in Australia, where he finished 12th overall. BYC member Mike Kimber kindly lent him his boat.

On Saturday, the very strong winds got the better of some with Mike Ferguson, who went out for a practice run at 9 am but bowed out of the afternoon racing due to the 30-knot outlook. Racing on that day consisted of four downwind legs on a slalom course in mixed conditions with sunny spells making the Bay look better but the sideways rain squalls of over 30 knots rather spoiled the effect. Andy Bridgman was getting faster, having picked up a few tuning issues on Mike Kimber’s boat, and was slowly fixing them race by race. After racing more tweaking onshore by Andy and better conditions forecast for Sunday, it looked like great racing was in store for Sunday. After Saturday’s racing, in the lead was Andy Bridgman on 6 points with Bob Espey on 11, which included a DNF as the discard would kick in later.

Six more races were scheduled for Sunday, and with the wind in the Southwest and offshore, the 15 to 25 knots were more manageable with much smaller seas. Ballyholme regulars were able to use local knowledge to find the quickest way round the course and Race One had a close finish with two-time Olympic sailor Matt McGovern just pipped at the finish by Bridgman. Mike Ferguson from the host club would find this foiling machine very different from racing on the MOD70 Mana in the 41st Edition of the Rolex Middle Sea Race some years ago. He was getting closer in each race to the front few. Alexander Trickett from National YC was having a tough weekend with breakages on Saturday and his boat dismantling itself on the water, leading to his packing up early to head back to Dun Laoghaire.

Andy Bridgman (left) runner-up in the Waszp Northern event with Mike Ferguson Photo: Amanda Espey

Matt McGovern (left) with Mike Ferguson Photo: Amanda Espey

Ferguson and Luke McIlwaine from Newcastle YC in South Down were having a close battle on Sunday and in Race 8 Ferguson was about to cruise to the finish ahead of Luke but bottled it in his last gybe, “holding onto too tight”, allowing Luke to slip through just ahead. After Sunday’s six races, overall, first went to Espey with Bridgman with a string of seconds, finishing five points behind on 17. In the third slot was Matt McGovern.

Bob Espey, who has been growing the class since 2021 organised the Northern event and he was pleased to be able to host the racing at Ballyholme “This was the first event of the Waszp Four Nations Cup and next is Oban in Scotland. We look forward to that and to the Irish Nationals at the Royal St George YC in August, where over 20 boats are expected in Dun Laoghaire. Thanks to Race Officer Sheela Lewis from Co Antrim YC for her excellent race management, and to the Rescue Team guided by Stephen Glasgow providing safety support and laying of the mark”.

Northern Irish Waszp Championships 2024 results

The Waszp Four Nations Cup poster for 2024

Now that the Six Nations Rugby is over, the Waszp class is embarking on its Four Nations Cup. For the first time in Northern Ireland, one of the fixtures will be at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough.

The others are the Irish Nationals at Royal St George in August, the Scottish Nationals at Oban SC in July, followed by the Welsh Nationals at Bala SC in September.

The Waszp is a one-design foiling dinghy. Every boat is produced to the same tight specification, meaning it’s down to the sailor to squeeze the speed out of the boat.

Racing will take place to the north of Ballyholme Bay in the wider expanse of Belfast Lough on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th April. Bob Espey, who is organising the BYC event, says, “It is difficult to confirm entries at the moment as most sailors enter at the last minute!” Bob was instrumental in growing the class in the North. 

The NOR specifies that entries will be accepted until 2359 hrs on Monday, 8th April (£60) and from then until midnight on 11th April £80). Entries will not be accepted after this time.

It will be the first time an event like this has been run in Northern Ireland. Bob continues, “We plan on running a combination of sail GP style reach start, a slalom course, and traditional windward-leeward courses. This was designed to boost the numbers and competition for the smaller Nation’s Nationals in the UK and Ireland. The competitor's top three from four events will be counted towards the award.

Sheela Lewis from County Antrim Yacht Club on the north shore of the Lough will be Race Officer.

Irish Waszp sailors competed at an intense week at the Foil International Academy Trophy in Italy. The event gathered over 40 athletes from 10 nations in the waters of Cagliari, at Su Siccu.

In the Waszp discipline, Swedish Hanno Seifert claimed victory, topping the overall standings, followed by Spaniard Pablo Astiazaran and Peter Cope from the Isle of Man.

Dun Laoghaire sailors Rian Geraghty McDonnell of the Royal St George and Georgia Goodbody of the Royal Irish Yacht Club finished sixth and seventh respectively in the bronze fleet. (See results below).

"I believe the Cagliari race was excellent," commented Hanno Seifert, Waszp champion. "It was a competition with plenty of wind, highly enjoyable, and the skill level was exceptionally high. Winning brings me great joy." Local athletes Freddy Pilloni and 14-year-old Pierluigi Caproni also took centre stage in a demonstration with iQFOiL.

Prestigious awards were presented for the "Nation Trophy," given to two representatives from each nation with the highest score among pairs. The victors were Sweden with Felicia Fernstrom and Hanno Seifert, Spain with Isi Collado Front and Pablo Astiazaran, and Italians Rebecca Geiger and Federico Bergamasco.

The awards ceremony unfolded at the headquarters of the Italian Sailing Federation's III Zone at Molo Ichnusa in Cagliari. The final day of the Foil International Academy Trophy will be etched in participants' memories for the visit to Luna Rossa's base, providing them with a glimpse into the realm of the America's Cup.

The Foil International Academy Trophy is a component of the Next Generation Foil Academy project powered by Luna Rossa. The central hub is at the Federal Olympic Preparation Center of the Italian Sailing Federation at Molo Ichnusa in Cagliari, where the flags of the 10 involved nations fluttered for a week. Athletes who journeyed to Sardinia hailed from Spain, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, various regions of Italy, Great Britain, and a delegation from the Isle of Man.

With four straight wins on Sunday, foiling sailor Charlie Cullen successfully defended his Irish Waszp dinghy title on Dublin Bay.

After a cut-short programme on Saturday of two races due to strong winds, it was Royal Irish rival Max Goodbody who held the overnight lead in the 15-boat fleet with two wins, but the champion showed the depth of his talents in gusty southwesterly winds off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday morning.

Racing began in the middle of the bay in shifty and patchy breeze with foiling only some of the time, and the race was shortened to one round. Royal St. George Race Officer Barry O'Neill then moved to the Salthill area with more breeze up to 20 knots. 

The course was approximately 1,300 m long legs where windward legs took around five minutes and downhills three meaning a two-round race gave leaders a 16/17-minute race.

Sunday's first race was in contrast to Saturday's 20-knot affair with Waszp sailors having to deal with non-foiling calm patches like the above Photo: Afloat

Goodbody discarded a seventh in the first race on Sunday to finish second overall on eight points, two points behind Cullen. 

Royal Irish's Max Goodbody took two wins on Saturday to be the overnight leader of the Irish 2023 Moth Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

In a strong showing for Dublin Bay foiling interests, Cullen's clubmate Henry Start took third place on 17.

Royal St George's Henry Start finished thrid overall in the 2023 Irish Moth Championships at the Royal St. George Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

This year the fleet at the Royal St George Yacht Club event attracted a number of Northern Ireland sailors to the Bay, and Ballyholme Yacht Club's Robert Espey from Belfast Lough finished fourth on 20 points.

Although numbers were down on last year's 18 boats, the fleet continues to attract diverse age and weight groups, with sailors from 16 to 60 years old sailing with competitors ranging from 50 kg to 90 kg.

Royal St. George race officer Barry O'Neill ran a six-race Irish Moth Championships from his Rhea 850 Brouette Committee Boat on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Meanwhile, a three-boat Moth championship was won by Ronan Wallace's Claoimh Solais from Wexford Harbour.

Ballyholme Yacht Club's Robert Espey from Belfast Lough finished fourth at the Irish Moth Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat 

In seventh overall, RStGYC's Elysia O'Leary was top female at the Irish Moth Championships off Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Afloat

The Royal Irish's Max Goodbody leads the WASZP National Championships after two races sailed at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Four races are planned on Sunday to put the Championship schedule back on track at Dun Laoghaire after Storm Betty impacted the first day of racing on Saturday. 

Royal St George Yacht Club Race Officer Barry O'Neill flew a postponement until early afternoon and finally got racing around 3 pm, but the Moth class who are also racing for National Honours opted to stay ashore. 

With winds gusting to 20 knots, Goodbody counts two wins over Royal St George Yacht Club's Charlie Cullen. Lying third is Cullen's clubmate Henry Start. 

Racing continues on Sunday.

A 19-boat entry will contest the Waszp and Moth Irish National Championships at Dun Laoghaire Harbour's Royal St. George Yacht Club this weekend (August 19th and 20th).

For the first time in the burgeoning class, the entry list includes a strong Northern Ireland entry as the foiling fleet builds at Ballyholme on Belfast Lough, as Afloat reported here.

At least 30 Waszps are in Ireland this season, with a number of boats competing in Europe.

As both boat types need approximately ten knots to fully foil, all eyes are on the weekend weather forecast that looks promising for the Dublin Bay race track with plenty of strong southwesterly winds for Saturday at least.

The championship will consist of a maximum of eight races but up to a maximum of six races may be scheduled on any one day.

The target time for each of the Waszp National Championship races is approx. 20 minutes. For the Moth National Championship, the target time is approx 25 minutes.

Quiberon was the location for this year's WASZP European Championships, attracting 146 sailors from all over Europe.

Over the course of seven days, nine qualifying races and 8 flight races took place. Sailing was challenging at times, with the wind overall tending to be shifty, gusty and light.

The wind built through the day as it was thermal, so wind conditions varied a lot each day. As the day went on, the breeze got stronger, and the Irish boats did consistently better as the breeze increased.

The event opened with the long-distance race, which was the first time this was organised. It was 25 knots, and there was a big swell causing almost half the fleet to turn back and not complete the race.

Five Irish sailors competed; Max Goodbody RIYC was the first Irish boat placing 64 overall and in the gold fleet. He was followed by Henry Start RStGYC, President of the Irish WASZP Association, who came second Apprentice in Silver Fleet. Marcus O'Leary RSGYC, Georga Goodbody RIYC and Andrew Conan RStGYC completed the Irish team, all in the Silver fleet.

RStGYC is looking forward to hosting the WASZP Nationals again, for the third year running, on Aug 19 and 20th.

Now with over 30 Waszps in Ireland, the type of sailors moving into the class from many different classes around Ireland, whether moving from double-handed sailing to solo sailing due to young families and other time commitments or sailors just looking for something fast and fun, the Waszp appears to be hitting a sweet spot among Irish sailors of all levels, from those who just want to get out and go fast to Olympians, national and world champions.

The attraction of foiling matched with the one design element and controlled costs, means entry into Foiling has never been easier, according to class promoters who say "It's great to be part of the leading edge of our sport, with the America's Cup and SailGP showing that foiling is the future of the sport". 

Four Waszp divisions

With the very active Open (21 – 45-year-olds) and Masters (45+) fleets growing in the last year, the class now has four divisions that all race together

• Junior – Under 18
• Youth – Under 21
• Open – 21 – 45
• Master – 45+

Three Irish Waszp centres

There are now three Waszp centres in the country, with nine boats in Ballyholme, 22 in Dun Laoghaire and three in Crosshaven in Cork Harbour.

Irish Waszp events 2023 

Super Series – 21st Jan, 18th Feb, 25th March – Dun Laoghaire
Easterns – TBC (late June – early July)
Nationals – 19th – 20th August – RstGYC Dun Laoghaire

Waszp Four Nations Cup – New 2023

This consists of a series of events in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, 1 discard from 4 events
Welsh Nationals (4 nations cup) – 27/28th May - Cardiff
UK Nationals (4 nations cup) – 29th June – 2nd July (Rutland, UK)
Irish Nationals (4 nations cup) – 19/20th August – RstGYC Dun Laoghaire
Scottish Nationals (4 nations cup) – 3rd/4th Sept – Loch Lomond

Waszp Europeans 2023 – Quiberon, France, Over 200 Waszps expected at this event.

Waszp Open Day – The Irish class will be running open days in all three of the centres; more information to follow on dates and times.

It’s amazing what can be achieved if you put your mind to it. In September 2021 Rob Espey of Ballyholme Yacht Club bought a Waszp and at that time, his was the only one at the Club. Having a vision of starting a class, he bought another in May last year so he could use one as a demo.

The Waszp is a one-design foiling dinghy. Every boat is produced to the same tight specification, meaning it’s down to the sailor to squeeze the speed out of the boat.

Rob is a long-time sailor, having raced Lasers, 49ers and RS400s. Now he is enjoying the success resulting from his efforts to get a Waszp class going in Northern Ireland. And to date, his determined efforts have paid off in a flurry of purchases with nine on the books, eight at Ballyholme and one at Strangford Lough Yacht Club at Whiterock.

Irish Waszp Nationals racing at the Royal St George YC in 2021 Photo: Simon McIlwaine

Rob said, “ I realised that if someone took on the hassle of ordering and buying, that it would make the purchase more attractive, so that’s what I did. I bought them and sold them on to interested sailors”. Some have been sourced from as far away as Australia, New Zealand and Austria.

The sailors who have committed so far are a varied group. Jeremy Tomalin crewed with Michael Ferguson in the 2013 RS 400 Nationals at Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough and finished in the top three Irish boats. And Mikey Ferguson is another. He has moved from being an offshore crew in such prestigious events such as the 2019 Transat Jacques Vabre with Finnish airline pilot Ari Hussela and the Middle Sea Race in the MOD Mana to something a great deal smaller. Gareth Martel is the owner of Pippa VI, a First 40.7 in which he won the 60th Anniversary offshore Ailsa Craig race out of Bangor.

Matt McGovern is a 49er sailor with two Olympics in his CV - 2012 and 2016. Daniel Corbett is a top ILCA 6 helmsman who was a member of the RYANI team at last year’s Celtic Cup in Largs. Luke McIlwaine from Newcastle YC competed at the international level as RYANI Topper squad member, an ILCA6 Radial and then a 29er sailor. Currently, he races on the RS400 circuit and on cruiser racers.

Mike Kimber is one of the top sailors in Ballyholme’s Laser fleet. From Strangford Lough Yacht Club, Stuart Cranston will have a very different experience in the Waszp from that campaigning his Ker 32 Hijacker.
Past racing results for Bob, Matt and Jeremy include a 6th, 9th, and 15th in last year’s Irish Nationals at Royal St. George YC.

On the menu for this season the N I contingent plans to take part in the Irish Nationals at Royal St George on 19th and 20th of August; an attempt at the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest North Channel crossing from Bangor to Portpatrick, in aid of Childrens’ Cancer charities. Last year Rob did it in 1 hour and 30m but it hadn’t been verified. It will be some sight to see all nine Waszp sailors support this attempt. Interestingly the previous record of 1hr 52 min was set by the late Johnny Mullan, crewed by Ian Wilson in a Hurricane 5.9 in 1996 but as they hadn’t applied to Guinness, it wasn’t recognised. Rob will apply this year. He also plans some demo sails.

Johnny Mullan and Ian Wilson (third and fourth right) who did the North Channel crossing in 1996

It will be interesting to follow the next stage of the Youth Foiling Programme initiative at Royal St George led by Club member and foiling champion Charlie Cullen will be revealed. It is aimed at young Irish sailors interested in possibly becoming Ireland's first-ever Youth America’s Cup sailor in Barcelona 2024. It aims to provide a possible pathway for U25 athletes in Ireland into professional sailing with the goal of producing Ireland’s first-ever Youth America’s Cup sailor. Entries closed on January 16th. 

Rob is delighted with the response and the growth of the class in Northern Ireland: “Watching the America’s Cup, I knew I wanted to get involved in foiling. I had looked at buying a Moth, but they are very expensive to buy and maintain, and also the chances of getting a fleet in Northern Ireland would be slim. The Waszp, therefore, was perfect They cost a lot less, and all the parts are readily available from the UK dealer in Scotland. Also, they appealed to me being one design as you can be certain of getting good racing. With eight now in Ballyholme and a ninth in Strangford, it’s going to be a fun time!”

The Waszp national championships were hosted again this year in the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin on August 6-7th.

There were 18 boats competing, including two boats from overseas, one from Hawaii and one from Wales!

Fresh from the world championships with 9th place, Charlie Cullen RSGYC was back to fight for the National title against Henry Start RSGYC and Max Goodbody RIYC, who were in Gold fleet at the recent world championships as Afloat reported here.

The racing got off to a good start, with Race officer Barry O'Neill getting three good races in on Saturday morning August 6th, before the breeze turned off. Barry commented that the standard of competitors was up significantly since last year with most boats completing all laps. Some notable new faces since last year included current RS400 national champion Robert Espey BYC and current RS200 national champion Frank O'Rourke RSGYC along with 2x 49er Olympian Matt McGovern of BYC.

18 Waszps competed including two boats from overseas, one from Hawaii and one from Wales

The fleet was certainly a star-studded line up with almost every sailor having competed internationally for some years.

After day 1 Charlie Cullen had a commanding performance with 3 bullets with the internationals Zac Blomeley (Funsport Rhosneigr Wales) in 2nd and Gavin Ball (Hawaii Kai Boat Club) in 3rd. The fight for first girl and first master was as tight as can be with both having two competitors on equal points.

The sailors then had dinner at Royal St. George Yacht club and got up early for 10am first gun to get four races in before the breeze vanished again.

When all the races were completed Charlie Cullen only dropped one race and finished in first on 6 points winning the Irish National Championship and the Nations Trophy for Ireland.

Georgia Goodbody managed to separate from Elysia O'Leary to win 1st girl and Frank O'Rourke managed to get some points between him and the defending Masters champion Tom Hogan to secure the victory. Second place went to Zac Blomeley and 3rd to Gavin Ball, definitely the farthest to travel to the Irish Nationals!

Max Goodbody finished as the 1st Junior and Robert Espey won the Apprentice category.

Henry Start, Chairperson to Irish Waszp Association and competing sailor commented "Everyone was happy to get good races over the weekend in fabulous conditions and I'd love to see even more boats next year!"

Gavin Ball from Hawaii Kai Boat Club, USA, said "Tight racing in exciting conditions made for fun and competitive racing".

The fleet has continued to grow with its diverse age and weight groups with sailors from 16 to 60 years old sailing with competitors ranging from 50 kg to 90 kg.