The Royal Irish Yacht Club will capitalise on its position as the leading Dun Laoghaire Harbour keelboat club when it hosts three major keelboat regattas in September 2024.

Racing over three consecutive weekends, from August 30th to September 1st, the RIYC will stage the ICRA Nationals 2024, then the Key Yachting J-Cup Ireland 2024 and conclude with the IRC European Championships 2024 from 10th to 15th September.

After weeks of speculation on which Dun Laoghaire club was hosting the IRC Europeans, RIYC Sailing Manager Mark McGibney confirmed the three keelboat fixtures on Friday.  

The arrangement moves the ICRA National Championships back one week from what was initially announced for 2024.

2024 will be the second Irish hosting of the IRC Euros, the inaugural championship was raced as part of  Cork Week in 2016.

Further information on each event will be released in the coming days. 

Royal Irish Yacht Club Keelboat Events 2024

• August 30th – September 1st – ICRA 2024
• September 7th – September 8th - Key Yachting J-Cup Ireland 2024
• September 10th – 15th – September IRC European Championships 2024

Pierrik Devic from the Yacht Club of Monaco was the overall winner of the International Yacht Club Challenge (IYCC) hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club on Dublin Bay over the weekend.

With five race wins from seven races sailed, Devic was decent points clear of Honza Krejcirik of Lodni Sporty Brno Yacht Club of the Czech Republic on 14 points.

Galway's Enda O'Coineen represented the 'Royal Arrecife Yacht Club' and was third on 15 points. 

The International Yacht Club Challenge is an invitational event organised as an amateur regatta between yacht club members. Its purpose is to generate 'international goodwill through friendly competition'.

The last IYCC, raced on the Hudson off Manhattan in J24s in 1988, but the 2023 event was staged in J80 keelboats supplied by Kenny Rumball of the Irish National Sailing School.

Summary of Participating Clubs: 

• Royal Irish YC, Jerry Dowling
• Royal Cork YC, Kieran O Connell
• USA Manhattan YC, Jay Parekh
• SPAIN (RCNA) Royal Areciffe YC, Manolo Torres
• St BARTS Gustavia YC, Brett Durrans / Margarita Profyri
• Royal Galway YC, Joan Mulloy / Miguel Lasso
• CZECHIA Lodni Sporty Brno YC, Honza Krejcirik
• MONACO YC, Pierrik Devic

Results below: 

Thirty entries from all over Ireland kicked off the RS Feva circuit hosted by Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire at the weekend.

Sailors from Mullochmore, Ballyholme, Howth and Greystones competed alongside Dun Laoghaire entrants in light and variable conditions, which freshened up to close on 20knts on the second day of racing.

Race Officer Michael Tyrrell delivered a six-race championship, with many competitors racing in tricky Dublin Bay conditions for the first time.

Three fleets battled it out for podium positions in each fleet, and there were additional prizes for best newcomer, furthest travelled, and resilience on the water.

Emily and her sister Annabel Ridout from Ballyholme led the gold fleet with five first places and a second. The second prize went to Jules Start and Grace Gavan from RSGYC and the third prize to Jessica Dudley Young and Sally Nixon, also from Ballyholme.

“Great competition, camaraderie and across all fleets!” commented Class Captain David Whelan of NYC.

Heather Wright revealed the new RS Ireland brand and generously contributed loads of prizes and quality merchandise, including McWilliam sailing bags and an RS Feva Racing Jib, which was raffled raising over €300 for the RNLI.

Download results below

Next stop RS Nationals at RS Fest in Blessington on June 24th and 25th.

The long trail from Ballyholme to the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire for the RS Feva East Coast Championships was worthwhile for the three crews from the North who dominated the result sheet, with the Ridout family taking first and second places, and Jessica Dadley-Young and Sally Nixon coming fourth.

The RIYC hosted event on 6th and 7th May and enjoyed near-perfect conditions with plenty of sunshine and wind to go with it. The fleet had 28 starters from all over Ireland.

Emily and Annabel Ridout (BYC) led most of the six races with confidence and flair, keeping ahead of the main fleet. With five first places and a second they comfortably took the Gold Fleet first prize. The girls’ father, Matthew and brother Peter also competed as a Parent/Child team and were pushed very hard by the excellent Irish teams, achieving a final overall ranking of second place.

A race start for the RS Fevas at the Eastern Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: RIYC

Jessica Dadley-Young and Sally Nixon also from Ballyholme, also kept pace with the front runners of the fleet. Their best race place, third, was achieved whilst struggling with a broken tiller extension. Their determination was rewarded with third place in the Gold Fleet.

This double-handed dinghy fleet with asymmetric spinnaker at Ballyholme has grown to eight privately owned, with three club boats for hire.

Ballyholme competitors (from left to right) Jessica Dadley, Annabel, Mat and Peter Ridout, Sally Nixon and Emily Ridout Photo: Mat Ridout

Mat Ridout praised the Club organisation. “The event was brilliantly organised and efficiently run, and like all RS Feva events, great fun for young sailors from 8-18 years old”.

And at the end of May, the trip for the Ballyholme crews to the Welsh National Sailing Centre at Plas Heli at Pwllheli for the RS Feva Nationals will be even longer. Joining them in the fleet numbering at this point over 90, will be Ross and Ellie Nolan from Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough and Rose Kelly and Kate Jennings from East Down YC on Strangford Lough. Later, at least the Dadley-Young/Nixon crew will compete in the RS Feva Northerns at East Down YC.

Download overall results as a jpeg below

On the morning of 10 November 2022, this world of ours lost an extraordinary and irreplaceable human being. Paddy McSwiney hoisted his sails for his final voyage. Those of us who are left behind continue to experience an indescribable sense of loss, and we hope that those on the other side are ready for the arrival of that ‘larger than life’ character, who will, undoubtedly, have a major influence on how they do things over there.

Paddy McSwiney was born on 3 February 1953 and would have reached his 70th birthday this year. He was married to Ruth and they had six children, Chris, Joan, Laura, Kate, Carol and Francis, and eight grandchildren. He was proud of and deeply connected to his family having a clear understanding about their individual strengths and characteristics. He was quite definitely the pater familias, in their home in Dublin and when on holiday. He was probably at his happiest when surrounded by family and friends, chatting and entertaining, issuing instructions, in charge of the barbecue and being the life and soul of the party.

Paddy (second from right) sharing good times with some of his sailing friends

He was an accountant, a graduate of UCD, whose understanding of his profession and his knowledge of a wider range of subjects greatly exceeded the popular conception of what accountants did and extended into the realms of management, organisation, legal opinion, and providing encouragement and motivation to everyone he encountered, both professionally and socially. He was a reservoir of sound advice for anyone who might ask him, and many did, particularly when they were experiencing financial difficulties following the banking crisis in 2010 and the years following it. His advices were always intelligent, incisive, clear thinking, and invariably led to finding solutions and solving problems. These advices were always delivered with an underlying sense of humour that conveyed the impression that no problem was too big or too serious, and the solution was there to be found almost with no effort at all. He was highly loved and respected and had an extraordinary and unique capacity to engage with people and bring out the best in them.

Quite apart from his professional life and his business activities, he was totally involved and committed to the Royal Irish Yacht Club. He had been introduced to the Club by the late David Anderson, a former Commodore, and as a result, the RIYC became his second home. He served on many Club Committees during the terms of office of numerous Commodores. He served on the House Committee, the Wine Committee, the Sailing Committee, Membership Committee and Strategy Committee, and as Rear-Commodore, Vice-Commodore and ultimately Commodore during the years 2012-2014.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club was most fortunate to have him as a member and indeed the beneficiary of his involvement, dedication, wisdom and expertise and infinite capacity for social engagement throughout the years he spent there. He and eleven classmates from his school days would come together every year at one of the Club’s Christmas lunches. They were known as the twelve apostles and would always sing ‘the twelve days of Christmas’, after lunch. They had been doing this, every year, in one venue or another, since leaving school!

His primary passion and source of enjoyment, relaxation and entertainment was sailing. He was, yet again, the pater familias of another family of sailors most of whom he had introduced to the sport, and who accompanied him in his sailing activities on Dublin Bay and off-shore and further afield on one or other of the four boats he co-owned.

Shortly after joining the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Paddy purchased his first boat “Grasshopper” a Trapper 300, along with three friends, all of whom, at the time, knew little about sailing and less about the purchasing of boats. Paddy turned to an old college friend, John Kelly, who had been sailing mermaids since the age of twelve and even though he had abandoned sailing on going to college, Paddy felt he must know something about boats and provide this new crew with some introductory sailing lessons. Not only did John Kelly advise on the purchase of Grasshopper, but as a result of sailing around Dublin Bay, with Paddy and his mates, John realised how much he had missed the experience. He acquired a boat of his own and returned to sailing, an activity he religiously pursues to this day. Introducing people to sailing and encouraging lapsed sailors to return to the fold became one of the hallmarks of Paddy McSwiney’s sailing career. Throughout his life as a mariner he would invite countless newcomers to experience the joys of sailing, sail racing and cruising, and perhaps more importantly keep them connected to the sport by his indefatigable enthusiasm and his sense of fun and enjoyment. It didn’t matter how well or how badly the boat and crew performed in a race, as long as the sense of fun prevailed and everyone was enjoying themselves.

The early days of Grasshopper’s racing career may have resulted in many finishes towards the end of fleet, causing the ship’s motto to be coined “longer at sea!” Whatever about leading the fleet, you could always rely on Paddy’s team to lead the apres-sail!

Having sailed Grasshopper for a number of seasons, Paddy graduated to owning a Sigma 33 “Pippa 4”. This new boat extended his cruising range beyond the confines of Dublin Bay, making off-shore passages to Kinsale, Baltimore, Crosshaven and Schull to participate in Cork Week and visit various harbours along the south and west coasts. His sense of inclusivity never diminished nor did his determination to place fun and entertainment at the centre of all his sailing exploits. Michael Buckley summed it up by saying “He just wanted to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves as much as he was”. At that time, Sigma 33’s were extremely popular and numerous and on one occasion during Calves Week, Pippa 4 joined a fleet of sixty-four Sigma 33’s on the start line. During these away expeditions, Paddy was always the organiser both on land and on the water. He would always take personal responsibility to provision the boat, arrange on-shore accommodation for the crew, again taking on his roles as “Dad” of the household ashore and skipper of the boat at sea. His thoughtfulness and consideration towards the entire crew was the glue that held everything together and ensured that only wonderful memories would remain at the end of every voyage.

Pippa 4 was followed by a Beneteau 31.7 called “Extreme Reality”. The number of people Paddy introduced to sailing continued to increase. He found potential crew at Board meetings, encounters in restaurants, at social occasions, and through connections with old school friends, bringing people from all walks of life together and amazingly creating effective working teams, often from the most unlikely and unpromising raw material!

Tom Moloney, both a crew member and a business partner, believes that one of Paddy’s greatest achievements was encouraging non-sailors to give sailing ‘a go’. His Tuesday crew was his trademark. He was in his element as he left the mouth of the harbour, any harbour. He relished the open sea and what challenges it, the wind or the course committee might throw at him, and even if the boat ended up near the back of the fleet, he could always enjoy the après sail time with his crew. It became the time for conversation, not just an analysis of the pros and cons of the race just completed, but about any topic under the sun that might occur to Paddy or to any those present. Patricia Gaffney maintains that it was the exceptional joviality of the après sail that drew her to Paddy’s crew.

On board D-Tox, Paddy (top left) and his crew are dressed for the Christmas occasion before racing at the DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club

His last boat was a 35ft Danish built X-yacht, which, with the help of Kyran McStay, had been sourced in a boatyard in Cork. That boat, and the three others that preceded it, have left a legacy of truly extraordinary enjoyable and unique sailing from the Royal Irish Yacht Club, for a large cohort of sailors who would never have set foot on the deck of a yacht had they not been invited by Paddy McSwiney. Comhnall Tuohy who worked professionally with Paddy and who sailed with him, understood his all important love of life, and his love for his motley crew. “To his credit he never sought out better sailors (and he could have). His desire to win, never won over his desire for good company and fun.” Philip Sherry summed it up “He was a legend who is sadly missed”.

Two former Royal Irish Commodores share a joke - Paul Sherry (left) with Paddy

Throughout his life, Paddy’s work and leisure time interacted with countless people, and because of his open and generous personality, he was liked by all of them. His son, Christopher, in his eulogy and quoting Paul Sherry, said that “he had never met anyone who didn’t like Paddy and in fact that he never met anyone who hadn’t met Paddy”. His positivity was infectious, and his constant wit and humour was ever present. Peter Redden, remembering a trip to Galicia, could not recall so much laughter on board a yacht. His description of Paddy was “Paddy McSwiney - a life well lived”.

His instant wit and capacity to think on his feet can be illustrated by a story told of Paddy, as a recently qualified accountant working in one of Dublin’s well known accountancy firms, when one morning he took some time off from his work to go out to have his hair cut. When he returned to the office he was called in by the Senior Partner. “I see you have had your hair cut, Mr McSwiney”. Did you by any chance have that done on office time? “Yes sir” was the response, “you see it grew on office time”. The senior partner, not phased by this clever and quick-witted reasoning, retorted “But surely Mr McSwiney, it didn’t all grow on office time”. “That is correct sir, but I didn’t get it all cut off!!”

Apart from his effervescent personality and his capacity to be totally open and inclusive in the way he welcomed anybody and everybody to share in his enjoyment of sailing, Paddy was equally open to helping people whom he encountered professionally. In this respect, he did more good than most people will ever know, being generous with his advice, on professional, financial and personal matters. He fixed things for people by being obliging, understanding and quickly responding to identified and presented problems.

Paddy enjoying a drink onboard his yacht on Dublin Bay. His primary passion and source of enjoyment, relaxation and entertainment was sailing

Paddy McSwiney possessed a spectacularly improbable combination of intelligence, business acumen, professionalism, instant memory recall, thoughtfulness, generosity, humour and kindness.

We will not see the likes of him again.

“The life given us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

James Horan

The Irish Cruiser Racer National Championships return to the Royal Irish Yacht Club for the third time in 2024, the ICRA conference heard on Saturday. 

The event will mark the event's 20th anniversary, and the sixth time the championships will have sailed on the Dublin Bay race track.

Royal Irish previously hosted the ICRAs, one of the key fixtures of the Irish sailing season, in 2006 and 2014, with both events featuring a 100-boat-plus fleet.

Like this year's edition scheduled for Howth, 2024's event will run in the first week of September.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club is situated in a central location in Dun Laoghaire Harbour with excellent access, and visiting sailors can be sure of a special welcome. 

The clubhouse is located in the prime middle ground of the harbour in front of the town marina, and it is Dun Laoghaire's oldest yacht club. 

Fenit for 2025?

ICRA Commodore Dave Cullen also announced at Saturday's conference that the association is seeking applications for its 21st event in 2025.

Cullen confirmed at least one application had been received; Tralee Bay Sailing Club in County Kerry has sought the event for its Fenit Bay race track, a venue that previously hosted in 2009 and 2013.

Video has recently surfaced online of ocean researchers’ encounter in the Atlantic with an abandoned Dun Laoghaire yacht — one that was the subject of headlines a decade ago.

It’s nearly 10 years since Alan McGettigan and crew were rescued from their Swan 48, Wolfhound, some 70 miles off the coast of Bermuda in February 2013.

McGettigan — who died in November 2022 — was joined by fellow Royal Irish Yacht Club members Declan Hayes and Morgan Crowe as well as Tom Mulligan from the National Yacht Club on the yacht, which had suffered both power and engine failure amid stormy conditions while en route from Connecticut to that year’s RORC Caribbean 600.

Some time later in 2013, a vessel from the Ocean Research Project happened upon the ghost yacht “somewhere in the Atlantic”.

Unaware of the previous incident, the team — including experienced solo circumnavigator Matt Rutherford — noted the boat’s “strange behaviour” before approaching and boarding to learn more about its fate.

“I’m afraid to open doors and cabinets,” says Rutherford as he explores the cabin, fearful that he might happen upon the remains of an unfortunate sailor.

Rutherford and his crew mate set up a tow to bring the stricken Wolfhound some 800 miles to Bermuda, but as he explains in the video they were forced to cut it loose following difficulties of their own, which left them becalmed in the Doldrums for nearly four weeks.

IrishCentral has more on the story HERE.

Afloat.ie regrets to record the death of John Sisk of Dun Laoghaire, the youngest brother in a notably successful three-brother generation of a remarkable sailing family.

After childhood sailing in the family setting, his successful racing career began with Team Racing in UCD, and he went on to achieve in many areas of our sport.

A full appreciation will appear in Afloat.ie in due course. Meanwhile, our thoughts are with his family and friends and his many former shipmates in their sad loss.

Update (8/9/2022): Please click to read Afloat's John Sisk Appreciation here

Provident CRM has been announced as the title sponsor of September's Royal Irish Yacht Club hosted SB20 World Championships 2022 at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The RIYC will host the event on Dublin Bay from the 5th to the 9th of September.

Ireland hosted the first edition of the SB20 World Championships in 2008, with 143 entries, and the event returns 14 years later.

There are over 60 confirmed boats from twelve countries for the 2022 Championships on the Bay.

Countries attending include Ireland, UK, Netherlands, France, Australia, Dubai, Singapore, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Finland, Italy & Ukraine SB20 Ireland.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club won the bid to host the 2022 World Championships following the success of the 2018 European Championships, run by the same team at this venue. 

Headquartered in Dublin, Provident CRM is an independent CRM and Digital Transformation solutions consultancy dedicated to delivering bespoke technologies to drive customer success. For nearly 20 years,

Provident has been an implementation partner of industry-leading technology vendors, including Salesforce, SugarCRM, HubSpot and monday.com.

John Malone, CEO of Provident CRM, said, "We are pleased to see the SB20 World Championships return to Ireland and be the title sponsor of this year's edition. The SB20 is sailed by 3-4 sailors and offers high-performance asymmetric sportsboat sailing, making it highly competitive and fun to watch and sail. We at Provident CRM believe that working together keeps us moving forward - a great sailing analogy for professional life."

The SB20 World Championships official website is now open to enter the competition: www.sb20worlds2022.com.

Joe Conway, Rear Commodore, RIYC (left) and John Malone, CEO Provident CRM, at the recent Dun Laoghaire Cup prize-giving for SB20s at which the sponsorship was announced

The warm-up Schedule for the SB20 World Championships in Dublin is as follows:

• 6/7 Aug: Pre-World Coaching Session & Dublin Bay Sailing Club Racing
• 27/28 Aug: Irish East Coast Championships (Sat/Sun Before Pre-Worlds, incl coaching)
• 4 Sept: Practice Race (Sunday Before Worlds)
• 5-9 Sept: World Championships

Saturday's much anticipated Drumshanbo Gin Royal Irish Yacht Club regatta racing at Dun Laoghaire has been cancelled due to strong winds.

Race officers went to sea to check the conditions and reported strong southerly winds gusting to 33 knots on the Dubin Bay race courses.

As Afloat's WM Nixon relates despite this weekend's packed sailing fixture list sailors are heading for the high stool as gales sweep the country and cause wholesale cancellations.

Live Dublin Bay webcams are here