Killyleagh Yacht Club on the western shore of Strangford Lough recently hosted the Squib Northerns and a fleet of 18 enjoyed five races under Race Officer Scott Rogers and his team in challenging conditions over the two days.

Overall winners were Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan from Royal North of Ireland YC on Belfast Lough.

Gordon Patterson (left) with crew Ross Nolan (right)

Competitors from as far away as Holyhead in Wales, Kinsale, Lough Derg, Dublin Bay and the Isle of Wight joined the northern locals in the event which saw four boats notching up wins but apart from Race 2 which Patterson discarded, Fagin finished consistently in the first six to win by one point from Granat (David Stewart and Brian Hare) from Royal Irish.

In light winds on the Saturday morning, race 1 got underway with Granat taking 1st place, closely followed by Simon Watson’s Volante from the home club.

After a wind shift, race 2 got under way with the sailmaker Dick Batt from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club in the Isle of Wight taking first in Squib followed by the consistent Volante, Batt scored another first in Race 3, first making him the overnight leader. Second in that race was KYC’s Stephen Stewart in Second Chance. So, it was all to play for on the Sunday.

Squibs race downwind at the Northern Championships at Killyleagh

Major wind shifts resulted in postponements on Sunday morning and when racing did get under way it was the Royal North boats on form with Gregg Bell and Jayne Kearney in Prodigal taking a win closely followed by the host club’s David Hanna in Blue and the Royal Irish Granat. So, it was all down to the last race and in a steady consistent breeze Patterson and Nolan led from the start to take a well-deserved first, closely followed by clubmates John Miller and Gary Watson in Tamerlane. Overall runners up were Stewart and Hare with Bell and Kearney third.

This event was a valuable rehearsal for the big 56 boat National Championships in Kinsale in June with eight Northern competitors travelling to that event in which the racing will take place between the Old Head of Kinsale and the Sovereigns Islands.

And Killyleagh Yacht Club would like to thank everyone for their generosity in donating £600 to the Wave Project which is a charity which helps young people reduce anxiety and improve confidence through Surf Therapy.

The Robotic Mowers Cork One-Design Keelboat Regatta is on Sunday 1st and Monday 2nd May 2022 in Kinsale Yacht Club.

The regatta is open to Squib and Dragon keelboats. It is an open event and KYC is looking forward to welcoming entrants from Glandore Harbour Yacht Club.

Six races are scheduled over the two days, and they will be sailed in the waters between the Old Head and the Sovereign Islands.

Download the NOR below.

The Squib Outlaw sailed by Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan were the overall winners of the Custom Rigging Frostbites at Kinsale Yacht Club yesterday in a mix of conditions that included some heavy squalls. 

After 12 races sailed, and with a four-point winning margin, Travers and O'Riordan beat clubmates Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward sailing Allegro for victory in the 13-boat fleet. 

Third was Fifty Shades sailed by KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly

There was no Topper or March league racing at Kinsale yesterday.

Results here

Bob Bateman's Squib Frostbites Photo Gallery

After nine races sailed at Kinsale Yacht Club's Custom Rigging Frostbites Series, Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan took three wins yesterday in Outlaw to lead overall by a single point.

The duo lead Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward in the 13-boat fleet. 

Full results here

In the smaller six boat Topper dinghy division, Matt Maplebeck has a 13 point lead over Lucy Foster.

Full results here

After six races sailed at Kinsale Yacht Club's Custom Rigging Frostbites Series, Colm Dunne and Fiona Ward in Allegro lead by three points.

The duo lead KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern and Colm Daly in the 13-boat fleet. Third is Ian Travers and Keith O'Riordan on 12 points.

Full results here

The series got back on track on Sunday after losing two consecutive days of racing due to bad weather.

In the smaller six boat Topper dinghy division, Matt Maplebeck leads from Lucy Foster.

Full results here

The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Squib fleet had their annual prizegiving at the National Yacht Club on 25 February 2022.

The two-man keelboat fleet say they expect to increase the number of boats competing in Dublin Bay for 2022 by one or two above the number for 2021.

Prizewinners were as follows:

The Royal St. George Offshore Trophy was originally presented by Billy Mooney in 1963 to the winner of the Royal Ocean Racing Club Irish Sea race. Some time later the RORC declared that Wales was too close to Ireland and that the Irish Sea no longer qualified as an Ocean and that Offshore Ocean races could no longer take part there. The trophy is engraved with famous yacht names as Korsar, Tritch-Tratsch, Finndabar of Howth, Swuzzlebubble and Moonduster.

The trophy was represented to the Squibs in 2006 and is now awarded to the Squib which competes in the most regional events and was won by Dave Stewart and Brian Hare of the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Granat which competed in Howth at the East Coast Championship and at Dromineer in the Inland Championship.

Tonia McAllister from Pintail

The Lucky Wooden Block is awarded to anybody who has an unlucky incident during the year like falling overboard 50 yards from the finish line. It was awarded to Tonia McAllister who didn't fall overboard!

The Cocktail Shaker was presented by Alf Delany in 2006. He originally won this trophy in 1930 with a powerboat called Hold Everythin’ which was about 3m. long and had a 100 horse-power Johnson engine screwed onto the back. That event was organised by the North Dublin Motor Boat Club (which no longer exists) and racing took place between the Bull Island and the mainland at Dollymount. Today the trophy is awarded to the most successful Squib in the twenty-six Saturday races of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club- Green Fleet and was awarded to Noel Colclough and Rupert Westrup in Periquin.

Avril Mullett and Vincent Delany from Allsorts

The Eamon Leahy Memorial trophy was awarded to the most successful Squib in the seven Thursday evening races organised by Dublin Bay Sailing Club in Scotsman's Bay and was awarded to Allsorts which is owned by Avril Mullet and her dad Tony Mullet and steered by Vincent Delany.

Race Officers John and Valerie Stallard and Michele Kennelly got the first races of the Custom Rigging Kinsale Yacht Club League off to a gentle start in a patchy 10-knots on Sunday. 

The first day of scheduled racing was last Sunday but was blown out so 11 eager crews were keen to get in practice for the Bandon Co-Op Squib National Championships. 

Racing was also provided for Topper dinghies.

Photo gallery below

It’s a long way for crew and boats to travel from Belfast Lough and Strangford Lough to Kinsale but eight from the northern-based Squib class will be making that 300 mile trip in June for the eight-race Bandon Co-Op Squib Nationals which will incorporate the Irish Squib National Championship.

At least, as Robert Marshall of Killyleagh says, it’s easier than travelling to Cowes.

The Kinsale event featured in WM Nixon's Afloat column on Saturday here where he described the event as being an "ideal launching pad for Ireland’s reviving international sailing scene In 2022".

From the 14 strong Royal North fleet on Belfast Lough there will be Fagin, Second Chance, Prodigal, Toy for the Boys and Jumini and of the eight Killyeagh boats on Strangford Lough will be Slipstream, Firecracker and Volante.

Robert Marshall and Neil Logan in Slipstream

The RNIYC based Squibs competing are Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan in Fagin, Steven Stewart in Second Chance, Greg Bell and Jane Kearney, who have been runners-up in the Irish championship; Toy for the Boys with new pairing Peter Wallace and Kinsale local Fiona Ward as well as Ross Kearney and his cousin Charles (Woo) Kearney who will defend their Championship title in Jumini.

From Killyleagh, there will be Robert Marshall (Chairman of the Irish Squib Class) and Neil Logan in Slipstream, Simon Watson and Jordy Withers in Volante and Steven Bridges and Mathew Bolton in Firecracker.

Squib 146 Greg Bell's Prodigal

Robert Marshall is looking forward to the 2022 competition; “It's a big year for Squibs in Ireland with the combined Irish and UK nationals being held in Kinsale. Entries from both Killyleagh and Royal North at Cultra are eagerly awaiting the start gun to sound for the battle to commence.

Killyleagh is hosting a spring series 16/4 to 7/5 followed by the Squib Northern championship on 14/15 May at Killyleagh Yacht Club. There is quite s buzz around the class already and it’s only January. Good times are nearly upon us - great sailing and good craic with the best class in Ireland”.

When the Irish Squib Class signed off their 2021 season with boats from all parts of the country taking part in the successful though socially-distanced Freshwater Regatta for four national keelboat classes at Dromineer on Lough Derg in October, the parting message of hope was: “See you in Kinsale next June”.

Even then, when no-one knew what the future might bring and omicron was still only something in the ancient Greek alphabet, the sport at Dromineer had been such a booster in itself that optimism was the mood of the moment. And despite soaring adverse graphs since, there’s no escaping the feeling that Kinsale – with its new offshore challenge, the Inishtearaght Race Round the Blaskets in May, and the Bandon Co-op Squib Nationals in June (June 19th to 24th) - is emerging as a pace-setter in getting the 2022 season up to speed.

Squib action for the October Freshwater Regatta on Lough Derg. Photo: W M Nixon

As well it might be. It just has so much going for it, in terms of the superb natural harbour and the picturesque port town, with its south-facing location in the deep south of Ireland where summer arriving earlier than anywhere else. Thus the Kinsallions (or should that be Kinsaleans?) would be letting themselves down - and everyone else too - if they didn’t realise the full potential of a port which is so complete it could comfortably be the ultimate computer-generated creation for the dream of a perfect Irish sailing centre, were it not already so very much abundantly in existence.

Yet as any observer of the national and international sailing scene will be well aware, Kinsale Yacht Club builds on the blessings of its location. It is renowned for its hospitable enthusiasm in sharing the attractions of its many sailing advantages with visitors from near and far, whether they be racing or cruising.

Summer perfection. Squib racing at Kinsale. Photo KYC

Under Commodore Matthias Hellstern and his team, they’ve taken on board the pandemic-compliant lessons learned during 2021 when they successfully hosted a socially-distanced Sovereigns Cup series as well as other events. And though everyone hopes that the COVID-19 situation will have improved out of all recognition by the early summer, the Kinsale YC volunteers now know well that you should plan in a way that can cope with setbacks while taking full advantage of any improvements.

Kinsale is a place where the colourful 19ft Squib keelboats seem at their happiest, so much so that almost all of Bob Bateman’s photos of them racing there seem to be in bright sunshine, with the little boats and their crews exuding joy in the sea and sailing. But then, the Squib has a built-in happiness factor, for it can be more or less just whatever you want it to be.

Bob Bateman impression of Squibs at Kinsale – you’d get a suntan from just looking at this image…..Photo: Robert Bateman

For if you demand a boat around this size which provides really hairy high-speed sport and boy racers to go with it, then the SB20 is your only man. And if you need a comparable boat in which racing is the be-all and end-all of its existence, then it’s the Flying Fifteen for you. But if you want a keelboat in this size range which isn’t priced off the planet yet can provide real sit-in comfort and user-friendly options for family day cruising in addition to an excellent racing programme, then the Squib ticks all the boxes.

Thus it’s understandable that the idea of pandemic emergence for the Squibs and sailing generally could best be served by a joint Irish-British Squib championship in Kinsale was enthusiastically saluted from the moment it went up the flagpole, and it will simply be known as the Squib Nationals. Those who would be pedantic in querying the validity of this title should rest easy, for it has been done before with notable success, way back in 1996 in Howth.

The Howth Squib fleet is of modest size these days, but where else would you find a lighthouse with colourful floral window-boxes? Photo: Annraoi Blaney

In those days Howth was the happening place for Squibs, whereas nowadays they do well to muster double figures, though the class is currently on the up again. But 26 years ago, the Peninsula was awash with the little boats. Despite the fraught political situation - for this was still two years before the Good Friday Agreement - they hunted regularly with the English and Welsh fleets, and when it was agreed that they’d run the combined championship at Howth in June, a reverse invasion took place to such good effect that on one particular day, Tuesday 25th June 1996 with key organizer Dave Murnane pushing everyone afloat, they managed a hundred boats on the starting line.

Ghosts from the past – a hundred Squibs making an excellent fleet start at Howth in 1996. Photo: Mandy Murnane, courtesy Dave Murnane

At the front end of the fleet the pace was ferocious, but it was only right and proper that the overall winners should be Stuart Brewer and Paul Manning of the Royal Corinthian YC in Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex. For it’s part of Squib mythology that the concept of the boat originated from the local doctor having a couple of pints with designer/builder Oliver Lee in the pub in Burnham in late 1966. It turned into a brain-storming session, as the doctor had the complete distinctive blue sails and rig for an Enterprise dinghy but with no boat to go with it all, so he wondered if Lee could design him a little keelboat suitable for a sailor of advancing years which would make use of this redundant rig.

Just in case there was any subsequent doubt, the caption made it very clear. 

Quite how a rig of blue sails for a 13ft 3in racing dinghy designed by Jack Holt with river racing a priority became a suit of tanned sails for a 19ft keelboat designed by Oliver Lee and noted for its seagoing power is anyone’s guess. But for 2022 there’s a certain symmetry to all this, for although there were few if any Enterprise dinghies around Howth in 1996 or any other time, in their day Kinsale was a stronghold of the Enterprise class, for they were attractive-looking boats and their river-oriented rig with a huge mainsail made them extremely entertaining to race in a big seaway – sailing conditions which are not exactly unknown in the waters outside Kinsale’s glorious natural harbour.

However, back in 1996, it was two GP14 sailors from Sutton – Ruan O Tiarnaigh (who now sails an X38 from Belfast Lough) and Stephen Boyle, who were best of the Irish in the Squib mega-championship at fourth overall. But as the series was taking place at the same time as the Round Ireland Race (won that year by Michael Boyd in the J/35 Big Ears), photographers were scarce in Howth, but happily the late Mandy Murnane was there with her little happy-snap camera to get admittedly spectral proof that there were indeed a hundred boats on the starting line. And fair play to them, as a fleet they’re making a very good start.

So how will numbers stack up for 2022s Squib Nationals at Kinsale? As of today (Friday, January 14th) there are already 44 in the box.

It’s a list which certainly deserves examination, as it gives an excellent idea of the spread of the class and the kind of people involved, with the first sign-up being by Dick Batt, the sailmaker of Bosham on Chichester Harbour, who so enjoys racing his Squib in Ireland that he and Pamela have had their boat based here for the past couple of years.

It all started with two men in a pub…….the Squib very successfully fills a specific niche in the market.

As mentioned, the most recent major gathering was the Freshwater Regatta at Dromineer in mid-October, where the overall winners were Cultra’s RNIYC crew of Gordon Patterson & Ross Nolan, while the runners-up were Kinsale’s Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan.

But Ian Travers will be doing well if he actually races in June’s big championship, as he’s the Regatta Director, for the Travers family are a clan accustomed to putting their heads on the block for the good of sailing – his father Brendan was the prime force in persuading Shannon Development to install the vast improvements which made possible the marina and usefully-sheltered training waters at Kilrush in County Clare.

Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan with the Squibs nicely under control racing in the Outer Harbour at Kinsale

However, in best Kinsale style, Ian Travers has assembled a team of formidable talents in support, as they include Michael O’Sullivan, John & Mary Stanley, Denis & Ger Kiernan, Frank McGowan, Fiona “The Pirate” Ward, and Class Captain Richard Calnan, while the broader Squib community is represented by NSOA Organiser Peter Richards and their Chairman Dick Batt, with the always informative and entertaining online Squib Forum being on the strength through Chairman Robert Marshall of Killyleagh.

Yet even with such a team, for complete success an event like this needs to be embedded into the community from which it is being sailed, so when I commented on the main sponsors being Bandon Co-op which you’d scarcely think of in a maritime context, Ian Travers responded that they’re very much part of the fabric of Kinsale’s life and commerce. For indeed if you head directly inland away up the narrow and winding streets away from Kinsale’s glamorously maritime waterfront, you’ll very quickly find yourself in the midst of rich and fertile farmland which would have Jeremy Clarkson eating his heart out.

Co-sponsors include Cork County Council, Holt Marine, Hyde Sails and Batt Sails, and very importantly the transport partner is Irish Ferries to get the cross-water entries across as efficiently and economically as possible.

If the pandemic does clear enough and we learn to live with whatever new circumstances evolve, the guess is we might be looking at 80 boats, as already the defending British champion Mike Budd has his name in the hat, and so too has Irish champion Ross Kearney. But with racing of that calibre guaranteed, who knows what talents from other classes might be tempted to take temporary flight in a Squib, for the sense of community of the class was such that the late and much-lamented Jack Roy – despite his many sailing commitments at national and international level – was never happier than when taking his essential dosage of Squib racing.

His Happy Place….the much-missed Jack Roy particularly cherished his time spent with his friends in the Squib Class

For some, Squibs are for life – Dick Hewett, whose CV included being Royal Sailing Master on the International Dragon Class Bluebottle, was happily and successfully racing his Squib every Cowes Week until well into his eighties. For others, the Squib exactly fills the bill for use as the versatile tribal boat at a certain stage of family development.

Thus for the relatively brief period we were involved with the Squibs at Howth, we day-cruised en famille even more than we raced, even though the racing was a busy programme with the Lambay Race – for which the Squibs are ideal - at its peak.

That’s all rather a long time ago now. In this happily blurry family sailing snap, one of the very young sailors on our Squib Huppatee has since recorded some formidable offshore racing success, but now as a family man himself has gone into Howth 17 ownership.

Added value. The Squibs provide great racing, yet they can be used for family day cruising as well. Photo: W M Nixon

As for the one wolfing a sandwich at the helm, he now lives in a very ancient thatched house on the quay at Bosham on Chichester Harbour, just along the shore from Dick Batt’s sail-loft. The coast is very low-lying thereabouts, and thus our big son – with two very able junior sailors of his own – lives in the only house I know which is fitted with a large and very powerful bilge-pump.

But his life is easy compared to the pub just three doors along, which is even lower-lying. With rising sea levels, their back door had to be replaced with a complete door unit salvaged from a submarine which was being scrapped. It came with all the gear including the very accessible activating wheel which makes it all totally watertight. When a big tide comes surging up Bosham Creek, think Das Boot…

Preparations at Kinsale Yacht Club for the Bandon Co-op Squib National Championships 2022 are off to a fabulous start with 42 teams entered to date from the UK and Ireland. Entries thus far availed of an attractive early bird entry option which closed at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Entries have been received from Squib strongholds across the UK and Ireland and include many past and present champions, together with long-standing supporters of the class, all the ingredients to serve up a top-class National Championships.

To help encourage early registration, Kinsale Yacht Club included all early bird entries into a draw, the winner of which was refunded their entire entry fee. The draw was won by Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Carley’ on “Lady Penelope” from the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.

"It is clear Kinsale is an attractive proposition for Squib owners"

Speaking after the draw, Regatta Director Ian Travers congratulated Malcolm and Andy, and indicated “Kinsale Yacht Club is so excited to be hosting a dual championship of this calibre and it is wonderful to see such a high level of early commitment from the class. In conversation with many of the entries, the pent-up demand and enthusiasm for the event since its unfortunate cancellation in 2020 is brimming. It is particularly encouraging to see several competitive under-25 teams and helms entered, a cohort of sailors completely new to the class. The prospect of UK and Irish fleets racing together and experiencing all that Kinsale has to offer the visiting sailor is proving attractive. Preparations are well advanced, and we look forward to welcoming all our local, national and overseas friends to Kinsale in June.”

The National Squib Owners Association (NSOA), Chairman, Dick Batt, expressed his delight at the early uptake. “It is clear Kinsale is an attractive proposition for Squib owners to come together to race and socialise as one fleet. This early momentum should be a clear signal to those who have not yet entered, not to miss the party.”

The Bandon Co-op UK and Irish Squib National Championships are scheduled to take place in Kinsale from 19th to 24th June 2022. With nine races over six days, the event offers the perfect balance of close one design racing on the water with the unique shoreside experience only Kinsale can offer.

The Notice of Race, online entry and current entry list are available at Bandon Co-op Squib National Championships 2022 - Kinsale Yacht Club (kyc.ie). Further information is available by emailing [email protected]