The Shanahan Cup returned for the 2023 and 2024 academic year again on Wednesday, 29th November. Gonzaga College and the Irish National Sailing and Powerboat School hosted 16 teams from 12 schools, with over 100 sailors racing in RS Fevas in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The team from the INSS were all in before sunrise to prepare for the day’s action. The school’s yachting division and MarineServices.ie were on hand to build a pontoon base for teams not racing in the western harbour and a course was laid. The teams were ferried out and now all that was needed was some wind!

The 2023 Shanahan Cup - the Irish National Sailing and Powerboat School hosted 16 teams from 12 schools, with over 100 sailors racing in RS Fevas in Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Light airs dominated for the morning – which meant that the busy schedule of races was under great pressure. When the wind did finally fill in, schedule amendments meant that a semi-final round and final were held, however, teams had no need of feeling disappointed. They receive two sets of points from each event – one from their league finish position and the other from their results in the knockout rounds.

Overall winners were the Mount Anville Team, with St Gerards in second place. In third place were Gonzaga Team 1 and St Andrews Team 2 in 4th. Points awarded to each school are below:

1. Mount Anville (28 points)
2. St Gerards (27 points)
3. Gonzaga Team 1 (26 points)
4. St Andrews Team 1 (25 points)
5. St Michaels (24 points)
6. CBC Monkstown (22 points)
7. Blackrock Team 1 (21 points)
8. Holy Child Team 2 (18 points)
9. Willow Park (18 points)
10. Holy Child Team 1 (17 points)
11. St Andrews Team 2 (16 points)
12. Loreto Dalkey (12 points)
13. Gonzaga Team 2 (11 points)
14. St. Davids Holy Faith (9 points)
15. Blackrock Team 2 (8 points)
16. Loreto St Stephens Green (7 points)

INSS Principal Kenny Rumball was on hand to get some footage from the event – which can be viewed here:

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The new format for the Cup sees three race dates spread over Winter and Spring, with the results from each date counting towards the overall standings. Racing is due to take place on Wednesday, 17th January and Wednesday, 7th February 2024 – all that’s hoped for is a bit more wind!

The Shanahan team racing Cup returns for the 2023/24 season in a new format at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Hosted by the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School in conjunction with Gonzaga College SJ, the event will be run over three Wednesdays, November 29th 2023, January 17th and February 7th 2024.

The winner will be the school with the best results over the three events, however, schools do not need to enter all three events in order to participate.

The organisers hope that the format change will give schools more race time before regional and national championships. It will also give less experienced sailors a greater opportunity to represent their school, and if the weather doesn’t co-operate, the format avoids the need to try and find suitable dates to reschedule.

RS Feva sailing

Fiachra Etchingham of Gonzaga College has been the driver of this competition since its inception. “The competition, supported by the Shanahan family, aims to promote friendly competition between schools and be as inclusive as possible, catering for sailors of all abilities”.

A team can enter by contacting the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School’s office on 01 2844195 or by email to [email protected].

Schools will initially be limited in sending up to two teams per school to facilitate as many schools as possible in entering teams up to capacity constraints. Should additional spaces for schools be available as the entry closing date approaches, more than two teams per school will be accepted.

The 2022/2023 academic year Shanahan Cup eventually took place last February, after poor weather delayed earlier attempts. The Cup was won by St Michael’s College holding off tough competition from 9 other teams.

A short video from the last event gives an idea of some of the fun for school students:

The Shanahan Cup School’s Team Racing event was won by St Michael’s College last Wednesday, 8th February. The Cup is an initiative from the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School in conjunction with Gonzaga College to offer a relatively informal fun team racing event ahead of the structured school team racing activity.

The event was originally scheduled for October 2022, however, a series of poor weather forecasts pushed the day out and previous winners, Gonzaga College had to wait for nearly four-years to defend their previous win, having won the inaugural event in 2019. The Shanahan Family donated the Shanahan Cup in conjunction with Fiachra Etchingham of Gonzaga College who has worked tirelessly to promote the event among the east coast second level schools.

Competitors assembled at the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School for a race briefing at 9.45am

In total, 11 teams from St Andrews College, CBC Monkstown, Gonzaga College, Holy Child Killiney, St. Conleth’s and Willow Park 1st Years were on the water, with a total of 66 sailors taking part in a combined Round Robin and League format. The event was supported by RS Sailing Ireland/MarineServices.ie who worked with the Irish National Sailing School to provide a fleet of RS Fevas. Racing took place on the Western side of the harbour, with a team racing base was constructed between the INSS pontoon and several of the school teaching yachts and RIBs for swap overs, hot chocolate and for the other teams to watch the racing.

Racing was directed by Jeff Fahy, who set his start line about 20 metres from the pontoon base. Racing got underway on the dot of 10.57 am and a quick succession of races were underway until about 2.30 pm. The school wants to pass their appreciation to the Irish School’s Team Racing Association (ITRA), for support in promoting the event, but more importantly, the one water assistance provided by Eunice and Ailbe on the day to umpire the races.

An overview of the setup – with the pontoon/yacht base acting as the perfect spectator area for the racing underway adjacent

The schedule of races progressed well, and by midday, the light south-easterly breeze had built to nearly 20 knots. Racing slowed down, with a few capsizes however, given the forecast was for such an occurrence and a predicted shift to the South racing continued under the care of the INSS safety boat team. As it happens, there was no Southerly shift, but instead, a big drop off in breeze, presenting teams with a new challenge to sail well in light conditions.

Racing progressed until 2.30pm, where St. Andrews Team No. 2 had comprehensively won their group, and a semi-final playoff was underway between the St. Michael’s Team and St. Andrew’s Team No. 1 for their group. St. Michael’s triumphed in this Semi Final and went on to compete against the second St. Andrews’ Team, where they ultimately won, going on to take the Shanahan Cup for 2023.

The competitors all retired to the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School Clubhouse for the prize giving, with the Shanahan Cup awarded to St. Michael’s College by Ruth Shanahan.

2023 Shanahan Cup winners St. Michaels College are presented with the trophy by Ruth Shanahan, and pictured with Glyn Williams of the INSS. St. Michaels College Team Leader Max Cantwell holds the trophy and is accompanied by team members Christian Ennis, Rory McMullan, Peadar Doyle, Michael Byrne and Alex Deasy

The Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School and Gonzaga College are already planning the next instalment of the Cup in September 2023.

INSS Principal Kenny Rumball got some footage from the day and put together a short video of some of the action.