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Displaying items by tag: Howth 17 Footer Class Association

HOWTH YACHT CLUB. 17 FOOTER CHAMPS  07/08/2010 17 Footer SCRATCH: 1, Leila R Cooper (12.00); 2, Rita Lynch/Curley (14.00); 3, Isobel B & C Turvey (14.00); 4, Pauline O'Doherty/Ryan (15.00); 5, Aura I Malcolm (16.00); 17 Footer ECHO: 1, Pauline O'Doherty/Ryan (11.00); 2, Isobel B & C Turvey (12.50); 3, Leila R Cooper (14.50); 4, Aura I Malcolm (17.00); 5, Echo B & H Lynch (17.00)

Published in Howth 17
23rd September 2009

Howth 17 Footer Class Association

March 2009 and Afloat's Graham Smith wrote: "Static yet still thriving best describes the Howth 17 Footers but with an 18th boat currently being built and due for completion this winter, the class will, for the first time in its 110-year history, consist of more than 17 boats. A TV documentary is being made next year to tell the story behind this classic gaff-rigged boat, following the Class through its winter preparations, the 2009 season and the new boat construction.

On the water this year, the National (World!) Championships were again won by Peter Courtney and his crew of Oona, a boat which celebrates its centenary next year and is still considered one of the babies of the class! The Championship attracted 14 of the 17 boats, one better than the previous year. National Champion: Peter Courtney, Howth YC."

Howth 17 Footer Class Association, c/o Brian Turvey, Secretary, Howth Yacht Club, Harbour Road, Howth, Co. Dublin

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Published in Classes & Assoc

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.