Displaying items by tag: Howth 17 Footer Class Association

8th August 2010

Leila Leads Howth Yacht Club's 17 National Champs

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)

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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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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour