The weekend's 420 Nationals at Howth enjoyed blissful sunshine but not quite enough easterly breeze on Saturday, and a reasonable-for-sailing but otherwise utterly grey northerly yesterday (Sunday) to get in the full quota of races for a fleet of 21 boats from six clubs

Either way, as far as the first six places were concerned, it was Lough Ree and Malahide pretty well rampant. So much so that we should hear it loud and clear for Adam McGrady and Allister O'Sullivan of Galway Bay SC – they managed to break the Lough Ree-Malahide hegemony by slipping into the listing at seventh overall, supported by clubmates Isabella Irwin and Mattie Kennedy at eighth.

Things get serious at the windward mark for Isabella Irwin & Mattie Kennedy (left, GBSC, eighth overall) and Matthew Fallon & Jenny Paul (LRYC, 13th overall). Photo: Annraoi Blaney

But up at the sharp end, the first race was a clear declaration of intent with Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson of Malahide taking the bullet from Ben Graf and Anna Goerg of Lough Ree. Thereafter, regardless of wind amounts or sunshine quantities, it was almost entirely these two slugging it out for the win with the Graf und Goerg duo becoming dominant with four wins in the nine races while discarding a couple of thirds, though in fairness their Lough Ree clubmates Eoghan Duffy and Luke Johnston took third overall with a couple of firsts and a second.

Port tack assessment – Adam McGrady & Allister O'Sullivan (GBSC, 7th overall) weighing their chances Photo: Annraoi Blaney 

As for the Malahide stars McDowell and Thompson, their scoreline was 1,2,2, (5), 2, (3), 1, 2 to give them 13 to the winning 10 of Graf and Goerg – full details here

Campaigning a 420 is a much greater logistical challenge for young sailors and their support teams than doing the circuit with the solo-sailed Optimists, Lasers or Toppers, so it's interesting to see how club involvement waxes and wanes. For instance, there were no boats from the host club, where much attention is now focused on U18 and U25 groups. But obviously for now Lough Ree and Malahide are giving it their best shot, and so too are Galway Bay, Waterford Harbour at Dunmore East, and Blessington up in the Wicklow Hills. It will be intriguing to see how this current pattern pans out in the next couple of years.

Saturday bliss - let us hope it wasn't the last real day of Summer 2021. Photo: Brian James Maguire

420 Irish winners

1st overall Graf and Goerg

2nd overall - McDowell and Thompson

3rd - overall Duffy and Johnston

420 Irish silver fleet winners

1st Silver Fleet - Sweetman and Jephson

2nd Silver Fleet - Passberger and Maree

3rd Silver Fleet - Dunne and O'Reilly

Curraghbinny Cupwinners -  Sarah Whyte and Sean Cronin with Tokyo 2020 sailor Sean Waddilove

Best Female Crew Campion Soffe

For more than fifty years now, the 1898-founded Howth 17s have all been located at their port of origin, and the class has been thriving, so much so that serious damage to seven of the boats in winter storage in Storm Emma in March 2018 now seems like no more than a hiccup. The class recovered, with boats repaired or re-built and new ones added, such that assigned sail numbers have gone through the twenty mark. This may not seem such a big deal when international classes run into the thousands. But by local standards at any sailing centre, it's more than healthy, and the intriguing thing is how many locations internationally have contributed to this Howth growth.

With the port having only a limited local boat-building tradition - although two boats were built by the great John O'Reilly in a shed at Howth Castle in 1988 - the class's seemingly inexhaustible movers and shakers such as Nick Massey and Ian Malcolm have since had to cast the net wide for quality work, and this has used talent in Irish counties as diverse as Wicklow, Offaly, Meath, Fingal and West Cork in addition to availing of the subsidised boat-building schools of France.

A new Howth 17 being built at Skol ar Mor in South Brittany

Thus although they may be a one-place one-design, they've an international and forward-looking outlook. So it was an intriguing experience for eleven of the boat to go across to Dun Laoghaire last weekend to welcome home the first three restored Dublin Bay 21s to the National Yacht Club, and be greeted by some very senior sailors as "the Dublin Bay 17s from the noted northside club at Howth".

Fact is, DBSC had the use of the design for a sub-section of the class only from 1907 to 1964, by which time their crews had mostly moved into Glens, while the Dun Laoghaire Seventeens were all brought home to Howth and the TLC which has been lavished on them to varying degrees ever since.

The morning after…. Early on Saturday, July 31st at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, after eleven Howth 17s had sailed across to join the previous night's Welcome Home party for the three restored Dublin Bay 21s. Photo: David Jones

As to Howth itself being northside Dublin, the reality is it is all actually east of the entire capital, and the sandy link (tombolo if you prefer) to Dublin's associated landmass is so tenuous that it's thought of as being "nearby Ireland".

But not to worry. The Howth-folk are generous of spirit, and in 2021 they've already visited Clontarf for the annual At Home – involving a sporty rounding of the Baily against a north-going tide with the race won by Deilginis – while going to Dun Laoghaire seemed right and proper even if some of the denizens thereof were confused about the type of boats they'd arrived in, and equally confused about points of the compass and relative geography.

Cutting the corner – with a fair wind but a foul tide, two of the Howth 17s try to find the weakest adverse stream right in on the pin of The Baily as they race into Dublin Bay, on course for the 2021 Clontarf At Home. Photo courtesy Howth Seventeen Association

This weekend it's back to local reality for the Howth 17 National Championship. It's officially designated as Friday, August 6th to Sunday, August 8th, but in time-honoured style, Sunday is very much the reserve day, they race on Friday evening and then pile on the races throughout Saturday until the quota is reached so that everything can be done and dusted by the Saturday night prize-giving dinner which - even in semi-socially-distanced times - will not be an event for shrinking violets.

As to results, the defending champions are the Shane O'Doherty team with the 1900-built Pauline. She is usually to be found in the middle of the fleet, but in the 2020 Championship, there were so many private battles going on between the more noted hotshots that Pauline was able to slip through the gaps into a popular overall win.

Back where they belong – Howth 17s racing in the Sound inside Ireland's Eye in July's drought conditions – Oona (foreground) is owned by Peter Courtney, whose family have been involved with the class since 1907. Photo: Jane Duffy

This year a noted pace-setter in club racing has been Isobel (Brian & Conor Turvey), while other names featuring at the front of the fleet have included Deilginis (Massey, Toomey, Kenny), Rita (Marcus Lynch & John Curley), Orla (Marc Fitzgibbon/Gallagher), Sheila (Dave Mulligan & Andy Johnston), Oona (Peter Courtney) and Aura (Ian Malcolm), which is the most recent top scorer as she won on Tuesday evening.

But with a turnout this weekend pushing towards fifteen of these unique boats, if the private battles for which the Howth 17s are renowned develop in their usual way, who knows what new name might come to the fore by nipping through the gaps, like the hero in Jurassic Park……..

After making a perfect job of rounding the final gybe mark, Shane O'Doherty with Pauline was on his way to victory in the Howth 17 2020 Nationals.

Howth Yacht Club sailors Dylan Gannon and Luke Malcolm are lying seventh overall after four races sailed on Ross Warburton’s Club Swan 50 Perhonen at this week's Swan Copa Del Rey Mapfre at Palma, Spain. 

As you would expect at a Swan Regatta, there's an endless list of big crew names in attendance, and in particular, tacticians are a who's who of America's Cup and Olympic sailing in the 16-boat Swan 50 fleet, including sailors from the Grand Prix circuits and Volvo Ocean Races too.

In all, seven Irish sailors are in action this week, with the regatta running until Saturday. Six are racing in the Swan 50s with Julie Tingle racing in the Swan 36 division.

On the Bay of Palma, it was one of Spain’s most decorated Olympic heroes, Iker Martinez, who guided Andrea Masi’s Italian flagged ClubSwan 50 Ulika to the best scores of the day, a first and second from the hot fleet which includes Olympic aces such as Jochen Schumann (ONEGroup) and Tom Slingsby (Earlybird).

King Philip VI rarely misses a regatta and this year is no exception. The Spanish monarch competes on ORC 1 division of the regatta on Aifos500

HYC's Gannon is back sailing with his regular team (downwind trim) on Perhonen, and clubmate Malcolm is making his Swan 50 debut as a bowman.

Fresh from success in the J/80s in Denmark, North Sails Ireland sailmaker Shane Hughes is back with his regular team (running the boat) on Mathilde. The National Yacht Club's Will Byrne from Dublin Bay is running the mid-bow on Mathilde, currently lying 13th at the halfway point of the regatta. 

Swan 50 racing in the Bay of Palma Photo: Ricardo Pinto

Cork Harbour native Tom McWilliam is a headsail trimmer on the Utekha and is joined by Ireland's Volvo Round the World champion Justin Slattery. 

Full crew lists are here. Full results here

Classic Lake Garda conditions returned for the penultimate day of the 2021 ILCA 6 Youth Worlds that saw Howth's Eve McMahon back on top of the leaderboard. 

Results are tight and the forecast is good for the final day of the championship tomorrow.

McMahon now leads by five points from Czech Republic's Alessia Palanti on 28 points. 

The top two have a gap of 19 points on Anja Von Allmen in third on 47 points in the 55-boat gold fleet.

The Facebook video below shows the powerful form of McMahon at mark one of race 3 of the Girls Gold Fleet.

Download results pdf below

Volatile weather in northern Italy is adding to the drama in the huge fleet racing the current Laser/ILCA Youth Worlds on Lake Garda. The threat of sudden and violent winds making if difficult for competitors and organisers alike to keep their cool as thunderstorms rumble around majestic peaks which make your average Irish mountain look like a foothill.

Yet despite all this and a fleet of 108 helms in the Girls Division, Howth’s Eve McMahon has been bearing up to the pressure of being the “target sailor”, a position she inevitably took on after winning the first two races, as Afloat reported earlier here.

Even though she slipped to a fifth in the third race, she continues two points clear overall of Switzerland’s Anja von Sllmen, and three on the Czech Republic’s Alessia Palanti.

Racing continues until Saturday - as and when electric storms permit.

Full results here

Howth Yacht Club's Eve McMahon has gone straight into the lead of the 2021 ILCA  6 Laser Radial  Youth World Championships in Arco, Italy. 

Morning thunderstorms held the fleets ashore for day one at the northern end of Lake Garda.

The typical south wind never developed, but a nice 10-12 knot northerly breeze allowed two races to be completed for all fleets.

McMahon and Robby Meek of the United States found the conditions to their liking, both posting perfect score lines in the girls and boys divisions respectively.

With a marginal forecast for tomorrow, the race committee has moved the start time forward three hours to try to get a full schedule of two races completed before the potential for bad weather in the afternoon.

McMahon is just one of a number of Irish sailors competing at the championships, click the link below for full results.

Provisional results after two races:

Girls Division

1. Eve McMahon (IRL) 2 Pts.
2. Alessia Palanti (CZE) 4 Pts.
3. Anja Von Allmen (SUI) 6 Pts.
4. Marissa Ijben (NED) 9 Pts.
5. Amaya Escudero (USA) 9 Pts.
6. Linda Hensel (GER) 12 Pts.
7. Maria Martinez (ESP) 13 Pts.
8. Gemma Llamas Vallespir (ESP) 13 Pts.
9. Pia Conradi (GER) 15 Pts.
10. Sophia Montgomery (THA) 15 Pts.

Boys Division

2. Yogev Alcalay (ISR) 3 Pts.
3. Oskar Madonich (UKR) 4 Pts.
4. Hidde Schraffordt (NED) 5 Pts.
5. Mattia Cesana (ITA) 5 Pts.
6. Sebastian Kempe (BER) 7.2 Pts.
7. Javier Segui (ESP) 9 Pts.
8. Erik Norlen (SWE) 10 Pts.
9. Martins Atilla (LAT) 11 Pts.
10. Marcos Altarriba (ESP) 11 Pts.

Full results here

It was considered good going in the brief season of 2020 when Paul and Laura McMahon's 1978-vintage prototype Puppeteer 22 Shiggi Shiggi (sail number #1) emerged fresh but untried from the restoration laboratories and took the national title.

But in making their 2021 defence in a six-race series over this past sunny weekend in Howth, the McMahon boat by no means had it all her own way. In fact, the overnight leader after some highly photogenic competition in quite a decent sea breeze on Saturday was Trick or Treat (Alan Pearson & Alan Blay), and it was only by the third race that Shiggi Shiggi appeared to have found her mojo hidden in the back of a locker or wherever, waiting for its full deployment to win that particular contest from Scorie Walls in Gold Dust, with Trick or Treat in third.

On course for history – the leading Puppeteers head for the Portmarnock Mark, close under Portmarnock House, the former home of the legendary Jameson sailing (and whiskey) family. In the right foreground are Odyssey (#50, P & R Byrne) and Inter-Scepter (#34, Simon Knowles, which was restored in a 300-hour lockdown refurbishment project). Photo: Annraoi Blaney

HYC Vice Commodore Neil Murphy at the helm of Yellow Peril was among those vying for a podium place. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Other who'd shown well in the first day included HYC Vice Commodore Neil Murphy helming Yellow Peril, and the May/Burke combo in Honey Badger. But on Sunday, Shiggi Shiggi took decisive control with three wins, and in the circumstances, the interest lay in who came second. Trick or Treat's Saturday success stood the Pearson/Blay team to the good, they were runners-up four points clear ahead of Gold Dust.

Winner trim. Shiggi Shiggi looking every inch a champion as she races through Howth Sound past the Martello Tower on Ireland's Eye. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Shiggi Shiggi was going so fast that she even overcame the HPH handicap system to win on that as well, but other names came onto the podium, second going to Mr Punch (Ni Bhraonain Wilson) and third (on a tie break) to P & R Byrne's Odyssey – details here 

Paul McMahon and his winning crew have just crossed the final line….. In the weeks ahead, it may take a real effort of memory to recall that for a magic time in 2021, we sailed in temperatures like this. Photo: Annraois Blaney

It's not often that universally-agreed forecasts of exceptionally good weather will cause a reduction in numbers for an upcoming sailing race. But as the week drew on and yesterday (Saturday's) annual Aqua Restaurant-sponsored Two-Hander at Howth came steadily up the agenda, the number of authoritative predictions of "no wind at all unless a sea breeze happens to develop" were such that where in 2020 - in a lockdown-emerger - they'd 38 entries, this time round there were 29, and they'd to wait out a two-hour postponement until the sweetest sea breeze came in from between east and southeast.

The JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Conor O'Higgins) and the First 40.7 Tiger (Stephen Harris) getting into the groove. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Former winner Checkmate XV (Dave Cullen and Aidan Beggan) gathers speed as she gets into open water. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Dun Laoghaire visitor More Mischief (right) went home with a First Prize. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Their patience was rewarded many times over, for as Annraoi Blaney's selection of Mediterranean-but-better photos indicate, this was the purest essence of summer sailing. This was a day which – when the dark damp glooms of winter are upon us – will be contemplated in loving wonder. And all power to Dave Murnane for having thought of it all some years ago and kept it going ever since, for the fact of everyone being two-handed forms a special bond, even in socially-distanced après sailing.

The only real danger was heat-stroke, and happily it seems that the only victim of this was the HYC Computer Results System. That said, it was trouble enough, for the electronics experienced such a wobbler that Race Officer Scorie Walls had to resort to pencil and paper to produce a reasonably accurate set of results in time for a prize-giving before two visitors from Dun Laoghaire – Conor O'Higgins with his family's renowned JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI, and Greg Kalinecki with his First 31 More Mischief – had to head for home.

Floating living history – the Ron Holland-designed Shamrock Class Silver Shamrock (Conor Fogerty & Suzanne Ennis) was Half Ton World Champion at Trieste in 1976 under Harold Cudmore's command. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

A busy ship is a happy ship – Robert Dix and Carla Fagan racing Jeannie to third place in the J/80s. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

It's at times like this that you realise why a J/80 is normally raced with a crew of four………Photo: Annraoi Blaney

As ever, it was a remarkably diverse fleet, with cruiser-racers ranging from the new J/99 Snapshot (Evans brothers, sailed by Mike Evans and Graham Curran) fresh from overall success at the Sovereigns in Kinsale, all the way back to the almost-fifty-years-old Shamrocks – Silver Shamrock (Conor Fogerty), the Half Ton World Champion of 1976, and Windsor Laudan and Steffi Ennis's Club Shamrock Demelza, which also started her winning career in the 1970s, in those distant days in the ownership of the Mansfield family of Crosshaven.

Are the East Coast of Ireland's tectonic plates shifting? Rockabill closes up on Ireland's Eye. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

In the Puppeteer 22s, Trick or Treat (Alan Blay & Alan Pearson, right) was to have the best of it. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

In the One-Design categories, the J/80s had a very healthy turnout, with Dan and Dylan O'Grady in Jammie getting first from Bryan Byrne and Keith Glynn in Beeboop & Ricksteady, while Robert Dix and Carla Fagan were third in Jeannie. And in a more modest fleet, the Puppeteer 22s saw the honours go to Alan Blay & Alan Pearson in Trick or Treat.

The cruiser results were worked every which way, but in straightforward line honours Snapshot – with Mike Evans teamed with Graham Curran – was first home, 28 seconds ahead of the First 40.7 Tiger (Stephen & Jennie Harris).

Provisional HYC Aqua Challenge 2021 results:

IRC Spinnaker Class: 1st Snapshot (J/99, Mike Evans & Graham Curran) 2nd Lambay Rules (J/97, Stephen Quinn & Dave Cotter).

IRC Spinnaker Class Under 940 Rating: More Mischief (First 31, Greg Kalinecki & Jakub Gajewski, Dun Laoghaire)

ECHO Spinnaker Class: 1st Indian (J/109, Simon Knowles & Colm Buckley); 2nd Checkmate XV (Half Ton Classic, Dave Cullen & Aidan Beggan).

IRC White Sails: 1st Tiger (First 40.7, Stephen & Jennie Harris).

ECHO White Sails: 1st Toughnut (MG34, Dermot Skehan & Conor Macken).

J/80: 1st Jammy (Dan & Dylan O'Grady); 2nd Beeboop & Rocjsteady (Bryan Byrne & Keith Glynn); 3rd Jeannie (Robert Dix & Carla Fagan).

Puppeteer 22: 1st Trick of Treat (Alan Bay & Alan Pearson); 2nd Odyssey (Philip & Barry Byrne)

Captain cool. Mike Evans brings Snapshot cleanly through the boats summer-anchored in Howth Sound at Ireland's Eye, on his way to line honours and the IRC win. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

After their first overall in the 2021 J/80 Danish Opens which acted as the preliminary for the upcoming Worlds at the same venue, Pat O’Neill of Howth and his crew knew the stakes would be much higher in the big one, as the Royal Danish YC is a J/80 magnet attracting a Worlds fleet in which getting into the top ten would be a major achievement. But they managed that - in fact, they were well clear of ten, finishing overall at sixth. The crew were Pat O’Neill, Shane Hughes, Ryan Glynn and Steve Ryan.

With good weather in prospect for the weekend, interest is quickening in Saturday’s (July 17th) Aqua Two-Handed Challenge at Howth Yacht Club. Contrary to popular opinion, this is an open event. But over the years, the Howthmen have managed to keep the prize of a gourmet dinner at the classy pier-end Aqua Restaurant on Howth Harbour as something to be enjoyed only by one of their own. Thus it’s surely time and more that sailors from neighbouring clubs dealt with this overly-possessive attitude…...

In 2020s truncated season, it was one of Howth YC’s highlight happenings afloat, with an entry of 38 boats on a magically sunny day seeing Sam O'Byrne and Ryan Glynn winning the IRC Division with the Wright Brothers/Rick De Neve-owned Classic Half Tonner Mata, while a good turnout in the J/80s - a seriously interesting boat to race two-handed - saw the honours go to Diana Kissane and Graham Curran in one of the HYC-owned boats.

Down the years, the Half Tonners seem to have been particularly favoured, and the word is that former winners Dave Cullen and Aidan Beggan with Checkmate XV were spotted doing some special training last weekend. This Saturday, the first gun is scheduled for 10:00, there’ll be separate starts for Cruiser-racers, White Sails, J/80s and Puppeteer 22s, and in a course which is expected to take in Lambay, the plan is to be finished after about three hours of racing. Full details here

Dave Cullen and longtime shipmate Aidan Beggan head into Howth Sound after a session of open water training for the Aqua Two-Handed Challenge with the classic Half Tonner Checkmate XV. Photo: HYC