Paddle hard and paddle fast was the name of the game as the first annual 'The Eye Race' took place in the waters of Howth Sound and Ireland’s Eye last weekend.

Event 7 in The Irish Winter SUP Race Series, organised by Discover SUP and hosted at Howth Yacht Club, this brand new stand-up paddle boarding competitive event attracted 26 entrants from all over
the island of Ireland, ranging from members of previous Irish World Championship teams to first-timers.

Following an unusual week of intense easterlies and resulting swells, on race day the weather gods conspired to deliver low winds and relatively calm waters with small bumps, providing perfect conditions for an exciting and testing SUP race.

Twenty-four boards lined up at the start, divided into two classes - Class 1 for touring and race boards 11ft+, Class 2 for all-round boards 11ft and less.

From early on, Class 1 was led out by the current series leaders in their respective categories, Ross McGarry and Mary Dowling, as they took on their 11.5km course. In Class 2, current male series leader Paul Kiernan had a fight on his hands before he secured his lead position, while Sinead Murphy, brand new to the racing scene, took the 5.5km course in her stride as the only female in her category.

Inaugural 'The Eye Race' at Howth Yacht Club - twenty-four boards lined up at the start, divided into two classes - Class 1 for touring and race boards 11ft+, Class 2 for all-round boards 11ft and less. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

The choice of board style was a critical decision given the off-shore nature of the courses. The pay-off in choosing faster and narrower flatwater boards didn’t come to pass for those riding them, as they
fought to stay upright in the bumps of Howth Sound.

Event 7 in The Irish Winter SUP Race Series was organised by Discover SUP and hosted by Howth Yacht Club Photo: Annraoi Blaney

In the end, 23 boards crossed the finish line as rain and hail came down in short bursts. But that didn’t put pay to the energy and positive vibe as the fleet came ashore again to refuel in the comfort
of HYC.

Stand-up Paddle Board 'The Eye Race' at Howth Yacht Club Results 

Class 1 - Female
1 - Mary Dowling - 01:34:20
2 - Carla Milne - 01:48:56
3 - Melanie McGimpsey - 02:00:57
RET - Maria McGivern

Class 1 - Male
1 - Ross McGarry - 01:14:41
2 - Patrick McCormack - 01:22:08
3 - David Mangan - 01:27:07
4 - Ryan Vekins - 01:46:10
5 - Gary Mcclure - 01:48:17
6 - Patrick Murtagh - 01:49:46
7 - Ed Ruane - 01:51:23
8 - Steven Bishop - 01:52:37
9 - Darren Cox - 01:55:27
10 - Pierre Schneider - 01:56:42
11 - Noel Munnis - 02:03:14
DNS - Karl Walsh

Class 2 - Female
1 - Sinead Murphy - 59:57

Class 2 - Male
1 - Paul Kiernan - 47:10
2 - Colm Kenny - 49:12
3 - Roy McHugh - 49:31
4 - Conor Battigan - 51:05
5 - Martin Rowe - 56:18
6 - Ciaran Shorthall - 57:39
7 - Gary O Connor - 57:41
8 - Iain Hall - 58:35
DNS - Sean Halpin

Whether it be football or sailing, the people of Larne in County Antrim have plenty to celebrate, for the football club won the Irish League Cup on 15th April and East Antrim Boat Club’s ILCA 6 sailor, Tom Coulter began his Irish Youth Nationals competition by winning the opening ILCA 6 race at Howth Yacht Club’s four-day jamboree Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals for nearly 200 young sailors from all over Ireland. Tom went on to take third overall and his clubmate Zoe Whitford clocked an excellent 7th to take first the first girl place in the same class.

Zoe Whitford - in the ILCA 6 fleet

And on the County Down coast, Ballyholme is celebrating a decisive win by Tom Driscoll in the 40-strong Topper class and a close second by two points was his clubmate, Cormac Byrne. 

Tom Coulter was one of the 30 competitors from Northern Ireland making the shorter trip (compared to the long drive to Baltimore for the Munster ILCAs the week before) to the Howth club, north of Dublin. In a class in which the Howth sailor and ILCA 6 Bronze European champion, Rocco Wright continues to shine, it was always going to be a fight for Tom, but he did start with a win and just before being black flagged in the last race, clocked up another, having taken three runner up slots and never falling below sixth, Tom (and EABC) will be encouraged by his performance.

Tom Driscoll in the Topper

In the top ten ILCA 6s also were Lewis Thompson (BYC) at fifth, Zoe Whitford, also from the Larne club was 7th and first girl, and Bobby Driscoll, representing Royal North on Belfast Lough was 8th. Tom, Zoe and another BYC competitor, Charlotte Eadie, had trained in Schull from 1st April, before racing at Baltimore and then going on to Howth. As Zoe’s Mother, Lucy confessed, “it has been a busy Easter”.

Although Ballyholme’s Charlie O’Malley’s score of 22nd in ILCA 6 wasn’t outstanding, what was pleasing was that his daily efforts to help competitors haul their boats up the slip was noticed, and he was given a Spirit of the Event award.

A consistent set of results in the Toppers assured Tom Driscoll of 1st overall, but only two points behind was the Strangford Sailing Club/Ballyholme sailor, Cormac Byrne. In this class too, Emily McAfee at 5th was second girl and another BYC sailor, Katie Brow was 7th and third girl.

The Carlingford SC sailor, Lucy Ives, took 10th overall in the ILCA 4 class despite a DSQ and a DNE and the only northern entries in the 29ers, Hannah Dadley-Young, Toby Huges, Joseph Robinson and Henry Nelson from BYC in the 29er Class made credible efforts in challenging breezes for their first event in a boat requiring a steep learning curve.

RYANI was very pleased with the contingent’s performance. “All our sailors did us proud in a range of challenging conditions, including drifting with many course changes, right up to 20 knots in bitter cold wet breeze”.

Read more of Afloat's coverage of the Youth Sailing nationals at Howth here

The concluding day's one extra race at the Investwise Youth Sailing National Championships at Howth Yacht Club, slotted in between the morning's sunlit near-calm and the mid-afternoons varying attempts at fog, provided some key classes with an additional discard to affect the final top places.

While Howth Yacht Club's Harry Dunne continued to play a very steady game of exemplary style in the Optimists to take a second in Race 10 and retain the overall lead, it was to be by only one point ahead of Royal St George's Caoilinn McDonnell.

Her initially stellar performance of a string of wins had been marred by two huge setback showings, so though she was back in 12th place in the final race, the availability of an extra mega-discard meant that overall she could now finish second overall by just that one point astern of Dunne, with 30 pts to his 29, while Royal Cork's Andrew O'Neill was another 9 points astern in third overall.

Results below

Rocco Wright won a home waters victory at the Investwise Youth Sailing National Championships in Howth on Sunday.

Wright took the ILCA 6 Youth National Champion title by a clear margin of ten nett points after ten races sailed across a range of conditions that concluded in light winds.

The Howth Yacht Club sailor was followed by his clubmate Luke Turvey on 25 points. One-time series leader Tom Coulter of (East Antrim Boat Club) was third on 29 points in the 33-boat fleet.

Wright, of Howth Yacht Club, adds the domestic title to his recently won bronze in the ILCA 6 Men’s class at the ILCA European Championships in Andora, Italy, as Afloat reported here.

ILCA 4 Title for Pierse

The ILCA 4 title was won by Royal Cork’s Oisin Pierse, with Krzysztof Ciborowski (Royal St George YC) and Cillian Twomey (Howth YC) in second and third place.

Results are below

With several local weather systems working themselves into lathers of various combinations, it seems that Howth in April for the four-day Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals can either provide sunshine but little wind, or a rising sou'easter but with eventually thickening grey cloud. Things were decidedly brisk by the time today's (Saturday) full third day programme was completed on an ultimately sunless sea and with the busiest classes showing nine valid race results, they already have a championship and then some.

But the Stakhanovite Race Teams are apparently planning to try to fit in another three races tomorrow (Sunday) before they call the final results.

By this stage, the overall winners in most classes are now emerging from among two or three top boats, with some instances of remarkable consistency belying the youth of the contenders, which is maybe an ageist sort of comment, but there you go.

Wright on top in ILCA 6

The ILCA 6s saw local boy Rocco Wright continue on top form to log two firsts and a second, which gives him a mighty margin as he's on 13 points OA to the 21 of East Antrim's Tom Coulter, who by the end of the day was looking astern rather than ahead, as Howth's Luke Turvey is snapping on his heels just one point astern.

O'Shaughnessy and Spain lead 29ers

The Cork/Dun Laoghaire combination of Ben O'Shaughnessy and Ethan Spain have it a bit closer in the 29ers, as they've only a couple of points in hand at the front of the fleet on Dun Laoghaire's Van Steenberge duo, the totes being 11 to 13.

McDowell and Thompson Strong in 420s

But in the 420s the combination of Malahide and Wicklow in the form of Jack McDowell and Henry Thompson appears very strong; they lead on 14 to the 20 of Malahide's Kate Campion and Amelie Soffe, who are another case of stern chase concentration, as they've only a spare point on the Blessington/Malahide combination of Cora McNaughton and Sean Cronin, who in turn are only a point clear of the might of Dunmore East and Galway Bay as combined by Max Sweetman and Roisin Mitchell Ward.

Pierce Overtakes in ILCA 4s

In the ILCA 4s, Royal Cork's Oisin Pierce has taken the overall lead by 3 points from Royal St George's Krzysztof Coborowski, with Lucy Ives third and Cillian Twomey best of the host club in fourth, but in the Optimists local sailor, Harry Dunne got through to Saturday night by taking over the overall lead with a day's result of 2, 2, 8 and 3 to put him ahead of Royal St George's Andrew O'Neill by 35 to 44, meaning that young Harry is putting together the sort of consistent series favoured by strategists, as he's always there or thereabouts, but has only recorded one race win.

Brady moves up to third in Optimists

Gemma Brady of the National in Dun Laoghaire has now moved into the Optimist frame to be third overall, just four points behind Andrew O'Neill, but the George's Caolinn McDonnnell continues to climb back up the rankings after yesterday's (Friday) upsets, her score today was 8,1,1,5, which is consistency plus, and it puts her at sixth OA after being back at 15th.

Driscoll is Topper leader

In the Toppers, Tom Driscoll of Ballyholme stays in the overall lead after Cormac Byrne of Strangford Sailing Club/Ballyholme YC retired from today's final race, with third place held by Caoimhe Corkery of Cfosshaven and Kinsale.

For the final races today (Sunday), the wind looks like being more directly and damply from the south, and at one stage there's even a suggestion that mist or even fog might intervene for a while. But the heat being generated by the intensity of competition in this roller coaster regatta will surely burn off any mist or fog in no time at all.

Some placings waxed and waned, occasionally quite spectacularly, in Day 2's racing in the Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals at Howth, as wind and weather struggled to stabilise themselves after the theatrically unsettled conditions experienced earlier in the week.

Nevertheless, in a testing time for Race Officer teams, the more senior classes, which had already notched two races on the opening afternoon on Thursday (Day 1), got themselves three further completed contests, while the newbies in the Toppers and ILCA 4s stepped up to the plate to start their championships with two races logged.

Already there'll be competitors who will be hoping for a full slate of finishes by the time racing concludes on Sunday, as two of the overnight leaders may be looking for everything that further discards have to offer. In the substantial Optimist fleet (43 boats racing), overnight clear leader Caoilinn McDonnell (Royal St George Yacht Club) scaled the extremes of experience with a UFD, a first, and a retiral to put her back to 15th overall despite having a neat lineup of three bullets for her three fully finished races.

An Optimist dinghy competitor sails past the Martello Tower on Ireland's Eye at Howth Yacht Club Photo: HYC

There was excitement for the home Optimist fleet when local rising star Harry Dunne won the day's first race, and then a fifth in the second kept him up in lights, but a DNF in the third dropped him back to 7th OA at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, the Young Crusaders of Royal St George kept up their assault across a broad front, as Jules Start moved into first OA with a 13,3,1 while clubmate Conor Cronin took up second OA ahead of Andrew O'Neill of Royal Cork Yacht Club.

At the other end of the five-class regatta fleet, the ILCA 6s saw local stars Rocco Wright and Luke Turvey find their mojo with persistent performances in the frame, but Rocco was glad to have the first discard kick in as he was disqualified in the day's first race, but then made amends with two clear wins. Luke meanwhile had a first and two seconds, so it needed a tie-break to put Rocco ahead, as both are on 7 points total. Overnight leader Tom Coulter of East Antrim went back to 12 points total, as he'd to make do with a discarded 8th, and a retained 3rd and 6th.

World youth sailing gold medalist Rocco Wright leads the ILCA 6 division in his home waters at Howth Photo: World Sailing

It looks as though we're going to have to get used to spelling Krzysztof Ciborowski's name properly, as the young Royal St George YC helm ended the day on tops in the ILCA 4s after logging a 4th and 1st to put him ahead of Royal Cork's Oisin Pierse in another tie break, as both are on a total of 5, with another gong for Royal St George with Seth Walker third OA on a 5th and 2nd in a class of 34 boats.

The Toppers put out a fleet of 40 to see Tom Driscoll of Ballyholme become a clear overnight leader with two firsts to the 6th and 2nd of Cormac Byrne (SSC & BYC), with Lucy Moynan of Royal Cork keeping it cross country on third from a 4th and 5th.

TWO HANDERS

Ben O'Shaughnessy of Crosshaven's Royal Cork YC and Ethan Spain of the National YC continued on form in the 29ers with a 2,1,2. When you're discarding a second, the smart money bets you're overall leaders, and so they are, yet it's only on a tie-break against the Van Steenberges (Clementine & Nathan) from Dun Laoghaire, while Lucia Cullen (Royal St George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork) are third on 11 to the leaders' 6.

International 29er performers Lucia Cullen (Royal St George) and Alana Twomey (Royal Cork) are lying third in Howth at the Youth Sailing Nationals 

The 420s saw Jack McDowell of Malahide and Henry Thompson of Wicklow have a great day on the water - with third and two firsts; they shot into the overall lead one point overall ahead of Malahide's Kate Campion and Amelie Soffe, while the cross-country mix of Max Sweetman of WHSC (Dunmore East) and Roisin Mitchell Ward of Galway Bay stayed in the frame on third overall.

When seen in the context of the week's earlier weather, it wasn't a bad day at all, but the promises of significantly warmer conditions have generally held back to Saturday (Day 3) when we hope to see a more steady southerly keeping this stylish and entertaining regatta on track.

Storm Antoni has been making quite a lot of noise and bother all over Ireland in recent days, but now he has moved east just in time for the Investwise Youth Sailing Nationals 2023 to move in on Howth from the west, with a fleet of 168 boats in six classes keen to show that they're the youth stars of today and the adult stars of tomorrow in four days of increasingly intense competition concluding on Sunday.

Optimist, Topper, ILCA 4, ILCA 6, 420s and 29ers classes are competing.

Principal Race Officer David Lovegrove is looking at a scenario in which conditions promise to improve as the weekend moves in, and a forecasted rise in temperatures will be particularly welcome.

Further details here

Howth Yacht Club again hosted the annual Irish Universities Sailing Association Keelboat Student Nationals in the Club J80s in its traditional time slot of the last weekend in March.

The weather provided a bit of everything on Saturday, but we started off in a Westerly breeze of about 14kts, which was ideal.

Flight 1 sailed their series without any real incident, with some excellent racing resulting in Technical University Dublin (TUD)1 leading the way with the slenderest of margins of 1 point over University College Cork (UCC)1. MTU (Munster Technical University) were the third boat left, anxious to see if they would claim the spot in the final.

Flight 2 got off after a swift changeover and turnaround and started uneventfully; however, when approaching the windward mark at the end of the first downwind leg in Race 1, a squall blew in, leading to much excitement and, unfortunately, a badly ripped jib. This led to a long delay whilst the sail was taken ashore and repaired.

During this delay, the wind started fading rapidly, and Races 2 & 3 were sailed in lighter conditions with full sails; the reefs have been in up to that point. Unfortunately, it was not possible to sail races 4 & 5 that day as the wind had now died completely, so it was therefore decided that the flight would continue on Sunday morning.

The weekend brought a wide variety of weather, but late on Saturday the wind departed to force a prompt start on Sunday – despite the clocks going forward.

Sunday dawned, and despite losing an hour’s sleep due to the beginning of Summertime, we were all set to go on time for the 10AM gun. The wind was 15-16 knots in a very lumpy North Easterly, making life uncomfortable for all, and the Race Committee took the decision to leave the spinnakers in their bags and sail under white sails only.

This led to TUD2 winning the group, again by only one point from University College Dublin (UCD)1 who did very well as they had to count an OCS. Queens University Belfast (QUB) finished third and scored exactly the same points as MTU had in the first flight. This meant that the countback tie-breaker had to be employed, leaving MTU as the unlucky losers.

By the time we were ready to start the final series, the wind had dropped to about 12kts, so the spinnakers were back in. The racing was incredibly close, with the two top teams from Flight 1 renewing their recent rivalry. UCD1 were also determined to show their strengths, with these three teams sharing out the race wins between them.

Now an established Varsity sailing fixture in the last weekend of March, the Keelboat Champs in Howth’s J/80s can usually find a hint of Spring

In the final race, UCC1 led TUD1 by one point, with UCD1 a further two points back. At the bottom mark the first time around, TUD1 held the lead and the Micheal O’Suillebhain-captained UCC1’s woes were worsened when their spinnaker got snagged at the top of the mast, and they struggled to retrieve it - but retrieve it they did, without losing too much ground. They then showed us why they had gone into the final race ahead by sailing a brilliant second half of the race and coming out on top.

A fantastic weekend’s sailing was capped by some incredibly tight racing which was a real joy to watch.

Final scores:

• UCC1 18pts 1st
• TUD1 21pts 2nd
• UCD1 22pts 3rd

Finally, with a weekend like this, there are nearly as many volunteers as there are competitors. A huge thank you goes out to all the volunteers who helped to make this event the great success it always is.

Report by Scorie Walls

The Howth Yacht Club Spring Frostbite series was concluded on Sunday (March 5th) when the final day of the series achieved delivery of 100% of the planned races, with the host club giving deeper meaning to “generous hospitality” by allowing visitors to take the title in all but one of the four classes. Aisling Kelly (Rush SC), Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) and Ronan Wallace (Wexford HB&TC) took the overall victories in the ILCA 4, 6 and 7 Classes while Daragh Sheridan was the only Howth winner to take the overall prize in the PY Class with his RS Aero 7.

Although the westerly wind was a relatively modest 10 – 12kn, the air temperature was the main topic of conversation. The sunshine of recent weeks was intermittently repeated, but nature’s link to the thermometer appeared to have disconnected, and the chill gave another reminder of why the event has justified its ‘Frostbites’ title since it started back in the 1970s.

Let’s hear it for the Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club! Southeast star Ronan Wallace on his way to another overall win. Photo: Neil Murphy

Race Officer Jim Lambkin decided on Windward-Leeward courses for the two races, and despite the anxiety of some of the ILCA sailors to get racing a little before the start guns for both, only one general recall was needed with the individual recall signal sorting the rest.

With the wind oscillating through 20 degrees and a strong ebb tide running more strongly down one side of the course, the good strategists (and the fortunate) were able to capitalise on getting to the right place at the right time, but there was plenty of place-changing in both races. The strong tide setting the boats down on the starboard tack approach to the windward mark caused some a lot of grief, and judging the right amount to overstand what would normally have been the correct layline made a big difference to how long and how many extra tacks were needed to get around it.

Two further variants on the 14ft theme – Alan Blay in the vintage Geep hangs in ahead of Jeremy Beshoff in the B14. Photo: Neil Murphy

Tristan Nelson and Peter Freyne, who normally sail single-handed RS600s, brought out their International 14 to get some practice in for the upcoming Round the Island Race. It added considerably to the Sunday morning spectacle on the Sound, not only when the boat was vertical and travelling very fast, but also while it was transitioning to horizontal mode.

Given the complexity and performance of these thoroughbreds of the dinghy racing world, an occasional lie down is a fate to avoid. Having clocked up 12kn+ on Sunday in a breeze of around the same velocity, their boat speed should make them a favourite for line honours in the Round the Island this Saturday...but their opposition will be taking inspiration from the fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Malahide’s Daragh Peelo keeping cover on Paul Hassett Photo: Neil Murphy

Most of the ILCA 4 fleet were afloat early for a pre-race coaching session with Aoife Hopkins. The initial six boats enjoyed great racing, but Cillian Twomey (HYC) was a model of consistency and took the winning gun in both races. Glenda Gallagher (MYC) and Aisling Kelly took the other podium places in the first race, while Thea Daly (HYC) came out for the second race and added to the fun, finishing third behind Ciara McMahon (HYC) in second. Aisling Kelly’s consistency over the series brought her to first overall with Viktor Samoilovs (MYC) taking second.

In the ILCA 6s, Marco Sorgassi (RStGYC) added to his tally of race wins in the first race of the day, his 12th victory out of the eighteen races, and it secured his overall win for the series. In the second race, Fiachra Farrelly (HYC) sailed exceptionally well to grab the final race win of the event, while Marco had to be content with third. Darragh Peelo (MYC) rounded out the podium in both races with a third and then a second, which was enough to secure him second place overall.

The ILCA 7s had a lower turnout than usual for the last day with both Dan O’Connell (Cove SC) and Conor Murphy (HYC), two of the usual front runners, not racing. In Race 1, Oisin Hughes (RStGYC) sailed a great race to fend off second-placed Ronan Wallace, with Rory Lynch (Baltimore SC) taking third. Ronan was back in front in Race 2 with Rory as runner-up, while Dave Kirwan (MYC) added to his very consistent results over the series with a good third place.

Conor Twohig chases the Street boat in the GP14s while the ILCAs suss out the hydrography of the south end of Ireland’s Eye. Photo: Neil Murphy

Dave has the distinction of having won races in both the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Classes during the event, choosing the rig size that best suited him on each day to secure 11 ‘top 3’ finishes, including 4 wins, out of the 18 races completed. The top three finishers for the overall series in the ILCA 7s were Ronan Wallace, Dan O’Connell and Rory Lynch, with only two points separating Conor Murphy in fourth from fifth placed Oisin Hughes.

The PY Class completed their first Frostbite Series after 40+ years of the event being restricted to Lasers and then ILCAs. The 13 entries enjoyed close racing as the numbers built over the series and the results proved that the PY ratings are a fair reflection of how boats from the various Classes should perform.

Daragh Sheridan (HYC) opened a comfortable lead during the first part of the Series in his RS Aero, which allowed him enough of a cushion to secure first overall despite not racing on the last day. The wide range of boat types competing included two RS 600s, a B14, Fireball, three RS Aeros, an RS 800, the International 14 and five GP 14s.

Match racing practice within the GP 14s for the Street and Blay boats. Photo: Neil Murphy

The GP14s proved themselves well able to sail to their handicap, and once their crews became familiar with the intricacies of racing on Howth Sound, proved a match for the RS Aeros. Daragh’s tally of eleven race wins stood to him in the end, but the GP14s took first on corrected time in seven of the last nine races, albeit with Alan Blay (SDC) taking six of them and Denis Cully (Blessington SC) the seventh. Alan and Denis each took a win on the last day to confirm Alan as runner-up to Daragh Sheridan, while Conor Twohig (SDC), also in a GP14, took third overall to finish just ahead of Jeremy Beshoff’s B14.

The Round the Island Race will take place on Saturday next, March 11th, and all those not entered are reminded that entries close at midnight on Wednesday, March 8th. There is already a great entry of ILCAs and a wide variety of PY Class boats, so come and join the fun and work out your solution to the eternal quandary of this race – clockwise or anti-clockwise!!

Report by Neil Murphy

The penultimate morning's racing on Sunday, 26th February, for the Howth Yacht Club Spring Series 2023 finally experienced an onshore wind. Yet it was no Beast from the East, but more of an often sunny though sometimes brisk 12-15 knot easterly breeze that welcomed the contenders to the sailing area, where Harry Gallagher got two races cleanly away.

A triangular course followed by a windward-leeward, with separate starts for the ILCA and PY fleets. This week's racing gave the competitors their 4th and final discard, which has shaken up the leaderboards.

All the fleets have podium spots still to fight for, setting up what will be a hotly contested final series race on Sunday, March 5th. The winter season isn't quite over, though; the annual come-all-ye Round the Island Race takes place on Saturday, 11th March, which gives the ultimate bragging rights for the HYC winter sailing.

Out on his own...ILCA 7 National Champion Dan O'Connell of Cobh logged two wins on Sunday for the Howth leaderboard. Photo: Neil Murphy

The ILCA 7s saw Dan O'Connell demonstrating why he was crowned National Champion in Tralee Bay 6 months ago, closing the day with two wins from two. He led each race the whole way around, keeping Ronan Wallace at arms length, only allowing Ronan 2nd in each race. Conor Costello delivered his strongest day of the series, clinching a 4th and a 5th. Richard Tate swapped the 4th and 5th with Costello, while Zander took home 6th in each race. Dan's two wins aren't enough to unseat Ronan from the top spot in the series overall, while Conor Murphy fills in 3rd. Oisin Hughes and Rory Lynch will be fighting with Murphy for the final podium place, unfortunately, gear failure just before race 1 precluded Lynch from taking part.

Dave Kirwan of Malahide fighting off Marco Sorgassi of Dun Laoghaire.....Photo: Neil Murphy

......with a spot of gybing to sharpen the mix as they shape the final approach the mark. Photo: Neil Murphy

ILCA 6s saw the same finishing order of Dave Kirwan, Marco Sorgassi and Charlie Savage in both races. They showed remarkable speed to keep in the mix with the ILCA 7s around the course in both races. Marco holds an insurmountable lead in the series overall, regardless of what happens next week. The rest of the fleet will need the next 2 races to straighten out, with Kirwan, Darragh Peelo and Fiachra Farrelly fighting for the final two podium places, each are on 50 points.

"The Heavies" lead the Geeps. Fresh from collecting some silverare at the Puppeteer 22 dinner in HYC the night before, Alan Blay had the McNally might aboard in the morning to help display his GP14 expertise. Photo: Neil Murphy

The ILCA 4s had the strongest turnout of the day, with 9 sailors showing their skills that they've been learning from HYC's Aoife Hopkins in recent weeks. Charlie Keating took 1st in both races, while the rest of the top 6 saw plenty of changes between the two races. Glenda Gallagher and Aisling Kelly took a 2nd each, while Viktor Samoilovs and Ciara McMahon took home a 3rd each. Kelly leads the series overall with 31 points, followed closely by Samoilovs and Riaghan Boardman.

Personal testing of the product....Series Organiser Conor Murphy has been in every race sailed. Photo: Neil Murphy

The PY fleet had a range of classes making up the 8 boats on the water, and the results show an apparent preference that the different classes have for the different courses. The fast reaches of the triangle favour the RS Aeros, leading to Daragh Sheridan's win in
race 1, followed by the GP 14s of Alan Blay and Conor Twohig. Race 2's windward-leeward course favoured the GP14s, with their symmetrical kites giving them the boost they needed downwind to overcome Sheridan's Aero. Blay took first, followed by fellow GP14s
Conor Twohig and Peter Boyle. Mike Evans was joined by HYC's own ILCA ace Ewan McMahon for the day, but they couldn't break into the podium places in the handicapped fleet. Sheridan has a safe lead on the series heading into the final weekend of racing, while Blay has moved into 2nd overall, followed by Jeremy Beshoff's B14 in 3rd.

There's plenty to play for in the final races of the series next week, and the long-range forecasts are promising some great conditions. The Round the Island Race follows the series on Saturday, 11th March, and there are already entries from all over the country for all sorts of boats in addition to our usual classes, including whispers of Mermaids and International 14s coming to compete for the annual prize. Don't miss out; make sure to get your entries in.