So where are they? The hurricanes, we mean. Or more accurately, the “decaying tropical storms” which occasionally make their ominous and often unpredictable way towards Ireland as the Summer progresses and morphs into Autumn. For as it happens, back in May the more pessimistic among us were led to believe we could expect quite a raft of them this summer.

Certainly it’s some time now since news-room reports appeared suggesting that the “acknowledged international agencies” were agreed that all the signs indicated that the approaching summer of 2022 had the makings of a particularly busy year for hurricanes in the western sub-tropical Atlantic, with some of the usual subsequent fall-out adversely affecting Europe’s weather, of which Ireland is the frontier outpost.

But thus far, on the cusp of the final full week of August, we’ve had a decidedly odd summer, with the European weather machine grinding itself into sufficient high pressure action to keep the temperate Atlantic westerlies at bay. While most of us found the virtually windless heatwave weather from North Africa far too much of a good thing – if it was a good thing at any stage – we dreamt of those typical classic Irish days of perfect-sailing temperate westerlies, which in truth are so rare that we remember each one individually.

A decent breeze with some west in it, a generous portion of sunshine, and you’ve Irish sailing perfection – Squibs in action at Kinsale. Photo: Robert Bateman

Thus our header photo is there because it is the beau ideal of our sailing weather. When we try to sell Ireland as a sailing venue of the best international standard – indeed, as a sailing venue of better than international standard - then that scene aboard the race-winning J/99 Snapshot is exactly the kind of image that speaks volumes in support of our case.

PERFECTION IS RARE

Yet such perfect days in 2022 have been conspicuous by their rarity. Tedious flat calms have never been far away. And when we do get a breeze, the wind likely as not comes from the nor’east, which is good for neither man nor beast. Recently, it has been sending in lumpy grey seas which meant that at this week’s GP 14 Worlds at Skerries, photographer Bob Givens found himself recording images of disembodied heads and sails in which we’ve to assume that people and boats are attached.

Disembodied experience…..GP14s racing in this week’s Worlds at Skerries Photo: Bob Givens

But whatever has caused it, it certainly hasn’t been any follow-on effect from the very few minor hurricanes which have so far reached the Caribbean this year. For it seems that instead of curving north and then northeast, they simply continued heading on west and have gone clean across Central America to make nuisances of themselves in the Pacific.

Hurricane Katrina on August 23rd 2005, through the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico, and headed for New Orleans. As Katrina made landfall west of Florida, the chances of a later effect on Irish weather were greatly reduced.

However, it would be a big mistake to start to feel complacent. The old Caribbean hands are always ready to give out their bit of hurricane-period passage-making warning doggerel, which goes:

July: Stand By;
August: Only If You Must;
September: Remember;
October: All Over.

It used to be preceded by “June: Too Soon”, but there has been a marked tendency in recent years for the season to start earlier, which means that June is no longer too soon to expect tropical storms. Either way, there’s still quite a bit of potential poke left in 2022’s slow-to-start Caribbean hurricane programme, which affects us directly in Ireland in 2022 as the latter part of our season has us hosting an unprecedented number of international and world championships, all of which – when the weather is volatile - place an extra burden on that mysterious group, the International Race Officers.

They are mysterious simply because they are not as other people. If they are worried by the fact that their decisions on any particular day will directly affect the quality of the sport of sometimes hundreds of people, then somehow they don’t show it, whereas ordinary mortals would worry themselves into dithering incompetence.

Broad shoulders. Bill O’Hara of Ballyholme – currently running the GP14 Worlds at Skerries – has an impressive CV which includes being the Main Man in running the Volvo Ocean Race

But the top Race Officers, they have extremely broad shoulders. And it’s quite something to see the effect their arrival has at the venue for some major event. There, the Organising Committee will have been working at an accelerating pace for months or even years, and nerves are becoming frayed. There will have been increasing contact with the Race Officer. But then he or she arrives in person, on time and cool as a cucumber, and the atmosphere changes or the better. The Main Man or the Top Woman is here. The show will go on.

IRELAND’S MANY RACE OFFICERS

It may well be something to do with the fact that, from 1870 onwards, Irish sailing played a disproportionately important role is the development and codification of the International Races of Yacht Racing. But the reality is that we have an elite group of star Irish race officers who can put on a plethora of majors at much the same time without drawing on talent from outside the island. For although the demanding final weekend of the Shannon One Design Centenary at Lough Ree did bring in the services of Suffolk-based Owen Delany for a weekend of difficult decisions, he is of course of Shannon and Dublin Bay origins.

Thus in a season which has already seen Scorie Walls put in an exemplary performance in her administration of the Mermaid Championship at Foynes while David Lovegrove had to make some difficult but ultimately right decisions in Wave Regatta at Howth, we’re now into a new phase which sees Con Murphy of Dun Laoghaire in charge of the Fireball Worlds on Lough Derg, while back on the east coast, Derek Bothwell will soon be facing up to the J/24 Europeans at Howth after a masterful management of the Squib Easterns there.

Across the bay in Dun Laoghaire, they’ll be looking for the calming presence of David Lovegrove for the SB20 Worlds at the RIYC in September, while the highly-experienced Harry Gallagher of Sutton and Neil Murphy of Howth are no strangers to the hot seat on the Dublin Bay SC Committee Boats.

Con Murphy – currently running the Fireball Worlds on Lough Derg, earlier in the year he called the shots at Bangor Town Regatta on Belfast Lough. Meanwhile, his sailing experience includes holding the Round Ireland Open Sailing Record from 1993 to 2016.

All the top racing administrators are keen sailors themselves in addition to their multi-tasking abilities as Race Officers. In fact so keen are they in their general enthusiasm to help our sport in a voluntary capacity that they’ll use their unique locations to take the occasional well-judged photograph. Having opened with a photo of the Fastnet Rock being raced round on a glorious day, we’ll close with one taken this week by Con Murphy on Lough Derg as Chris Bateman of Cork Harbour and Thomas Chaix of Tralee Bay win the third race in the preliminaries of the Fireball Worlds, an image which perfectly captures the vision of the absurdly beautiful Lough Derg at its sailing best.

Lough Derg at its sailing best, with Fireball winners Chris Bateman and Thomas Chaix getting into their stride. Photo: Con Murphy

Kinsale Yacht Club in West Cork is well pleased with its Under 25 development programme following the team's success at the J24 National Championships raced in Foynes YC, Co.Limerick.

Named ‘Kinsailor’ when it was launched last year, the KYC yacht won the Under 25 section, took the silver prize for second overall and finished eighth of the 20 boats racing that included top sailors in the Class.

The Kinsale crew were: Mikey Carroll, Leslie Collins, Rachel Akerlind, Micheál Ó Suilleabháin, and Jack O’Sullivan.

“A great result,” said former Commodore Dave Sullivan, the Under 25 Team Mentor.

“Little did I think when we started out last October that we would have our boat so successful in the U25 section at the National Championships. She is a super boat with a super team of sailors. It took a lot of hard work and commitment to get to this stage and we are thankful to KYC members for their overwhelming support and continued generosity.”

This membership backing enabled the setting-up of the programme and the purchase of the boat.

“We still have the Eastern Championships in late August and Europeans in Howth in September to look forward to,” says Dave Sullivan.

Last weekend, the J24 National Championships took place at Foynes Yacht Club on the Shannon Estuary. 18 boats took part in the event drawn from all over the country.

Thursday evening was very busy with boats being launched and some final adjustments being made. Registration and Weigh-in also took place that evening, with a few having to run a marathon and have saunas to make the final cut, but perseverance prevailed, and everybody was at their target weight of 400 kgs in time for the first race on Friday morning!!

Foynes Yacht Club's U25 J24 team were very busy making and selling sandwiches every morning before racing, with the proceeds going towards the upkeep of their J24 Jasper.

Friday was an extremely tricky day on the water for the J24s

At the outset, Commodore John Paul Buckley welcomed everyone to Foynes Yacht Club and wished fair and safe sailing to all competitors and hoped that it would be an enjoyable event both on and off the water. Mark Usher, President of the J24 Association, said a few words on behalf of the J24 Association, and Derek Bothwell, Race Officer, gave the briefing.

Race Officer Derek Bothwell from Howth

Eight races were held over the weekend, three races on Friday, four races on Saturday and one on Sunday. Friday was an extremely tricky day on the water. The wind was light and shifty, making it difficult for OOD Derek Bothwell and his Mark Layers to set courses. However, they did prevail and managed to run three races. Saturday and Sunday brought a much steadier breeze.

Sam Byrne and the Howth Headcase crew with the J/24 National Championship Trophy at Foynes Yacht Club

Headcase (Howth Yacht Club) were the overall winners of the J24 National Championships 2022.

It has been a great year for Headcase so far this year, winning the UK J24 Nationals and the Kiel Regatta in Germany. In their prizegiving speech, Sam Byrne stated that they loved coming to Foynes Yacht Club, and that the standard of racing was one of the best. He complimented the Race Management, the onshore support, and the great hospitality.

Taking second place were the Kerry boys, Janx Spirit from Tralee Bay Sailing Club, and third place went to El Rico, Lough Erne Yacht Club, all the way from Enniskillen.

Silver fleet winners Kinsalor (Kinsale Yacht Club) won the U25 category

Kinsalor (Kinsale Yacht Club) won the U25 category and took first in the Silver Fleet. Foynes Yacht Club's U25 Jasper came second in the U25 category.

J24 2022 Irish Championships results are below

Irish J/24s have won seven out of the eight races in the weekend's UK Nationals at Plymouth, with the all-Ireland-crewed Headcase taking six bullets and the overall title to add to her recent success in topping
the class in Kiel in Germany.

Things are looking good for the J/24s in Ireland facing into the big championship next month in Howth, as Janx Spirit from Tralee Bay SC took one of the other wins to place fourth overall.

Meanwhile, the Headcase crew are keeping up the crazy pace - they're on the overnight cross-Channel ferry, and hope to be on the start line at 10.55 hrs in Volvo Cork Week this (Monday) morning.

Moving targets. The successful crew of Headcase in Plymouth on Sunday afternoon were (left to right) Sam O'Byrne (Howth YC), Marcus Ryan (Mayo SC), Ryan Glynn (Ballyholme YC), Cillian Dickson (Lough Ree YC & HYC) and Louis Mulloy (MSC). Fresh from success at Kiel Week, they've moved on again, headed towards Volvo Cork Week for Monday morning via the overnight ferry

Whatever excitements the Irish J/24 class may have been providing in home waters this past weekend, the current all-Ireland Champions (in every sense) with the not-inappropriately-named Headcase have succeeded brilliantly in keeping their heads above water and their noses in front in the top-of-the-line Kiel Week in Germany.

They've taken in Kiel as part of their countdown to the J/24 Europeans in Howth in August, with the UK Nationals very much in sight. But for now, this multi-talented crew (drawn from every Irish Province except Munster) had a scorecard to dream of in Kiel, with six bullets in nine races.

12 teams travelled from throughout Ireland to compete in the 2022 J24 Northern Championships hosted by Lough Erne Yacht Club over the weekend of 18th and 19th June.

Four local boats including Barry Humphreys on TJ, Tim Rippey on Jigalo, Luke Mcbride on Crazy horse and JP McCaldin on Il Riccio took part.

Racing on Lower Lough Erne from the Lough Erne Yacht club the teams completed all 6 races over the weekend in strong winds on the broad lough. Racing was overseen by national race office Derek Bothwell and a team of volunteers on and off the water.

Race one on Saturday afternoon started in 24 knots of wind and was a very close contest with the lead changing several times the race eventually going to local team Il Riccio led by JP McCaldin, second was the new owner of Hard on Port from Bray sailing club Dave Bailley, with Diarmaid Mullen, Sligo Yacht Club, in third position with his new boat to the class Smugairle Róin and close battles down the fleet for the other places.

Race two went to Class president Mark Usher from Greystones sailing club sailing Jumpin’ Jive again with second place going to Hard on port and Il Riccio in third.

Race three saw Hard on Port take their first race win with Jumpin’ Jive in second position and Colm O’ Flaherty and team in their new boat Jedi from Sligo Yacht club coming third.

With the wind increasing again, Hard on Port dominated race four to take the win from Il Riccio with Smugairle Róin in third. Very tired, battered, and bruised sailors retired to the clubhouse in Killadeas for an evening of entertainment and to swap tails of the days epic racing in strong winds and sea-like waves. The seen was set on Sunday for an exciting two-race showdown between Hard on Port, Il Riccio and Jumpin Jive all separated by just 3 points any one of them could still take the event.

Sunday dawned calmer but by the time the teams arrived in the sailing area winds were again as strong as the previous days and small jibs were the order of the day to keep the boats under control.

Race 5 was again a battle between Hard on Port and Il Riccio. Il Riccio needed to beat Hard on Port to keep their event hopes alive and were leading at mark 1 but great speed by Hard on Port saw them take the lead win the race and their tight controlling position over Il Riccio allowed Jumpin Jive through to take 2nd from Il Riccio. This result meant Hard on Port took their first event win under Dave Bailey with a race to spare and left the rest to battle it out for the final race.

The final race was dominated by Il Riccio who stuck with the smaller jib, Smugairle Róin also stuck with their jib and came 2nd with Jumpin Jive third. This result meant Il Riccio finished 2nd overall with Jumpin Jive in 3rd. 1st silver fleet and under 25 team went to Howth under 25 team on Killcullen lead by Oisin O’ Connor, definitely a team to watch for the future.

Back to the clubhouse to de-rig and ready for the long drive home for all the travelling teams.

The J24 Northern Champion for 2022, Dave Bailey who said “delighted to get the win in very challenging conditions over the weekend. A great start to the season and looking forward to the events ahead throughout Ireland. The event was run superbly from start to finish as always by LEYC. More great memories to add to our sailing up North”.

At the prizegiving, event organiser June Clarke thanked event sponsors and wished everyone a safe journey. The class looks forward to its National championships in Foynes Yacht Club in July.

The J/24 One Design 'Legal Alien' racing keelboat is for sale and priced at €14,000

The 1987 Rogers hull is in excellent condition and race-ready, according to seller Jill Sommerville. 

A marine surveyor report has been completed on the keelboat and the boat has current ECHO & ICR certs. Her Sail number IRL 4064 was recently approved for Ireland.

Her inventory includes a road trailer and trailer box with 1 spare wheel, and straps. 

Legal Alien has a large sail wardrobe and Veloctitek instruments.

Read the full advert on Afloat boats for sale with contact details here

Kinsale Yacht Club has launched its Under 25 Team’s J24 and named it ‘Kinsailor.’

The boat is the last J24 to have been built by Jeremy Rogers, who also built Contessas, on the Isle of Wight.

“At 31 years old she is in fine condition. When she emerged from the mould it went to Slovenia. She will give our Under 25 Team great racing here in the club and at events in other clubs,” said Dave O’Sullivan, the former club Commodore, who led the project to acquire the boat.

Dave O’Sullivan, (pictured centre) the former club Commodore, who led the project to acquire the U25 boat Photo: Bob Bateman

Members of the Under 25 team are looking forward to club racing next month and have a list of events planned for the season.

Tom MacSweeney (left) poses the questions to Kinsale Yacht Club U25 sailors at the launch of the new club J/24. Listen to the podcast below Photo: Bob Bateman

I was at the launch and naming ceremony at the club where I spoke to Under 25 Team members for this week’s Podcast, which you can hear here.

The Shannon Estuary's RWYCI October Series concluded this weekend on the 30th of October. The series had scheduled races over the first four Sundays and the final Saturday in October.

Racing was cancelled due to bad weather on the first weekend, the series got underway on week two in sunshine and light north-westerly winds of 6-10 knots, under the excellent race management of Aoife Lyons and David Vinnell.

The on-the-water team got in three races in each class with windward-leeward courses for the spinnaker fleet and triangular courses for the white sails fleet.

In the spinnaker fleet, it was Tadhg O'Loingsigh and crew on their J24, Janx Spirit topping the spinnaker fleet in both ECHO and IRC. In white sails the very impressive traditional sailing craft, Sally O'Keeffe, built by Steve Morris and operated by Seol Sionna, won race one, and race three was won by Pat O'Shea's Malo 36, Amergin, however, Elaine O'Mahoney & Simon McGibney's newly acquired First 265 lead the class after week one with a 2nd – 1st – 2nd.

Series organiser Simon McGibney (left) with Diarmuid O'Donovan's J/24 Yachtzee crew, the IRC winners of the Royal Western Yacht Club October Series 

On the third Sunday of racing, OOD's Aoife Lyons and David Vinnell, ran two races in beautiful sunshine with a southerly 10-12 knots. In the spinnaker fleet Janx Spirit continued their great form with a further two wins in IRC while Rob Allen's Corby 25 lead the spinnaker fleet in ECHO. In white sails, Adrian O'Connell on his modified Seawolf 26 claimed two wins to put pressure on the leaders.

With another weekend cancelled due to weather, the final weekend of racing took place on the last Saturday of the month, in this enjoyable series. There was plenty of wind from the south-west and luckily the rain held off during the mid-afternoons racing. White sails completed their full schedule of races with another two races, both won by Fintan Keating's Halberg Rassy, Passade, who enjoyed the heavier winds. The spinnaker fleet added three more races to their series with two wins for the Corby 25, Smile and a race win for Ray McGibney's J24, Lady J in ECHO and two wins for Diarmuid O'Donovan's J/24 Yachtzee, with Smile taking the final race win in IRC.

At the overall prize-giving event on Saturday evening event organiser, Simon McGibney thanked all the volunteers especially the OOD's David and Aoife for superb racecourses and efficient running of races each week. 

Overall results:

• Spinnaker IRC: 1st Yachtzee, 2nd Janx Spirit, 3rd Smile
• Spinnaker ECHO: 1st Smile, 2nd Yachtzee, 3rd Janx Spirit
• White Sails: 1st Lucita, 2nd Sally O'Keeffe, 3rd Amergin

Full results here

While several national and international classes are notably successful in having a truly all-Ireland spread, only in the J/24s would you somehow end up with ten different clubs from every part of the country coming up in lights in the final setting of the leaderboard.

But then Rod Johnstone's 45-year-old first pitch at yacht design has acquired something of a cult status among its devotees. And though there have been more than a few hyper-successful J Boat designs since (and then some), for the true aficionados, there's only one, and that's the 24.

Thus when impecunious young folk decide they've simply got to have a boat of their own, a class of such longevity offers a very wide selection of good-value doer-uppers. And once they get the boat restored and back in racing trim, they'll find the class is a friendly community with any amount of senior – and some very senior – lifelong enthusiasts who are generous with support and helpful advice.

Clean start. Three boats – 5219 (Il Ricco), 4212 (Scandal) and 4794 (Hard on Port) – are getting the best of it. At the end of the day, their overall placings were 5219: 4th overall, 4212: 12th oa, and 4794: 3rd overall. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

Father of the Class – longtime enthusiast Flor O'Driscoll (centre) originally of Cobh but now very much of Bray, with his loyal crew in the process of receiving the prize for third overall.

Thus although the class got together in strength for the recent J/24 Nationals in Sligo, with the prize this year being the Bicentenary-celebrating Ladies' Cup of Sligo Yacht Club, it was a distinctly storm-curtailed event. So with the pandemic restrictions being further eased, all the signs were there'd be a good turnout for this past weekend's WaterWipes J/24 Eastern Championship at Howth, and the signs were right on target.

Nevertheless, despite some warmly-welcomed fresh crews and boats entering the 18-fleet equation, up at the sharpest end of the fleet it was a case of As You Were with the clear overall winner being Headcase, the National Champion at Sligo, syndicate-owned and raced with Cillian Dickson on the helm, and sailing under the colours of Howth YC, Lough Ree YC, Mayo SC, and Ballyholme YC in a remarkable combination from which Munster is the only missing province.

Anyone who complains that the mainsail number and the spinnaker number on Crazy Horse (Luke McBride, Lough Swilly YC) don't match, and that the blue spinnaker on Scandal (Isobel Cahill, Howth YC) doesn't seem to gave a number at all, is missing the point of the contemporary J/24 Class in Ireland. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

The other domineer was Colm O'Flaherty of Sligo with Jana, who together with Headcase had put down a marker in the first race with the old one-two, while third went to Mark Usher of Greystones. But Race 2 saw a hugely popular win for the Father of the Class, Flor O'Driscoll of Bray, and this kept things a bit more open for the six-race series.

Line up the usual suspects….HYC Commodore Paddy Judge (centre) with the victorious Headcases

Nevertheless, the underlying trend was irreversible, the final total having Headcase on 6pts, Jana on 13, and Flor O'Driscoll's Hard on Port on 16, just one point clear of Lough Erne's J P McCaldin on 17 in Il Ricco. A detailed analysis of the complete scorecard speaks volumes for the key role this timeless little boat plays at clubs throughout the country. And yes, it was noticed that between the J/24s and the 420s, Lough Ree YC was having an extremely successful weekend at Howth.

Results here

Sam O'Byrne, Quarter Master of the championship-winning Headcase Society, explaining how you can successfully campaign a J/24 with a crew drawn from three of Ireland's four provinces