"We'd some grand spinnaker work. And there was some very good windward racing too. The only trouble is, it was sometimes all happening on the same leg of the course…." Even in an area of clear winds such as you find in Howth's main racing space north of Irelands Eye, when the overall weather pattern is undergoing a weird contortion to convert from being a shallow low-pressure area into a not very enthusiastic ridge, the winds bewilder both themselves, and those who are trying to use them for a spot of racing.
Yet in the early stages of Saturday's opening joust of the six weekends Beshoff Motors Autumn League at Howth, there was quite a respectable mostly westerly breeze to keep things moving along for eight classes of both cruiser-racers and One Designs. Turnouts averaged around the dozen per division, the pace being set by the established One Designs with the Howth Seventeens mustering thirteen in their 123rd year, while the Puppeteer 22s continued as the ideal lockdown revivalists, with a crisp fleet of sixteen boats.
Paul McMahon's Puppeteer 22 Shiggi-Shiggi took first in the biggest class in the HYC Beshoff Motors Autumn League opening race. Photo: Brian James Maguire
Thus it was Paul McMahon in the restored Pupp 22 Shiggi-Shiggi who'd the satisfaction of seeing most boats behind him at the finish. But the Dublin tradition of keeping every OD sailor interested by having an additional active handicap division saw him put in his box back at 11th on HPH, while the Byrne team in Odyssey took over the lead.
It meant that any One Design skipper who managed both the scratch and handicap win in the tricky going was very much on top of his game, but the only one who managed it was Ian Malcolm with Aura in the Seventeens, a right and proper reward for someone who – with Nick Massey – has done so much over the years to keep this ancient class in a thriving condition.
Ian Malcolm & Nick Massey, "Fathers" of the Howth 17s. In Saturday's opening race of the Beshoff Motors Autumn League, Ian Malcolm managed the rare achievement of pulling off both the scratch and handicap wins. Photo: W M Nixon
In the august heights of Class 1, Nigel Biggs with the Classic Half Tonner Checkmate XVII continued his run of success from the ICRA Nats a week ago with a win, and then for five places it was a J Boats benefit with the J/97 Jeneral Lee second, the J/109 Outrajeous third, the J/80 Mojo fourth, the J/99 Snapshot 5th and the J/109 Indian sixth.
Details here
It ended as the sort of day when people are glad enough to be able to claim: "We got a result", but in truth many competitors' minds were far away in the waters of Newport, Rhode island, where the first Howth YC team to take part in the Rolex NYYC Invitational were having their initial practice race on Saturday, and they sent back this snippet of onboard vid which put everyone in a cautiously good mood.
