Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: Conor Totterdell

Conor Totterdell, hailing from Dun Laoghaire Harbour, recently participated in the 2023 Sydney-Hobart Race, finishing in seventh place in IRC Division 1 on the TP52 named Frantic before moving on to Sydney Harbour cruiser fleet success.

After returning to the water in the new year, he has won several significant cruiser class events in Sydney. In particular, he won the NSW ORC State Championships 2024, DIV 2, on 'Let's Get it on' (Corby 36) and also claimed victory in the Sydney Harbour Regatta 2024, DIV 2, on the same boat.

The National Yacht Club sailor has set his sights on some notable regattas in Sydney, including 'Sail Port Stephen's' at the end of April and the Australian National Championships on April 5-7.

Totterdell's Sydney trip will culminate in the TP52, Frantic, taking on the epic 1,064nm race from Sydney to Nouméa, New Caledonia, beginning on May 25th.

Published in National YC
Tagged under

The Royal Cork’s Volvo Ocean Race winner Justin Slattery is among the Irish interest involved in this year’s Chicago Yacht Cub Race to Mackinac, which got under way yesterday (Friday 12 July).

Afloat.ie’s Sailor of the Month for June 2015 — for this key role in Abi Dhabi Ocean Racing’s win in that year’s VOR — is racing Whitehawk, a classic 105ft super yacht, in the world’s oldest annual freshwater distance race, now in its 111th running.

More than 2,000 sailors across 270 boats are racing the 289 nautical miles offshore from Chicago, north across the length of Lake Michigan, to where it meets Lake Huron at Mackinac Island.

Another Irish entrant is National Yacht Club sailor Conor Totterdell, who is racing the J109 Smee Again, part-owned by Irishman David Neenan.

The boat, which sets off with the more nimble boats in the race later today (Saturday 13 July), is in contention for ORR winners as well as the J109 one-design trophy, won by Neenan and his fellow owners’ previous boat, Impluse (J111).

Later this month, Totterdell will join Slattery on board Whitehawk for the Bayview Mackinac Boat Race from Port Huron (north of Detroit) to Mackinac.

Whitehawk, a custom-built King 104’ from 1978, is racing in the cruising division of ‘The Mac’ that set off yesterday, and as of 12.30pm IST was due east of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. (Follow along with the online race tracker HERE.)

Whitehawk 1

Whitehawk 2

It was recently bought by Peter Thornton who owned Il Mostro (Puma V70), on which Justin Slattery and Willie Lynch were regular crew.

Despite the distance from this island, The Mac has longstanding Irish connections. In 2002, the late Roy Disney, who was certainly no stranger to these shores, set the race’s monohull record of 23 hours and 30 minutes in his Maxi Z68, Pyewacket.

Published in Offshore

Howth Yacht Club information

Howth Yacht Club is the largest members sailing club in Ireland, with over 1,700 members. The club welcomes inquiries about membership - see top of this page for contact details.

Howth Yacht Club (HYC) is 125 years old. It operates from its award-winning building overlooking Howth Harbour that houses office, bar, dining, and changing facilities. Apart from the Clubhouse, HYC has a 250-berth marina, two cranes and a boat storage area. In addition. its moorings in the harbour are serviced by launch.

The Club employs up to 31 staff during the summer and is the largest employer in Howth village and has a turnover of €2.2m.

HYC normally provides an annual programme of club racing on a year-round basis as well as hosting a full calendar of International, National and Regional competitive events. It operates a fleet of two large committee boats, 9 RIBs, 5 J80 Sportboats, a J24 and a variety of sailing dinghies that are available for members and training. The Club is also growing its commercial activities afloat using its QUEST sail and power boat training operation while ashore it hosts a wide range of functions each year, including conferences, weddings, parties and the like.

Howth Yacht Club originated as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. In 1968 Howth Sailing Club combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club. The new clubhouse was opened in 1987 with further extensions carried out and more planned for the future including dredging and expanded marina facilities.

HYC caters for sailors of all ages and run sailing courses throughout the year as part of being an Irish Sailing accredited training facility with its own sailing school.

The club has a fully serviced marina with berthing for 250 yachts and HYC is delighted to be able to welcome visitors to this famous and scenic area of Dublin.

New applications for membership are always welcome

Howth Yacht Club FAQs

Howth Yacht Club is one of the most storied in Ireland — celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2020 — and has an active club sailing and racing scene to rival those of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs on the other side of Dublin Bay.

Howth Yacht Club is based at the harbour of Howth, a suburban coastal village in north Co Dublin on the northern side of the Howth Head peninsula. The village is around 13km east-north-east of Dublin city centre and has a population of some 8,200.

Howth Yacht Club was founded as Howth Sailing Club in 1895. Howth Sailing Club later combined with Howth Motor Yacht Club, which had operated from the village’s West Pier since 1935, to form Howth Yacht Club.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

As of November 2020, the Commodore of the Royal St George Yacht Club is Ian Byrne, with Paddy Judge as Vice-Commodore (Clubhouse and Administration). The club has two Rear-Commodores, Neil Murphy for Sailing and Sara Lacy for Junior Sailing, Training & Development.

Howth Yacht Club says it has one of the largest sailing memberships in Ireland and the UK; an exact number could not be confirmed as of November 2020.

Howth Yacht Club’s burgee is a vertical-banded pennant of red, white and red with a red anchor at its centre. The club’s ensign has a blue-grey field with the Irish tricolour in its top left corner and red anchor towards the bottom right corner.

The club organises and runs sailing events and courses for members and visitors all throughout the year and has very active keelboat and dinghy racing fleets. In addition, Howth Yacht Club prides itself as being a world-class international sailing event venue and hosts many National, European and World Championships as part of its busy annual sailing schedule.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has an active junior section.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club hosts sailing and powerboat training for adults, juniors and corporate sailing under the Quest Howth brand.

Among its active keelboat and dinghy fleets, Howth Yacht Club is famous for being the home of the world’s oldest one-design racing keelboat class, the Howth Seventeen Footer. This still-thriving class of boat was designed by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 to be sailed in the local waters off Howth. The original five ‘gaff-rigged topsail’ boats that came to the harbour in the spring of 1898 are still raced hard from April until November every year along with the other 13 historical boats of this class.

Yes, Howth Yacht Club has a fleet of five J80 keelboats for charter by members for training, racing, organised events and day sailing.

The current modern clubhouse was the product of a design competition that was run in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in 1983. The winning design by architects Vincent Fitzgerald and Reg Chandler was built and completed in March 1987. Further extensions have since been made to the building, grounds and its own secure 250-berth marina.

Yes, the Howth Yacht Club clubhouse offers a full bar and lounge, snug bar and coffee bar as well as a 180-seat dining room. Currently, the bar is closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Catering remains available on weekends, take-home and delivery menus for Saturday night tapas and Sunday lunch.

The Howth Yacht Club office is open weekdays from 9am to 5pm. Contact the club for current restaurant opening hours at [email protected] or phone 01 832 0606.

Yes — when hosting sailing events, club racing, coaching and sailing courses, entertaining guests and running evening entertainment, tuition and talks, the club caters for all sorts of corporate, family and social occasions with a wide range of meeting, event and function rooms. For enquiries contact [email protected] or phone 01 832 2141.

Howth Yacht Club has various categories of membership, each affording the opportunity to avail of all the facilities at one of Ireland’s finest sailing clubs.

No — members can join active crews taking part in club keelboat and open sailing events, not to mention Pay & Sail J80 racing, charter sailing and more.

Fees range from €190 to €885 for ordinary members.
Memberships are renewed annually.

©Afloat 2020