Two of the HYC Squib fleet travelled to the Royal North of Ireland YC to compete in the Northern Ireland Squib championships over the weekend of 24th of May. Ronan McDonnell in his new boat "Kaízen" teamed up with local sailor Lyndsey Nolan and Fergus O’Kelly and Rob Stanley made the trip up the M1 with "Dürt". It is fair to say one of these boats represents Howth well in the presentation stakes. Other Howth interest included Dave Cagney and John Driscoll "getting the band back together".

Squibs travelled from all over Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. They were treated to a full programme of windward/leeward racing with three races on Saturday and two on Sunday. The wind held for the weekend but as it was off the land, it was a weekend of large shifts and patchy pressure. This led to many "if only that shift held" conversations in the bar afterwards and a lot of choice language at the time!

As always, the cream rises to the top and congratulations to Ian Travers and Keith O’Riordan (Kinsale YC) on an extremely well sailed series. As this was their first outing in a newly procured boat, it is all the more impressive. It looked like they will be a hard pairing to beat over the course of this years Squib events.

Dick Batt with Jordi Withers and Ross Kearney with Michael Wright made up the other podium positions. RNIYC put on a great après sail programme, with a championship dinner on the Saturday night. Most of the travelling party made it to the dinner with one notable exception who fell into bad company with good rum.

Overall, the fleet was very competitive with 8 current and former Squib National Champions on the start line over the weekend. The Squib continues to offer superb "bang for your buck" a is a very welcoming class to all comers.

Link to full results.