Mucky Duck splashes around Howth to take Squib title.
Howth Yacht Club welcomed 31 boats to the Provident Squib Irish Championships over the weekend of 26th – 28th August. Three boats from GBR joined the already high quality home fleet.
Friday’s weather didn’t play ball and, after two abandoned races, Principal Race Officer Scorie Walls sent the group home for early tea and cake (A.K.A beer and chicken wings).
An unusual orange orb appeared over Howth on Saturday. It was christened “Sun” by Fergus O’Kelly who quickly donned his blackout shades, beekeeper hat and Winter sailing gear. Coming with the rays of heat was enough breeze for send people on their way around a short windward-leeward tracks. Home boat “Kerfuffle” (Dalton and Merry) took the victory in Race 1, while fellow HYC veterans Stanley and O’Kelly snaffled Race 2 in “Tears of Dürt”.
Not unfamiliar with winning, RNIYC’s Paterson and Nolan in “Quickstep 3” took Race 3. We now had the minimum number of races to constitute a championship. Phew! With a light forecast for Sunday, Scorie told the fleet to scoff down their lunches quickly and to strap in. We were going for five races today.
“Crackers” (Murphy Family) lead all the way around to take Race 4 and fellow Kinsalers Travers and O’Riordan in “Atomic” bagged Race 5.
“Mucky Duck” lead at the end of Saturday with a worst result of 5th!
As the PRO predicted, Sunday morning was glassy….ideal conditions for the fleet to remain ashore and caffeine load. Some wind appeared and the fleet was spat out of the harbour on a flood tide to battle it out for the final two races. Howth (And RNIYC) boat “Aficionado” manned by Cagney and Driscoll made winning Race 6 look easy. Fittingly, “Mucky Duck” showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet by taking the final race, although the championship was already theirs a while back!
Irish Champions: “Mucky Duck” Kinsale Yacht Club - Micheal O'Suilleabháin & Michael O’Sullivan
The Silver Fleet award went to “Slipstream” Killyleagh Yacht Club - Robert Brugal-Marshall and Alex Minginovic.
At the prizegiving, Rear Commodore and sponsor Gary Cullen thanked the visitors for again putting their faith in HYC to run the Class’s premier event, nothing that the Irish Championship now overtook the (UK) Nationals in terms of attendance.
Regatta Chair (And Honorary Sailing Secretary) Emmet Dalton gave special praise to those members who came forward to offer their boat as accommodation for visitors. That HYC spirit put the icing on the cake for the event and ensured money was wisely spent elsewhere.
PRO Scorie and her team were applauded for excellent race management (Careful, Scorie, you could become the go-to PRO for the fleet!)
Compliments for slick equipment inspection go to Fergus O'Kelly, Phil Merry and Ryan Cairns. The Protest Committee of NJs Ed Alcock and Derek Moyan and the Registration Team of Aideen O'Kelly and Orla Sweeney also deserve our thanks.
Thanks to Jonathan Wormald and Linda Darbey for the photos
Report by Emmet Dalton