Club season 26 got under way in the first week of May after the holiday weekend had provided a pre-season boat-prep opportunity to those waiting for 'just the right day'.

Cruiser racing has been reconfigured this year with the former Classes 1, 2 and 3 now rearranged to divide all those racing with spinnakers into Divisions A and B and provide better racing for all. The White Sail boats now compete as Division C. The calendar has also been arranged to ensure that there is sufficient water in the harbour to leave and return every time there is racing so please keep an eye on the schedule - the traditional Tuesday and Wednesday nights are being departed from where necessary - see the ammendments to schedule here.

The season has seen some new owners and additional boats unveiled. A particular welcome goes to Gerry Comerford who has launched Anna, his home-build project that is a spectacular example of what skill, perseverance and a love for the Howth 17 Class can deliver. In the Cruiser Divisions, the Mullaney / Martin combo has launched Insider Again as the J92 replacement for the all conquering Sigma 33, Insider, and are already featuring at the top of both HPH and IRC results. Darren Wright has a Melges 32, Adrenalin, warming up and it will hopefully repeat the success enjoyed by Mata in previous seasons. Nigel Biggs' former Puppeteer 22 has been optimised for IRC racing and transferred to Wed racing, where it will be joined by Chronos, Dave Cullen and Declan Byrne's refurbished and upgraded Quarter Tonner, returning to the water after ten years plus of trailer rest, to join Cillian Macken's Don Giovanni, which has also been resting in recent years. Anton Korshunov is bringing another Quarter Tonner to Wed night racing, the immaculate, Corby-restored Symmetry.

In the newly titled Division C, Tom Fitzpatrick has reacquired Boojum, the Sigma 33 he previously competed in with great success, and he will be joined on it by his daughter Laura, a very experienced racer in her own right. The Squibs have added two boats to their number - Treborth (Eoin and Karolina Kernan) and Tom Thumb (Patrick Chambers) while the Puppeteers  continue to provide the largest turnouts in Club racing with fourteen afloat for the first evening, 20 signed up for racing and others still to get exams and the like out of the way before entering the fray.

Thursday dinghy racing started the same week as the other Classes this year, targeting two races per evening and three where possible. The scoring system has been tweaked for this season to reduce the impact on a crews' results of absences for family holidays and the like. The summer racing is now divided into two series and the discard ratio has been increased from 1 in 4 to 1 in 3. The PY fleet includes a great array of boat types, all enjoying the advantages of the Portsmouth Yardstick handicap system that allows IDRA 14s dating from the 1950s race successfully against more modern types such as ILCAs, Fireballs, GP 14s and Melges 15s. The Optimists enjoy their own Class racing with on the water coaching provided to help those learning the subtleties to fast-track their way up the fleet.

May has provided the proverbial curate's egg of conditions with both too much and and no wind figuring on some evenings. However, the heatwave in the Lambay lead-in will have hopefully persuaded those slow out of hibernation that it is time to get afloat.

Series 2 racing gets underway in the week commencing June 8th so, for any late-wakers, there is still a chance to get a practice race in after the Lambay and  be tuned up and chasing success the week after.

Update by Neil Murphy

Photos by Karolina Kernan