Howth Yacht Club hosted the Melges 15 Northern Championships on 20–21 June, and the class was treated to glorious sunshine across both days.

Saturday opened with a light westerly for Race One, but a sea breeze filled in through the afternoon and built steadily through the remaining three races. The result was lively sea breeze conditions and the kind of fast, planing that makes the Melges 15 such fun to sail - It also helped the Race Team to bank four races by the end of day one!

Sunday kept the sunshine going, with near-Mediterranean conditions and a clean, consistent north-easterly allowing the fleet to get three more races in. Fleet numbers have continued to build across the season, from 14 boats at the Westerns in Lough Derg, to 16 at the Easterns in Dun Laoghaire, to a season-high of 17 here at the Northerns in Howth - a clear sign that the class is ramping up for what promises to be a great 2026 season.

Race Officer Richard Kissane and his team deserve real credit for getting seven races completed across the weekend, running the racing on Vakaros RaceSense technology with every Melges 15 in the fleet equipped with a Vakaros Atlas device. Start sequence information like countdowns and postponements automatically sync to every competitor's instrument, and a boat over the line early has an OCS message appear on their Vakoras  Unit, making General recalls a thing of the past. 

A flavour of the conditions and racing from across the weekend is highlighted in the gallery below.  (Simply  swipe left on your phone or hover your mouse over the photo and use the arrow keys to navigate the photos)

Results

All three podium boats flew the Royal St George Yacht Club flag. Jack Fahy and Henry Higgins took the title with a race to spare, building a commanding lead in Saturday's fast planing conditions and never giving it up, a dominant series from the Dublin Bay pair. Toby Hudson Fowler and Kathy Kelly took second on their championship debut, just ahead of Andrew Fowler and Cian Lynch in third. The battle for the 2nd and 3rd podium spots had an extra edge to it - Andrew and Toby are brothers, and their head-to-head in the final race brought more than a touch of sibling rivalry and match-racing tactics with it. Paddy Oliver and Diane Nelson rounded out the top four.

Best of the home fleet, and fifth overall from a strong Howth contingent were Jack McMahon and Natasha Hemeryck. A really strong result against a high-quality travelling fleet.

HYC Commodore Kevin Monks presided over the prizegiving ceremony.

Family Focus

The fleet's family character was on full show too. Karena Knaggs's daughters Hanna and Florence both lined up on different boats - Hanna sailing alongside her mother, and Florence teaming up with Sarah McLoughlin for what was the youngest combined entry in the championship. The Farrellys were across three boats with Cormac on his own boat, Fiachra on 801, borrowed from Fellow M15 sailor, Jim Sexton, and daughter Aoibhín teaming up with Darren Wright on his. Family partnerships were everywhere else in the fleet too: Stephen and Fergal Quinn on 803, Finn and Gary Cullen on 805, Kate and Alanna Lyttle on 1024 and husband-and-wife team Paddy Oliver and Diane Nelson on 686, exactly the kind of multi-generational, family-first sailing the class is built around.

Behind the Scenes

There's always a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to pull an event like this together. A big shout-out to HYC's Race, Marina, office and hospitality teams for all their efforts over a busy regatta weekend, and to Evan Banable for coordinating rescue cover and mark-laying throughout. Thanks too to all the travelling boats who made the trip to Howth, and a special mention for John Sheehy of Melges Ireland, who helped hugely behind the scenes despite being absent from  the event due to prior engagements. 

What's Next

The fleet now turns its attention to the European Championships at Riva del Garda (3–5 July), with eight Irish boats travelling, including Cormac and Fiachra Farrelly from the Howth fleet. From there it's the UK Nationals, where Sarah Robertson will represent the Howth contingent, before the class returns home for the Irish National Championships at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on 22–23 August.

Photo Credits: Michael Sterling, Richard Kissane, Lorraine Ross, Mark McLoughlin

Report by Cormac Farrelly, Event Chair.