Kinsale YC’s Sovereign’s Cup event saw seven Howth YC boats amongst the 62 entries and they put in a tour de force performance.  Michael and Richard Evans new J99, Snapshot, won both Class 1 and the Sovereigns Cup for best boat of the Regatta while Bob Rendell’s new Samatom took first place on IRC in the Coastal Class.  HYC results included four of the top six in Class 1 IRC, second in Class 2 IRC and second in White Sails Class 2 ECHO.

The Sovereign’s Cup Regatta at Kinsale YC is a must-do event for most Irish keelboat racers and, after a long period of ‘will we or won’t we’, the organisers were able to breathe a sigh of relief when the end of the COVID lockdown was signalled and they could commit to the hosting of the 2021 event from June 23 - 26, supported by O’Leary Insurance Group.

Just 16 days after sailing competition emerged from its nine month suspension, it is testament to the regard that the Kinsale event is held in by HYC sailors that seven of the Howth keelboat fleet headed south to enjoy the delights of both the Regatta and of Kinsale town.

In an entry of 62 boats, the HYC entrants put on stellar performances, the most spectacular of all being that of Snapshot, Michael and Richard Evans’ brand new J99.  After a close fought battle with a very competitive fleet, Snapshot took victory in Class 1 IRC.  Its placings of first and third on the last day of racing opened up a margin of 9 points over the locally based runner-up, Artful Dodjer, and saw Snapshot awarded the Sovereign’s Cup Trophy for the most successful IRC boat of the Regatta.

Chasing Snapshot hard in Class 1 were 3^rd placed Storm (Pat Kelly), 5^th placed Outrajeous (Richard Colwell / John Murphy) and 6^th placed Indian (Simon Knowles), giving HYC four of the first six IRC places overall.

In Class 2, the battle for IRC honours between HYC’s King One (David Kelly) and RCYC’s Coracle VI was decided on the last race.  The Cork boat bagged a race win that saw them take first overall, leaving King One to add the runner-up slot to its illustrious history of regatta results. 

The Coastal Class saw the biggest boats competing over four long distance races that best suit its entrants, none of them designed for short inshore courses.  The 17 entries included the cream of the Irish offshore scene such as WOW, Jump Juice, Freya and Hot Cookie, not to mention the all-conquering RCYC entry, Nieulargo.  Howth YC’s Samatom, Bob Rendell’s 2021 Grand Soleil replacement for his previous XC 45 of the same name and competing in its first event, upset the form book with a scoreline of a win, a discarded fourth and two seconds.  Despite this excellent series of results, Samatom still had work to do on the last race and their second place gave them the IRC honours by a single point from Nieulargo.

In White Sails Class 2, Declan Gray’s Sapphire was the both the only Howth and the only non-Kinsale YC entry.  Despite their opponents’ local knowledge advantage, Declan and crew tied on total points with Kinsale Paralympian John Twomey’s Blazer at the conclusion of the racing, only losing out on the overall podium top spot due to John’s win in the last race.

Congratulations to all the HYC competitors who made the trip to Sovereigns and took away such a big proportion of the silverware.

Photo Credit Robert Bateman