Eanna Maloney-Lawless from Sutton Dinghy Club took the GP14 Irish Youth Championship title in Howth.  It was a hard fought battle with fellow Sutton helm Dan Gill which went down to the wire on the last race.

Full results here

Report by Dan Gill (can also be found on Y&Y): 
The 2014 GP14 Youth Championships kicked off to a slow start at Howth Yacht Club as racing was delayed due to lack of wind in the morning. The schedule provided two races for the seniors in the morning followed by another two in the afternoon for the Youth Championship.

The youth sailors, kindly ferried out to the racing area by Neville & Jean Maguire, waited eagerly as the seniors finished off their second race in gentle winds. With the changeovers complete, PRO Harry Gallagher quickly fired the five minute gun. The youthful enthusiasm of the sailors proved too much with two general recalls but finally got going, third time lucky. Two Sutton sailors, Callum Maher & Shane Mcloughlin miscalculating the race officer's signals and starting on the one minute gun provided the fleet with some humour as they continued towards the windward mark laughing amongst themselves.

With Eanna Maloney Lawless & Stephen Boyle rounding the windward mark first, the positions seemed set for the race with little place changing occurring around the racecourse. However the fleet battled it out on the upwind legs and the race finished up with Eanna & Stephen taking the bullet, Dan & Hugh Gill in second place and Gareth Gallagher & Donal McGuinness from Lough Foyle YC biting at their heels in third. By the time everyone had finished, the wind had dropped off and it seemed pointless to try and fit in another with stronger winds scheduled for Sunday.

Sunday began with sunshine and smiles all around as the forecast for stronger winds was correct. Racing kicked off with the first gun at 10:30. Strong winds and big swell provide the sailors with a difficult task navigating the race course with an extremely tight reach to the gybe mark and nice surf to the leeward mark with Dan & Hugh chasing the leaders Eanna & Stephen around the course but couldn't find the extra speed to catch them. Further back in the fleet they continued to fight it out until Edward Coyle & Colman Grimes of Skerries SC broke clear to take third. The last two races were fought hard by all in a strong breeze, no letting up with fierce competition on the points leader board. Gareth & Donal won race 3 from Edward & Colman with Callum Maher & Shane McLoughlin from Sutton pitching up in third place.

It all came down to the final race with Eanna, Dan, Gareth and Edward all possible winners. After a clean start Dan & Hugh rounded the weather mark followed closely by Eanna & Stephen. A tight top 3-sail reach saw Eanna pulling out over Dan and opening up yards as they powered into the gybe. Therein the battle for the Championship lay with Dan doing his best to catch the very quick Eanna providing the spectators on the committee boat and the waiting senior sailors with great excitement. At the last leeward mark Dan & Hugh secured inside position and held on to take the race win. Eanna however with 2 firsts and a second won the coveted GP14 Youth Championship of Ireland for the second year in a row. David Johnston & Alan Blay, also from Sutton, led the rest of the fleet home in third place. Many thanks to everyone who willingly gave their boats to the young sailors who happily returned them all without needing the wizardry of Alistair Duffin to put things right.

The event was run alongside the GP14 Autumn Open.  Niall Henry & Ossian Geraghty from Sligo took the championship on the last day with 2 race wins but again it was a tight finish on the final leg of last race to runners up Shane McCarthy & Damien Bracken Greystones/Skerries.

PRO Harry Gallagher & team organized both fleets on the water  & an impressive race turn around with 5 races on the Sunday.

Thanks to Howth Yacht Club for providing a great location and summer weather!

More photos on the gallery.

The Hot Toddy 2014 has been won by Ruan O'Tiarnaigh & Mel Morris.

Report by Curly Morris

The forecast seemed promising with warm weather and some wind, and although the autumn warmth was there Newtownards sheltered  position surrounded by low hills meant wind was minimal and a race officers nightmare. The nice little breeze present while rigging disappeared but eventually a light westerly appeared and racing got under way in 3 -4 knots of wind round about 1.00 pm.

With a little more breeze on the left side of the track boats coming in on port to the first mark did best with Dan and Hugh Gill and Ruan O’Tiarnaigh (standing in for the injured Ger Owens) With Melanie Morris rounded in the top positions, holding these for the next round. With the breeze slowly falling by the time boats started the run it was clearly going to be a long and difficult leg. The two leaders chose to gybe with the rest of the fleet sticking to starboard gybe and making better headway. Heading for the leeward mark Paddy O’Connor and Brendan Brogan seemed to have the lead, but J P McCaldin with Liz Copland and Alistair Duffin with Brendan McGrenagham rounding around 10th place sailed high to the area where the breeze was strongest on the beat and found enough extra wind to bring them into the leeward mark in first and second place. With the race being shortened at the leeward mark these became the finishing positions.

With little wind troubling the surface of the water nearly half the boats chose to take a break ashore, but most of them found they were unable to get back to the starting line when enough breeze appeared mid afternoon to start a second race. Fourteen boats made the start and were joined by J P who had made great efforts to get to the line from the shore. Again the breeze was best on the left and Keith Louden with Alan Thompson made a fast start and found the right way to the first mark followed by Ruan and Mel. With tighter reaches there was less opportunity for place changing. Ruan and Mel mounted a challenge on the second beat and were looking forward to the run when they realised the race was to be finished at the windward mark - a good decision with the wind falling again. Curly Morris with Laura McFarland held third with Katie Dwyer with Michelle Riley in fourth. the next boats coming up to the line received a shock when two boats suddenly appeared from the previously unfavoured right- Brenda Preston sailing with John McRobert and Newenham de Cogan with Andy Corkhill slipping into fifth and seventh positions.

On Sunday the early morning breeze again died but with a ripple appearing the fleet sailed slowly out to the race area for a start after midday for what was probably the calmest race of the weekend. Katie and Michelle with a great start got to the windward mark ahead of Dan and Hugh and held them off during the two downwind legs. With the wind again falling the beat was very difficult Katie and Dan going up the middle found a big “hole” in the wind. Boats on the left did better with Ruan and Mel just managing to hold off a challenge from boats further to the left with Alistair and J P taking second and third. Alistair’s performance was particularly note worthy - he collected a very expensive 720 at the gybe mark and then capsized on the last beat overdoing a roll tack! A memorable and entertaining end to a challenging but pleasant weekend.

The GP14 class runs one of the premier leagues of dinghy sailing in Ireland with sailors competing in Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets across a series of events throughout the season.

The GP14 Association of Ireland President Stephen Boyle would like to thank CraftInsure for sponsoring the GP14 Irish Leagues 2014. 

The prizes of free Insurance vouchers were presented to the winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze leagues at the final event of the Hot Toddy with the points accumulating from the first event held in April.

Gold Fleet

Niall Henry & Ossian Geraghty - Sligo SC

Silver Fleet

Dan Gill & Hugh Gill - Sutton SC

Bronze Fleet

Simon Jeffery & Rebecca Jeffery - East Down YC