Over 60 sailors in a dozen International J/24 keelboats competed in the 35th Irish National J/24 Championship hosted by Lough Erne YC over the weekend. Visiting boats from the four coasts of Ireland and its centre waters, Lough Ree were launched on Friday for two races that afternoon, then four on Saturday and two on Sunday. The first four overall were each past champions, including LEYC’s top sailor, John Patrick McCaldin helming Jamais Encore, who had also organised the event.

All eight were tough tight contests among skilled crews in strong west and north winds, making this Lough Erne’s best and biggest sailing sport event for some years.

Courses started upwind, hard going, then dramatic down wind, spinnaker sails hoisted, bulged full of wind to drive boats surfing wildly on the waves, at times in close contest for best positions rounding the leeward mark, crews dropping spinnaker, re-hoisting foresail, round then hardening onto the wind for the hard beat to windward – hard superb sport in the world’s most popular racing keelboats, and here on Lough Erne.

LEYC’s top helm and a former Irish National Champion, John Patrick McCaldin revels in hard winds. In Jamais Encore his scores included three firsts but also two penalties.

One was for OCS, ‘on course side’, over the line a few seconds early at the third race start. Irish J/24 starts can be very tightly timed with the experience of World and European J/24 Championships in Ireland in 2011 and 2013. The other was for not finishing the third race when Jamais Encore’s rudder blade broke off. Ashore, a spare rudder fitted and back to the fleet, the Jamais team then boldly won both race five and six for an Encore. Enough to secure a fourth overall, where with better luck they might well have won.

Also with three firsts and an OCS, Flor O’Driscoll, Howth YC emerged 2014 Irish J/24 National Champion in Hard on Port, five points clear of a past Irish Champion, Stefan Hyde, Royal Cork YC, in Hamilton Bear. The defending Champion, Howth YC’s youth team made third overall in Kilcullen.

Steve Atkinson helming Bád from Carrickfergus SC also had a rudder fitting broken at the start of Saturday’s last race.

Repaired overnight, he competed on Sunday but had missed Friday’s races and emerged tenth overall. One of the new J/24 fleet building at Sligo YC, Crazy Horse, helmed by Tim Corcoran made a creditable fifth overall. Sixth, from Lough Swilly, was JGuevara, helm John Hassan, crew including LEYC’s Nessa Scott (nee Murnaghan). Lough Ree’s Finbar Ryan and daughters in Jelignite made seventh. Eighth was Martin McNamara’s Django, from Royal Western YC, Co. Clare.

Almost twice the number of J24s raced in the Silver Anniversary National Championship ten years ago. Half were old Westerly built boats.

This year there were only three. Judie Anderson’s Bandit, ninth, helm Luke McBride, Lough Swilly, who won the Silver Fleet trophy, Michael Clarke’s Jeriatix, LEYC, in her first championship outing for some years, and John Buckley’s Jagged Edge from Sligo YC.

Looking ahead, the National Yeoman Championship is on 13 & 14 September, with a coffee morning that Saturday in support of Lough Erne RNLI. The LEYC Autumn Regatta is on 20 September.