The Irish Multihull Association 1985-1998

Before we start Part Two, where the fleets from North and South join together for events, we should cover some of the history of Northern Irish catamaran sailing.

We already heard that in 1966 'Shearwaters' and 'Yachting Worlds' from Northern Ireland joined the Southern fleet in Bray for the first National Championships for "B" class Cats.

The following is a report from, twice European Champion in the 'Yachting World' cat class, Frank Cogan from Coleraine, who's son Peter is now preparing for this year's Worrell 1000 race. (Hopefully with Frank Cogan and Peter & Dee McDowell from Ballyholme as ground crew) Peter finished 6^th in last year's Worrell 1000.

In May 1986 Jennifer Guinness, Robin Knox Johnston (and Dermot Mangan) and the 60ft catamaran British Airways 1 gave multihulls a lot of publicity by knocking 12 hrs off Moonduster's record Round Ireland time and circumnavigating the island in 76hrs 5mns 34secs. Six months later Novanet Elite took another 5hrs 40mns off BA 1s time and got round in 70hrs 25mns 16secs.

This record held until 10^th September 1993 when Steve Fossett and the 60ft trimaran Lakota, with Cathy MacAleavey & Con Murphy onboard, set an amazing time of 44hrs 42mns 20 secs.

Also back in 1987 the Round Europe Race came to Dun Laoghaire for the first time, 14 Formula one and formula two 75 ft long multihulls racing around Dublin Bay - what a sight.

In 1987 the existing Cruiser fleet looked as if it was about to expand. Terry Rowan launched his new Formula 28 "Spyder" catamaran and a 33ft Prout arrived in Howth Marina. Already on the scene, was Condor sailor Liam Grogan with his 28ft trimaran "Tempis Fugit", Matt Chandler's Hirondelle, The Fitzpatrick brothers 26ft cat, 2 Catalacs in Howth and a dinky 23ft trimaran.

In fact, the cruiser racing, which had only lasted a few years, was over and the fleet never got together again.

Because of sewerage work in Bray Harbour in 1987, the cat fleet decided to look for a new home.

In April the first catamarans moved into Blessington Sailing Club and there were seven by the end of that year. Blessington soon became the largest cat fleet in the Country and numbers now stand at about thirty.

On the 4^th July 1987 twelve Condors raced from Skerries to Clogher Head. This race, organised by Mick Keogh and Aidan Sharkey was one of the main highlights of the calendar up to a few years ago. The hospitality of Aidan, Nuala and their family will always be remembered by those who sailed the race over the years.

In the dinghy fleet, the Condor reigned supreme until 1988 when the fleet was split by a decision to upgrade it's rig and call it a Hurricane 4.9. At about the same time Richie Peel appeared with a Tornado and Dermot Mangan arrived back from the British Catapult Nationals having swapped his Catapult for a Dart 18. Brendan O'Reilly also started a drive to build up a Hobie fleet.

The Tornado did not last long. Ivan Bishoff soon convinced Richie to join himself and Eddie Cats in purchasing three Hurricane 5.9s.

Wic McCready, in Ballyholme and Con Lavelle, in Galway bought Dart 18s and the fleet grew steadily from then on.

By early 1990 there were seven Dart 18s, five Hurricane 5.9s and four Hobie 18s mixing it with the condors and five Hurricane 4.9s.

On the 10^th June 1990 "Sealink Challenge" a Dart TSX sailed by Dermot Mangan and Brendan O'Reilly crossed to Holyhead and set an Irish Sea Record of 7hrs 27mins. This was lowered to 7hrs 14mns in 1995 by John Sheerin and Dermot Mangan in a Dart 18. On both trips the wind died close to Holyhead.

In 1990 Dart 18 sailors Wic McCready & Robert Beckett from Ballyholme attended Blessington Regatta. Thus began a new era in Irish cat sailing.

On Friday 10^th May 1991 a convoy of mixed cats (their crews formally attired in IMA sweatshirts) gathered at Dublin Airport roundabout and headed north for Ballyholme and the Northern cats reciprocated by attending the Open Championships in Dunmore East. From then on the IMA represented cat sailors on both sides of the border and in 1995 the Nationals were held in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Also back in 1991 three Irish Dart 18s travelled to Abersoch in Wales where 301 Dart 18s had gathered for the first Dart 18 World Championships. The sight of 301 cats on a start line was amazing.

For a long time the cat fleet supported events at Malahide Y.C. on Broadmeadow Water, so when Swords S.C. in the same area started re-developing in 1993 a cat fleet built up fairly quickly.

They now have a fleet of about nine Hurricane 5.9s and a mixed fleet of Condors Hurricane 4.9s and Hobies.

Things were quiet for a while with the two fleets of Dart 18s and Hurricane 5.9s racing together on handicap and separately at the Nationals. Then in 1997 four Dart Hawk Formula 18s were introduced into the fleet. Once again the cat was among the pigeons and the vision of everyone sailing in a one-design fleet faded.

1998 also saw the introduction, at the other end of the scale, of the Dart 16, now the fastest growing cat class in the Country with eight boats already in and two for the Galway fleet on order for 1999.

In 1998 memories of the Condor / Hurricane 4.9 collapse were rekindled when a Gennaker kit was introduced for the Dart 18. This development certainly livened up the Dart 18, but is only suitable for club racing and certain open events.

The Irish Multihull Association will celebrate it's 35^th anniversary in 1999 and I certainly felt that it was all worthwhile when I saw 2^nd generation cat sailor Neil Mangan win the Open Championships in 1998. ( Well, I would).

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