Davy Jones’s Locker Is Now The Champion’s Trophy Cabinet

Even by the long-view standards of the 124-year-old Howth 17 Class, the 48-year owning partnership in the 1907-vintage Rosemary between David Jones and George Curley – with David Potter more recently joining the strength as George turned 90 last year – is a notably enduring relationship. And in their almost half-century of ownership, Rosemary has sailed hundreds of races and won many trophies.

But never before has she scaled the heights of this weekend, when she became the Howth 17 National Champion 2022 after some notably skilled helming and tactics by Davy Jones, in a five-race series in which the Rosemary team fulfilled the golden rules of making less mistakes than everyone else rather than trying to be perfect, and seeing the series as a whole rather then as a set of individual races.

Being the Howth 17s, their National Championship format is unusual in that they have a pier-start race on the Friday evening without setting their distinctive jackyard topsails, and then on Saturday they aim for four committee boat races under full sail.

In theory, Sunday morning is kept in reserve if needed to make a championship. But with a Race Officer of the calibre of David Lovegrove with his special knowledge of Howth’s racing waters, they had someone who could cope with the rising barometer’s determination to kill the gradient westerly breeze, and he got things off to a good start on Friday night with a skillfully-set course within Howth Sound, where summer evening breezes off the land and sometimes off Ireland’s Eye made racing possible despite a sluicing ebb tide.

Friday evening racing within Howth Sound, without topsails being used. Photo: Patricia Nixon

The finish of Friday’s race close along the pier to avoid the tide was a lineup of noted hotshots, with Deilginis winning from Oona and Isobel Photo: Patricia Nixon

And that first race seemed to set the shape of things to come. For although the Howth 17 Nationals as a stand-alone event have been in being since 2001 (they used to call it the Howth 17s Worlds, but modesty has since prevailed), only eight different boat names have been inscribed on the trophy. And the first four in Race 1 were all from that Roll-call of Distinction, with current club-racing pace-setter Deilginis (Massey/Toomey/Kenny) getting first from Peter Courtney’s Oona, with Brian & Conor Turvey’s Isobel third and Ian Malcolm’s Aura fourth, the first non-former-champion being Orla (Marc FitzGibbon & Donal Gallagher) in fifth.

We say “seemed to set the shape of things to come”, for this meant that going into Saturday’s four open courses, the beginnings of private battles were already in place, and this covering of the expected rivals by the established hotshots left the way clear for Ian Byrne and Eddie Ferris with Gladys to win Race 2 from Michael Duffy’s beautifully-maintained purple boat Hera, which was going at truly purple speeds, as her crewing had a significant input from the Sutton Dinghy Club’s hot GP14 Class.

Michael Duffy’s purple Hera showing a clean pair of heels to Orla and Aura. Photo: Patricia Nixon

Ian Malcolm’s 1898-built Aura – a former winner of the title – gets a burst of speed to carry her across ahead of a trio of top boats. Photo: Patricia Nixon

Yet third just 30 seconds behind was Rosemary with her regular crew, at the beginning of what was eventually to be a beautifully-series. Admittedly it didn’t look like it at the finish of race 3, as she was back in 8th while the re-born Hera had a win. But in between them were assorted proven performers who were now locked more tightly than ever into personal points challenges.

There was a light buildup of cloud later on Saturday, but as it kept the breeze alive it was welcome. Photo: Patricia Nixon

This left the way clear for Rosemary to win Race 4, with second going to Oona (Peter Courtney), who almost invariably has the best-set topsail in the whole class, but then his family have been involved since 1907. Meanwhile, aboard Rosemary they’d already calculated that if they could win the last race with their new-found speed, with Hera managing to stay ahead of Oona in second and third while the private battles kept the half dozen favourites at bay, then they’d be home and dry.

A tall order, perhaps, but sometimes some things are just meant to be so. In retrospect, it all looked beautifully choreographed. There was a confidence about the way Rosemary was first to finish, coming through the line even while other boats went across in the opposite direction, still headed for the lee mark.

Rosemary wins the last race while other boats were still headed down to the lee mark. Photo: Patricia Nixon

The big picture. To win overall, Rosemary not only had to finish first, but she had to ensure that somehow Hera (right) came in ahead of the yellow Oona, which she managed by just two seconds. Photo: Patricia Nixon

And on top of that, having carried the battling Oona and Hera up to weather of the lay-line, Rosemary’s crew had the satisfaction of seeing them pay off with Hera just getting the edge from the safe leeward position. She was second by just two seconds ahead of the Courtney boat, with the now overall-winning crew (having themselves had a half minute lead on Hera) erupting in a fit of air-punching which would have bemused the Victorian founders of this ancient class.

What would the Founding Fathers think? Some distinctly non-Victorian air-punching and beer-drinking from Rosemary’s crew when they’ve worked out that they are the Howth Seventeen 2022 National Champions on count-back. Photo: Patricia Nixon

The air-punching was well merited as they’d already calculated that though they’d finished equal with Hera on 12 points after the discard, they’d dropped an 8th to the Duffy boat’s 10th, making the final lineup:

Howth 17 National Championship 2022:

1st Rosemary (David Jones, George Curley & David Potter) 12 pts; 2nd Hera (Michael Duffy) 12 pts; 3rd Oona (P. Courtney, 13pts; 4th Isobel (Brian & Conor Turvey) 15pts; 5th Deilginis (Massey/Toomey/Kenny) 16pts; 6th Orla (M FitzGibbon & D Gallagher) 21pts. 18 boats raced.

Done it! Rosemary’s crew were Jack Haydon, David Potter and Davy Jones. Photo: Patricia Nixon

One of the Howth 17s’ secrets of survival is that they maintain a diligently-implemented handicap system, and under this the winner was Eileen (R Macken), with the stellar Rosemary taking second, while Silver Moon (Susan Morgan) was third.

Another secret of the class’s survival is their sheer stubbornness. Back in March 2018 after Storm Emma had struck seven of the class in the destruction of their storage shed on Howth’s East Pier, the more impatient and pessimistic observers reckoned that Rosemary was a write-off, for while some boats had suffered only superficial damage, she had been reduced to a flat-pack.

Beyond hope? Rosemary reduced to a flat-pack by Storm Emma in March 2018

But when you’ve been in partnership with a boat for as long as this, different values prevail, and in Larry Archer the Rosemary team had a boat-builder of sufficient eccentricity to agree that she could be squeezed out into her proper shape again, and made fully seaworthy with it. Four years after that scene of disaster, Rosemary has shown how right they all were. And now she is Queen of the Class as they look forward to their 125th Anniversary Celebrations in 2023.

The road to recovery. Rosemary gradually being encouraged back into her proper shape with a new deck and much other work by Larry Archer through the winter of 2018-19. Photo: David Jones