The first overall J Cup Ireland winner was awarded to Pat O’Neill’s J/80 ‘Mojo’ on Sunday afternoon for scoring four out of five wins across two days of racing at Dun Laoghaire.

All J Cup One Design classes completed three races on Sunday's second and final day of the J Cup Ireland hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club, with the IRC class completing two longer races round the cans.

With clear start lines across all classes and easier wind conditions, racing was straightforward for the 40 boats out on Dublin Bay.

The wind picked up, and the rain stayed away for the second and final day of racing, which made for some good racing conditions.

J/109 Class

Nick Smyth’s ‘Joker 2’ managed to place third overall in the J/109 class, and Pat Kelly’s successful and popular ‘Storm’ in second after scoring 1-5-3, but this was not enough as it was Barry Cunningham’s ‘Chimaera’ that managed to take the championship, scoring 5-1-1.

The J Cup Ireland J109 fleet Photo: Key Yachting

Barry Cunningham’s J109 ‘Chimaera’ Photo: Key Yachting

J109 crews celebrate at the J Cup Ireland prizegiving Photo: Key Yachting

J/80 Class

Similar sailing conditions as yesterday meant little change in the results for the large J/80 fleet. Austin Kenny’s ‘Ram Jam’ placed 3rd, scoring 3-2-3 behind Johnathan Craig’s ‘Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty’, which scored 2-3-4. But it was Pat O’Neill’s ‘Mojo’ that remained the leader by the end of the regatta. Mojo scored three straight bullets in today’s races.

(Above and below) J80 racing at the J Cup Ireland on Dublin Bay Photo: Key Yachting

J/24 Class

Tadhg O Loingsigh’s ‘Janx Spirit’ managed to creep up into third place. Dave Bailey’s ‘Hard On Port’ moved firmly into second after scoring 2-5-4. The under-25 Kinsale team managed to stay in the top spot, scoring 4-4-3 with a total of 10 points across the two days. A fantastic win for an under-25 team.

IRC

There was lots of action in the IRC fleet today. As the courses were longer and round the cans, the bigger boats thrived in the wind conditions. Richard and Timothy Goodbody’s J/109 ‘White Mischief’ scoring 4-1-4. Michael and Richard Evans’ J/99 ‘Snapshot’ took second place, but in front overall was the J/109 ‘Outrageous’ helmed by John Murphy.

Bill Stringer, Key Yachting Managing Director, who thanked sponsors Viking Marine and Quantum Sails, said that next year’s date and location of the J Cup Ireland will be announced soon.

Reporting by Key Yachting

Day one of the inaugural Key Yachting J Cup Ireland was successfully completed on Saturday. An impressive 40 boats entered the brand-new regatta at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay.

Boats are fairly equally split into four classes: mixed IRC, J/109s, J/24s and J/80s.

The Cup is hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club and Supported by Viking Marine, Quantum Sails and Cyclops Marine. 

Key Yachting is the J Boats dealer in the UK and Ireland. Key Yachting has organised the successful and popular J Cup in the UK for a number of years.

Barry Cunningham's 'Chimaera' leads the 10-strong J/109 one-design fleet racing at the inaugural Key Yachting J Cup Ireland on Dublin Bay

J/109 Class

There is a large presence of J/109s, with 10 racing in the One Design fleet over the course of the weekend. The fleet was up first on the start line, and after some waiting around for the wind to pick up and the course to be set, they were off. By the end of the last race and after various protests, it was clear Barry Cunningham's 'Chimaera' was the top dog, scoring 2-3-2. Nick Smyth's “Joker 2” followed in 2nd, scoring 3-5-1, and Simon Knowles' Howth based 'Indian' in 3rd with a total of 10 points.

J/109 racing on day one of the J Cup Ireland on Dublin Bay

J/80 Class

The class have a large fleet at the regatta for their National championships. Howth-based J/80 ‘Mojo’ helmed by Pat O'Neill, had a good day scoring 1-1-2, placing them in the top spot. Jonathan Craig's “Lisney Sotheby's International Reality followed in 2nd place, scoring 3-2-1, and Austin Kenny's 'Ram Jam' in 3rd.

J/24 Class

The Under 25 team from Kinsale on 'Kinsailer' scored three straight bullets in today's races, which means she's sitting comfortably at the top spot in front of Dave Bailey's ‘Hard on Port’ in 2nd with 6 points and Conor Haughton's ‘Jade’ in 3rd with 12 points. J Cup Ireland is hosting the J/24 Eastern Championships, so it's all to play for going into the second and final day.

IRC

The IRC class has a varied mix of I Boats competing, which made for a competitive and exciting first day. After a hairy start and consequent restart, the IRC class racing was underway. By the end of the third race, John and Suzie Murphy's J/109 'Outrajeous' lie in the top spot, very closely followed by Michael and Richard Evans' J/99 ‘Snapshot’. Colin and Kathy Kavannagh's J/97 ‘Jeneral Lee’ Results may well change by the end of day 2, so this is definitely the class to watch.

The current results are below and on this link

The day ended with a BBQ and Gin reception at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and there was a great turnout for the onshore entertainment.

Racing continues on Sunday.

J boat enthusiasts are gearing up for the first-ever Irish J Cup, set to take place this weekend at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Organised by Key Yachting, agents for J/boats and Grand Soleil yachts, the event has already attracted an impressive number of entries, with final numbers expected to be in the 40s. 

As Afloat's WM Nixon wrote on the new initiative, 'the introduction of fresh initiatives for established J classes has provided extra leases of life' for some of these GRP models.

The J Cup will feature four classes of racing: J/109 Irish Nationals, J/80 Irish Nationals, J/24 East Coasts, and a competitive IRC class with different J/boat models. Mark Mansfield, Key Yachting’s event organiser in Ireland and J/Boat (and Grand Soleil and Nautitech) agent, is thrilled with the turnout and looks forward to a well-organised and successful event. 

J Boats have long been dominant in IRC and class racing in Ireland, and the J Cup will bring together all the J Boats classes for the first time.

Sponsors Viking Marine, Quantum Sails Ireland, and Cyclops Marine have also come on board to support the event. 

Late entries will be allowed until Wednesday.

With great prizes and entertainment lined up and favourable weather predicted, the Irish J Cup starts on Saturday morning. For more information and to enter, visit here.

Download the SIs as a PDF file below.

See entry list below.

The J Cup Ireland, in its first year, is expecting 40 to 45 entries for its two-day regatta on the 26th and 27th of August at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, with over 30 J boats already committed.

The event will incorporate the J/109 Nationals, J/80 Nationals, J/24 Easterns and a Mixed IRC J /Boat fleet. Entry numbers are very healthy to date, including boats from Cork, West of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, as well as from Dublin.

The mixed IRC Fleet includes J Boat models such as J/133, J/122, J/112e, J/111, J/99, J97 and J/92. As all these models rate well on IRC, it will be very interesting to see which model will come out on top.

John Treanor’s new J112e Valentina is entered and pictured here after her win at the J Cup UK in May

In the J109 fleet, all the usual suspects have entered already, including some favourites such as Storm from Howth, Joker 2 and White Mischief from Dun Laoghaire, and Jings from Scotland.

Key Yachting, the agents for J Boats in Ireland, are also delighted to announce that the overall winner of J Cup Ireland will be presented with a Cyclops load sensor, kindly presented by Cyclops Marine, who has been a great supporter of the J Cup UK in the past. Viking Marine and Quantum Sails are already on board as sponsors.

There will be entertainment provided on the deck of the Royal Irish on both Friday and Saturday afternoons, and the fine Royal Irish Barbeque will be up and running.

A Gin/Rum sponsor is also being organised for a Gin/Rum reception on Saturday evening.

A great weekend of sailing and shoreside activities is assured.

Entries can be organised here

For further information from Mark Mansfield, Irish Agent for Key Yachting, at mark@keyyachting.com

The inaugural J Cup Ireland is taking place 26th and 27th of August 2023 at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, on Dublin Bay.

Hosted by Key Yachting, the J Cup Regatta is exclusively organised for racing yachts of the J/Boats brand.

For the first Irish J Cup this year, J/109s, J/80s and J/24s are invited to compete.

The regatta will host the J/80 and J/109 National Championships and the J/24 East Coast Championships.

There will also be a Mixed IRC fleet, which will include J boats such as J/97s, J/112e, J122s, J133s, J/111s and others.

Entries are open for the regatta, and there is currently an early bird entry price for boats entering before 30th June, which is just a week away from now.

ENTER HERE

Like the J Cup in the Hamble, J Cup Ireland will involve fun on and off the water with exciting racing in Dublin Bay and shore-side entertainment with various trophies and prizes up for grabs.

(Above and below) J Cup Regatta 2023, Royal Southern Yacht Club, Hamble 

The regatta is kindly supported by local chandlery Viking Marine and sailmaker Quantum Sails.

Key Yachting is the UK and Ireland agent for J/Boats and three other brands; Nautitech Catamarans, Grand Soleil and Tofinou.

Contact Irish agent Mark Mansfield for more information at mark@keyyachting.com or 087 250 6838

John Treanor's brand new J112e from the National Yacht Club made a perfect debut when she won her class at the UK's Key Yachting J-Cup Regatta at the Royal Southern Yacht Club on the Hamble river on Sunday. 

Treanor won, having launched 'Valentina' for the first time the previous Tuesday evening. He measured her in on Wednesday, with the crew only having a one-hour practice on the Solent before Thursday's first race.

After eight races sailed in the black fleet, the Irish yacht won by one point from Mike Wallis's bigger J/122, Jahmali. See results here

The win is also a boost for the Irish marine trade. Mark Mansfield, who sailed on Valentina as a tactician, supplied the boat as the J-boat Irish agent, and Maurice O'Connell of North Sails Ireland provided Valentina's sail wardrobe.

In what marks a start of a hectic few months, the Valentina crew will now race in this week's Sovereigns Cup, July's Dun Laoghaire Regatta and the J Cup Ireland at the end of August and the ICRA National Championships in early September as well as some ISORA and DBSC fixtures where the new marque will race in Class Zero.

The J/112e has proven itself an exceptional IRC and ORC performer, having won the IRC and ORC Worlds and Europeans on more than one occasion. More on the J112e here

Key Yachting is pleased to announce that the inaugural J Cup Ireland will take place from 26th to 27th of August at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, on Dublin Bay.

The J/Cup Regatta is a highly successful event in the UK, with over 60 boats and 400 competitors. The J Cup in Ireland will give Irish J Boats a chance to get involved as a brand in their own regatta. The event will involve two days of racing, shoreside entertainment and a daily prizegiving.

Key Yachting is expecting a mix of classes and J/Boats to participate.

The J/109 class have confirmed they will have their Nationals at the J Cup Ireland. With the ICRA National Championships being staged in Howth the following week, travelling owners will be able to compete in both events. It is anticipated that extra numbers will come from J/109s based in Cork, Wales, Northern Ireland and maybe even Scotland and the Solent. The J/109 class has always been extremely competitive in Ireland.

J /109  start at past Irish Nationals Photo: Afloat

The J/24s will have a large presence at the J Cup Ireland for their East Coast Championships. A huge resurgence has happened in the Irish J/24 class brought on by the Under 25 Scheme in Ireland, where clubs finance J/24 keelboats for crews aged under 25. The East Coast Championships at J Cup Ireland will be a great warmup event for the J/24 Nationals, which will be held as part of the ICRA Nationals the following weekend.

The J/80 Class are expected to have a large fleet at the regatta for its Nationals. Already many clubs in Dun Laoghaire have been buying J/80s for their members' use. These, along with some very competitive privately owned J/80s, will likely lead to great sailing for the J/80 Nationals at J cup Ireland.

Mixed IRC Class — Outside of the Classes having their one design championships, J Cup Ireland will feature an IRC Handicap class with a bottom IRC limit of .960. This should include J models such as J/92s, J/97s, J/99s, J/112e’s, J/111s, J/122s and others to compete in a highly competitive IRC class. Again, many J boats will likely use the J cup as a warm-up for the ICRA Nationals the following week.

J/122 Jelly Baby from Cork, one of 3 x J122’s likely to compete in J Cup Ireland in 2023 Photo: Bob Bateman

Entries for the event are expected to open in early 2023 when a Notice of Race issues, so be sure to put the dates in your 2023 sailing calendar. Watch this space for the latest event information.

J Cup Regatta 2022, RORC, Cowes Photo: Paul Wyeth                                                                  

Key Yachting is the UK and Ireland dealer for J Boats, Grand Soleil, Nautitech Catamarans and Tofinou.

For more information about Key Yachting or the J Cup Ireland, contact Irish agent Mark Mansfield at mark@keyyachting.com or info@keyyachting.com