Sargent top of Clontarf class

SAILING: At first glance, there might be little to connect the vintage jubilee of an old clinker class with the arrival of a new dinghy to these shores this month.

One event is celebrating birth, the other old age, but between them they signify a strength in Irish dinghy sailing that spans 50 years and the need for a strong association of all classes to promote centreboard affairs.

The IDRA 14 class celebrated its golden jubilee in Clontarf last weekend with its biggest ever turn-out of 42 dinghies (including six which need restoration). As 50th birthday celebrations move across Dublin Bay to Dun Laoghaire this weekend, the party provided further proof that Irish sailing's love affair with dinghy sailing is still going strong.

Fittingly the Clontarf event replicated the first open meeting in September 1946 at the same venue. This preceded the first national championships the following year in Dun Laoghaire - appropriately won by the founder of the IDRA, Douglas Heard.

Last weekend's jubilee was a tribute to organiser Ian Sargent. Sargent, a 14 class champion many times, admits to scavenging clinker boats from sheds, gardens and farmhouses for the rally of boats last Sunday in Clontarf to salute the performance dinghy of the postwar years.

According to Sargent, the sail past - sponsored by Dublin Port - was the largest ever gathering of the class.

From one of the oldest classes to the newest, the rise of the modern Feva class to 50 boats in just one season continues to raise eyebrows among more established dinghy classes where numbers have been stagnant.

Two weeks ago this column made the point that as kids get to grips with the Feva's asymmetric spinnaker, there would be a knock-on benefit to senior fleets as junior sailors mature with skills for performance classes.

Reaction from some quarters was that this was feeding the "false impression" that so-called performance classes are the only options available to enthusiastic youth wishing to stay in dinghies after youth classes.

As the IDRA 14's golden jubilee testifies, dinghy sailing is resilient but there is now more competition between classes than ever before. The problem today is essentially one of dilution: too few sailors spread across too many classes.

The hope now is that the Feva will embed itself where others (except the Mirror or the Optmist) have not.