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Paul O'Higgins's JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI is now five points clear at the top of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club AIB Thursday Summer Series IRC Zero division leaderboard after scoring his fourth win last night on Dublin Bay.

The Royal Irish yacht finished in a corrected time of 1 hour 02 minutes and 48 seconds, beating second overall clubmate Sean Lemass's First 40, Prima Forte, by one minute and 14 seconds. In third place was RIYC's Tim Kane's Extreme 37, Wow, finishing on 1:14:26 corrected. Five competed.

Rockabill VI is one of several bay entries that will miss this weekend's ISORA race from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire. The ISORA champion will compete in the Round Ireland Race from Wicklow on June 22nd.

In an eight-boat turnout, Richard and Timothy Goodbody took victory in IRC One by over two minutes on corrected time. The RIYC crew beat the National Yacht Club sistership, Something Else (Brian Hall). Third was the series IRC One Summer Series overall leader, Colin Byrne, in the XP33, Bon Exemple, who has a ten-point lead after seven races sailed.

In the DBSC one-design fleets, Beneteau 31.7 overall leader Chris Johnston earned his fourth win from six sailed, beating Michael and Bernie Bryson's Bluefin Two.

In a 13-boat turnout, Niall Coleman's Flyer won the Flying Fifteen race from Tom Galvin. Third was the series leader, Phil Lawton. 

Full results in all DBSC classes below

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Race Officer Harry Gallagher set a two-round course for the 18 dinghies competing in the first race on Wednesday evening in the AIB DBSC Water Wag series at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

In a blustery NW breeze gusting over 20 knots at times, the results were as follows:

1st: Mariposa - Cathy Mac Aleavey / Con Murphy
2nd: Moosmie - John O’Driscoll / Sarah Dwyer
3rd: Mademoiselle - Adam Winkelmann/ Shirley Gilmore.

A second race comprised the postponed Water Wag Women At The Helm event. With the breeze increasing to 24 kts, some competitors sometimes chose to go for an early bath between races, and 12 boats battled it out in the challenging conditions.

The results were as follows:

1st: Mariposa - Cathy Mac Aleavey / Con Murphy
2nd: Badger - Ann-Marie Cox / John Cox
3rd: Shindilla - Judy O’Beirne / Frank O’Beirne

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club's sixth AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season was sailed on June 1st in light to medium easterly winds on a sunny Dublin Bay.

In a seven-boat turnout in IRC One, under Race Officer Barry MacNeaney, it was a one-two-three for Royal Irish Yacht Club J109s with White Mischief (co-skippered by Richard and Tim Goodbody) taking the gun by 28 seconds from Barry Cunningham on Chimaera on a corrected time of one hour forty minute and 48 seconds. Bobby Kerr in the sistership Riders on the Storm was third on 1:42:58 corrected.

In a three-boat Cruisers Zero race, Sean Lemass's Prima Forte makes six wins from six this season, beating Tim Kane's Xtreme 37 Wow by over a quarter of an hour on corrected time. John Treanor's J112e Valentina was disqualified.

Cruisers Two IRC was won by Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer from Jim McCann's Mustang 30, Peridot. Third was the Lovegrove family's Sigma 33 Rupert in a five-boat turnout.

Myles Kelly's Senator 22 Maranda of the DMYC was the only stater in IRC Three division.

In Class 5a ECHO (White Sails), Colin O'Brien's Jeanneau 39DS, Spirit won from Johnnie Phillps Elan 333, Playtime. Third, in a six-boat turnout, was Tim Costello's Bavaria 35, Just Jasmin.

In the one-design fleets, the four-boat restored Dublin Bay 21 class saw a win for Geraldine from Garavogue, with Estelle third.

The National Yacht Club's David Gorman scored a 1, 2 in the two-race Flying Fifteen class that saw a 13-boat turnout.

Royal St. George's Michael O'Connor won a six-boat SB20 race from Royal Irish's Ger Dempsey. Richard Hayes was third.

Results in all DBSC classes are detailed below.

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Paul O'Higgins's ISORA champion JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI, which missed last weekend's cross-channel race, was on form in a blustery northwesterly on Dublin Bay last night, winning Dublin Bay Sailing Club's sixth AIB-sponsored Thursday evening race of the season.

The Royal Irish yacht finished in a corrected time of 1 hour 26 minutes and 54 seconds, beating clubmate Sean Lemass's First 40, Prima Forte, by one minute and 22 seconds. In third place was Johnny Treanor's National Yacht Club J112e Valentina, making its 2024 Thursday night debut on the Bay.

The result confirms Rockabill VI's place at the top of the Summer Series Zero leaderboard. She now leads Prima Forte by four points.

In IRC One, Richard and Timothy Goodbody, having competed at last weekend's Wave Regatta in Howth, returned to the Bay race track to take victory in IRC One by three minutes and 23 seconds on corrected time. The RIYC crew beat the National Yacht Club sistership, Something Else (Brian Hall), in her first race back since competing in last weekend's Scottish Series on the Clyde. Third was the series IRC One Summer Series overall leader, Colin Byrne, in the XP33, Bon Exemple.

Full results in all DBSC classes below

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club's fifth AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season was sailed on May 25th in blustery south easterly winds on a sunny Dublin Bay.

There were several reasons that turnouts were down outside of this afternoon's European Rugby Champions Cup in London. Not least Howth Yacht Club's Wave Regatta that drew DBSC IRC one Saturday Series leader, White Mischief (skippered by Tim Goodbody) northside for the Lambay Race along with Royal Irish Yacht Club clubmate Barry Cunningham on Chimaera.  DBSC regular Brian Hall is competing in the Scottish Series on Loch Fyne.

Also at play today were two offshore races featuring DBSC boats in the 90-mile ISORA race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire and a win on the south coast for DBSC's Chris Power Smith in Kinsale's 230-mile Inistearaght Race.

There was no racing in Cruisers Zero, and in a two-boat IRC One race, Tom Shanahan took the gun in the J109 Ruth from Bobby Kerr in the sistership Riders on the Storm.

Cruisers Two IRC was won by Jim McCann's Mustang 30. Peridot from Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer and William Despard's Blacksheep scored OCS in the three-boat turnout.

In an unbeaten run so far this series in the two-boat IRC Three division, Edward Melvin's Sonata One Design, Ceol na Mara of the National Yacht Club beat Myles Kelly's Senator 22 Maranda of the DMYC. 

In Class 5a (White Sails), PJ Timmins in Misfits won from Peter Richardson's Dehler 36 Deliverance. Third, in a five boat turnout, was Tim Costello's Just Jasmin.

In the one-design fleets, the four-boat Dublin Bay 21 class did not race.

The National Yacht Club's David Gorman scored a 2, 1 in the two-race Flying Fifteen class that saw a ten-boat turnout, down from last week's fine 18 as the Western Championships are on in Connemara.

Royal Irish's Ger Dempsey was the winner of a three-boat SB20 race from Grzegorz Kalinecki. Charlotte O'Kelly was third.

Results in all DBSC classes are detailed below.

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Sean Lemass's First 40 Prima Forte was the winner of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's fifth AIB-sponsored Thursday evening race of the 2024 season as Royal Irish Yacht Club boats took the Cruisers Zero IRC podium.

The Lemass boat took the victory in a heavy north-westerly of 16 to 23 knots in a corrected time of 1 hour 38 minutes and 13 seconds from last Thursday's winner Kyran McStay's X-35 D-Tox by a margin of 11 seconds. Third was Tim Kane's X-Treme 37 in 1:52:14. Overall IRC Zero leader for the Thursday Series, Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 scored 'OCS' in the race run by Race Officer and Club Commodore Eddie Totterdell.

Prima Forte is one of the latest entries into Friday's (May 24th) Wave Regatta at Howth Yacht Club as Afloat reports here

Full results in all DBSC classes below

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club's fourth AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season was sailed on May 18th in sub-ten knot northerly winds on a hazy Dublin Bay.

In a nine-boat turnout, J109s took the top three places in IRC One with Barry Cunningham's Chimaera of the Royal Irish Yacht Club finished in 1 hour 28 minutes and 03 seconds corrected from Brian Hall's National Yacht Club (NYC) Something Else on 1 hour 31 minutes and 05 seconds behind on corrected time. Third was RIYC's Richard and Tim Goodbody's White Mischief which finished in 1 hour 32 minutes and 36 seconds corrected.

Overall, the Goodbodys lead Hall in the Saturday Series by a point.

Cruisers Two IRC was a one, two, three for the Royal St. George Yacht Club with Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer winning the five boat race in 1 hour 39 minutes and 52 seconds corrected from the Lovegrove family's Sigma 33 Rupert on 1:41:56.  Third was another Sigma 33, Moonshine skippered by David O'Flynn. 

Overall, Casey leads O'Flynn in the Saturday Series by four points.

In an unbeaten run so far this series in the two-boat IRC Three division, Edward Melvin's Sonata One Design, Ceol na Mara of the National Yacht Club beat Myles Kelly's Senator 22 Maranda of the DMYC . 

In Class 5a (White Sails), Johnnie Phillips's Elan 333 Playtime won the ECHO handicap race from Colin O'Brien's Jeanneau 39DS, Spirit. Third was Peter Richardson's Dehler 36 Deliverance.

In the one-design fleets, under Race Officer Jim Dolan, Geraldine (number 7) won from Estelle (number 3). In third place was number six, Naneen in a four-boat Dublin Bay 21 race.

David Mulvin won the 18-boat Flying Fifteen races from Niall Coleman with Alan Green third. 

In a five-boat scratch race for the Beneteau 31.7s, Christ Johnston's Prospect won from Brian Geraghty's Camira. Eoin O'Driscoll's Kernach was third.

The Dun Laoghaire Cup at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, incorporating championships for the 1720, SB20, B211 and J80 classes, meant DBSC racing was not held in these classes on Saturday, May 18. Results after day one at the Cup are reported here.

Results in all DBSC classes are detailed below.

Summer racing continues on Dublin Bay next Tuesday.

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Kyran McStay's X-35 D-Tox was the winner of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's fourth AIB-sponsored Thursday evening race of the 2024 season as Royal Irish Yacht Club boats swept the Cruisers Zero IRC podium.

The McStay boat took the victory in a light north-westerly of four to eight knots in a corrected time of 1 hour 39 minutes and 02 seconds from the overall IRC Zero leader Paul O'Higgins, JPK 10.80 (Paul O'Higgins) in a time of 1:39:24 corrected. Sean Lemass's, First 40, Prima Forte was third overall in 1:44:50 corrected.

Full results in all classes below

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After some late April cancellations, Tuesday night AIB-sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) dinghy sailing is off to a gentle start in May with some good turnouts across ILCA 6 and 7, Fireball, IDRA 14, PY and a DBSC debutante Melges 15 class. Four races have been sailed with three to count after discard with Royal St. George boats on top in several of the competing classes. 

Frank Miller, sailing IRL 14915 Ballderdash from the DMYC, leads a six-boat Fireball class in the Tuesday night AIB sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club dinghy sailing Photo: AfloatFrank Miller, sailing IRL 14915 Ballderdash from the DMYC, leads a six-boat Fireball class in the Tuesday night AIB sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club dinghy sailing Photo: Afloat

Miller leads Fireballs

Frank Miller, sailing IRL 14915 Ballderdash from the DMYC, leads a six-boat Fireball class by four points from Louise McKenna's Pink Fire on 7. Third, on tie break is another lady helm Cariosa Power of the DMYC on seven.

O'Beirne has three-point margin in ILCA 6

Royal St. George's Judy O'Beirne, on six points, leads a 16-boat ILCA 6 class from clubmate Mary Chambers on nine. Michael Norman of the Irish National Sailing Club is lying third on ten. O'Beirne finished second last weekend at the ILCA 6 Masters Championships at Howth Yacht Club.

The Melges 15 class are enjoying a debut season in the Tuesday night AIB-sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club dinghy racing Photo: Afloat

Flying Tiger is three points clear in Melges 15s

Class promoter John Sheehy leads the way in a seven-boat Melges 15 class that makes its DBSC debut in 2024. In a clean sweep so far for the Royal St. George Yacht Club, Sheehy's Flying Tiger (No 564) has two race wins to put him three points clear of Theo Lyttle's Surf Baby (566) on seven. Lying third is David Williams (637) on eight.

There is an 11-boat ILCA 7 fleet competing in Tuesday night AIB sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club dinghy sailing Photo: Michael ChesterThere is an 11-boat ILCA 7 fleet competing in Tuesday night AIB sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club dinghy sailing Photo: Michael Chester

Cowman on top in ILCA 7

In another top three for the Royal St. George in the ILCA 7s, Niall Cowman, on five points, leads Gavan Murphy on eight in an 11-boat fleet. Ross O'Leary is lying third on 11.

Aeros are PY Class winners

The National Yacht Club's Noel Butler in an RS Aero, Orion is clear at the top of the DBSC PY scoreboard on three points from clubmate Damien Dion on 8.5 in another Aero. Third is Brian Sweeney's Royal St. George Dutch Gold.

Dart leads three IDRA 14s

Pierre Long, sailing number 1612 Dart, leads a three-boat IDRA 14 class (all from the DMYC) but is tied on points after four races sailed with Frank Hamilton sailing number 140, Dart.

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club's third AIB Saturday race of the 2024 season was sailed on May 11th in light to medium south-easterly winds on a hazy Dublin Bay.

No results were posted in IRC Zero, as the first ISORA Cross-channel race of the season took a number of regular boats away from the bay in the race to Pwhelli in North Wales.

In a nine-boat turnout, J109s took the top two places in IRC One with Richard and Tim Goodbody's White Mischief of the Royal Irish Yacht Club finished in 1 hour 28 minutes and 03 seconds from Brian Hall's National Yacht Club (NYC) Something Else just 16 seconds behind on corrected time.

Colin Byrne's XP33 Bon Exemple, of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, was 11 seconds further back in third place.

Overall, the Goodbodys lead Hall in the Saturday Series by two points.

In Cruisers Two IRC, the Sigma 33 Moonshine skippered by David O'Flynn of the Royal St. George was the winner from clubmate Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer. Third in the five-boat turnout was Jim McCann's Royal Irish Mustang 30 Peridot. 

In a two-boat IRC Three race, Edward Melvin's Sonata One Design, Ceol na Mara of the National Yacht Club beat Myles Kelly's Senator 22 Maranda of the DMYC by 33 seconds on corrected time.

In Class 5a (White Sails), Johnnie Phillips's Elan 333 Playtime won the ECHO handicap race from Colin O'Brien's Jeanneau 39DS, Spirit. Third was Peter Richardson's Dehler 36 Deliverance.

In the one-design fleets, under Race Officer Jim Dolan, Garavogue won from Geraldine in a three-boat Dublin Bay 21 race. 

Overall leader, NYC's David Gorman, was second in the first race and third in the 18-boat Flying Fifteen races to be on nine points and Ken Dumpleton in second on 20. Third overall is Neil Colin on 23.

In a three-boat scratch race for the Beneteau 31.7s, Christ Johnston's Prospect won from Brian Geraghty's Camira.  Michael & Bernie Bryson's Bluefin Two retired.

In the seven-boat B211s scratch division, Jimmy Fischer's Billy Whizz beat overall leader Joe Smyth's Yikes. Third was DBSC Vice-Commodore Jacqueline McStay in Small Wonder from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. 

Results in all classes are detailed below.

Summer racing continues on Dublin Bay next Tuesday.

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Sharks in Irish waters

Irish waters are home to 71 species of shark, skates and rays, 58 of which have been studied in detail and listed on the Ireland Red List of Cartilaginous fish. Irish sharks range from small Sleeper sharks, Dogfish and Catsharks, to larger species like Frilled, Mackerel and Cow sharks, all the way to the second largest shark in the world, the Basking shark. 

Irish waters provide a refuge for an array of shark species. Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry provides a habitat for several rare and endangered sharks and their relatives, including the migratory tope shark, angel shark and undulate ray. This area is also the last European refuge for the extremely rare white skate. Through a European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) project, Marine Institute scientists have been working with fishermen to assess the distribution, diversity, and monthly relative abundance of skates and rays in Tralee, Brandon and Dingle Bays.

“These areas off the southwest coast of Ireland are important internationally as they hold some of the last remaining refuges for angel shark and white skate,” said Dr Maurice Clarke of the Marine Institute. “This EMFF project has provided data confirming the critically endangered status of some species and provides up-to-date information for the development of fishery measures to eliminate by-catch.” 

Irish waters are also home to the Black Mouthed Catshark, Galeus melastomus, one of Ireland’s smallest shark species which can be found in the deep sea along the continental shelf. In 2018, Irish scientists discovered a very rare shark-nursery 200 nautical miles off the west coast by the Marine Institute’s ROV Holland 1 on a shelf sloping to 750 metres deep. 

There are two ways that sharks are born, either as live young or from egg casings. In the ‘case’ of Black Mouthed Catsharks, the nursery discovered in 2018, was notable by the abundance of egg casings or ‘mermaid’s purses’. Many sharks, rays and skate lay eggs, the cases of which often wash ashore. If you find an egg casing along the seashore, take a photo for Purse Search Ireland, a citizen science project focusing on monitoring the shark, ray and skate species around Ireland.

Another species also found by Irish scientists using the ROV Holland 1 in 2018 was a very rare type of dogfish, the Sail Fin Rough Shark, Oxynotus paradoxus. These sharks are named after their long fins which resemble the trailing sails of a boat, and live in the deep sea in waters up to 750m deep. Like all sharks, skates and rays, they have no bones. Their skeleton is composed of cartilage, much like what our noses and ears are made from! This material is much more flexible and lighter than bone which is perfect for these animals living without the weight of gravity.

Throughout history sharks have been portrayed as the monsters of the sea, a concept that science is continuously debunking. Basking sharks were named in 1765 as Cetorhinus maximus, roughly translated to the ‘big-nosed sea monster’. Basking sharks are filter feeders, often swimming with their mouths agape, they filter plankton from the water.

They are very slow moving and like to bask in the sun in shallow water and are often seen in Irish waters around Spring and early Summer. To help understand the migration of these animals to be better able to understand and conserve these species, the Irish Basking Shark Group have tagged and mapped their travels.

Remarkably, many sharks like the Angel Shark, Squatina squatina have the ability to sense electricity. They do this via small pores in their skin called the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’ which are able to detect the tiny electrical impulses of a fish breathing, moving or even its heartbeat from distances of over a kilometre! Angel sharks, often referred to as Monkfish have a distinctively angelic shape, with flattened, large fins appearing like the wings of an angel. They live on the seafloor in the coastal waters of Ireland and much like a cat are nocturnal, primarily active at night.

The intricate complexity of shark adaptations is particularly noticeable in the texture of their skin. Composed of miniscule, perfectly shaped overlapping scales, the skin of shark provides them with protection. Often shark scales have been compared to teeth due to their hard enamel structure. They are strong, but also due to their intricate shape, these scales reduce drag and allow water to glide past them so that the shark can swim more effortlessly and silently. This natural flawless design has been used as inspiration for new neoprene fabric designs to help swimmers glide through the water. Although all sharks have this feature, the Leafscale Gulper Shark, Centrophorus squamosus, found in Ireland are specifically named due to the ornate leaf-shape of their scales.