The Water Wag dinghy class had one Dublin Bay Sailing Club race on Wednesday evening in a blustery Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

So blustery in fact, Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly went out in advance a DBSC RIB to review the conditions before deciding that racing could go ahead.

Following a short postponement, the fleet started in a westerly wind of 18 knots with gusts up to 25.

23 boats started, all carrying one reef. The course was windward-leeward, three rounds with a fourth beat to finish at the weather mark.

There were 21 finishers and two boats retired. All coped very well with the gusty conditions and many flew spinnakers on the third downwind leg.

The Top three Water Wags - Moosmie (No 15), Swift (No 38) and Mariposa (No 45) Photo: Ann Kirwan

Results were:

1. No. 15 Moosmie, John O’Driscoll
2. No. 38 Swift, Guy Kilroy
3. No. 45 Mariposa, Cathy MacAleavey

Also racing this evening was Annalise Murphy who finished 5th in no. 19. Shindilla, and Claudine Murphy who finished 9th in no. 41 Mollie.

Annalise was the first to risk a gybe at the leeward gate and it paid off as most boats took the starboard hand gate.

Race winner No. 15 Moosmie, helmed by John O’Driscoll Photo: Ann Kirwan

Full results in all DBSC classes are below. Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Wednesday's  DBSC Water Wag dinghy racing scheduled for Dun Laoghaire Harbour is cancelled due to an adverse weather forecast.

"Winds gusting gale force 8 in the east are scheduled for later this evening", Commodore Ann Kirwan told Afloat.

The Wags are posting great early season turnouts on Dublin Bay with a 22 boat fleet for the first race on April 28th.

Full DBSC Water Wag results are below

John O’Driscoll at the helm of No. 15 Moosmie was the winner of Wednesday's single DBSC Water Wag dinghy race in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. 

Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly ran racing over three rounds in a westerly breeze with gusts of up to 20 knots.

All boats carried a reef in the blustery conditions. 20 boats started and 18 finished. 

The second boat home was No. 38 Swift sailed by Guy Kilroy with Martin Byrne's No 49 Hilda in third position.

John O’Driscoll at the helm of No. 15 Moosmie crosses the finish line to win Photo: Brendan Briscoe

Laser ace Sean Craig of the Royal St. George Yacht Club took the gun in his first DBSC Water Wag Race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Wednesday night.

With a turnout of 25 boats and a course of four rounds set by Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly, winds were light, 4-6 knots, for the in-harbour race.

In a 1,2,3 for the Royal St. George Wags, Vincent Delany was second and Dragon skipper Martin Byrne third.

One boat retired.

There was a strong turnout of 22 Water Wags for the first race of the AIB DBSC Summer season at Dun Laoghaire Harbour last night. 

In a force three easterly breeze, Howth Yacht Club's Ian Malcolm at the helm of Barbara was the single race winner.

A course of three rounds, giving four beats, was set by Race Officer Tadhg Donnelly inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Second was Swift, No. 38 sailed by Guy Kilroy with third place going to John O’Driscoll's Moosmie.

The Water Wags are DBSC's largest fleet overall with 37 entries at present for the 2022 season.

22 boats competed in the last Water Wag race of the AIB DBSC season in Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Wednesday evening. 

The race was won by boat number 19 Shindilla, sailed by Ali and Zoe Kissane.

Number 15 (John O’Driscoll) was second with Con and Cathy MacAleavey third in Number 45.

The race brought the curtain down on the 2021 season that has seen some buoyant turnouts for the 133-year old class that has regular fleets of plus 20 boats and 31 for its Captain's Prize race held earlier this month.

Number 19 Shindilla (Ali and Zoe Kissane) takes the gun

Royal Irish Yacht Club sailor Guy Kilroy was the winner of Wednesday's DBSC Water Wag Captain's Prize Race at Dun Laoghaire that attracted a fine turnout of 31 Wag dinghies for the annual in-harbour race. 

Second was the National Yacht Club's Cathy MacAleavey and third was RIYC's William Prentice. 

Overall, after 14 races sailed for the Jubilee Cup Series, Alistair Kissane's Shindilla was crowned the winner with MacAleavey's Mariposa second and Kilroy's Swift third.

The full results are here.

A fantastic turnout of 31 Water Wags for the Captain's Prize Race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Barry O'Neill

Another fine fleet of vintage Water Wag dinghies raced in light winds inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour as part of the class's regular Dublin Bay Sailing Club Wednesday night series.

27 turned out for racing eclipsing the fleets own Bloomsday high of 26 boats for last Wednesday's race.

Race Officer Harry Gallagher only managed one race in the fickle breeze. The wind died and only nine of them finished the race.

Race Officer Harry Gallagher finishes one of nine Water Wags that completed the in harbour course

Meanwhile, the National Yacht Club has welcomed a beautiful new Water Wag, Shindilla to the East Pier Club.

Shindilla was commissioned by Neil and Pam Collen and takes its name and sail number from the original Shindilla that Neil’s grandfather Ninian Falkiner commissioned in 1932 and sailed and later his mother Effie sailed for many years.

Last Wednesday it was sailed for the first time by Alistair Kissane and Annalise Murphy. Shindilla finished a close second in the 26 boat Bloomsday fleet in the first race and then went on to win the second race.

Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy (left) toasts the arrival of new Water Wag Shindilla to the National Yacht Club Photo: NYC

In times of stress like this, there is nowhere more soothing than a well-organised but not unduly fussy timber workshop where each day's harmonious effort shows a tangible result. And of all such workshops, there's nowhere so healthily absorbing – both mentally and physically - than a place where they build wooden boats. For not only is something of beauty being created in time-honoured style in a material for which we feel an instinctive affinity, but at the end of it all you have a work of practical art in which it is possible to sail away, and for a little while at least, escape the tedious everyday concerns of shore life.

That said, it is a fact that in Ireland the best of our classic classes continue to thrive, and have new boats built, not only because the owners are enthusiastic appreciators of ancient style, but because the boats provide excellent one-design racing. The importance of good and demonstrably fair sport should never be under-estimated, and thus at various stages of the building, the normal mood of calm creation is interrupted by the scheduled visit of the class measurer.

Happily, things are now at such a steady throughput of production that the Visit Of The Measurer is a social occasion of ceremony and well-formatted routine rather than a nightmare, as the secret is to have the measurer involved from a very early stage, which is easily achieved in a country the size of Ireland. 

Just inhale gently but steadily – the sweet interior of a new-built classic wooden hull at its best with Shindilla in Athlone. Photo: Cathy Mac Aleavey

Thus there are several timber boatbuilding or restoration projects underway at the moment, and while there are some we'll be looking at in due course, today it is intriguing to draw comparisons between jobs under way in Athlone, Howth and Kilrush.

Along the Shannon above Athlone, we recently lost one of Ireland's greatest-ever boatbuilders with the death at the age of 94 of Jimmy Furey of Mount Plunkett near Leecarrow in Roscommon. Busy to the end, in his later days he worked with several boatbuilding development projects with former Olympic sailor and round Ireland record-holder Cathy Mac Aleavey, together with another of those seemingly born-to-it boatbuilders who emerge in the Athlone region, Dougal McMahon.

Working with Jimmy, a project had been coming along to build a replacement for the well-worn Dublin Bay Water Wag Shindilla, a 1932 veteran originally built for Ninian Falkiner who was later a noted offshore cruiser and Commodore of the Royal Irish YC, while Shindilla stayed within the extended family as his daughter married into the Collen family, and it is the Collens who have ensured that Shindilla lives anew. The work has been completed in a shed provided by Dougal's father in Athlone, who may have been an engineering bridge-builder by profession, but he's no slouch at the wooden boatbuilding himself.

The 1963 Tyrrell-built Harklow is Dougal McMahon's current restoration project

With Shindilla completed, Dougal, is spending the rest of the winter on a restoration job in a bigger shed in Portumna on the classic Shannon cruiser Harklow, originally built by Jack Tyrrell of Arklow for sailing legend Douglas Heard (he won the first Helmsman's Championship in 1946) and now owned by Half Ton Racing ace Johnny Swann.

HOWTH 17 BUILDING

Johnny grew up in Howth, and just round the corner from his family home, recently-retired airline captain Gerry Comerford is building what looks like being the strongest Howth 17 ever constructed, the completely new Anna, which is named for his mother. With laminated backbone and frames, and king-size stainless steel floors make up by a steel-working genius in Clontarf, you might well be concerned that Anna will come out over-weight, but this doesn't seem to be a bother among Howth 17 folk.

The latest Howth 17 Anna is currently under construction by owner Gerry Comerford at his home in Howth

For they well remember that many years ago when all the local cruisers had to be weighed to comply with Channel Handicap Measurement requirements, the Howth 17s got hold of the load cell for a day or two to weigh their own boats at launching time. They found that despite the mostly very old boats being only 22ft 6ns LOA (they go back to 1898), there was a half-ton range in their measured weights. Yet, to everyone's surprise, it was the class's most renowned light airs flyer which was the heaviest boat of all…

Singing from the same hymn sheet – Howth 17 measurer Rupert Jeffares with new owner-builder Gerry Comerford and Anna. Photo: Ian Malcolm

Regardless of weight, Anna will certainly have the correct dimensions, as class measurer Ruper Jeffares – for many years the Executive Secretary of Howth Yacht Club – lives close, just down the hill, and dropping by Gerry's house to see how Anna is coming along is always of interest, for in their long existence, only two other Howth 17s have ever actually been built in Howth, and that was way back in 1988.

At an early stage, it was abundantly evident that Anna was going to be built extra-strong. Photo: Ian Malcolm 

Thus although the building of Anna has been going on for four years, now that Gerry has retired from the day job he'd better get a move on. For as soon as the lockdown eases, current Howth 17 National Champion Shane O'Doherty (he won it in August with the 1900-vintage Pauline) will resume his popular guided Hill of Howth Hiking Tours, and "Traditional Boat-building with Gerry and Anna" could easily become a must-see stopover on the way over the hill, but a formidable distraction from Work in Progress….

DUBLIN BAY 21s BORN AGAIN IN KILRUSH

Meanwhile, across country in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary, Steve Morris and his team - having launched the newly-built electrified Galway Bay gleoiteog Naomh Fanchea last week – have now returned to full focus on the latest pair of re-born Dublin Bay 21s, Maureen and Estelle, for the DB21 project by Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra.

With boatbuilders of the enormous experience of Steve himself, together with Dan Mill and James Madigan (who is of Kilrush, but was much involved with the Ilen project in Limerick) the actual building has an educational element, and apprentice Kate Griffiths was working and learning today (Tuesday) with Dan on Maureen, battening off the new hull prior to laminating the light timbers (two per bay) between the main frames, while nearby James was fairing out Estelle's new deck, which is of laminated Douglas fir beams and carlins.

The 1903 Dublin Bay 21 Maureen continues to re-emerge in Kilrush with apprentice boatbuilder Kate Griffiths (behind boat) and master shipwright Dan Mill. Photo: Steve Morris

For sure, there are modern epoxies and other chemicals involved in this form of boatbuilding, just as there is with Anna across in Howth and also – though to a very much lesser extent - with Shindilla in Athlone. But nevertheless, in all cases, the abiding impression of the dominant material in use is wood, glorious wood. 

James Madigan at work n the new deck on the DB21 Estelle. Photo: Steve Morris

With a turnout of 24 boats keen to enjoy the benefit of sunshine at sea while the mist gloomed over the land, the Dublin Bay Water Wags continued to push the truncated 2020 season to its limits on Wednesday evening. They'd good racing with a relatively rare if light onshore nor’east breeze blowing into the harbour, providing some new twists on tactics. With a history going back to 1887, the class has trophies for every contingency, and winners on the water Tim & Marcus Pearson with Little Tern have set themselves on course for the Meldon Mirror by taking the overall win in what will be be the first of two races for the Meldon’s reflected glory. Ian & Judith Malcolm with Barbara were second overall, and by so doing they also won Division 1A. There, the trophy was a more poignant affair, the Great War relic of a Shell Case which was presented by the Findlater family to commemorate the three Water Wag sailors who died at Gallipoli in World War I.

Murky mist over the town, but sunshine on the harbour - the Water Wags found it well worth the effort going racing on Wednesday evening. Photo: Cathy Mac Aleavey

It was a telling reminder of just how far away that particular military disaster seemed at the time in Ireland, as the Malcolm’s boat was being built to completion by Gray of Kingstown at the time of the Gallipoli Landings in 1915, though before the year was out, all sailing was finished for the duration. Wednesday night’s third trophy, the Commemoration Cup for Division 2, had more cheerful longterm associations, as it was won by the newest boat in the fleet, Mandy Chambers’ Siskin crewed by Sue Westrup. Created in a boat-building school in San Sebastian in northern Spain, Siskin has the coveted sail number 50. But the class are very strict in allocating sail numbers, and the lavish care and attention now applied to the classic Water Wag fleet has not always been the case. Thus it could well be that as many as 65 boats have been built to Maimie Doyle's transom-stern design which became the 1900 version of the class, but inevitably some have simply faded away over the years.

Autumn timing to perfection – sunset developing stylishly as Barbara (8, Ian & Judith Malcolm), Hilda (49, Martin & Triona Byrne) and overall winner Little Tern (36, Tim & Marcus Parson) close in on the finish. Photo: Cathy Mac Aleavey