It’s prize-giving time down beside the Old Granite Pond. Last night (Friday), Commodore Eddie Totterdell presided over Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s annual re-distribution of their enormous cache of trophies in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire. And tonight (Saturday), the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association are holding their annual black-tie prize-giving dinner (and dance too, if the notion comes on you) just across the road in the waterfront National Yacht Club, the home club – as it happens – of both the DBSC Commodore, and ISORA Chairman Peter Ryan.
The National Maritime Museum is still thought of by more than a few as the being primarily the 180-year-old Mariners’ Church, notwithstanding the fact that the lease for the Church of Ireland to hand it over to the Maritime Institute was signed way back in 1974, making next year the Golden Jubilee of the beginning of the journey to becoming the Museum.
You can’t miss it….the former Mariners Church, now the National Maritime Museum (right) and the “new” Lexicon (left), with Dun Laoghaire Harbour beyond. It was thought the Lexicon would over-shadow the National Maritime Museum, but its location in the conspicuous church – with its re-purposing marking its Golden Jubilee next year – still tops them all
It achieved that status in 1978, when the newly-located museum was officially opened by President Patrick Hillery – as we shall see, he was a sailing man himself. But regardless of the passage of time, and even with the visionary and sympathetic re-purposing within, from the outside there’s no doubting this was originally a church, highly visible from all directions.
President Patrick Hillery with designer Billy Brown of Portaferry aboard the new Ruffian 23, which was making her debut at the 1976 Dun Laoghaire Boat Show. Two years later, President Hillary officially opened the newly-housed National Maritime Museum nearby in the former Mariner’s Church, by which time the Ruffian 23 class was becoming so popular as the latest long-lived Dublin Bay SC One-Design in Dun Laoghaire that in 2023 it has been playing a leading role in the Ruffian 23 International Golden Jubilee celebrations
In fact, it dominated the view from the harbour such that, back in the day, the crew of any Royal Navy vessel which happened to be anchored or moored in what was then Kingstown on a Sunday would be marched - in uniformed procession - from Traders’ Wharf to Morning Service, following which non-commissioned ranks would return to the ship, but officers might avail of the Sunday lunch options at the waterfront yacht clubs.
THE CHALLENGE OF RE-PURPOSING A CLASSIC CHURCH BUILDING
Traditional churches must be among the most focused buildings ever created. And as they always carry a whiff of their former consecration, the re-purposing of a classic church such as this has only a very narrow selection of options. Indeed, there are those who would argue that becoming the National Maritime Museum was the only acceptable option to give the building any future with which people could feel comfortable.
Certainly most of us find that the re-purposing of classic churches to become something like a restaurant, or even someone’s home, can have a slightly distasteful feeling to it. That said, at tonight’s ISORA silverfest in the National, they’ll fondly remember the late Dickie Richardson (1926-2015) of Holyhead, who brought ISORA into being 51 years ago, in 1972.
HEART OF OFFSHORE RACING IN A FORMER METHODIST CHAPEL
Dickie and his wife Elspeth made their second home in a former Methodist Chapel at Porth y Fellyn, that attractive secluded western end of Holyhead Harbour. But one of the reasons Methodism succeeded so well in Wales was because its Elders did not build their chapels to over-awe the nearby buildings and their occupants. On the contrary, they built them to fit in with the local vernacular street-scape, and thus Chez Richardson had no trouble in being re-purposed as the friendly and hospitable heart of real sailing in Holyhead.
Dickie Richardson (1926-2015) of Liverpool and Holyhead in 1972. The founding chairman in 1972 of ISORA succeeded - with his wife Elspeth - in converting a former Methodist chapel at Porth-y-Fellyn in west Holyhead into a hospitable family home. Photo: W M Nixon
Yet even with the Mariners Church’s suitable fit as the Museum, it has taken time for the general consciousness to become fully aware of the change. But in any case, all museums these days are having to re-think their contemporary relationship with the community they serve, and the Maritime Museum’s growing significance as the focus for contemporary events is something which was foreseen – or more accurately hoped for – by some of those visionaries who saw a new and very useful museum role for the de-consecrated church, and one of them was the ubiquitous Hal Sisk - he played key roles in both the new life for the Maritime Museum, and before that in the up-grading of what had been the Northwest Offshore Association to become ISORA.
The man who is everywhere – Hal Sisk in Dun Laoghaire with the historic schooner Atlantic in the background. His history of the 1870-founded Royal Alfred YC demonstrated the club’s pioneering role in promoting amateur sailing, he was involved in the early years of the Mariners Church in Dun Laoghaire becoming the National Maritime Museum, in 1971-72 he was a leading committee member in the NWOA becoming enlarged as ISORA, and currently he is much involved with Fionan de Barra in the revival of the Dublin Bay SC 21ft Class, which in 2024 will have their own designated line of moorings beside Dun Laoghaire’s East Pier off the National Yacht Club. Photo: W M Nixon
But now we’ve reached the happy stage of the Dun Laoghaire sailing community seeing the Museum as the natural location for any major social event which involves the members of all the harbour’s clubs, such as the launching of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta or the annual distribution of the DBSC prizes. But equally there are more specialist events which lend themselves better to a clubhouse hosting, and the ISORA gathering in the National is something of a hot ticket.
DUBLIN BAY’S HOSPITABLE GOVERNING CLUB
Dublin Bay Sailing Club, on the other hand, has prided itself on being a club for everyone interested in all forms of sailing. Yet while it started in a very modest way in 1884, it developed with rocket-like speed to become the overall administrator of Dun Laoghaire racing. Within ten years of its founding, it was the harbour’s central authority for governing new One-Design classes, and less than twenty years after the very first DBSC race, it received the royal seal of approval, so to speak, when the Viceroy Lord Dudley joined the 1898-founded Dublin Bay 25 OD Class with his new boat Fodhla, built by James Doyle in what was then Kingstown.
The Seal of Royal Approval for DBSC – the Viceroy Lord Dudley threading several in-harbour needles with his new Dublin Bay 25 Fodhla to win a Kingstown regatta in 1902
You might think that this sort of direct involvement by those in power is now a long-lost relic of the rare old times. But under the state’s new management, we’ve seen the Sail Training Brigantine Asgard brought into being thanks to the somewhat unlikely combination - over time - of special efforts by Paddy Donegan and Charlie Haughey when they were in the role of Minister for Defence when their different parties were in power.
PRESIDENT HILLERY'S CALMING PRESENCE
But while both were personally seafaring enthusiasts, they could reasonably be described as representing the most colourful and contentious wings of their respective parties. So it was something of a relief for the more quiet-living section of the sailing community when the calming presence of President Hillery came with his new Ron Holland-designed Cork-built Club Shamrock Half Tonner Corcomroe to Dun Laoghaire, and entered into a friendly and long-standing agreement with leading Royal St George YC member Jack Craig to be his Sailing Master in the same way as – in the 1890s – Willie Jameson of the same club had been persuaded on board as Royal Sailing Master in the Prince of Wales’ mighty Watson-designed new cutter Britannia.
Thus President Hillery’s blessing in 1978 on the inauguration of the process of the Mariners Church becoming the National Maritime Museum carried weight. And it was preceded two years esrlier by his detailed visit to the newly-minted Ruffian 23 at the 1976 Dun Laoghaire Boat Show, so the celebration this year of the Golden Jubilee of the Ruffian 23 Class in Ireland and abroad – with Dun Laoghaire one of its continuing strongholds – is another example of Dublin Bay sailing going right to the top.
A light yet effective hand on the helm afloat and ashore – Tim Goodbody and his family’s contributions to sailing at many levels were recognised in two of the leading awards at last night’s DBSC prize-giving. Photo: Afloat.ie
But as it is a state of affairs which goes all the way back to the first Dun Laoghaire regatta of 1828, inevitably the end-of-season prize-giving roundup is a massively complex affair. And as with the racing afloat, it is a stress test for DBSC’s “standing army” of volunteers, led by Honorary Secretary Rosemary Roy.
Commodore Eddie Totterdell and his DBSC committee ahead of Friday night's packed annual prizegiving (below) in Dun Laoghaire's Maritime Museum Photos: Michael Chester
Thus we’ll highlight the premier awards, but getting to grips with the details of the new winners of the many other trophies can be a matter of personal study of the special DBSC Results below
DUBLIN BAY’S TOP PRIZE-WINNERS
Details of the DBSC Premier Awards 2023:
John Treanor and his victorious J112e Valentina Crew at the DBSC Prizegiving Photo: Michael Chester
The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Trophy
For the best new boat entered into DBSC Racing
Valentina. John Treanor
Tim and Richard Goodbody celebrate with the J109 White Mischief crew at the at the 2023 DBSC Prizegiving Photo: Michael Chester
The George Arthur Newsome Cup
For the most successful boat in one design racing
White Mischief. Tim Goodbody
The Waterhouse Shield
For the most successful boat in a handicap series
Windjammer. Lindsay Casey
The Dr. Alf Delany Memorial Cup
For the most successful Dinghy in the season
Orion. Noel Butler
The Brendan Ebril Memorial Cup
For the most successful boat that turns out week on week, not winning another trophy
Ruth. The Shanahan Family
The Viking Award
For selflessly giving of time and expertise for the betterment of the standard of sailing in Dublin Bay
Tim Goodbody. for his support of DBSC and mainly for his work on course design for many years)
GOODBODY IN EVERY WAY
The prominence of the Goodbody clan and its Patriarch Tim Goodbody is so right and proper, as he’s a sailing genius both inshore and offshore - he was lead helm when the Dubois 40 Irish Independent was overall winner of the 1987 Fastnet Race and top scorer in that year’s Admiral’s Cup team. Yet he also is an exceptionally talented administrator, having been Commodore of the RAYC in its glory days when it led the sailing world with its innovative Heineken Super-League, he also found time to do his stint as Commodore Royal Irish YC, which is no sinecure, and yet he is happy to turn his talents to the most basic tasks, which for Dublin Bay SC was his massive input into the creation of challenging courses for racing within the relatively limited space which is available to the club.
The gang’s all here…..John Treanor’s new J/112E ValenTina took the DBSC’s Dun Laoghaire Harbour trophy for the best newcomer. Photo: Michael Chester
With the Royal Alfred YC now amalgamated into Dublin Bay SC, the key elements in the overall structure of the sailing for the entire membership of the four brick-and-mortar yacht clubs in Dun Laoghaire is unified, but the success in this arrangement is to be found in the strict restriction of DBSC’s remit to Dublin Bay sailing. This may seem so obvious as not to need clarification, but sometimes a hot-headed senior officer - having gained controls of the levers of power – will have a rush of blood to the head with ideas of geographic expansion.
In a year in which the great Liam Shanahan’s much-mourned death occurred at the age of 93, his family continued the tradition of keenly racing their award-winning J/109 Ruth. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien
However, after so many years of steady success, the DBSC administrators are well aware of the dictum that in order for the situation to stay the same, everything must quietly but steadily change. Thus traditionalists in DBSC are happy in the notion that their club is very directly still in the spirit established way back in 1884, yet those desiring innovation will – if their bright idea or new boat type is good – being quietly taken on board in the consistent yet ever-changing organization.
Former World Champion Noel Butler (in red) racing his RS Aero Orion to success and the DBSC Alf Delany Memorial Cup for 2023. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien
DUBLIN BAY DETAILS
With the nights closing in, an hour and more of a close study of all the DBSC results for 2023 proves to be an absorbing experience, and thanks to the steady collation of multiple reports by Hon.Sec. Rosemary Roy and her team, here they are in list form
| 2023 | Citation | Trophies | Boat | Skipper |
| Premier Award | For the most successful new yacht in DBSC racing | DunLaoghaire Harbour Trophy | Valentina | John Treanor |
| Premier Award | For the most successful Dinghy for the season | Dr. Alf Delaney Cup | Orion | Noel Butler |
| Premier Award | For the most successful yacht in the Handicapped series | Waterhouse Shield | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
| Premier Award | For the most successful yacht in One Design racing | George Arthur Newsom Cup | White Mischief | Tim & Richard Goodbody |
| Premier Award | For the most successful yacht frequently participated | Brendan Ebril Memorial Cup | Ruth | The Shanahan Family |
| Premier Award | For a notable contribution to Dublin Bay Sailing | The Viking Award | Tim Goodbody | Tim Goodbody |
| Combined Cruisers | Tuesdays | Hot Cookie | John O'Gorman | |
| Cruiser 0 | Series A Echo Thurs | D-Tox | Kyran McStay Paul Sherry | |
| Cruiser 0 | Series A Echo Sat | WOW | Tim Kane | |
| Cruiser 0 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Martin Cup | Prima Forte | Patrick Burke, Rigley Lemass |
| Cruiser 0 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Knox-Gore Bowl | Prima Forte | Burke Fergus Rigley Lemass |
| Cruiser 0 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Knox-Gore Trophy | Prima Forte | Burke Rigley Sean Lemass |
| Cruiser 0 | Saturdays Echo Racing | Centenary Trophy | Prima Forte | Burke Rigley Lemass |
| Cruiser 1 | Series A Echo Thurs | Ruth | The Shanahan Family | |
| Cruiser 1 | Thursdays IRC Racing | West Pier Officer's Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Tim Goodbody |
| Cruiser 1 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Tiamat Trophy | Raptor | Denis Hewitt Paul Bradley |
| Cruiser 1 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Weir Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Tim Goodbody |
| Cruiser 1 | Saturdays Echo Racing | Osterburg Trophy | Bon Example | Colin Byrne |
| Cruiser 1 | Thursdays Saturdays Overall J109 | The Goodbody Cup | White Mischief | Richard & Timothy Goodbody |
| Cruisers 2 | Series A Echo Sat | Peridot | Jim McCann, Yannick Charrier Paul Caden | |
| Cruiser 2 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Lady Shamrock Trophy | Alig8r | Brendan Foley |
| Cruiser 2 | Thursdays Echo Racing | Centenary Cup | Alig8r | Brendan Foley |
| Cruiser 2 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Silver Salver | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
| Cruiser 2 | Saturdays Echo Racing | TP Early Memorial Cup | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
| Cruisers 2 | Thursdays Saturdays Overall | The Brendan Briscoe Trophy | Windjammer | Lindsay Casey |
| Cruiser 2: Sigma | Thursdays Series A, B & Overall | JB Stephens Trophy | Rupert | Phillip & Richard Lovegrove |
| Cruiser 2: Sigma | Saturday Series A, B & Overall | Rupert Bowl | Moonshine | Ronnie Moloney Fergus O Sullivan |
| David O Flynn | ||||
| Cruiser 3 | Tuesdays ECHO Racing | (now) Whimbrel Rose Bowl | Jimmy Cricket | Mona Tyndall |
| Cruiser 3 | Thursdays IRC Racing | Smalldridge Cup | Elient | Michal Matulka |
| Cruiser 3 | Thursdays ECHO Racing | Annette Cup | Saki | Michael Ryan Ben Ryan Paget McCormack |
| Cruiser 3 | Saturdays IRC Racing | Jack Kennedy Memorial Cup | Ceol Na Mara | Ed Melvin |
| Cruiser 3 | Saturdays ECHO Racing | Mercia Cup | Wynward | Wyn McCormack Declan Collier |
| Cruiser 4 | Thursdays & Saturdays IRC & overall | Trevor Wood | Boomerang 1367 | Kirwan Family |
| Cruiser 5 a | Series A IRC Thurs | Persistence | Charles Broadhead | |
| Cruisers 5 a | Series A Echo Thurs | Just Jasmine | Tim Costello Valda Boardman Walter Tyrrell | |
| Cruisers 5 b | Series A Echo Thurs | Menapia | Patrick Madigan James McSweeney | |
| Cruiser 5 a | Thursdays IRC Overall Div A | Burford Trophy | Playtime 2558 | Johnnie Phillips Noel Kidney |
| Cruiser 5 a | Thursdays ECHO Overall Div A | Peigi Ban half model | Spirit | Colin O Brien Eamonn Gill |
| Cruiser 5 b | Thursdays ECHO Overall Div B | Galelleo Cup | Calypso | Howard Knott |
| Cruiser 5 | Saturdays A and B IRC overall | White Sail Class Trophy | Playtime 2558 | Johnnie Phillips, Noel Kidney |
| Cruiser 5 | Saturdays A and B ECHO overall | Heineken Super League Cup | Deliverance | Pat Martin, Peter Richardson |
| B211 | Tuesday ECHO Overall | Optec Trophy | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
| B211 | Thurs SCRATCH overall | Facet Jewellers Cup | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
| B211 | Thursdays ECHO overall | Beneteau 21 Tray | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
| B211 | Saturdays SCRATCH overall | Beneteau 21 Cup | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
| B211 | Saturdays ECHO overall | Jimmy Fischer Trophy | Ventuno | Rowan Fogarty |
| B211 | Thurs/Sat Combined ECHO | Waterhouse Rose Bowl | Billy Whiz 2170 | Jimmy Fischer Stafford Bagot |
| 31.7 | Series A Echo Sat | Extreme Reality | Nicholas Holman | |
| 31.7 | Series B Echo Sat | Camira | Neil McSherry Brian Geraghty Ken Ryan | |
| 31.7 | Thursday Racing Scratch | Feanor Trophy | Prospect | Chris Johnston |
| 31.7 | Thursday Racing Echo | Horrigan Cup | Kernach | Eoin O Driscoll |
| 31.7 | Saturday Racing Scratch | Arandora Trophy | Prospect | Chris Johnston |
| 31.7 | Saturday Racing Echo | Long John Silver Cup | Kernach | Eoin O Driscoll |
| Dragons | Thursday Racing | Oxford and Cambridge Cup | Phantom | Peter Bowring David Williams |
| Dragons | Saturday Racing | The Royal Irish Yacht Club Cup | Serafina | Ronan Murphy Alistair Kissane |
| Dragons | Combined Thursdays and Saturdays | Old Time Cup | Sir Ossis | Denis & Joseph Bergin |
| Glens | Tuesday Racing | Cut Glass Tumbler | Glenluce 67 | Ailbe Millerick |
| Glens | Thursdays Racing | Pterodactyl Cup | Glendun 9 | Alison O Brien Brian Denham David Houlton |
| Glens | Saturday Racing | Harry Maguire Memorial Cup | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
| Glens | Thurs and Sats combined Combined | The McMullen Cup | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
| Glens | Dalkey Island Race (Bobolink) | The HamiltonReid Cup | Glencoe | Rose Mary Craig |
| Glens | Crews Race | Mitchell Trophy | Glenluce | Ailbe Millerick |
| Ruffians | Tuesday Racing | John Donnelly Perpetual Cup | Carmen | Brendan Duffy |
| Ruffians | Thursday Racing | Huet Trophy | Shannagh | Stephen Gill Padraig Mac Diarmada |
| Ruffians | Saturday Racing | British Airways Trophy | Ruffles | Michael Cutliffe |
| Ruffians | Thursdays and Saturdays combined | J.Lamont Trophy | Ruffles | Michael Cutliffe |
| Shipmans | Thursdays Series A | Jo Slim | ||
| Shipmans | Tuesday Racing | Cut Glass Tumbler | Gusto | Christine Heath |
| Thursdays Series A & Overall | The Midweek Trophy | Twocan | David Freeman | |
| Shipmans | Saturday Series B & Overall | The Melindi Cup | Invader | |
| Shipmans | Thursdays and Saturdays combined | The Shipman Perpetual Trophy | Invader | Gerard Glynn |
| Tuesday racing | The Equinox Trophy | Sneaky B | Charlotte O Kelly | |
| SB20 | Women on the water | tba | Sneaky B | Charlotte O Kelly |
| Thursdays series A | Seabiscuit | |||
| SB20 | Thursday Racing | The Crichton Cup | Carpe Diem | Colin Galavin Richard Hayes |
| SB20 | Saturdays series A | Bealtaine Trophy | Leviathan | Tadgh Donnelly |
| SB20 | Saturdays series B | Lunasa Rrophy | Black | James Gorman |
| SB20 | Saturday Racing overall | Saturday SB20 Cup | Venues World | Ger Dempsey |
| Mixed Sportsboat | Thurs Series B & Sat Series B | Ram Jam | Austin Kenny | |
| Mixed Sportsboat | Sat Series A | Sea Jade | Olivier Prouveur | |
| Mixed Sportsboats | Tuesdays Overall 8 Races | Cut Glass Tumbler | RS 21 291 | Ciaran Georgieff |
| Mixed Sportsboats | Thursdays Overall 8 Races | Thursday Sportsboat Trophy | Big Bad Wolf | David Ryan |
| Mixed Sportsboats | Saturdays Overall 23 Races | Saturday Sportsboat Cup | Jambiya | Martin Ryan & Vincent Lattimore |
| Water Wags | Wednesday 1st Place | Goldsmith Cup | Puffin | Sean & Heather Craig |
| Water Wags | Wednesday 2nd Place | Bluebird Trophy | Moosmie | John O Driscoll |
| Water Wags | Wednesday 3rd Place | G.Pugin Meldon Trophy | Swift | Guy & Jackie Kilroy |
| Flying Fifteens | Thursdays Series A | Ffuzzy | Neil Colin | |
| Flying Fifteens | Tuesdays | Snow White | Jill Fleming | |
| Flying Fifteens | Thursday Racing | Flying Fifteen Gun | Mr Potato Head | Shane Mc Carthy |
| Flying Fifteens | Saturday Racing | Brian S Ryan Trophy | FOMO | David Gorman |
| Flying Fifteens | First in the Silver Fleet | Blake Cup | Rockaffellas | Adrian Cooper Joe McNamara |
| Flying Fifteens | Thursday Series A | Fifty Something Cup | Ffuzzy | Neil Colin Margaret Casey |
| Mermaid | Thursday Racing | Stella Cup | Lively Lady | Geraldine O Neill Mick Hanney |
| Mermaid | Saturday Racing | Iolar Trophy | Jill | Pat Mangan Paul Smith |
| Mermaid | Thursday Racing(Special Conditions) | Amy Cup | Jill | Pat Mangan Paul Smith |
| Mermaid | Saturday Racing (Special Conditions) | J B Kearny Shield | Aideen | Dermot O Neill |
| Squibs | Thurs Series A & Sat Series B | Femme Fatale | Vincent Delaney | |
| Squibs | Thursdays | Minx Trophy | Perequin | Noel Colclough |
| Squibs | Saturdays | Shannon Cup | Perequin | Noel Colclough |
| Dublin Bay 21s | Tuesdays | Daisey Picker Cup | Estelle | Sean Doyle |
| Dublin Bay 21s | Saturdays Overall | The Carson Challenge Cup | Garavogue | Fionan de Barra |
| Dublin Bay 21s | most success in 80% of races | The Inisfallon Cup | Hal Sisk. Most successful Skipper sailing all | |
| four boats in turn | ||||
| Fireballs | Tuesdays | Nuit St. George Trophy | !4854 | Cariosa Power |
| Fireballs | Saturdays | The Fireball Saturday Cup | 14790 | Paul ter Horst |
| IDRAs | Tuesdays Overall | Bay Cup | Dart | Pierre Long & family |
| IDRAs | Saturdays overall 28 Races | The Kennedy Cup | Dunmoaning | Frank Hamilton |
| IDRAs | Special Conditions | The Halfway Trophy | Chaos | Pam McKay |
| IDRAs | Special Conditions | Crews challenge Cup | Dart | Pierre Long & family |
| IDRAs | Special Conditions | Melampus Cup | Sapphire | Lorcan O Sullivan |
| PY Class | Tuesday Racing | Windmill Cup | Orion | Noel Butler |
| PY Class | Saturday Racing 27 races | Early Bird Trophy (re purposed) | Orion | Noel Butler |
| Laser Standard | Tuesday Racing | Lanavere Cup | Ug! | Ross O Leary |
| Laser Radial | Tuesdays | Sailcraft Tray Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
| Laser Radial | Saturdays | Laser Saturday Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
| Laser Radial | Tuesdays and Saturdays combined | DBSC Challenge Trophy | 219126 | Michael Norman |
| Juniors September series | Awarded to:- | |||
| PY Series | PY Junior Trophy | Alina Clarke NYC | ||
| Topper Series | Lawson Cup | Jamie Kirrane NYC | ||
| Optimist Series | Seapoint Cup | Jonathan Dempsey NYC | ||
| RS Feva Series | Mitchel Cup | Basile Dion Jacob Brown RSTGYC | ||
| Laser 4.7 Series | Jimmy Mooney Goblet | Conor Cronin RSTGYC | ||
| Laser Radial | tba | Sam Legge |
ISORA SATURDAY NIGHT CONVIVIALITY
It’s in the best traditions of offshore racing’s proclivity for post-race conviviality that the Irish Sea overall results come to us as the menu for tonight’s ISORA dinner in the National YC. But with a sometimes convoluted history that goes back through several developing organisations to the channel matches of the late 1800s, inevitably some names veer slightly off course.
The mood of the ISORA prize-giving dinner in the National YC is well captured in this photo of Michael Boyd (at that time RORC Commodore) with champion Vicky Cox of Pwllheli, co-skipper of Mojito
RIPPLE EFFECT
Thus it takes an old hand of NWOA racing to realise that somewhere along the line, the “Ripple Cruising Club” emerged mistakenly from the Ribble Cruising Club, which since 1950 has been sailing on, and cruising from, the muddy waters of the River Ribble Estuary at Lytham in Lancashire. But as it was only seriously active on the offshore racing scene back in the early days of ISORA and before that in the early days of the Northwest Offshore Association and the Mersey & North Wales Joint Offshore Committee, it is now up there in lights as the Ripple Cruising Club Cup, won for the Class 2 Championship by Mark Thompson’s Jac y Do from the Welsh side.
ISORA’s 2023 results sheet
VIKING MARINE TROPHY
ISORA’s Viking Marine Irish Coastal series was one of the many trophies taken by Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Royal Irish YC) racing in Class 0 - Rockabill also went on to successfully defend the overall trophy, challenged right to the end by Class 1 champions Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop’s immaculate J/09 Mojito from Pwllheli SC, which also won Plas Heili Welsh Coastal series.
ISORA included the well-supported NYC Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, which despite being raced in the 2023 summer’s supposedly only good weather month of June, is recalled as having been tough and cold if you were slugging it out towards Dingle.
Paul O’Higgins’s JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Royal Irish YC) successfully defended the ISORA overall title, but only by winning the concluding race in September
It was won by visiting American Cookson 50 Privateer (Ron O’Hanley), with Kinsale’s dynamic duo of Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt racing two-handed in the Sun Fast 3300 Cinnamon Girl coming second, so the first ISORA boat to make the listings was Pete Smyth’s Sun Fast 3600 Searcher from Dun Laoghaire.
Finally, ISORA’s Pen Maen Plate (named for Pwllheli’s historic manor house of Penmaen, home of that heroically hospitable Welsh offshore racing enthusiast the late Anthony Jones) is for the member who best exemplified the spirit of ISORA in 2023. It was Sam Hall who was most personally was responsible for the vintage J/125 Jackknife (which he co-owns with his father Andrew) somehow appearing everywhere.
Only a slip of a boat, but she certainly gets about. The Hall family’s very special J/125 Jackknife from Pwllheli
This was exemplified by the Middle Sea Race from Malta in late October, when Jacknife successfully found herself in a head-to-head with Conor Doyle’s xP50 Freya from Kinsale. They were both well into the top of their class, but at the finish it was Jackknife which was leading this particular duel, spreading the word that in its 52nd season, ISORA is still very much a force to be reckoned with. And who knows, but in these health-aware times, we might actually see some dancing when Dead Ringers start to do their thing tonight, but back in the olden days when ISORA came into being, a dinner dance was usually described as “Drinking to Music”.
Friendships across the sea – ISORA is all about cross-channel camaraderie, and here, current Chairman Peter Ryan of Dun Laoghaire is helming the Pwllheli-based J/109 Mojito in the Fastnet Race
