#dbscturkeyshoot – A Beneteau First 50 is being chased hard by two J109 designs for the overall lead in DBSC's Turkey Shoot fixture. The fifth race of the series is this Sunday and after four races sailed and some changing handicaps, the overall scores are getting very interesting.  

Mermaid IV has an overall lead of six points from Dear Prudence. A J/109 sistership and Turkey Shoot regular, Indecision, is third by a single point.

The overall scoresheet for the 67–boat fleet is downloadable below.

#insc – Clear skies, 15 kts from the South West and a flat sea greeted all competitors for the fourth race of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club Rathfarnham Ford Turkey Shoot series writes Kenny Rumball. Fintan Cairns laid the course we all love in the Turkey Shoot, a quick beat to the outfall mark off the west pier with then a long run down to round the Muglins Island off Dalkey Island, not to mention a small kink of a dog log in Scotsmans bay which was there to test boat handling as kites needed to be dropped for the short fetch. Starts and Handicaps for yesterday are downloadable below.

In start three or what is commonly looking like the 1720 start, the level of competitiveness has been building throughout the series. Despite INSC1's (Skipper Kenneth Rumball) efforts to push the fleet above the barging line failed and in a questionable 'Clear Start' INSC1 was down the pan up the first beat. INSC2 Alexander Rumball tustled with Brain Matthews and crew from the NYC and Collie Byrne and crew aboard Lady A up the left hand side of the race track hugging the harbour walls to get a few crucial lifts from the wind bends. Martin Byrne and crew from the RstGYC kept out of trouble up the right hand side of the course.

At the top mark, INSC2 was right in the mix of the top boats, followed by a quick hoist and a gybe out to clear breeze looked to be a good option for the team as opposed to the rest of the fleet who took a track closer to the Harbour walls. Some tight sailing especailly between Martin Byrne and Niall O'Neill tested crew's boat handling at Fintan's kink in the course into Scotsman's bay. Niall ONeill was an unfortunate casualty of the test with a spinnaker wrap causing valuable time. INSC2 (skipper Alexander Rumball) suffered some technical issues with their tack-line on the re-hoist causing them to loose some valuable time sailing under main and jib on the long downwind.

While most boats sailed a course in under the Forty Foot and Loreto Dalkey, the team on INSC1 sailed dead down the rhumb line towards the Muglins with excelent rrimming from the crew keeping the baot moving at full tilt. The more direct course paid off at the bottom mark as INSC1 had moved to third 1720 aroundthe Muglins only a hairs breath behind Brian Matthews and team with both boats not leaving an inch to spare around the iconic mark. The beat home was mainly a tight fetch with only a handful of tack along the 2.25nm leg back to the harbour mouth. The kink was still there to contend with but Martin Byrne and team sailed fast to finish first 1720 across the line followed by Brian Matthews and team in second and INSC1 taking third.

It was a fantastic last leg with the 1720s revelling in perfect conditions for the boats sailing higher and faster than the lfeet with only Wow (Farr42) and Mermaid V (First 50) beating them for line honours.

INSC race skippers, Kenneth and Alexander Rumball then went on to coaching/racing duties in the DMYC Frostbite series.

Our junior teams competing in the PY fleet in their double handers and adult sailors competing in their Laser dinghies enjoyed a thrilling two races with Kenneth and Alexander giving a thorough de-brief and answering tactical and other questions at the end of the day in the INSC clubhouse.

#dbsc – The latest Turkey shoot results for Dublin Bay Sailing Club have been published this afternoon and reveal a new overall leader in the 51–boat fleet.

The 1720 sportsboat 'Third time Lucky' has a 2.5 point winning margin over the ILC 30 'Incorrect'. 

Third overall is DBSC regular, the Mustang 30 Peridot.

Full overall results to date are availabe to download below as a word document.

#dbscturkeyshoot – It was a tough day for INSC teams in DBSC Turkey Shoot Race three but a better day for the INSC dinghy teams in the DMYC Frostbite series yesterday afternoon. From last week's dominant performance in the Turkey Shoot, both INSC teams were in top spirits heading out into a sloppy north easterly race track with wind against tide and around 10-15 kts of wind speed. A shifty breeze was changing the bias of the line rapidly and despite a start where most were over, the team got away in the middle of the bunch on the more port side of the ine.

Up the beat, INSC1 (Kenneth Rumball) went initially left but then came out to the right hand side while INSC2 (Alexander Rumball) held on out to the left a bit longer coming into the weather mark a bit below the port layline. It was the closest race so far in the 1720 fleet racing on the bay with Brain Matthews around first on the NYC boat, followed by INSC2, then INSC 1 with a tight gap of the Colin Byrne's entry from the RIYC rounding just below INSC1 and Niall O'Neill and Martin Byrne sailing Merlin from the Royal St George just behind.

On the downhill leg of the two lap windward leeward, Brian Matthews and team got away cleanly allowing them to gybe out to the left early followed quickly by Lady A from the RIYC and INSC2. At this stage Martin Byrne used his prior 1720 experience, powering through at high angles to get up to third by the next bottom mark. The usual tight 1720 racing followed on afterwards with small place changing but tow boats in particular gained mostly being Martin Byrne and Niall O'Neill.

INSC1 suffered on poor spinnaker work with a wrapped kite on the next downhill putting them at the back off the 1720 pack. Despite this, some great sailing and surfing in cracking conditions had a smile on all crews on the way home after another faultless race by the DBSC race committee team.

Moving to the afternoon, our INSC teams took to the water for the DMYC frostbite series in the INSC dinghy fleet. A smart move by Olivier Prouveur and team to run the race outside the harbour in 'cleaner' breeze gave all a five lap trapezoid style race track. Junior racers from the INSC were competing primarily in the PY fleet and all enjoyed considerable success compared to the initial race over two years ago.

Race coaches Alexander and Kenneth were competing in their boats in the RS400 and Fireball class respectively. Kenneth and crew Brian Byrne made it two from two while Alexander managed a credible 3rd in his first race of the series.

#dbscturkeyshoot – With the tweets from the Dublin Bay Buoy giving an average wind speed of 10kts and gusts of 16kts, the two INSC teams (INSC1 skippered by Kenneth Rumball, INSC2 skippered by Alexander Rumball) headed out to the second DBSC Turkey Shoot race with smiling crews after the baptism of fire from the previous week writes Kenny Rumball. Such light southerly winds meant most 1720s thumbed a tow from passing engine driven yachts to hitch a lift to the outer harbour. As the training days for both INSC teams were mostly blown out, the two teams took advantage of the lighter conditions to practise a few hoists gybes and drops of the bigger mast head spinnakers on the 1720s.

Shifty conditions gave Fintan Cairns and his team on Freebird a tricky course to lay, so shifty that between the second and third start, there was almost a 50 degree shift from the south to south east turning a square start line into a heavily biased pin end line inside the sequence. INSC2 lined up for a run in on port tack at the pin end whereas INSC1 took a more conservative start on starboard tack near the pin end. INSC2 pulled off a great start but with a narrow infringement with a RIYC boat forcing the INSC2 team to do a few penalty turns. INSC1 got buried in the line and immediately set about rolling into a few tacks in the shifty conditions to pull back into the race. It was anybody's guess as to what was the best track up the beat, INSC2 went out towards the left side with one of the Royal St George 1720s, Merlin, helmed by Ben Cooke and the National Yacht Club entry helmed by Brian Matthews. INSC1 took a route more up the middle of the track availing of the puffs and shifts coming in from the right hand side of the beat. The boats on the left ended up in a hole near the top mark with the other Royal St George entry helmed by Hugh Butler storming in on the starboard lay line in a lovely little bit of pressure. INSC1 tacked out to fall in behind the Royal St. George boat around the top mark, a quick hoist in almost no wind on the top reach allowed INSC1 to roll most boats by the next mark on the trapezoid course. At this stage INSC1 had managed to squeeze through and find some breeze to gain a dominant lead over the rest of the fleet. INSC2 after struggling in the hole on the top left of the beat had managed to work through the fleet in the downwind legs using some smart sailing to get up into the top end of the fleet.

INSC1 continued with its lead massively reduced up the last beat as the breeze died off again towards the top of the course but still managed to claim line honours followed in a very close finish between the NYC's Brian Matthews and the RstGYC's team lead by Ben Cooke with Brian Matthews and team claiming the narrow spot for second over the water.

The INSC race team then returned to the water in a horrendous downpour before the start of the DMYC Frostbite series which was unfortunately abandoned today due to lack of wind.

#turkeyshoot – The champion Sigma 33 White Mischief was the winner of a drama–filled first race of the 2014 DBSC Turkey Shoot on Dublin Bay last Sunday. Second was Black Velvet with the A35 Another Adventure third. Full results for the Rathfarnham Ford sponsored series is downloadable below.

#dbscturkeyshoot – The sailor at the centre of Sunday's air-sea rescue drama on Dublin Bay has been released from hospital. Rescue services who responded to the emergency suspected a spinal injury to a crew member after they were called to the dismasted yacht Elandra, a competitor in the Rathfarnham Ford Sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot series.

Race organisers said last night no spinal or major injuries were sustained. Happily, the injured male sailor, who was kept in hospital overnight only for observation, is said to be making a good recovery.

The organisers have thanked rescue services including the Coast Guard and the RNLI.

#turkeyshoot – The 2014 Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot Series sees the third time the INSS has entered two 1720 Sportsyachts into the exciting winter series writes school principal Kenny Rumball. The 1720s are skippered by Kenneth and Alexander Rumball as part of our race training programme where we aim to teach our crews the techniques and intensity required to race at the top of the fleet. With a training weekend having been blown out the previous weekend and the reserve day being the Saturday afternoon before racing also blown out, our teams had little practise time ahead of stepping on to the boats on Sunday morning. Initial forecasts and the weather in the morning was a manageable 16-18kts.

Boats rigged, masthead spinnakers plugged in, the two teams headed out into slightly more breeze than forecast, a quick change down from mast head to fractional kites prior to the start as we now saw gusts up pas t 20kts. Both teams started well with INSC1 (Kenneth) more towards the starboard end of the line and INSC2 (Alexander) more towards the pin end of the line. Neither INSC teams made the mistake of going to the far right of the bay where the prior two fleets mistook the Flying Fifteen windward mark as our windward mark despite assurances from the committee boat that the mark was 'well left'. INSC1 sailed up the middle of the beat covering Colin Byrne and his team on RIYC and Brian Matthews skippering a 1720 from the NYC. INSC2 went the best way up the beat and went well left, popping around the top mark ahead of most of the the two fleets that started prior to us. INSC2 attempted to fly the masthead spinnaker on the top reach but were wiser and doused it before taking an early bath. INSC1 rounded as third 1720 and could not catch INSC2 or the experienced crew racing the NYC boat with Brian. The pecking order at the top of the fleet stayed much the same with Brian and his team from the NYC claiming the spot of first 1720 across the line followed by INSC2 and then INSC1. A thrilling start to the series in challenging conditions with some breakages and an injury to which both INSC teams express their best wishes to the injured crew member.

'Big Boat' racing over, and the attention turned to the DMYC Frostbite Series where for the first time, the INSC/INSS gave our club members the opportunity to race in this fantastic series in our fleet of performance dinghies backed up by on the water support and coaching and a de-brief after every race. With views from the team INSC skippers Kenneth and Alexander sailing their Fireball and RS400 respectively and on the water support given by Glyn Williams, our new programme give a unique perspective on how to improve your dinghy racing. We have four adult members sailing Laser dinghies with one of our dinghy instructors also chartering one of our lasers before forgetting the four double handers we have entered crewed by members of our Junior Club programme.

Following on from the mornings racing the conditions had somewhat moderated slightly for the afternoon. Our new racers thoroughly enjoyed the intensity of the new experience with big smiles and a steep learning curve ahead of them. Also racing were other members of our junior club in their RS Feva dinghies. All sailors enjoyed a thorough debrief after racing in the INSC Clubhouse where Kenneth gave his inside view on how to win the days race after a close battle with long time competitor Noel Butler a former INSS pupil. Alexander was able to give his view and answer questions from the perspective of the coach RIB for the day due to a parts delay for his RS400.

All our sailors then made their way to the DMYC Clubhouse for some coffees and hot soup with Carlos and Fiona behind the bar and kitchen delighted to see some new faces.

Our winter racing programmes are now full but if you are interested in these programmes, we will have some spots available after the Christmas break.

#dbsc– The Irish National Sailing Club (INSC) competed in the Rathfarnham Ford sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot Series 2013. Here, club skipper Kenneth Rumball (also the Irish Fireball dinghy champion), reviews the school's performance and concludes how evenly both boats were matched over the seven race series.

Sunday the 3rd of November and the two Irish National Sailing Club race teams, INSC 1 skippered by Alexander Rumball and INSC2 skippered by Kenneth Rumball made their way across to the Royal Irish Yacht Club where the boats were on the pontoons ready for the first race of the 2013 Rathfarnham Ford Turkey Shoot series.
With an awful forecast and many crews wondering if we would actually be racing, our teams rather nervously readied the boats to head out in a steady 25-30kts. Being one of the first boats to launch, we headed out and blasted out to wards the committee boat with only our mainsails up followed later by the rest of the fleet. This was our first race for our crews with absolutely no prior training with their respective helms in the 1720s due to rough weather. As such an initial race in 30kts in a 1720 was more a case of holding on and just getting around the race track, not even a mention of spinnakers!
Race two on the 10th of November greeted us with conditions more suited to the 1720, a gentle 12kts from the South West decreasing during the morning. This allowed us to really concentrate on the racing and get all crews used to the spinnakers and how to handle them. In the lighter conditions, we were more up towards to the top of the pack chasing for line honours.
Race three and four saw both boats improving all the time. Both teams were now fighting with the like of Prof in the J70 and Déjà vu the 1720 from the NYC in original form. This tight racing in the light airs was brilliant for our crews, really seeing what the good sailors at the top end of the fleet are aiming towards. Hard lessons were learnt and concentration really was key to success in these races. There was a healthy rivalry developing between the younger crew on INSC1 and wiser crew on INSC2. Both crews were becoming constantly aware of where the other boats were. At the end of race four, both boats were lying joint 9th overall!
The fifth race of the series saw Fintan and his team send us off on a short upwind followed by a long downwind with the Muglins being the leeward mark. INSC1 took an early lead over INSC2 on this long spinnaker leg down to the Muglins, getting towards it Kenneth on INSC2 was still a bit behind but wanted to get ahead. Some great spinnaker work by the crew with a flawless kiwi drop of the kite while the helm took such a tight line around the island, one could have potentially reached out over the side of the boat and touched the rock saw us sail inside INSC2 and Déjà vu amongst others. A short beat up towards Loreto Dalkey with a strong ebb tide saw a great corss tacking phase between INSC2 and Mermaid, the eventual overall winner. INSC1 stayed close in phase but after a great comeback it was INSC2 on top in joint 4th and INSC back in unlucky 13th.
Lots to play for in the last two races, race six saw both boats and their main rivals sporting an OCS on the scoreboard so nothing too much to report from that race. Our final race last Sunday was according to the forecast to be potentially blown out, however hugely light conditions off the start line saw us sailing with two crew situated on the leeward side of the boat! Tight racing between all the 1720s and the J70 had us all bunched together at the top mark. All 1720s were sporting the smaller 'chicken' or fractional kites due to the sever forecast. A good hoist followed by a faulty slef tripping fractional kite halyard meant INSC2 suffered a severe setback, retrieveing their kite from the sea whil rushing to rig the mast head. INSC1 took control of the race on the next downwind and on the next tricky beat they at one stage took the lead in the race. Rounding the next top mark, INSC2 had been catching up and INSC1 took the go big or go home approach, with both boats throwing the mast head kites up in a strengthening breeze. Good speeds and big smiles as both crews had the most memorable downwind ride of the series.

Here is a short view from one of our crews, Pat;
'Throwing 5 people together, on a windy October Sunday morning, who had never me each other before, with a 40 year age gap range, was the start of a marvellous 7 Sunday expose to racing on a 1720 in Dublin Bay. Most of us had limited knowledge of sailing so the initial drills and exercises were somewhat daunting especially when it came to flying the kite.
By the end of the race series we had learned a lot, had become dab hands at handling kites and got to know each other as if we had been ship mates for years'.

With INSC1 finishing 11th and INSC2 13th in the overall results, it shows how evenly the boats were matched. Both crews had an excellent time on their skippers wish to see them bringing their skills onto other boats in Dun Laoghaire.

The INSC will have boats entered in the DBSC Spring Chicken series so if you want to experience racing at the top end of the fleet followed by weekly email de-briefs accompanied by top tricks, hints and tips, don't wait and sign up as spaces are limited!

#dbsc – Neither a J109 or a 1720 sporsboat could match the pace of the consistent performance of the Beneteau First 50, (Seamus Fitzpatrick) the overall winner of the 2013 Rathfarnham Ford sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot that concluded on Dublin Bay yesterday in moderate to strong conditions.

The J109 Indecision (Declan Hayes and others) was second overall to Mermaid IV, by a margin of 20 nett points.

It was only the second time in the 12–year history of the series that the full seven race series was completed.

Third was the Cartoonist, a 1720 (Ken Lawless and others) just two points behind the J-boat. Full race results for yesterday are downloadable below with overalls series results also available below.