#DBSC – Dublin Bay Sailing Club will kick off the 2012 sailing season with a Spring Chicken series starting in two week's time on Sunday, February 5th.

A series of six races will be held on Sunday mornings under a modified ECHO handicap. Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are very welcome. The event is sponsored by Boatshed.com.

The Entry fee of €60.00  includes temporary membership of Dublin Bay S.C. and National Y.C.

Entry forms are in Dun Laoghaire's waterfront clubs or are available to download here.

Sailing instructions will be available on Sunday 5th February and will be emailed to entrants beforehand.

After sailing, food will be available to competitors in the National Y.C.

Entries should be sent to Donal P. O'Sullivan, 72 Clonkeen Drive, Foxrock, D.18 before Tuesday 31st January.

#SAILING–A new sailing league for 2012 to bring an 'extra focus' to yacht racing in Dublin Bay was the talk of last night's Royal Alfred Yacht Club (RAYC) black-tie awards dinner in Dun Laoghaire. The RAYC racing club will re-launch the 'Superleague' concept – first staged in the 1990s – to a new generation of sailors in 2012 with the aim of 'rewarding the best boats, skippers and crews', across the whole season, in each class in Dublin Bay, the country's biggest sailing centre.

The Superleague will be open to all classes of keelboats in Dublin Bay. In 2011 there were 15 keelboat classes with 300 boats. Visitors from Howth or elsewhere will also be welcomed in to the league. 

The Superleague will consist of 10 individual events/races - six club Regattas - Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Alfred Yacht Club, Howth Yacht Club, National Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Royal St George Yacht Club - together with four Dublin Bay Sailing Club Saturday races - 1 in May, July, August and September. There will be four discards with six results to count. 

Royal Alfred Commodore Peter Beamish believes the Superleague will bring an extra focus to racing in Dublin Bay without adding to an already cluttered event fixture list. It will increase the incentive to all boats to participate in the individual events which make up the Superleague. The club will also be awarding crew prizes which they hope will help boats build and motivate crew panels.

The hope is to provide very close overall results with final results in the balance right up to the last race in the series.

Full details of the RAYC superleague are being finalised and will be available in mid-December. 

#DBSC–The winner of one of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Premier Awards last Friday was also the winner of last Sunday's Turkey Shoot race. In a weekend of wins for the club's only Jezequel 116 marque, Cri-Cri skippered by Paul Colton beat a fleet of up to 66 Turkey Shoot competitors for another excellent race in the pre-Christmas series sponsored by Ian O'Meara from Boatshed.com. Last weekend's results are below.

Last Friday night Cri Cri's performance was proclaimed as 'the best new boat on the DBSC racing scene' at the 118th DBSC prizegiving at the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

Cri-Cri is now fifth overall trailing overall leader Jura, a J109 skippered by Peter Boucher, by 10 nett points. Second overall is Michael O'Neill's X-37 Axiom just one adrift of the leader on 22. Third is the James McCann skippered Mustang 30 Peridot on 28 points.

The third race in the series is on Sunday and follows the National ICRA conference on Saturday. All Cruiser-racers are urged to attend at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire where handicaps for 2012 is one item on the agenda.

DBSC Turkey Shoot (Second Race) Results

1 Cri-Cri
2 Emir Herr
3 Guillemot
4 Peridot
5 Axiom
6 More Mischief
7 Eden Park
8 Legally Blonde
9 White Knight
10 Act Two
11 Muglins
12 White Lotus
13 Jura
14 Asterix
15 Rubicon
16 30 Something
17 Pink Ladies
18 Mermaid V
19 Free Spirit
20 Just Jasmin
21 Karukera
22 Lazy Bones
23 African Challenge
24 Indecision
25 Miss Behavin
26 Yahtzee
27 Sea Safari
28 Violet Flame
29 Calypso
30 Pippa IV
31 Arwen
32 Syzrgy
33 Sapphire
34 Fiddly Bits
35 Lula Belle
36 Kamikaze
37 To Infinity and Beyo
38 Hyflyer
39 Orna
40 Teal
41 Jedi
42 Jabiru
43 Lady Rowena
44 Annabella
45 Obsession
46 Diamond
47= Elandra
47= Jump the Gun
49= Jalapeno
49= Nauti Gal
51 Adrenalin
52 Fflogger
53 Another Adventure
54 Xerxes
55 Jammie Dodger
56 September Song
57 The Great Escape
58 Zephyr
59 Windshift
60 Yoke
61 Vespucci
62 Attitude
63 Great Knots
64 RIYC 1
65 Coumeenole
66 Lara

UCD Sailing
Joker 2
Sirocco
Frutti Di Mare
Phtha
Chouskikou
Two Fried Eggs
Blue Spirit
Nirvana
Crookhaven
Jetstream
Adelie
Isolde

90 trophies as well as 509 pieces of glassware were awarded at last Friday's Dublin Bay Sailing Club prizegiving, the 118th prize giving of the club. Top of the trophy cabinet are DBSC's premier awards, presented to boats that in the judgement of the committee have been sailed over the Dublin Bay season with particular distinction. Here, in his citation from last week's prizegiving,  DBSC Honorary Secretary Donal O'Sullivan salutes the 2011 winners.

Firstly, there is the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Trophy, awarded by the Harbour Company, for the best new boat in DBSC racing. This year's winner is Cri-Cri, sailed by Paul Colton, the best new boat on the DBSC racing scene.

Next is the George Arthur Newsom Cup, first awarded in 1934, to commemorate the Club's Hon.Treasurer, who had died the previous year. He was one of early Dublin Bay pioneers, active in many roles, president of the Wag Club, member of the Royal Irish, co-owner of the famous Dublin Bay 25 footer, Punctillio. This year's winner is Prospect, sailed by Chris Johnston, who dominated 31.7 racing as he and the Johnson family did earlier in the Dublin Bay 24 footer, Harmony. Chris Johnston, then, in Prospect.

We come now to the Waterhouse Shield. Waterhouse was a jewellery firm in Dame St, who used to do the engraving for Dublin Bay before Weir's. The family were active in DBSC and in 1886 presented us with the first shield. It was won outright, after three consecutive wins, by Wm. Randall Cecil Richardson, whose descendants re-presented to the Club in 1951..

This year's winner is Xtravagance, which won almost everything before it in Cruisers 1. It was sailed by Colin Byrne, no stranger to the DBSC prize list. In fact, the Byrne family have been winners of the Waterhouse Shield on at least three other occasions. Growltiger, sailed by his father, Philip, won it in 1994, 1998 and 2000. Philip, I understand, still crews on the Byarne boat. Xtravagance, then, the winner of the Waterhouse Shield.

Next, the Dr. Alf Delaney Memorial Cup, which commemorates a pioneer Dublin Bay dinghy sailor who joined the Club in 1932 and who raced in club races until - I think - about ten years ago. He was also on the Irish Olympic team in 1948. This year's winner - for the most successful boat racing on the DBSC dinghy course- was Laser 153827, sailed by Paul Keane in the PY class, now dominated by its very thriving Laser section. Paul Keane in Laser 153827.

The Brendan Ebrill Memorial Cup commemorates our late Hon Secretary who for many years organised this function. This year it is awarded to Bluefin Two, a 31.7 sailed by Michael and Bernie Bryson., who, I think, won it before when they sailed the original Bluefin.

The last of the premier prizes is the Viking Award, by which DBSC marks its recognition and gratitude to someone who has made a notable contribution to sailing. Those of you who sail in the Blue fleet will be familiar with the clear, bell-like tones of the lady who does out the countdown on the radio. 90 seconds from the start she will call out "one and a hawf" and the rest of the MacLir dutifully repeat it "One and a hawf". The voice, of course, belongs to Ida Kiernan, one-time Commodore of the NY, a former Mermaid sailor who this year in the absence of the usual team leader, organised the manning of MacLir. She has been involved in the organising of many other sailor events as well. So, to Ida Kiernan, of the MacLir team, the Viking Award.

#DUBLIN BAY – Tonight's Dublin Bay Sailing Club Annual Prizegiving 2011 is taking place at the Royal St George Yacht Club and among the top award winners is the X-34 Xtravagance skippered by Colin Byrne from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The prizegiving celebrates a season of successes on the bay and Afloat.ie published the roll of prizewinners in September and tonight over 40 trophies will be presented. See the DBSC 2011 Trophy Winners here.

Xtravagance skippered by Colin Byrne won the Waterhouse Shiled at tonight's DBSC Prizegiving for the top performance in a handicap class

Xtravagance won the overall IRC on Saturdays and Thursdays this season as well as the overall Thursday Echo (although the Royal Irish entry failed to make a clean sweep by two points in Saturday Echo).

Byrne's boat is a standard X-34. He sails with a purely amateur crew including his father, Philip, who is 81 years of age and his brothers among the crew. Xtravagance is the first Class 1 boat to win it for a number of years, it's also an award won on at least two occasions in the 1990s by his father in his yacht Growl Tiger.

 

# DBSC TURKEY SHOOT – Two J109s shared the top slots in the first race of last Sunday's Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot, sponsored this year by Boatshed.com. National Yacht Club Commodore Paul Barrington's Jalapeno beat John Maybury's Joker II by over two minutes for the gun.

There was an impressive fleet of 57 starters who sailed in breeze, a bit of a sea and sunshine! Third was the A34 Another Advenure (Daragh Cafferkey).

Organiser Fintan Cairns has issued a reminder to compeititors to give 'plenty of room and time at all times' for next Sunday's race.

First Race Results below.

1 Jalapeno
2 Joker 2
3 Another Adventure
4 Adrenalin
5 Jump the Gun
6 Indecision
7 Jetstream
8 Jura
9 Fflogger
10 African Challenge
11 Orna
12 Windshift
13= Violet Flame
13= Karukera
15 Pippa IV
16 UCD Sailing
17 Axiom
18 Asterix
19 Pink Ladies
20 Miss Behavin
21 Kamikaze
22= Lula Belle
22= Fiddly Bits
24 Peridot
25 Diamond
26 Yoke
27 Adelie
28 Calypso
29 Legally Blonde
30 Cri-Cri
31 White Knight
32 Chouskikou
33 Act Two
34 To Infinity and Beyond
35 White Lotus
36 30 Something
37 The Great Escape
38 Hyflyer
39 RIYC 1
40 Free Spirit
41 Arwen
42 Annabella
43 Syzrgy
44 Yahtzee
45 Xerxes
46 Sea Safari
47 Guillemot
48 Crookhaven
49 Eden Park
50 Just Jasmin
51 Obsession
52 Muglins
53 Emir Herr
54 Phtha
55 More Mischief
56 Lazy Bones
57 Blue Spirit
Sirocco
Nirvana
Jammie Dodger
Zephyr
Great Knots
Nauti Gal
Rubicon
Teal
Frutti Di Mare
Vespucci
Two Fried Eggs
Lara
Coumeenole
Elandra
Attitude
Jabiru
Lady Rowena
Isolde

#SB3 - As the Dublin Bay Sailing Club SB3 class debates the merits of Saturday versus Sunday club racing with a contracted fleet size next season there has been a call from the North for Irish crews to head to Scotland for a new championships on Loch Fyne next year.

There has been a great deal of effort put into developing the Laser SB3 class on the west coast of Scotland, not all of its has been successful to date.

But there a number of boats and crew committed to racing on the upper clyde for evening and weekend racing.

The class has previously failed to become established in Scotland, possibly as a result of high boat prices in the past according to local sources. However, with the availability of great value second hand boats, and the affordability of racing them, it looks set now to be a success, according to class exponent Doug Paton.

For the 2012 Laser SB3 Scottish Championships, the class are going to Loch Fyne to take part in the Scottish Series event. Here, says Doug, the class will benefit from their own one design class start and nine windward-leeward Races over 3 days organised by the Clyde Cruising Club.

Perhaps there is advice Irish crews can give to Scottish counterparts on the initial set up of the fleet. In 2007 the boat exploded on to the scene creating a national fleet of over 100 boats to instantly become the biggest noe design class in the country.

There will be free craning on 2nd & 4th June provided by Macleod Construction. The class will also benefit from free berthing at the new Portavadie Marina. The class has provisionally booked out the bunkhouse accommodation block in the very nice new development at the marina exclusively to the class. As a further draw intend to have class socials held between tarbert an portavadie with the added help of the water taxi service.

For further information contact Scottish SB3 Rep Doug Paton: [email protected]

David O'Brien reports in this morning's Irish Times Sailing Column on the success of the Dublin Bay Quarter tonner Supernova. The win is among 40 trophies announced by Dublin Bay Sailing Club. The full 2011 Overall results and prizewinners list is below. Results are provisional as some protests are pending.

TROPHY	CLASS	Yacht	NAME	SERIES
Centenary Trophy	Cruisers 0	Tsunami	Farrell	Saturday Echo overall
Knox-Gore Cup	Cruisers 0	WOW	Sisk	Saturday IRC overall
Osterberg Cup	Cruisers 1	Gringo	Fox	Saturday Echo overall
Weir Cup	Cruisers 1	Xtravagance	Byrne	Saturday IRC overall
T.P. Early Cup	Cruisers 2	Peridot	others	Saturday Echo overall
Silver Salver	Cruisers 2	Jawesome II	B. Darcy	Saturday IRC overall
Mercia Cup	Cruisers 3	Pamafe	Costello	Saturday Echo overall
Jack Kennedy Memorial Cup	Cruisers 3	Asterix	M. Bushell	Saturday IRC overall
White Sail Class Trophy	Cruisers 5	Act II		Saturday IRC overall
Anna Livia Trophy	Cruisers 5	Arwen	O'Dwyer	Saturday Echo overall
Bective Lights Crystal Trophy	Sigmas 33	White Mischief	Goodbody	Saturday overall
Arandora Trophy	31.7s	Prospect	Johnston	Saturday Overall-One Design
Long John Silver Cup	31.7s	Attitude	M.Branigan	Saturday Overall- Echo
RIYC Cup	Dragons	Phantom	P.Bowring	Saturdays Overall
Harry Maguire Memorial Cup	Glens	Glenshesk	others	Saturday overall
British Airways Trophy	Ruffians	Diaane II	Alan Claffey	Saturday Overall
The Malindi Cup	Shipmans	Whiterock	Robinson	Saturdays overall
Brian S.Ryan Trophy	Flying 15's	Snow White	burgess	Saturday overall
Iolar Cup	Mermaids	Jill	Pat Mangan	Saturday overall
Shannon Cup	Squibs	Kookabaurra	Dee	Saturday Overall
The Saturday Cup	Fireballs	Licence to Thrill	Smyth	Saturday Overall
The Kennedy Cup	IDRA 14's	Dunmoainin'	Hamilton	Saturday overall
Knox-Gore Bowl	Cruisers 0	Lively Lady	Martin	Thursday Echo overall
Martin Cup	Cruisers 0	WOW	Sisk	Thursday IRC overall
Tiamat Trophy	Cruisers 1	Xtravagance	Byrne	Thursday Echo overall
West Pier Officers cup	Cruisers 1	Xtravagance	Byrne	Thursday IRC overall
Lady Shamrock Trophy	Cruisers 2	Jawesome II	B. Darcy	Thursday IRC overall
Centenary Cup	Cruisers 2	Jester	Curtin Declan	Thursday ECHO overall
Viking Clock Trophy	Cruisers 3	Supernova	P.Shannon	Thursday Echo overall
Smalldridge Cup	Cruisers 3	Supernova	P.Shannon	Thursday IRC overall
Burford Trophy	Cruisers 5	Calypso	Knott	Thursday IRC overall
Gerry Henry Salver	Cruisers 5	Eden Park	Farmer	Thursday Echo overall
Fireseal Sigma 33 Trophy	Sigmas 33	White Mischief	Goodbody	Thursdays overall
Horrigan Cup	31.7s	Attitude	M Branigan	Thursday Overall -Echo
Feanor Trophy	31.7s	Prospect	Johnston	Thursday overall One-Design
Oxford & Cambridge Cup	Dragons	Phantom	& P.Bowring	Thursday overall
Pterodactyl Cup	Glens	Glendun	& Brian Denham	Thursday overall
Huet Trophy	Ruffians	Ruff N Ready	Cullen/Brown/Kirwan	Thursday overall
The Midweek Trophy	Shipmans	Curraglas	Masterson	Thursdays overall
Crichton Trophy	SB3	Flutter	Haughton	Thursday overall
Flying Fifteen Gun	Flying 15's	Mellifluence	T. Leonard	Thursday overall
Minx Trophy	Squibs	Glassilaun	O'Neill	Thursday Overall

Royal St. George Sigma Gwili Two skippered by Paddy Maguire took the gun in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's penultimate race of the summer season on Saturday. Second was Pippa lV (G.Kinsman/K.Blake/M.O'Brien) and third the Irish Champion Sigma White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. The full DBSC Saturday results are below:

BENETEAU 31.7 Echo - 1. Kernach (Eoin O'Driscoll), 2. Fiddly Bits (Kevin Byrne et al), 3. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Prospect (Chris Johnston), 2. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson), 3. Magic (D.O'Sullivan/D.Espey)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Lively Lady (Derek Martin), 2. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell)

CRUISERS 0 Echo - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. Lively Lady (Derek Martin)

CRUISERS 1 Echo - 1. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 2. Adrenalin (Joe McDonald), 3. Xtravagance (Colin Byrne)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 2. Jalapeno (Dermod Baker et al), 3. Indecision (Declan Hayes et al)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Jawesome 11 (V.Kennedy/M.Dyke), 2. Peridot (Jim McCann et al), 3. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power)

CRUISERS 2 Echo - 1. Peridot (Jim McCann et al), 2. Frolix (Noreen Tighe), 3. Graduate (D O'Keeffe)

CRUISERS 3 Echo - 1. Saki (Paget McCormack et al), 2. Cri-Cri (P Colton), 3. Pamafe (Michael Costello)

CRUISERS 3 - 1. Supernova (K.Lawless et al), 2. Cri-Cri (P Colton), 3. Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell)

DRAGON - 1. Phantom (D.Williams/P.Bowring), 2. Susele (Michael Halpenny), 3. Scorcher (G Purcell)

FLYING FIFTEEN Race 1- 1. Rollercoaster (Tom Murphy), 2. The Gruffalo (Keith Poole), 3. Fflogger (Alan Dooley)

FLYING FIFTEEN Race 2- 1. The Gruffalo (Keith Poole), 2. Rollercoaster (Tom Murphy), 3. Snow White (Frank Burgess)

GLEN - 1. Pterodactyl (R & D McCaffrey), 2. Glenroan (Terence Moran), 3. Glenshesk (L.Faulkner et al)

IDRA 14 FOOT Race 1- 1. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 2. Dart (Pierre Long), 3. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne)

IDRA 14 FOOT Race 2- 1. Sapphire (Lorcan O'Sullivan), 2. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 3. Dart (Pierre Long)

MERMAID Race 1- 1. Jill (P.Smith/P.Mangan), 2. Kim (D Cassidy), 3. Aideen (B.Martin/D.Brennan)

MERMAID Race 2- 1. Jill (P.Smith/P.Mangan), 2. Kim (D Cassidy)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Diane ll (Bruce Carswell), 2. Ruff N Ready (Ann Kirwan et al), 3. Ruffles (Michael Cutliffe)

SHIPMAN - 1. Whiterock (Henry Robinson), 2. Invader (Gerard Glynn), 3. Macro One (Joseph Murray)

SIGMA 33 - 1. Gwili Two (D.Clarke/P.Maguire), 2. Pippa lV (G.Kinsman/K.Blake/M.O'Brien), 3. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody)

SQUIB Race 1- 1. Kookaburra (P & M Dee), 2. Little Bird (N Barnwell), 3. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago)

SQUIB Race 2- 1. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago), 2. Nimble (Brian O'Hare), 3. Tais (Michael O'Connell)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS Echo- 1. Coumeenole (Bill Kavanagh), 2. The Great Escape (P & D Rigney), 3. Act Two (Michael O'Leary et al)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. Act Two (Michael O'Leary et al), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Zephyr (R Cahill-O'Brien)

Tomorrow is the penultimate race of the DBSC season, a season in which the 350-boat club tackled the long standing problem of crew shortages. Together with Dun Laoghaire's waterfront yacht clubs, DBSC introduced an 'Ensign Class' to extend the possibility of bay racing to a greater of people.

Up to 1,500 sailors race each Thursday and Saturday during the Summer but typically cruiser classes, which represent the bulk of the fleet, always run short of crew. A typical 30 foot boat can require a crew pool of 15 or more.

People with no experience are now being taken afloat in a cosseted fashion by the club and introduced to the rudiments of sailing.

The idea has proved so successful the National Yacht Club now operates a waiting list for its club 1720 sports boats, the Ensign class of choice.

The hope is that racing skippers, who rarely want complete novices onboard but who are nevertheless short of crew, will be encouraged to pick from those graduating from the Ensigns.

DBSC's Hon-Sec Donal O'Sullivan says the pilot project looks set to continue into the winter for the popular Turkey Shoot Series.