Last night’s DBSC race for the Flying Fifteens was challenging on Dublin Bay! And post-race, ashore, the Race Officer, John McNeilly, also conceded that it wasn’t an easy night! Of course, it wasn’t his fault, Mother Nature gave us another light wind puzzle to work out.

The scenario! High tide at 19:10. A forecast from XCWeather suggested 4-6 knots from a westerly direction which wasn’t the case on the water. Initially, a committee boat that was moving around, in what has been posted on the results website, as a South-Easterly of 6 knots.

The course for the night – East-Omega-Pier-Omega-Harbour, (all to starboard) – Finish. A clean start saw the fleet having different approaches to the first leg to East. All started on starboard tack but a quintet of boats pioneered an offshore approach to the first leg. Included in this group were Niall & Laura Coleman (4008), Gerry Ryan & crew (4045), Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (4026) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). This group was reduced to two for the latter half of the beat, Ryan and Mulligan. On the inshore side of the beat, boats to the fore included Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Adrian Cooper & Joe (3896). A mix of inshore and offshore boats made up the first five-six boats for the two-sail leg to Omega. My “call” on the pecking order is Murphy (P), Cooper, Colin, John O’Sullivan (3762) Coleman, Mulligan. The latter had Dumpleton sail through him and Ryan also closed on Mulligan.

The spinnaker leg to Pier saw a similar division of thought as to how to get there. An approximate 50:50 split saw the advantage go to those who pursued an inshore course and Coleman certainly got into the podium places as a consequence. Cooper and Colin maintained their spots at the head of the fleet, but Murphy (P) dropped back. The rounding of Pier saw boats coming in from both sides and there were gentlemanly donations in response to calls for water. At this rounding, Murphy (T) had closed on Mulligan as well. The leaders set off for Omega again with an offshore approach. Mulligan found himself on the inshore track of the beat, in a lifting breeze which was dying and was rewarded by rounding in fourth place, with Cooper, Coleman and Dumpleton ahead (I think). Yet again the fleet split for the downwind to Harbour, but the spread was much more significant with Colin leading a charge (poetic licence) out to the right-hand side. Others followed!! Cooper tried to sail a rhumb-line to the mark but in the fading wind found that he had to deviate from that philosophy.

Coleman, Murphy (T), Mulligan and latterly Niall Meagher & Nicki Mathews (3938) and Dave Mulvin & Chris Doorly (4068) pioneered the inshore route, getting so close to the East Pier that they had to gybe away from the wall. That forced them more towards the middle of the course, but Meagher went back inshore for another bite and made places as a consequence. Meanwhile, better breeze had arrived for those who went hard right and Colin & Casey were making strides (poetic licence) to the leeward mark under a healthy spinnaker set. Others to benefit were Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753), Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan (3960) and Dumpleton.

Of the first five boats home, only Cooper hadn’t gone far right on the run. His efforts on the night, staying in the podium places on the water for the longest duration of the fifteen boats racing, was rewarded with a second place behind Colin & Casey. Behind Cooper the order was Court, Dumpleton and Quinn. The early inshore boats were left to close out 8th, 9th and 11th respectively.

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens 21 July.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 4028
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe 3896
3. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 3753
4. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 4026
5. Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan 3960

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 25pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 46pts
3. Keith Poole/Ian Matthews/Tom Galvin 52.5pts
4. Niall/Susan/Laura Coleman 60pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 64pts.

Last night’s DBSC Thursday Flying Fifteen evening race saw another light wind session on Dublin Bay, but conditions ashore, before the race, suggested, again, that we might not get a race. All the flags within sight of the NYC platform were hanging limp. However, the tricolour at the end of the East Pier was showing some life and launching into the harbour, there was enough wind to get the Fifteens moving quite readily. XCWeather was suggesting winds of 6 – 9 knots fluctuating around the westerly point of the compass, but on the water, the wind was more SSE (150°) and Race Officer was advising that he had 8/9 knots. Accordingly, he set another triangle-sausage course, same as last week, Bulloch-Island-Pier-Island-Pier-Finish. Our reconnaissance suggested that inshore there was less breeze and with a flooding tide all evening, strength of breeze was going to be critical.

On that basis we decided to start at the outer end of the line and were joined at the pin end by Gerry Ryan (4045), Team Sherry (4056), Team Coleman (4008) and Team Murphy (4057). Niall & Susan Coleman were the first to abandon this idea and headed inshore, Peter Sherry & daughter followed suit as did Tom Murphy, leaving Ryan and Mulligan ploughing a lonely offshore furrow relative to the other 12 boats, including Hayling Island returnees, David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068). The two offshore boats stayed on the left-hand side of the course for about 75% of the beat before tacking across to the shore, Ryan going first. As they headed inshore it became very apparent that they had both stolen a march on the fleet. Ryan was to leeward of Mulligan and marginally ahead but started pushing upwind and squeezing Mulligan who felt obliged to tack. They were still in close company as they approached Bulloch on starboard but a Sportsboat, also rounding Bulloch hampered Mulligan’s final boat-lengths’ approach.

The leg to Island was a two-sailer with compensation for the flooding tide. Ryan went marginally low allowing Mulligan to close on him, but Ryan held on to round Island first and went for a conventional spinnaker hoist and the right-hand side of the run. Mulligan hoisted spinnaker and gybed immediately and got the dividend of better inshore breeze. If a line at 90°to Mulligan hull had been drawn, it would have shown that he was ahead on the water, but Ryan was a good distance offshore in comparison and Mulligan had Pier just off his port bow.

Mulligan went round Pier with a comfortable margin on the fleet while Ryan lost at least two, if not three places. The pecking order behind Mulligan was now Niall & Susan Coleman, followed by Ian Mathews & Tom Galvin (4093). For the early part of the beat to Island, Mulligan was comfortable, but then the breeze began to fade and playing the shifts and keeping the boat moving became more important. Initially the Colemans closed and then overtook Mulligan. However, by going separate ways shortly thereafter, Mulligan regained the lead and distance on Coleman but found that Mathews was also in close proximity. At the leg progressed towards its latter stages, Mulligan and Mathews were out on the left with Coleman inshore. And when Mathews and Coleman crossed, Mathews had gone into second place, by a boat-length. Mulligan managed to put some distance between the chasing boats and after some short tacking got around Island at which there was a river of tide. While a spinnaker went up, it was doing nothing useful, but with the tide underneath them, Mulligan & Bradley streaked away from their chasers who were still fighting the tide to get to Island. On the sea-side of East Pier, we could see Ruffians and Shipmans flying spinnaker as they sailed away from the harbour, a westerly breeze was coming in! As Mulligan & Bradley readied themselves for a beat, the Colemans and Mathews & Galvin and the balance of the Fifteen fleet were flying spinnakers into Island.

Mulligan’s lead at this stage extended to 75% of the leg between Island and Pier, a very comfortable margin. A short spinnaker leg to the finish closed the account for the evening. Behind them the finishing order was Colemans, Mathews & Galvin, Murphy (P) & Ciara Mulvey (3774) and Murphy (T) & crew (4057).

DBSC Thursday 14th July: Flying Fifteens
1. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081)
2. Niall & Susan Coleman (4008)
3. Ian Mathews & Tom Galvin (4093)
4. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774)
5. Tom Murphy & Crew (4057)

Flying Fifteens Overall
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) 24pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) 37pts
3. Keith Poole, Ian Mathews & Tom Galvin) (4093) 39.5pts
4. Niall & Susan Coleman (4008) 52pts
5. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) 52.5pts

By way of a straw pole on their WhatsApp Group the Flying Fifteen fleet signed up to a three-race DBSC programme offered by designated Race Officer for the day, Barry O’Neil.

On arrival at the waterfront, the prospect of three races seemed to be a bit optimistic given the wind conditions and the forecast. XCWeather was only promising 4-6knots from a northerly direction moving eastwards as the afternoon wore on. Overhead, the clouds weren’t doing much to suggest there was breeze either. And yet, the Irish tricolour flying at the end of the East Pier suggested that there was something in the bay.

Over the radio, our Race Officer indicated that he was in mobile mode to accommodate MacLir doing the big boat race but latterly his problem was a wind from a Southeast/SSE direction that wouldn’t settle and later again there were problems when he sought to relay the weather mark. However, the best efforts of the committee boat and the mark-layers allowed a three-race programme to be completed, with a short final race being squeezed in before the afternoon was out.

It would be impossible to give a detailed account of three races from memory, so this piece will instead concentrate on some of the aspects of the day!

The “Performance of the Afternoon” Award has to go to Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774, Hera) who won the first and last races of the day. In the first race they were well placed throughout the race rounding the first weather mark of a windward-leeward course of two laps in 3rd place behind Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081, Enfant de Marie) and Conor O’Leary & Margaret Casey (4028, Ffuzzy). These positions stayed intact for the downwind leg, but on the second beat, first Fuzzy and then Hera got past Enfant de Marie and on the second downwind leg, Hera took the lead and the winning gun on the short hitch to the finish.

The “Most Astute Start of the Day” Award goes to Ian Mathews & Chris Doorly (4093, Mike Wazowski) who executed a perfect port-tacked, pin end start and were never headed thereafter. Mulligan & Bradley were closest to them on starboard tack and took the same inshore route approach to the beat. As with the first race, these two were never headed, but behind them the chasing pack was having a good competition. In the end Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938, Ffantastic Mr Fox) won through to 3rd place with Murphy & Mulvey coming home fourth. On this basis, three boats were tied on five points each (if it had been a day regatta) – Murphy & Mulvey (1,4), Mathews & Doorly (4, 1) and Mulligan & Bradley (3,2). While one boat had departed after Race 1, a number of others departed after Race 2, leaving a slightly depleted fleet for the third race, a single lap race to the inner weather mark (used previously by Squibs and Mermaids), with the promise of an upwind finish.

The “Symmetry of the day” Award goes to the aforementioned Peter Murphy and Tom Murphy, crewed by Carel (4057, Fflagella) who finished first and second in this race. Mathews & Doorly had departed the scene after their first place so the day’s overall honours should have been a call between Murphy P and Mulligan. However, the least effective start of the day in this race gave Mulligan some work to do and the fading breeze didn’t help his cause either. Murphy & Mulvey led a charge into the weather mark from the left-hand side of the course with Mulligan working the right-hand side in isolation. That basically sealed the outcome of the theoretical “winners of the day” chase.

If it were a “day regatta”, the results might read as follows, all races to count;

1. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey – 1, 4, 1 = 6pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley – 3, 2, 5 = 10pts
3. Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews – 6, 3, 4 = 13pts
4. Ian Mathews & Chris Doorly – 4, 1, DNC = 15pts
5. Tom Murphy & Carel – 9, 11, 2 = 20pts.

In overall terms, DBSC has the series recorded as follows,

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang, 4099, 14pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley, 4081, 23pts
3. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, 4028, 24pts.

Sixteen Flying Fifteens took to the water for the first July Thursday race of DBSC and needed a second attempt at starting to get the race underway. Race Officer John McNeilly set a simple “triangle – sausage course” using Bulloch, Island and Pier, with the “sausage” being between Pier and Island. There was then a short upwind leg from Pier to the finish. Despite John’s warning of the consequences of an ebbing tide a General Recall was signalled for the first start and thereafter the fleet got underway under a “U” Flag. It is only on review of the results for this report that I see that one boat fell foul of the “U” flag.

The wind was not in accordance with the forecast I use, coming from a SE direction, hence the use of Bulloch as the windward mark. With an ebbing tide all evening, the question was, “Where was the better wind”, which wasn’t in huge supply in the first place. The first beat had crews sitting on the windward deck but that was about as good as it got. At the pin end of the start that got away, we had two boats attempting a port-tack start. One was more successful than the other, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) clearing the entire fleet off the line. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) didn’t quite achieve that and had to wend their way through the starboard tack boats to get clear air. Others at the pin end, coming from the committee boat end included Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara (3896) and Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (3955). These two would dominate the front end of the fleet for the whole night with Adrian & Joe McNamara leading the race around every mark bar the last one, when Ken & Joe took over that mantle.
Having worked their way to the inshore side of the course Colin and Mulligan found that others who had started off inshore were in slightly better shape. In this latter bunch we would find Gerry Ryan & crew (4045) Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938) and Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774). At the rounding of Bulloch the order was Cooper, Dumpleton, Ryan, Colin & Mulligan with Meagher, Coleman, Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) and Murphy & Mulvey breathing down Mulligan’s neck.

The long spinnaker leg to Pier saw the fleet spread across the course and initially those who went off to sea fared better, but further down the leg, having transitioned from inshore to offshore, Mulligan looked to have gained places, until breeze came in from the inshore side to see, Meagher, Court, Murphy (P) and Coleman squeeze him wide of the mark. Ahead of this group were Cooper, Dumpleton and Colin.
Mulligan stayed “out of step” from the rest of the fleet and worked the inshore side of the second beat to Island. At times it looked very good, but it didn’t last long enough and with the ebbing tide taking him up to the mark, an easing of sheets marked the final approach to Island. With the fading breeze, the leg to Pier seemed even longer than the first time and the spread of the fleet was even more significant. Cooper and Dumpleton initially took as slightly offshore route which got progressively more offshore as the leg proceeded. At on stage they looked as though they were making a beeline for Clontarf. Between them and Mulligan on the inshore side of the run could be found – Colin, Coleman, Meagher, Murphy (P) with Court marginally further inshore. From this initial position there was a lot of changes with Colin and Coleman gybing to come inshore. Court went offshore and then came back, while Murphy (P) stayed out longer before he too came back inside. Meanwhile Cooper and Dumpleton were still ploughing an offshore furrow. All this in fading breeze.

Colin’s gybe brought him much closer to Mulligan and Coleman followed suit, with both sitting inshore of Mulligan. Slightly later Murphy was in the same position. Mulligan got one or two zephyrs that the others didn’t get and sailed away from them. By this stage we were in the final run in to Pier. Dumpleton had taken Cooper’s place at the head of the fleet and these two arrived at Pier before two Ruffians and two Shipmans that would impact on the rounding of Pier for Mulligan, Coleman, Colin, Murphy (P) and Court. The latter four boats found themselves inside a red-hulled Ruffian who seemed determine to give away the least amount of room possible. Mulligan sailed around the outside of both Ruffians, red-hulled and white-hulled, and a Shipman and holding onto spinnaker till the last possible moment squeezed through a gap that opened up behind the first Shipman. This was enough to get him away from Pier on port tack, in clear air. A subsequent tack to occupy the weather slot relative to Coleman on the starboard tack to the finish, allowed Mulligan to steal third place – an unlikely result give the way the race had gone earlier.

Dumpleton and Copper led the fleet home, in that order and behind Mulligan the finishers, in sequence, were Coleman, Murphy (P), Court and Colin.

Flying Fifteens DBSC, Thursday 7th July.
1. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 3995
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara 3896
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
4. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 3774

Flying Fifteens DBSC Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (24)
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (45)
3. Keith Poole & Others (49.5)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (59.5)
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (60)

In Hayling Island starting today (Friday), the UK Flying Fifteen fleet has their Nationals and there is Irish representation in the form of John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and I assume (but am not certain) Shane McCarthy (4085). The latter has just won the Irish GP14 Nationals as a run-up to the GP14 Worlds, scheduled for August in Skerries. We wish them all fair winds.

Peter Kennedy and Stephen Kane from Strangford Lough YC topped the fourteen-strong fleet of Flying Fifteens at the Northern Championships hosted by County Antrim YC on the north shore of Belfast Lough.

Competitors travelled from as far away as Draycote Sailing Club in the English West Midlands, and the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, Waterford and Connemara.

A fourteen-strong fleet of Flying Fifteens contested the Northern Championships hosted by County Antrim YC Photo: Kathryn Anderson

Race Office Sheela Lewis started the Saturday races in a shifty SSW to SW breeze, average 12kts which necessitated alterations to windward legs after the first beat but they got three two-lap windward/leeward races completed.

On Day 2 the fleet got away in an offshore North Westerly shifting to Westerly of about 8 knots. After Race 4 a lull meant a wait for the breeze to fill in and Race 5 was completed with no further course alterations.

Winners - Peter Kennedy and Stephen Kane from Strangford Lough YC Photo: Kathryn Anderson

Kennedy and Kane (Team Ridgeway) started with a seventh but subsequently counted three wins and although finishing the five races with a sixth were a reasonably comfortable three points ahead of the runners-up, Bryan Willis and John McPeake in Simply Gold from the host club who counted a first and two seconds. Willis and McPeake are previous Leinster GP 14 champions.

Lee Statham and Andrew Paul of Waterford Harbour SC Photo: Kathryn Anderson

In third slot were the Waterford Harbour SC pair, Lee Stratham and Andrew Paul who did win the final race to tie on 14 points with FFRIGT sailed by Peter Lawson and Chris Hannon of Portaferry, also on Strangford Lough.

The next big event at Whitehead is the Whitehead Water Fest 2022 in aid of RNLI Lifeboats on 30th July. Activities will include a long-distance swim, family fun kayak and SUP races a coastal row and raft races.

Cormac Bradley adds: 

A modest fleet of fourteen Flying Fifteens contested a five-race Northern Championship at County Antrim Yacht Club, Whitehead on the northern shores of Belfast Lough. While there were a large number of absentees, there was a boat from Dunmore East, Lee Statham and Andy Paul (4070), two boats from Connemara, Niall O’Brien & Ronan Brien (3621) and Mairtin O’Flatharta & Mike Hopkins (3686) and a single UK numbered entry with Irish and Canadian connections, Tony Gaffney & Raymond Flannagan (4097) out of Draycote Water Sailing Club. The biggest fleet in the country mustered three entries and the balance was made up of northern boats.

Saturday morning at Whitehead was marked by the traditional welcome of tea/coffee with scones and biscuits.

So why such a small-ish entry? Maybe Covid reticence is an issue for some people, completely understandable! One DL combination is concentrating on sailing UK events – again completely understandable! There are at least three boats out with specific injuries to crew members – unavoidable! There was a one-day regatta in Dun Laoghaire (the “George Regatta”) which had an eleven-boat entry and a number of people are concentrating on the Fireball Worlds and practising for that rather than sailing two classes, another two boats. Holidays also take their place in the pecking order – another two boats were out due to specific holiday plans. And of course, with fuel costs being what they are, that too may have put people off. So, for non-speculative reasons, the fleet could have been boosted by at least another eight boats. And that’s all this paragraph is about – speculation!

On the water, our Race Officer had to work continuously on both days to keep the race track relevant. On the Saturday three races were completed and for the first two of these she was able to leapfrog the spreader mark over the weather mark (repeatedly) to make the beat true. However, as the afternoon wore on, the wind moved further westwards and for the final race the marks had to be lifted out of the water and re-laid. On the Sunday the wind was lighter and shiftier and for the second race she had to relay the marks. Consequently, a great deal of credit goes to the RO and her team of mark-layers who were kept busy throughout the weekend and managed to give us five good races.

The breeze on the Saturday was a good 10 – 15knots and in the second race of the day that went up when a big rain shower descended on the race course. In the first race of the day a new combination led the fleet round the course for the vast majority of the race only to lose out narrowly when they engaged in arm-to-arm wrestling with the party in second place. Niall O’Brien had shown in the regatta in Carraroe in May that he knew where to point a Flying Fifteen and he showed that same innate talent in this weekend’s first race. Crewed this time by Ronan Brien, they popped out first at the first weather mark and held onto that position until the final hundred or so metres to the finish of the two lap Windward – Leeward course, with spreader mark and leeward gate. The cause of their demise – being challenged by Bryan Willis & John McPeake for first place. There was luffing and ducking and diving going on but Willis & McPeake came out as the winners. O’Brien & Brien may have lost out but they still had big smiles on their faces at a second place in their first sortie on the Fifteen circuit.

The records will show that Kennedy & Kane won the next three races, but they had to work hard for them all. In the second race of the day, at the finish they were overlapped by Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley and Statham & Paul were only a couple of boat-lengths behind the front two. All three had come down the second run in close company and in a reasonably tight formation.

In the last race of Saturday, the winning pair had a more comfortable race, but still had to keep a weather eye on Willis and Mulligan. Indeed, in the early part of the race with the rain sweeping down from Belfast, Mulligan had deliberately sailed to the “rainy shore” and was looking very good until the final approach to the weather mark when Kennedy and Willis came into the frame. Lawson & Hannon also had a good two races on the Saturday scoring two 4th places, in the latter two races, but were down the pecking order on Saturday night due to a 13th. And then, just to let you know it was July in Ireland, the fleet was drenched in a fierce rain shower as they sailed for home at the conclusion of the day’s racing.
After three races, 1st to 3rd was separated by one point, with Kennedy having that solitary advantage over Willis and Mulligan who were tied on 10 points each.

The acknowledged Whitehead hospitality was again in evidence on Saturday night as three main courses and a generous choice of salads and bread was provided for the competitors and helpers. A glass of wine was also available for those who wished to avail of it.

Sunday morning’s tea/coffee & scones/biscuits was enjoyed in lighter wind conditions from a slightly more northerly direction, still in the western quadrant but more directly offshore from the clubhouse. As usual, competitors were able to get in their boats dry as the beachmaster and his team of helpers, some of whom were chest-deep in the water launched the fleet. The wind was definitely lighter and spinnakers were set to get to the race area. After some moving around to compensate for a wind that wouldn’t settle initially, the fourth race got underway.

“Team Ridgeway”, Kennedy & Kane got away early and led the race throughout followed home by Willis & McPeake. In golf there is a reference to “moving day” which I think is Day 3 of a four-day tournament. Sunday was “moving day” for this fleet. Mulligan & Bradley had a poor start to Race 4 and while they staged a recovery of sorts, they would lose two places on the finish when they were one of three boats, all overlapped, that went through the finish line together. On reflection on Monday morning, I am not sure we should have lost both those places in terms of the finishing sequence recorded! In contrast, Statham & Paul scored a fourth and Lawson & Hannon scored a third which put Mulligan’s 3rd place overnight in severe jeopardy. The last third of this race was sailed in very light conditions which made the downwind leg very tense.

The breeze strengthened a little for the last race of the series and Statham & Paul made an early declaration of intent by leading from an early stage on the first upwind leg. The majority of the fleet had gone left, but one or two pioneers went right and from about 150m off the weather mark, it looked very good for one of those pioneers, Ben Mulligan. However, Statham, Lawson, D’Arcy and Kennedy were all in the frame coming in from the port-hand side and Willis wasn’t too far away either. Kennedy dropped off the pace at the weather mark but Statham had a healthy lead. There wasn’t a great deal of change down the run and up the next beat McCleery & Dougan got inside Mulligan, but not through him at the 2nd weather mark. The first four boats kept right, Statham, D’Arcy, Lawson and Mulligan, but McCleery went left and though he sailed a longer distance, at the leeward gate he was a boat-length ahead of Mulligan. Kennedy and Willis closed out the top seven.

At the prize-giving, the Vice Commodore of CAYC thanked and made presentations to the Race Officer, the Beachmaster and the Lady who led the catering team and their respective teams. He also thanked the competitors for their support and made a special presentation to the UK/Canadian combination for their “distance travelled” to the event.
For the Flying Fifteen fleet, the next calendar date is August and Dunmore East

Results here

On arrival at the National Yacht Club on Thursday evening, the prospects for sailing didn’t look that good. The forecast had been for a handful of knots and the boats trying to finish the Round Ireland race were limping down the east coast of the island in very fickle winds. However, the Irish flag at the end of the East Pier had some life to it and so we launched.

Flying Fifteen Race Officer John Mc Neilly had situated “Freebird” just east of the harbour entrance to avail of a forecast that suggested the wind would start SSE and slowly migrate to SSW. He also, rather cleverly, set a windward-leeward course using two of the fixed Dublin Bay marks, Bulloch (R) and Pier (V), with the length of race set at 3 laps, leaving both marks to Port. It took a bit of thought to decipher the course declaration but when the “penny dropped” it made infinite sense.

We (4081) decided that the thing to do was to get out of the flooding tide, as low water had been in the early afternoon and a preliminary first beat before the start suggested that was the way to go. However, a late check of the line also suggested that the pin was the place to start, which is what we did! Others who shared that view, but with slightly less conviction were Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Ken Dumpleton & Joe O’Reilly (3955) and Tom Murphy & Keith Poole (4057).

Niall & Susan Coleman (4008) didn’t share that view and started closer to the committee boat before working the inside half of the beat. Of the quartet at the pin, Colin bailed first, followed by Mulligan (4081), Murphy (4057) and finally Dumpleton (3955). Mulligan and Colin were looking good halfway up the beat and then it all went pear-shaped. The Colemans looked very good on the inside and to windward, Dumpleton and Murphy also seemed to have found something extra. The rounding order at Bulloch, for the first time was Dumpleton, Murphy, Coleman, Colin and Mulligan with a vanguard of boats behind Mulligan of Frank Miller & Conor O’Leary (3845), Adrian Cooper (3896) and Niall Meagher & Nicky Mathews (3938), all in a threatening position.

Adrian Cooper took a decidedly inshore course to Pier and flying a green spinnaker to great effect, closed on the boats ahead of him in such fashion that he rounded Pier in either first place or a very tight second. Dumpleton, Murphy and Coleman rounded in quick succession and Meagher wasn’t too far off the pace.

By now the breeze was easing which meant that tide was becoming a much bigger factor and the fleet split significantly. Meagher & Mathews went to sea and trumped everyone as a consequence to round Bulloch for the second time in the lead. Colin and Mulligan worked the inshore side of the beat and never got any change out of that approach. Coleman and Murphy managed to hold on to that which they already had as did Dumpleton. At Bulloch for the second time the order was Meagher, Cooper, Coleman, Murphy, Dumpleton and Mulligan had Miller and Frazier (3790) just ahead for very close company. Mulligan gybed early to pursue an inshore course and a second gybe brought him into a shortened course, downwind finish at Pier. Dumpleton was a little too far ahead to catch, but we got close. The better angle of attack allowed two places to be pinched at the finish, leaving a finishing order of Meagher, Cooper, Coleman, Murphy, Dumpleton, Mulligan, Frazier and Miller.

All agreed that getting a race in was a significant achievement given our pre-race scepticism. And RO John McNeilly was commended for shortening when he did – no-one missed the idea of another upwind leg to Bulloch!

DBSC; Thursday 23rd June.

Flying Fifteens (11 boats).
1. Niall Meagher & Nicky Mathews 3938
2. Adrian Cooper & crew 3896
3. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
4. Tom Murphy & Keith Poole 4057
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe O’Reilly 3955.

Overall (with discards)
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 16pts
2. Keith Poole & others 24.5pts
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 34.5pts
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 35pts
5. David Gorman & Michael Huang 36pts

The second of the Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht club regattas was hosted last Saturday, 18th June, by the National Yacht Club and thirteen Flying Fifteens took to the water to contest the Davy-sponsored NYC regatta. The forecast was a more benign 10-15knots NNW going NW in contrast to the previous Saturday when the actual winds were in the high teens with gusts in the low to mid-twenties. The fleet size was also influenced by contestants sailing away events and, one imagines, the holiday season – some NYC stalwarts were conspicuous by their absence – all perfectly understandable. Despite the great heat of the Friday conditions overhead were grey and there was a coolness to the breeze.

Race Officer Barry O’Neil took the fleet out towards the Seapoint side of the Bay and set a weather mark in the lee of the Poolbeg chimneys. With a flooding tide running for the race period, there were early warnings from the RO not to be over the line and for the first racer of the day all the classes had clean starts.

In R1 for the Fifteens, the place to be was towards the pin end of the line, heading in towards the shore and a few took this approach. Among these were Tom Galvin & Keith Poole (4093), Niall and Laura Coleman (4008), sailing with crispy fresh sails, saved for high days and holidays, Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). The latter were enjoying good boat speed and got to the front of this group at an early stage. However, by playing the shifts they soon found themselves towards the middle and right-hand side of the beat and seemingly in a strong position. Galvin/Poole, Coleman² and the Leinster/Blue Bulls combination of Tom & Carel were now working the upper left-hand side of the beat. Mulligan rounded ahead of them all with Galvin, Coleman and Murphy rowing in behind. Dave Gorman & Michael Huang (4099) were next up.

Down the run, Mulligan had to keep a watching brief on Galvin as the distance between these two boats ebbed and flowed but by the end of the leg, Mulligan had managed to eke out a few more boat-lengths of a lead. All of these boats took the right-hand mark of the leeward gate and worked the left-hand side of the beat to varying degrees. And it is the varying degrees that determined the rounding order at the next weather mark as Galvin & Poole fell away and were replaced as the chasing boat by Tom & Carel. Mulligan had marginally increased his lead by working the shifts successfully and the Colemans were also in close proximity to Tom & Carel. At this stage the distance to the rest of the fleet was quite healthy with Galvin still ahead of Gorman, I think.
The third beat saw Mulligan increase his lead over Murphy and Coleman, with Murphy comfortable relative to Coleman. Approaching the leeward gate for the third time it was clear that the boats that had started before the Fifteens were in the process of finishing – causing some confusion. Four laps had been signalled, yet here we were seeing boats finishing after three laps. Only a solitary Dragon could be seen going upwind for the fourth time……….but everyone else was gybing to sail to a finish. As the leading Fifteen, Mulligan and Bradley debated the situation and complied with the herd instinct and got a winning sound signal at the finish, followed by Tom and Carel and the Colemans, with Gorman & Huang taking fourth with Galvin/Poole 5th.

With the wind moving in accordance with the forecast, the weather mark went leftwards towards the Aviva Stadium and out pre-race deliberations decided that the pin was the place to be. A General Recall for the Dragons and the Fifteens may have introduced some “brain-freeze” for instead of starting at the pin we found ourselves starting at the committee boat squeezing between “Freebird” and Dave & Valerie Mulvin (3864) and then being forced to make a tack to clear our air. As we later tried to get across to the left-hand side of the course the error of our ways was magnified – Gorman and Galvin, in particular, were gone, having started at the opposite end of the line. Murphy was well placed too and at the weather mark, the first race winners found themselves “off the pace” with Gorman and Galvin already too far ahead. At this early stage, the running order was Gorman, Galvin, Murphy (T) with a group closely bunched together of Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Ken Dumpleton & Joe O’Reilly (3955), the Colemans (4008), Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774) and Mulligan & Bradley.

Down the first run, this group stayed pretty much together. After going through the leeward gate Mulligan broke away to try and salvage something by going right. Having sailed a reasonable distance, on a long windward leg, he got a header and on taking found a 15° lift that carried him away from the company at the leeward gate who had continued to sail to shore and gave him what looked like a platform to maybe claw Tom Murphy back.

The Colemans threatened for a short period but also fell away and Mulligan found himself in fourth pace at the next weather mark. Up the third beat and the right and middle was worked again and with Murphy (T) apparently stranded on the left-hand side the prospect of clawing back third developed. However, Murphy escaped and while he and Mulligan seemed to close on both Galvin and Gorman, the dye was cast for a tiebreak. This time the four laps indicated by the committee boat and emphasised by the RO at each start were sailed!

Matters on the water were thus tied up between three boats on five points – Gorman & Huang (4,1), Murphy & Carel (2,3) and Mulligan & Bradley (1,4) and Galvin & Poole on seven (5,2). At the prize-giving the final result was announced, in reverse order as Murphy, Mulligan and Gorman.

This gives Tom and Carel a 1,3 across the two Dun Laoghaire regattas sailed. Mulligan and Bradley were involved in the running of the DMYC regatta and Gorman and Huang didn’t sail the DMYC event.

The Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet and the National Yacht Club are hosting an evening of ' Remembering Gerry Donleavy' on Thursday 23rd June after the DBSC race at the NYC clubhouse on the East Pier.

Long-time NYC member Donleavy was one of the most successful helmsmen on the water winning multiple national and regional championship titles, including a unique double in 1988 when he won both the British and Irish Flying Fifteen National Championships.

Gerry Donleavy photographed at a 505 class reunion at the NYC in 2019

He was associated with many dinghy classes including 420s, 505s and Fireballs where he coached and supplied equipment.

"The evening (starting at 8.30 pm) is to give the Flying Fifteen class and the wider sailing community the opportunity to remember Gerry by recounting stories and memories", organiser Chris Doorly told Afloat.

All are welcome.

Buffet supper tickets are available on www.nyc.ie.

David Gorman's 'Fomo' was the winner of Race eight in the Flying Fifteen race of tonight's AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night series.

Neil Colin, who leads the Tuesday night DBSC Fireball series, was second in Ffuzzy with DMYC clubmate Ben Mulligan third in Enfant de Marie.

Unusually, the Flying Fifteen Thursday night fleet was small in size but for those who did get out, there was some very close racing…….at least for the majority of the participants. Conditions on site in Johnstown, some 40 minutes inland from Dun Laoghaire suggested that a sea-breeze might be in play as we baked in 20° + heat under blue skies, but the racing in Dun Laoghaire took place under grey skies and an initially brisk South-Easterly that started to fade shortly after the start.

Race Officer, John McNeally, set a course with long beats and downwind legs, using Battery and Bullock as the upwind extremities of the course and Harbour as the downwind extremity. Battery was a passing mark to be left to port en route to Bullough.

With an incoming tide the fleet was able to start close to the line and at the pin end were Dave Gorman & Michael Huang (4099), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Tom Murphy & Frank Miller (4057) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). Taking an initial shoreside hike were Jill Fleming & Joe Coughlan (3913), Niall Coleman & daughter (4008) and Mick Quinn & Mary-Jane Mulligan (3960). Of the quartet at the pin end, Gorman and Mulligan vied for the best start with Gorman marginally ahead but to leeward of Mulligan. Colin was astern of Mulligan and slightly to leeward. Gorman pulled out on Mulligan and Mulligan took his medicine and tacked off to go inshore. Gorman and Colin persisted a bit longer with the offshore course before they too headed shorewards. At this stage it was difficult to say which side was the better, because when the fleet congregated at Battery, only Gorman had a margin of distance on the fleet. An over-sized blanket would have covered Colin, Mulligan, Murphy, Coleman and Fleming.

Gorman stretched his lead on the leg to Bulloch and was able to get around clear ahead. The others managed the tide at the mark in different ways with the sequence of rounding being – Colin, Coleman, Murphy, Fleming and Mulligan.

These five spread themselves across the downwind leg with Mulligan sailing an inshore route down the left-hand side and Colin sailing an offshore route. At various stages some of the others flirted with Mulligan on the left but none stayed the pace and Mulligan dragged himself back into the reckoning at the rounding of Harbour. From Harbour, everyone took an inshore hike and used this as the basis for the attack on the remainder of the long haul to Bulloch. Colin, Coleman, Murphy and Mulligan were playing various forms of cat & mouse with each other, before Mulligan bailed and went off to sea. At this stage Gorman could watch the chasing pack from a very safe distance.

The wind was easing at this stage and while Mulligan was getting lifted on starboard tack towards Bulloch, the boats inside him were still in the ascendency – Colin, Coleman and Murphy. Again, managing the tidal race around Bulloch was challenging and at least one boat underestimated the tide and lost ground to the others.

For the second run to harbour, Mulligan persisted in playing the left-hand side and for the second time it worked. The others were to his seaward side and in the final run-in to the mark, the quartet of boats could be covered by that same oversized blanket – Colin, Murphy, Mulligan and Coleman. The latter had a spinnaker that wouldn’t come down so we were left with a trio of boats heading inshore on port with Colin watching two boats and Murphy watching one!

Murphy & Miller worked very hard to make sure Mulligan didn’t sail through their weather, so Mulligan bailed. A few hitches later, the three boats came together again with Mulligan in the weather slot. At this stage it was reasonable to set a final course for the finish situated on the Scotsman’s Bay side of the harbour entrance. With a final throw of the dice producing a six, fresh breeze arrived from Dalkey island which allowed Mulligan to pinch 3rd place on the line behind Colin and only just ahead of Murphy. Gorman, of course, was long gone!

DBSC Flying Fifteens, Thursday 16th June

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang (4099)
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028)
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081)
4. Tom Murphy & Frank Miller (4057).

Overall: (Eight races, two discards): Colin (13), Keith Poole (16.5), Gorman (22), Mulvin (26.5), Mulligan (29)

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Given that the Heineken Cup, as it was then, has made an appearance in at least one of the Dun Laoghaire clubs at a major regatta in times past (a Volvo Regatta), it was hardly surprising that Saturday’s DBSC’s schedule of races was adjusted to accommodate those who wanted to watch the Leinster – La Rochelle game first-hand rather than rely on a delayed recording. For the 14 Flying Fifteens and others on the Green Course that meant we had a single race with a start area literally just outside the harbour mouth. Of course, this location was also impacted by the fact that the Dragons (12 boats) were having an East Coast Championship NE of the harbour and the ILCAs were having a Masters’ Championships to the West and all the other DBSC fleets were out. Even the DBSC dinghies sailed inside the harbour!

Green Course Race Officer Barry O’Neil set a long Windward -Leeward course, with weather mark offset, with 4 laps signalled but the prospect of a shortened course in his radio briefing to the fleet. In the better-than-expected easterly breeze which moved around a bit and under an ebbing tide, there was some excitement when Alan Balfe, crewed by his son, (3995) decided to upset what had, until then, been an orderly approach to the start. There was nothing improper about his manoeuvring other than the fact that it wasn’t what we were expecting. Post-race David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) were of the view that it didn’t help their cause whereas it opened an opportunity for Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) that Mulvin had endeavoured to cut off.

The gap created by these “shenanigans” allowed Mulligan and Bradley a clean break to go right initially, before working the left-hand side of the beat on port tack. Further to leeward of them on port tack were David Gorman & Michael Huang (4099), the aforementioned Mulvin & Beirne, Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) and Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753).

With what appeared to be better breeze on the left-hand side of the course, Mulligan was able to go into the lead at the first rounding of the weather mark. Behind him were Gorman, Mulvin and Murphy, in close company. These four stayed on the right-hand side of the run and then put in late gybes to get round the leeward mark, by which time Mulligan had pulled out by a couple more boat-lengths.

On the second beat, Mulligan followed the recipe from the first, working the middle and left of the beat. The others had twigged to what he was cooking and while the gap didn’t close significantly initially, Gorman, Mulvin, Murphy and latterly, Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey (4028), made sure Mulligan & Bradley didn’t get too comfortable and by the end of the beat Gorman and Mulvin were just that bit closer for Mulligan’s comfort. For all three, the starboard tack run lasted longer before late gybes were again put in to get around the leeward mark.

A slight wind shift came into play as the fleet rounded the leeward mark and Gorman took best advantage to gain the weather slot relative to Mulligan. Mulvin peeled off immediately at the mark to go left but Mulligan and Gorman worked the right-hand side on port tack with Gorman pulling through Mulligan’s weather to go into the lead. As they got further up the course, they went right working the shifts, but Gorman didn’t relent and extended his lead into the weather mark for the third time. Mulvin, too had closed on the lead pair.

With spinnakers set, Gorman had 10 – 15 boat lengths on his chasers, while only a couple of boat lengths separated Mulvin and Mulligan with Mulvin to starboard of Mulligan and also to weather. For Mulligan the challenge was not to let Mulvin past as well. As they approached the leeward mark with a RIB flying an “F” flag and making sound signals – “Go straight to the Finish” - a potential fly in Mulligan’s ointment appeared – a Squib who didn’t quite grasp the significance of the F flag and sound signals. It left Mulligan having to go around the Squib, while Mulvin had the better choice of going to windward. Naturally, he seized the chance with both hands and closed on Mulligan – to within half a boat length. However, Mulvin’s attempts to pass to weather were thwarted each time and at the finish, there may have only been a boat length between the two red-spinnakered boats, in Mulligan’s favour.

DBSC; Saturday 28th May 2022. Flying Fifteens (14 boats)

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang 4099 
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081 
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 4068 3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
4. Tom Murphy & Carel 4057 4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
5. Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 4028 5. Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.

Saturday Series Overall: 7 Races sailed/5 to count

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang 8pts
2. Neil Colin/Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 15pts
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
5. Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.