The AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series 37-boat cruiser-racer fleet heads into its fourth race on Dublin Bay this Sunday (26th February).

After three races sailed, John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club continues to lead overall on 33 points, but results are due to get a shake-up when a discard is applied after the fourth race is sailed.

Second is the J80 Derry Girls on 37, and another J80, Sea Jade, is third.

Six races are being held on Sunday mornings from 5 February to 12 March (first gun 1010 hrs), using a progressive handicap on a time-to-time basis.

DBSC Race organiser Fintan Cairns has released handicaps and starts for the fourth race and these are downloadable below.

The Bavaria 33 Great Escape was the winner of the third race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay on Sunday (19th February).

The race winner is now in 19th place overall in the 37-boat fleet.

Second and third places, over a new windward leeward course configuration on Sunday, saw the First 31.7 Mayfly taking second while third went to the Sun Odyssey 349 Little Rascal in the light to medium air race.

After three races sailed (and no discard yet), John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club continues to lead overall on 33 points. 

Second is the J80 Derry Girls on 37, and another J80, Sea Jade, is third.

Racing continues this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Download results below

Live Dublin Bay webcam 

The First 31.7 Avalon was the winner of the second race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay on Sunday. 

In a continuation of her good form, the 2022 DBSC Turkey Shoot Series champion is now lying in joint ninth place in the 37-boat fleet.

Second and third places, over a new windward leeward course configuration on Sunday, saw J80s Jay-Z and Derry Girls taking second and third in the light to medium air race.

Overall after two races sailed, John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club leads from the J80, George 6.

In third place overall is Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

Racing continues this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Download results below

Live Dublin Bay webcam 

The First Class 8 Allig8r was the winner of last Sunday's first race of the mixed cruiser-racer 2023 DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay.

The 1720 sportsboat entry 'No Show' was second in the 43-boat entry, with Irish J109 Champion Joker II from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in third place.

The weather looks promising for this Sunday's second race of the National Yacht Club-hosted event, with light south-westerlies forecast on the Bay.

Download the first race results (for Feb 5th) as well as the starts and handicaps for this Sunday (Feb 12) below.

Live Dublin Bay webcams here

This Sunday's AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series from Dun Laoghaire Harbour will take place at the National Yacht Club.

From February 5 to March 12 (first gun 10:10), six races will be run using a progressive handicap on a case-by-case basis in the AIB sponsored event.

The Sailing Instructions are downloadable below

Fifty boats participated in the 2022 Series, and organisers anticipate a similar fleet this Sunday.

One-designs, cruisers, and other boats that don't often compete in races are all "quite welcome," according to DBSC.

After the sailing, the National Yacht Club will generously organise prize draws, meals, and other events.

The €60 entry fee includes temporary memberships in the DBSC and the NYC.

The First 31.7 Avalon will be crowned the 2022 DBSC Turkey Shoot Series champion Sunday at the Royal Irish Yacht Club, with the final race cancelled due to gales.

Avalon wins the six-race series by a single point. 

As Afloat reported earlier, Avalon was leading going into the final race on 57 points and top of the 78-boat mixed cruiser fleet. The J97 Windjammer takes second place with third overall, the 1720 sportsboat, Spurs on 59 points.

With only two points separating the top three boats going into the seventh race, the series was still up for grabs, so there is disappointment over the final race cancellation.

News of the cancellation came from DBSC's Fintan Cairns this afternoon, who informed competitors: "We have checked all forecasts and charts for tomorrow morning, all showing SE up to Gale 8. In light of this and rather than bring crews down in the morning, sadly, we have now CANCELLED RACING tomorrow, Sunday 18th".

Turkey Shoot festivities will commence at 12.30 in the Wet Bar of the RIYC.

Live Dublin Bay webcam 

In a good spread of boat types, the First 31.7 Avalon leads by a single point into Sunday's final race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay. 

Avalon is on 57 points to be top of the 78-boat mixed cruiser fleet. The J97 Windjammer takes second place with third overall, the 1720 sportsboat, Spurs on 59 points.

With only two points separating the top three boats overall going into the seventh race, the series still has a turkey up for grabs.

Last Sunday's sixth race saw competitors clearing the decks of snow at Dun Laoghaire Marina before racing started in winter sunshine just after 10 am off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The sixth race saw the fleet sail down to Dalkey Island and back to Dun Laoghaire Harbour and was won by the Bavaria 35 Match Just Jasmin, with the Sunfast 32 Kamikaze second and the J109 Joker II in third.

Overall results and race six results are downloadable below.

The always lively DBSC Turkey Shoot Series prizegiving will be held this Sunday after racing at the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Race organiser Fintan Cairns has told competitors: "If there is no sailing - very early to tell yet - prizegiving and festivities, draws, craic etc. will commence at 12.30. Please make all effort to be there, as I will not be going home with any prizes!".

After two years as Commodore of Ireland's largest yacht racing club that runs over 1,000 races each summer, Ann Kirwan completed her term in office last night at Dublin Bay Sailing Club and handed over the tiller to Eddie Totterdell after his election. Here Afloat publishes Kirwan's AGM farewell to members

It has been such an honour and a privilege to act as Commodore of DBSC for the past two years and for a total of 10 years on the committee. It’s been busy, and there have been some ups and downs, but it has been very enjoyable and rewarding. The past three years have been particularly challenging with Covid, but I think that has brought out the best of DBSC’s strengths. I’d now like to run through some of the highlights of the two years:

I covered 2021 in my address at last year’s AGM; however, here’s a recap of some of the main highlights:

• We were awarded the Mitsubishi Sailing Club of the year 2021.
• We revamped our website early in 2021 and have been refreshing its content regularly since.
• Our 2021 programme commenced in early June after a 3-week training period.
• We held 3 separate prize-giving functions in the summer to present the 2020 prizes.
• The hut returned to its rightful position in July after a year’s absence.
• The magnificently restored DB21s returned to Dun Laoghaire in July and raced on Tuesdays.
• The Turkey shoot and Spring Chicken series were run last winter after a Covid-enforced year off.
• We moved our prize-giving to the National Maritime Museum in November.
• We rounded off 2021 with our AGM last December – on Zoom for the second year in a row.

Tribute to those we lost

Before moving on to a review of 2022, I want to pay tribute to some of our long-standing volunteers who sadly passed away during my term as Commodore. Larry Martin, Pat McGloughlin, and more recently Ben Mulligan, all DBSC volunteers. And to 3-of our long-standing stalwarts who gave so much to DBSC – Carmel in June 2021, Jack in December 2021 and just three months ago, our beloved Ida Kiernan. All three were contributing to DBSC right to the end – Carmel keeping us on the straight and narrow, Jack redesigning courses and acting as Red Fleet RO on Thursdays, and Ida commanding the keelboat volunteer forces with her unique sense of fun, enthusiasm and efficiency. They are all sorely missed.

Now to the 2022 season

We spent last winter planning for what we hoped would be a full season in 2022. Our sailing committee redesigned some of the courses to cater for the hut coming back for Saturdays in the 2022 season. Thanks in particular to Tim Goodbody who led the redesign of the Blue and Red fleet Saturday courses.

Following the two years of curtailed racing we started our season on schedule at the end of April and ran right through to October 1st. It took 22 race officers, nine committee boat drivers, and a team of over 50 race management volunteers to work together during our 23-week season, to provide you our members with more than 1,000 races. Heartfelt thanks to the DBSC Committee and to all our fabulous volunteers for making this happen. We are lucky to have such a large pool of volunteers – it is them that make DBSC what it is. Providing 1000-plus races in a single summer sailing season could not be done without them giving so generously of their time and experience. Incidentally, yesterday was International Volunteers Day.

It took 22 race officers, nine committee boat drivers, and a team of over 50 race management volunteers to work together during our 23-week season, to provide DBSC members with more than 1,000 races Photo: Afloat

We enjoyed some great racing in warm sunny weather in what was generally a season of light airs and it was great to see the hut back in use on Saturdays.

As well as our 1,000 plus DBSC races, there was a full schedule of events around the bay in which included the Dun Laoghaire waterfront club regattas, the SB20 World Championships as well as many regional and national championships, and the Women at the Helm regatta. Well done to the Dun Laoghaire waterfront clubs for successfully hosting all of these challenging events.

DBSC Results

We implemented a new DBSC results system using HalSail in 2022. It has proved very successful in its first year thanks to Ian Bowring’s meticulous planning and set-up work in advance of the season. Thanks to Therese and Jen for making sure the results were available in a timely manner each race day.

Inaugural End of Season Dinner

We held the inaugural DBSC end-of-season dinner in the National Yacht club in early October. It was a sell-out and thoroughly enjoyed by all 110 who attended and was a great way for boat crews to round off the season. I hope that this becomes an annual event.

The Flying Fifteen keelboat is one DBSC's 22 racing classes on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Prize-giving

Following the success of our prize-giving in 2021 and the positive feedback we received from you our members on the location, we held our 2022 prize-giving in the wonderful setting of the National Maritime Museum again a few weeks ago. We presented over 100 beautiful trophies to the many worthy winners. Michael Chester’s photos of the prize winners are available on our website and on Afloat. Thanks to Pat Shannon, who looks after all our magnificent trophies - without Pat, we would struggle to hold the prize giving.

Turkey Shoot and Spring Chicken

The AIB DBSC Turkey Shoot is going well and finishes on December 18th. The Spring Chicken will be run in February and March. Thanks to Fintan Cairns and his team for running these two winter series.

DBSC Committee

A very special word of thanks to DBSC Flag Officers Ed and Jacqueline and to all who have served with me on the DBSC Committee for the past 2 years. Thanks to Chris Moore, who retired as Honorary Secretary in June, and to Rosemary Roy, who has taken on this mammoth since then. Thanks to Philip Ferguson, who has organised the deployment, retrieval, storage, and maintenance of marks for the past number of years – it’s no mean feat. Thank you, Philip.

DBSC Committee from left: Honorary Secretary Rosemary Roy, Vice Commodore Keith Poole was elected Rear Commodore, outgoing Commodore Ann Kirwan, newly elected Commodore Eddie Totterdell, Jacqueline McStay was elected as Vice Commodore and Jonathan Skerritt remains as Honorary Treasurer

As well as our experienced Race Officers and Committee boat teams who turn out many times each week to run our racing, other volunteers work behind the scenes to make the DBSC machine run smoothly. Thanks to Declan Traynor and Joanne Sheehan, who look after the rib crews, to Gerry and Suzi who look after sponsorship, to Ian on results, to Louise on dinghy matters, to Sabrina, our children’s officer who manages the Garda vetting process, to Jonathan Skerritt who looks after our finances, to Keith and Kevin who serve on the sailing sub-committee, to Jacqueline who looks after the website and of course to Rosemary who sends all the emails and did such a great job at the prize giving. Thanks to Brian, Brendan and Chris for looking after our committee boats, to Declan for looking after our ribs, to Michael for looking after protests, and to Jonathan O’Rourke, who works on the grant application process on our behalf. Sincere thanks to all of you for your efforts in the many aspects of running DBSC, I’ve really enjoyed working alongside you over the past two years.

A very special thank you to our PRO and incoming Commodore Ed, who heads up the sailing sub-committee and is the Race Officer for the Blue Fleet on Thursdays. Ed has been a rock of sense and great support to me over the past two years and we’ve had some laughs along the way.

With Gratitude

We are extremely fortunate and very grateful to have AIB on board as our title sponsor. Thanks also to our supporters Viking Marine, MGM Boats, Facet Jewellers, Killen Marine and Gunpowder Gin.

To the Commodores and the management and staff of the Dun Laoghaire waterfront clubs, to Irish Sailing, to the Harbour Masters of Dun Laoghaire Harbour and Dublin Port – thanks for your support throughout my term as Commodore. Thanks also to Afloat for great coverage of DBSC racing and events.

Final Comments

Finally, I am confident in the knowledge that DBSC is in very safe hands with Ed taking over as Commodore and the strong committee and band of race management volunteers who will work with him.

I wish you and your families a very healthy and happy Christmas and the very best for 2023 and I look forward to seeing you on the water next season.

The popular AIB DBSC Turkey Shoot suffered the first cancellation of its 2022 series this morning when 20-knot easterly winds blew on Dublin Bay. 

The strong winds produced an 'awful' sea state (as seen on the 3 x Afloat webcams) that led to the scrubbing of the fifth race of the seven-race series for the 78-boat cruiser-racer fleet.

Racing six of seven will be sailed next Sunday morning from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

The J70 crew Jambiya who was recently presented with this summer's DBSC Saturday Sportsboat Trophy has moved into the overall lead of the club's bumper Turkey Shoot Series.

After four races sailed and one discard, Jambiya is on 19 nett points, some 13 points clear of rival 1720 sportsboat Optique. Third on 33 is another of the RCYC designs, Spurs.

Optique won last Sunday's 61-boat fourth race in the north-west of the Bay, which did not live up to its heavy weather billing as per the weather forecast. 

The J80 Sante was second, with the Frist 310 Nauti Gal in third place. 

National Yacht Club skipper of Sneaky B, Charlotte O'Kelly, captured the fourth race from the back of the East Pier. 

With three more races left to sail, racing continues this Sunday from the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and some early leaders have dropped down the leaderboard. 

Onboard Chris Power Smith's J122, Aurelia

Leader after two, Barry Cunningham's Cape 31 Blast is now lying 23rd overall after a disappointing 47th scored last Sunday. Tim and Richard Goodbody in the J109 White Mischief, who led into last Sunday's fourth race are now joint seventh overall.

Royal Irish skipper Pat Rigney took this fleeting vid of clubmate Cunningham in Blast.