Last Sunday was a perfect sailing day – sun, wind, and lots of smiles as we celebrated 50 years of the Junior Sailing Section at the NYC. Commodore Ronan Beirne welcomed the families as they arrived in the Club. A mix of cruisers and club boats made up the flotilla that headed for Dalkey island for a morning sail.

Unfortunately, the Pontoon 50 Splash where the Juniors intended to create a new Guinness World Record to recognise the 50th year of Juniors in the NYC had to be postponed due to a swimming ban put in place by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, following an e.coli outbreak!

After a delicious BBQ back on land, the kids were challenged to an Egg Drop - this entailed an egg being dropped from the crane onto the pontoon, the winners being those who’s eggs remained intact. One or two bright sparks headed for the kitchen to have their eggs hard boiled, but there was plenty only fit for scrambling! Parachutes seemed to have been the most successful way to deliver the egg safely to the pontoon.

All the kids got a wonderful t-shirt specially produced for the day, which recognised the Juniors 50th Anniversary. The design of the t-shirt was the result of a competition amongst the kids a number of weeks prior to the event.

A Teddy’s ice cream van arrived onto the Platform and very quickly a queue of kids and adults swarmed around, with orders galore for 99s.

To round off the afternoon, a coach arrived to take the kids into town for the Viking Splash Tour. Another successful NYC day. Many helped, lots participated, importantly we had smiles all round.

It could be over 50 years since a cotton topsail has been seen from the National Yacht Club and this afternoon as the classic fleet arrived "Peggy Bawn", a GL Watson 36–ft Cutter, built in 1894, hoisted her cotton suit of topsail and gaff main.

A temporary pontoon as been anchored off the Carlisle Pier and here the renovated Dublin Bay 24 footer "Periwinkle" this afternoon having sailed from France via the Scilly's and Greystones where some former 24 hands with long association with the class shipped on board, Chris Johnson, David Espey, Chris Craig and Terry Johnson.

On the National Yacht Club platform the Dublin Bay Mermaids were arriving by road and a fleet of "Fifes" from Royal Anglesey Yacht Club were being masted and launched having arrived by ferry.

The fleets arrival for the opening of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and the inclusion of the classics for this edition will provide a historic spectacle from the East Pier.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta entries line up at the National yacht club pontoon ahead of tomorrow's regatta

With his death at the age of 87, the loss of Cas Smullen deprives Irish sailing of a total enthusiast whose dedication to our sport was central to his entire existence. Such was his exuberant enjoyment of sailing that one of his many skippers remarked that, if your own delight in sailing was wilting in any way, you only had to spend a few days afloat in Cas’s company to find the flame of your personal enthusiasm being re-kindled with full vigour.

While his last ten years were restricted by illness and the ongoing effects of a stroke in 2007, his brain was sharp to the end, and he continued to enjoy convivial visits to his beloved National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, where his membership was a record-breaking 71 years.

Although he wasn’t from a sailing family, in his youth he attracted the sailing community’s attention through his prowess as a swimmer, both in the harbour and as a star at Blackrock Baths, where he was a regular and stylish performer off the top diving board. Skippers looking for able-bodied young men for crewing duties in the Dun Laoghaire fleet rightly reckoned that young Smullen might have what it takes, and by the time he was 16, he was an active regular in a sport which fitted him like a glove.

So popular was he as a crew - and often in effect the skipper - that in his long sailing career, he never personally owned a boat. The nearest he came to it was when he built a Mirror dinghy for his son Johnny, who has since gone on to become the California-based classic yacht-builder to America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner, so the effects of that one experience have carried further than anyone could have imagined.

A Dublin Bay 21 in all her gaff-rigged finery. The class was contemplating changing to Bermudan rig in 1963 “to save time”, but Cas Smullen reckoned he could rig one single-handed in less than 15 minutes. The class challenged him to put on a display at the National YC, while they watched. He did it in nine minutes.

Cas Smullen was the quintessential Dublin Bay yachtsman, as his entire working life was spent as an insurance broker. This gave his day-to-day life a regularity which is unknown to many in today’s more restless working environment. For weeks on end – if he wasn’t away cruising or on some offshore racing campaign – he would invariably be racing without fail in the Dublin Bay SC fleet every Thursday evening, and again every Saturday afternoon.

It would take a substantial book to record all his cruises, as he became a member of the Irish Cruising Club in 1961. As for offshore racing, as a longtime member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, he was fully into it at every level including sailing as a member of the Irish Admiral’s Cup team in 1969. But even with all those experiences, it was Dublin Bay sailing which was at the core of his sailing way of life, and he was a particular devotee of the Dublin Bay 21 Class, and then of the Dublin Bay 24 Class, especially noted for his skill in getting the best out of boats when racing in light airs.

He was in the heart of the Dublin Bay 21s in 1962-63 when the owners debated changing them from their demanding jackyard topsail-setting cutter gaff rig to a more easily-handled Bermudan sloop. On hearing that one of the reasons they wanted to change was that the boats could be more quickly rigged for racing, he claimed that this was nonsense. He said it didn’t take more than 15 minutes to rig them single-handed, and he would show them how, just to prove it.

The story has come down the ages that one of the Dublin Bay 21s was brought in close to the National YC with all sails harbour-stowed, and an audience gathered on the balcony, drinks in hand, to watch Cas Smullen rig the boat in a quarter of an hour. The word was that he achieved it with style, but they went ahead and changed to Bermuda rig anyway.

The Johnston family’s Dublin Bay 24 Harmony racing in the Dublin Bay Woodenboat Regatta of 1997 with Cas Smullen on board. Photo: W M Nixon

We recounted that story again recently on Afloat.ie, and his daughter Jean – the nationally-known wine expert – took her laptop into the hospital to read it to him. He much enjoyed it, but with eyes sparkling despite his infirmity, he firmly insisted on one correction. It was actually all done in nine minutes - not fifteen. We are more than happy to take this opportunity to put the record straight on that point in the definitive Cas Smullen story. In extending our heartfelt condolences to his family in their loss of this unique, great and much-loved character, it is in the knowledge that the world of Irish sailing has been a better and more interesting place for having had Cas Smullen in the heart of it. 

WMN

If anyone is thinking of producing the Very Rough Guide to Making a Start in a Yacht Race, this evening’s opening episode in the continuing drama which is the 275-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2017 produced Rules 1, 2 & 3 in jig time writes W M Nixon

Rule 1 states: “When push comes to shove, might is right.”

Rule 2 states: “When you’re in the bigger boat, never give an inch until you actually hear breaking glass”

Rule 3 states: “Whatever happens, keep smiling as though it’s all perfectly normal.”

It was of course entirely the weather’s fault. An expected veering of the southerly wind, forecast for the start time around 1900 hours, actually arrived a clear hour early. Thus, where it should have been a beat from the start line in Scotsman’s Bay to the first mark of the course at the Muglins, it was the closest of close fetches on starboard tack.

And though Race Officer Con Murphy then put a marked bias on the line to encourage people not to crowd in on the Committee Boat, the testosterone-fuelled racers setting up to get to Kerry just as fast and as soon as they could crowded towards the Committee Boat like crazed bees around a honey pot.

Animal spirits rampant. Still about 35 seconds to go to the start, but those boats (left) are coming in far too fast with no-one easing up.........Photo: W M Nixon....as seen from the pin end...Photo: Afloat.ie

Soon the madness spreads and everyone is going for the line......Photo: W M Nixon
.......and this is the scene with five seconds still to go to the start. Photo: W M Nixon

And they're off.....National Yacht Club Commodore Ronan Beirne spots the line from the NYC pin end RIB. Eamonn Crosbie's Pamela, IRL 5503, the largest yacht in the Dingle Race, makes a great start at the leeward end Photo: Afloat.ie Or at least that’s how it seemed from the Committee Boat itself. In a fleet of 43 boats, there were of course plenty of reasonable souls making civilized starts further down the line. But it was such a close fetch to shape your course right on the Muglins that the hottest competition couldn’t resist the temptation to take every bit of weathering that they could at the start.

The result was that a herd of marauding bulls came charging in, but they were going to be about ten seconds early, yet nobody seemed to be able to do a damn thing about it until a certain 44–footer realized the only option was to bear off and sail down the line as though this was normal procedure. Most of the fleet being smaller craft, those in the immediate vicinity gave way, albeit with wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Out of one sailor’s adversity comes another’s advantage, and though Stephen Quinn and Dave Cotter in the sweet little J/97 Lambay Rules, racing in the Two-handed Division, were all in order to make a proper and perfect start, some other bigger fully-crewed machine rolled over them and down across their bows, stitching up Lambay Rules good and proper.

But the canny old salts on Ian Hickey’s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina sensed that a gap was going to appear out of nowhere, Lambay Rules’ undoing was their advantage, and they swept through the gap to make the best start in the fleet.

As that seasoned observer of Dublin Bay sailing Ian Meldon drily remarked: “That was a vigorous start”. And with a beat in prospect from the Muglins at least to the Fastnet Rock, the kerfuffles of the start were soon put astern and people settled down to serious racing.

Early leader – George Sisk's Wow, a Farr 42, lead the fleet out of Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat.ie

Once the Muglins were passed, some boats made the curious decision to continue on starboard tack on out into the strongest line of the new north-going flood. But with further veering of the wind expected, it was Paul O’Higgins JPK10.80 Rockabill VI which first took the seemingly logical decision to tack inshore, with Derek Martin’s First 44.7 Lively Lady and George Sisk’s Farr 42 WOW going with her.

The Spirit 54 Soufriere (Stephen O'Flaherty) leads a group of boats passed the Muglins with Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox), Cavatina (Ian Hickey) and Lambay Rules (Stephen Quinn) all leaving Dublin Bay together Photo: Afloat.ie

Yet the more you hug the shore, the flukier the winds might be. And as midnight nears, the leaders are in the tricky situation of approaching the hyper-strong foul tide in the vicinity of Wicklow Head. But WOW has been sailing a blinder, skilfully staying sufficiently clear enough of Bray Head to avoid its notorious flat spots, yet working the land from Greystones southward to such good effect that she leads on corrected time with Lively Lady second, Andrew Algeo’s Juggerknot the best of the J/109s in third, and Rockabill VI fourth.

Athough two larger J Boats didn’t make the start, we’ve even more J/109s than were officially listed. For although he and all his crew knew that of course Stephen Tudor and the 2016 ISORA Champion Sgrech knew they were doing the Dingle race, it seems they omitted to tell the organisers. But they’re in there anyway, battling as usual with sister-ship and clubmate Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox).

“But surely you just knew we’d be racing to Dingle?” Very late entrant Stephen Tudor (right) with Ian Meldon of the National YC Photo: W M Nixon

Race tracker here

Even with leading contenders Aurelia (J/122) and Jacana (J/115) scratching (the former with rigging problems, the latter with logistics difficulties), J/Boats still might have it all the way in the remaining fleet of 43 boats in the National YC’s 275-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race, which starts this evening off the East Pier at 1900hrs writes W M Nixon.

After all, in 2015 it was J/Boats filling most of the top six places, with the J/109 Ruth (Shanahan family) taking it by twenty minutes from sister ship Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox). So far in the 2017 season, Mojito has been the Irish Sea pace-setter, so she has to be seen as the smart money bet.

Against that, Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI is safely back in her home port of Dun Laoghaire after a fast incident-free passage returning from the ICRA Nats in Crosshaven, where she’d showed steadily improving performance. We have to remember that she was overall winner of ISORA’s first all-feet cross-channel race last month, so never under-estimate a JPK 10.80 – they specialise in surprises.

Rockabill VI – the JPK 10.80 is a recent ISORA cross channel winner. Photo: Afloat.ie

The J/Boat dominance continues into the 11-strong Two-Handed Division, where defending champions Colm Buckley and Simon Knowles have upped their game from the Elan 340 Blue Eyes to the J/109 Indian. They won the ISORA Dun Laoghaire-Arklow Race in Indian fully crewed, so they have good form, but ironically their closest competition may come from Howth clubmates Stephen Quinn and Dave Cotter racing the significantly smaller J/97 Lambay Rules, which has been one of Irish offshore racing’s most consistently successful performers at home and abroad for a couple of seasons.

Inevitably, though, with the wind veering steadily during the course of the race, the fastest front runners will be favoured, as they may find they get to crucial headlands while it is still just possible to lay the course direct to the next headland, whereas it looks as though the little ’uns will be slugging it out to windward just about every inch of the way.

And there’s no doubt that “slugging” will be the operative word. Writing this at noon on Wednesday, the wind is still moderate to fresh southerly in the Irish Sea, while the Dublin Bay effect means there’s a strong touch of east in the breeze off Dun Laoghaire to make for a distinctly rumbly sea.

But just at start time, a veering is forecast with an untable gusty front coming through to switch the underlying wind to sou’sou’west. While this may see the average wind speed at a manageable 15 mph, it will make for harder work for crews, as the gusts will see the top strengths rocket up to 25 and even 30-32 mph.

On top of that, the ebb tide will be running south for no more than a couple of hours after the start, and much less at some locations. So it could well be that some crews will get to know what an accursed place Bray Head can be when the unstable wind is beginning to acquire an offshore element, and you’re trying to get inshore and best-placed to deal with a foul tide.

And all that within hours of the start. It has all the makings of quite a rugged race, and those who make the already legendary Prize Giving Party in Benner’s Hotel on Saturday night in the heart of Dingle will have certainly earned it.

By that time, however, better weather will have settled in, and the challenging conditions of Wednesday night and Thursday will be fading behind memories of finishing in summery conditions.

Race tracker here

A 43–boat fleet are expecting an upwind start and winds gusting to 25–knots for tonight's 7pm Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race at the National Yacht Club.

At start time, winds are expected to shift from a southerly to a south westerly direction and increase in what looks like an unstable front. Gusts are expected up to 30–knots tonight on the east coast. Winds are expected to go westerly tomorrow for the 275–mile race to County Kerry.

XC weather's forecast for tonight's D2D race from Dun Laoghaire

The record entry fleet of 45 is down by two boats that have withdrawn. Royal St. George's J122 Aurelia, a top ISORA performer, has pulled out due to rig problems and another J-boat, the Carrickfergus–based J133 Spirit of Jacana was delayed in getting to Dun Laoghaire due to weather. 

Rig problems have forced Chris Power–Smith's J122 Aurelia out of the race

At the National Yacht Club HQ, the Royal Ocean Racing Club has given input into race Sailing Instructions with a view to standardising documentation prior to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race's incorporation into the RORC calendar for 2019. 

The RORC's Janet Grosvenor and Commodore Michael Boyd (the weekend winner of the RORC's Morgan Cup race) will be in Dun Laoghaire to observe tonight's departure.

Read the full race preview by WM Nixon here.  

Read also: 

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Tracker

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Form Guide: D2D Could Be Another J/Boats Triumph

Five Reasons Why Volvo 'D2D' is The Perfect Mini-Offshore Race

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Entry 'Exceeds all Expectations'

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Gets National Yacht Club Turbo Power

WM Nixon will be posting regular race updates on Afloat.ie here

It started in 1993 as a gentler (it was hoped) biennial alternative to the Round Ireland Race, with the 275-mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race being the brainchild of Martin Crotty and Peter Cullen of the National Yacht Club writes W M Nixon.

They’d been forced to run back to the shelter of Dingle – a port they didn’t know at all until then – after their mainsail on the Sigma 41 Koala had disintegrated during a ferocious beat northward off the Clare coast during the 1992 Round Ireland Race. In Dingle, they found the perfect port-town for recovery, and a warm welcome which got them thinking it would make the ideal venue for a cruiser-racer event starting at their own club in Dun Laoghaire.

They didn’t let the grass grow under their feet, with the first Dingle Race staged in June 1993. But the thinking behind it was that this was primarily a convenient way to get comfortable performance-cruisers to the sacred cruising territories of southwest Ireland as rapidly as possible, adding to the entertainment by turning the long haul to West Kerry into a bit of sport.

The National Yacht Club’s special corner in Dun Laoghaire harbour provides an ideal setting for the pre-race buzz before the fleet sails out, bound for Dingle

Certainly there has always been a significant contingent of cruising-oriented performance sailors in the fleet. But right from the off, the event’s attraction as a serious race was obviously the reason for many of the competitors’ presence, and the first winner was Richard Burrows’ Sigma 36 Black Pepper with a crew including such noted talents as Robert Dix and Peter Wilson.

When Denis Doyle’s Moonduster first did the biennial Dingle Race in 1994, it became a pillar of the Irish sailing programme

Then for 1994’s edition, Denis Doyle appeared from Cork to race the mighty Moonduster to Dingle, and it was clear the event had arrived. Since then, like all Irish sailing it has had its ups and with the rise and fall and rise again of the Irish economy. But there’s no doubting that 2015’s staging showed an event regaining full health. It put out a fleet of 30 with line honours being taken by the Cookson 50 Lee Overlay Partner (Adrian Lee, RStGYC) ahead of the Fast 40+ Antix (Anthony O’Leary, Royal Cork YC,) while the corrected time battle was won by the Shanahan family’s J/109 Ruth (NYC) by just 20 minutes from sister-ship Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox, Pwllheli SC).

Having brought his race back to full health, Martin Crotty signalled his hopes of standing down from the central organisational role. But before doing so, he made sure he’d the ideal person to succeed him in the person of leading NYC clubmate Adam Winkelmann. For 2017, Winkelmann has taken an already great event and given it turbo power on the sponsorship side by making it the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race. It’s now recognised by ISORA (who are providing the trackers), it is being appraised this time round for inclusion in future RORC programmes, and with 45 very varied boats down to start the race next Wednesday evening (June 14th, 1900hrs) off the Dun Laoghaire pierheads, the dash to Dingle has entered the big time with a 50% increase in participants.

Given a strong brand to manage with the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, Adam Winkelmann has seen entries in the Volvo-sponsored event increase by 50% for 2017’s edition. Photo: Michael Chester

As for the fleet, the only significant absentees from 2015 are the two former contenders for line honours, Lee Overlay Partners and Antix. There are many new boats in the mix, and the winners on corrected time are in there too, notably overall winner Ruth and runner-up Mojito.

There is also a significant two-handed division with eleven boats entered, while the fleet is further spiced up by the presence of three Mini Transat 650s which will be racing to Dingle as an event within the event. At the other extremity, the Dingle race even has its first gaff-rigged entry, Darryl Hughes’s 43ft 1937 Tyrrell of Arklow-built Maybird. She’s able to race thanks to there being a division for Progressive ECHO. And before you dismiss her chances, bear it in mind that at the end of the long leg from the start to the Arklow Buoy in the recent ISORA Dun Laoghaire-Arklow Race, Maybird was leading the fleet on ECHO CT at the turn. So they’ll be hoping for a lot of reaching to ease their progress along the coast, and their main hope is to be in Dingle by Saturday (June 17th) in time for the Dingle Race’s very special prize-giving.

As part of the celebrations for her 80th birthday, the 1937-built classic Maybird will be racing to Dingle, the first gaff-rigged entry in the event’s 24-year history Photo: Afloat.ie

Overall, the sensible money would have to be on the J/109s, but although Ruth is in the entry lists and is very much the defending champion, she and her crew have been quiet enough in the 2017 season so far, while overall after five ISORA races the fleet leader is Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox’s Mojito, which must make her favourite for the new Volvo Trophy for the overall winner.

But hold hard. The Entry List also includes Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabil VI. She may rate higher than the J/109s (she’s 1.051 to the 1.015 of Ruth), but experience shows that in a variety of conditions, Rockabill VI can overcome that disadvantage, and a 275 miles race along a hugely varied (and rather magnificent) coastline will almost inevitably serve up a wide variety of conditions.

The J/109 Mojito, runner-up in the Dingle Race of 2015, is currently topping the ISORA points table as she lines up to race to Dingle again

In the current spell of hyper-unsettled weather, there’s a lot of guessing in telling what that wide variety of conditions might be some four days hence, but all predictions seem to agree in having the words southwest and west in their wind direction forecasts, so at this juncture we’ll just leave it at that and focus up again nearer the time.

Meanwhile, the fleet has enough able boats to deal with all and any conditions, a welcome re-appearance in the Dublin Bay area being the Douglas brothers from Carrickfergus with their J/133 Jacana, which in her day has been the top Irish performer in the Fastnet Race as well as having Round Ireland credentials.

But if it’s Round Ireland and Fastnet Race credentials you seek, few can match Ian Hickey’s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina from Cork, which on an IRC Rating of 0.930 can just keep plodding along at best possible speed, and suddenly she emerges as overall winner.

Ian Hickey’s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina from Royal Cork – a “serial Round Ireland winner” – will always have to be factored into the calculations for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire-Dingle race

Other proven craft which are always there ready to pounce include George Sisk’s Farr 42 WOW, Chris and Patanne Power Smith’s J122 Aurelia (RStGYC), and Andrew Algeo’s J/109 Juggerknot, while the interesting Sailing School side of things is represented both by Fastnet Race class winner Ronan O Siochru with Irish Offshore Sailing’s Jeanneau 37 Desert Star, and Kenneth Rumball of Irish National Sailing School with the J/109 Jedi.

The three Mini 650s are Gildas Bechet’s Dingo 1 from Malahide, and two from the west – Yannick Lemonnier and Dan Mill with Port of Galway Green (they’re racing for Aran Sailing Club), and Port of Galway Black (Marcus Ryan & Louis Mulloy of Mayo SC).

The Mini 650 Dingo I from Malahide will be one of three Minis racing to Dingle as a separate class

Dan Mill (right) and Yannick Lemonnier will race together on the Mini 650 Port of Galway Green

With all due respects to the other competitors, most observers will find a special fascination in the two-handed division, which is as motley a selection of boats and people as you could find in any Irish sailing event.

Yet it has real credibility in that it includes former winners of the two handed class in the Round Ireland – that’s father and son crew of Derek and Conor Dillon from Foynes YC with the Dehler 34 Big Deal, which won in the circuit in 2014. And also taking part are the winners of the admittedly then smaller two-handed division in the 2015 Dingle Race, Colm Buckley and Simon Knowles of Howth. In 2015, they raced the Elan 340 Blue Eyes to Dingle with success, this time round they’ve their recently-acquired J/109 Indian, which made an impressive debut by winning the ISORA Dun Laoghaire-Arklow Race three weeks ago.

The Elan 340 Blue Eyes (left) getting clear after the start of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race 2015, in which she won the two-Handed Division for Colm Buckley and Simon Knowles. This year they’re racing two-handed again, but in the newly-acquired J/109 Indian. Photo: W M Nixon

But for a real track record in racing two-handed in Irish waters, no-one can match Eamonn Crosbie (RIYC/NYC) who has entered this division in the D2D with his impressive Ron Holland-designed Discovery 55 Pamela. Eamonn Crosbie sailed the first round Ireland race ever, a three-stage two-handed event, from Ballyholme in 1975 with the late Jim Poole in a Ruffian 23. Later, he went on to win the Round Ireland overall in a fully-crewed Ker 32. But now his boat style has changed completely, and he should find some comfort in racing a 55-footer to Dingle, as she’s the biggest boat in the race.

Profile drawing of the Discovery 55 by Ron Holland. This will be the largest yacht in the Dingle Race, skippered in the two-handed division by Eamonn Crosbie

The second-biggest in terms of overall length is also in the two-handed division, this is Stephen O’Flaherty’s Sprit 54 Soufriere, which may seem a lot of boat to race two-up, but he and his shipmate David Cagney have already achieved a podium place racing Soufriere in the two-handed event at Howth, so they know what they’re taking on.

At other times and events, the two of them are on the crew strength of Stephen Quinn’s successful J/97 Lambay Rules, but for the race to Dingle the little J boat will also be going two-handed, with Stephen Quinn sailing with Dave Cotter in what will inevitably be a uniquely mis-matched needle contest with Soufriere, as Lambay Rules rates 0.971 to the 1.120 of Soufriere

Stephen O’Flaherty’s Spirit 54 Soufriere is usually very fully crewed, but she’s racing in the two-handed division to Dingle next Wednesday. Photo: W M Nixon

Such personal contests and many others will be found as the fleet makes its way southward from Dublin Bay next Wednesday evening along a fascinating course which has just about everything. It’s a marvellous event, and while the prize giving at the conclusion in Benner’s Hotel in the heart of Dingle will be epic, the pre-race atmosphere at the National YC on Wednesday afternoon and evening will be something very special too.

The location of the hospitable club in its own attractive corner of Dun Laoghaire’s mighty harbour lends itself well to building up the pre-race buzz, but you definitely have to be there to fully appreciate it.

Full entry list here:

Class Boat Name Boat Manufacturer - Model Sail Number IRC TCF Skipper Sailing Club

2-handed AJ Wanderlust Jeanneau 45.2 Sun Odyssey IOM 8931 R 0.990 Charlene Howard Douglas Bay Yacht Club

2-handed Big Deal Dehler 34 IRL3492 0.922 Derek Dillon Foynes Yacht Club

2-handed Indian J109 1543 1.011 Colm Buckley Howth Yacht Club

2-handed Lambay Rules J 97 IRL 9970 0.971 Stephen Quinn Howth Yacht Club

2-handed LOBSTER Two Ton Dubois IRL 7077 1.101 Gary Horgan Kinsale Yacht Club

2-handed Pamela Discovery 55 IRL5503 1.082 Eamon Crosbie RIYC/NYC

2-handed Prima Luce Beneteau First 35 IRL 3504 1.017 Sean Lemass, and Patrick Burke National Yacht Club, and Royal Irish Yacht Club

2-handed Soufriere Spirit 54 IRL 1974 1.120 Stephen O'Flaherty Howth

Cruiser ACT Two DuFour 425 IRL4250 1.004 Tom Michael David Roche O'Leary Andrews RIYC

Cruiser Birmayne Bruce Roberts IRL 756 0.000 Justin McKenna RSGYC

Cruiser Fulmar Fever Westerly Fulmar FR 14 0.869 Robert Marchant W.H.S.C.

Cruiser Golden Fleece Sigma 41 IRL51215 0.800 Barry Cunningham RIYC

Cruiser Harriet Marwood Farrow & Chambers, Collins 40 Tandem Keel GBR3556L 0.984 Bryan Mullarkey Holyhead Sailing Club

Cruiser Lady Rowena Sadler IRL34218 0.905 David Bolger Royal Saint George Yacht Club

Cruiser Maybird Shepherd design built by Jack Terrell in 1937 GBR 644R 0.910 Darryl Hughes Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club

Cruiser Oystercatcher Dufour IRL 1177 0.932 Brian Hett Greystones

Cruiser Pipedreamer VI Dufour 40 GBR 2271L 1.020 Paul Sutton Holyhead Sailing Club

Cruiser Thisbe Nicholson 32 IRL 1530 0.849 Jim Schofield Poolbeg Boat Club

Mini 6.50 Gemo Mini 650 Dingo 1 FR 699 1.000 Gildas BECHET Malahide Marina

Mini 6.50 Port of Galway Black Mini 6.50/ Proto 303 1.000 Marcus Ryan Louis Mulloy Mayo Sailing Clu

Mini 6.50 Port of Galway Green Mini Transat 6.5 Proto IRL78 1.000 Yannick Lemonnier / Dan Mill Aran Sailing Club

Racing aquelina J-112E IRL 1507 1.054 Sheila/James Tyrrell arklow sailing clab

Racing Aurelia J Boats IRL35950 1.077 Chris & Patanne Power Smith RSGYC RORC

Racing Cavatina Granada 38 IRL3861 0.930 Ian Hickey Royal Cork YC

Racing Elandra SIgma 33 IRL 4536 0.914 Joe Conway RIYC

Racing EOS X 362 SPORT IRL 6695 1.018 CIAN MC CARTHY KINSALE YACHT CLUB

Racing IOS Desert Star Jeanneau irl 1397 0.970 Ronan O Siochru Royal St. George Yacht Club

Racing Jedi J109 IRL 8088 1.008 Kenneth Rumball Irish National Sailing Club

Racing Juggerknot J/109 IRL 3660 1.016 Andrew Algeo RIYC / Baltimore SC

Racing Kalamar Beneteau 31.7 IRL3171 0.948 Roberto Sastre NYC

Racing Lively Lady Beneteau First 44.7 IRL1644 1.105 Derek Martin RIYC

Racing Lula Belle Beneteau 36.7 IRL 3607 0.991 Liam Coyne Wicklow

Racing Mojito J/109 GBR0947R 1.010 Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox Pwllheli SC

Racing Platinum Blonde Beneteau 35 First IRL 3516 1.019 Pau Egan RSGYC

Racing Red Alert Jeanneau---JOD35 IRL6036 1.001 Rupert Barry Greystone Sailing Club

Racing Rockabill VI JPK 10.80IRL IRL 10800 1.051 Paul O'Higgins RIYC

Racing Ruth J/109 IRL 1383 1.015 Shanahan Family National Yacht Club

Racing Sgrech J109 GBR9319R 1.011 Stephen Tudor Pwllheli Sailing Club - Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli Sailing Club

Racing Spirit of Jacana J133 IRL1335 1.103 Alan, Bruce and James Douglas Carrickfergus Sailing Club

Racing Springer Sigma 33 (Marine Projects) IRL 4464 0.914 Ian Bowring RStGYC

Racing Thalia Sigma 400 IRL733 1.035 Mick Flynn NYC

Racing Wakey Wakey J109 GBR5909R 1.014 Roger Smith Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club

Racing White Tiger Beneteau First 44.7 IRL4470 1.112 Tony O'Brien Kinsale Yacht Club

Racing Windshift Sunfast 37 37737 0.985 Brendan Coghlan Royal St George

Racing WOW Austral Yachts IRL4208 1.123 George Sisk RIYC

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On a cloudy grey evening there was again a good turnout of 17 Flying Fifteens in the DBSC Series but all was not as it seemed as we sailed out in a force 4 westerly breeze writes our Flying Fifteen Correspondent. PRO Jack Roy was as confused as the rest of us and warned the fleet that anything could happen as the forecasted wind was from the south.

The fleet set of with just a individual recall and Balfe and Colin were quickest off the line, the fleet split with a group heading to the shore out of the tide, or so they thought, and the rest going to the right where there was a little more breeze. Balfe led at the weather mark from Colin, the first seven boats had a good lead with Mitchel, Doyle, Dooley and Green amongst them. Colin had the lead by the third mark Poldy but it was nip and tuck with Balfe on the challenging beat into Bay mark.

Meanwhile Doyle and Green who went closest to the shore out of the tide were in third and fourth spot with Mitchel fifth. On the way to East and the finish it all got a bit messy with the wind not knowing what it was doing. Balfe perservered and was looking good to finish first as Colin had disappeared, but Doyle and Green were more to ‘weather’ and were drifting faster, Green took the lead briefly but had to tack but Doyle continued to take the gun, apparently his first ever gun in a Flying Fifteen Dublin Bay race! Green finished second with Balfe third as they neared the 9pm time limit.

Most boats had gone home retired but those who hadn’t were now timed out. Thanks to Jack Roy and his team for an interesting evening on the Bay!

National Yacht Club Member John Chambers is the Waszp foiling boat agent for Ireland. Chambers, a pioneering Irish Moth sailor at the Dun Laoghaire club is to organise demo and clinic days for  NYC members.

The Waszp project was conceived in 2010 by Andrew McDougall, designer of the world beating Mach 2 foiling Moth.

The Moth is a racing boat with very few rules and therefore has developed into a boat that is beautiful to sail on the water, but not the answer to everyone’s requirements for a sailing dinghy.

The concept was for a foiler similar to a Moth, but answered all the sticking points that stop people buying a Moth.

 

 

 

Fifty years of enthusiastic service to Irish and international sailing were celebrated in the National Yacht Club at the weekend with a two day event to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Junior Sailing Section in the club writes W M Nixon.

In fact, Carmel Winkelmann, the star of the show, has given much more than fifty years of service to our sport. But it just so happens that when Olympic sailor Johnny Hooper persuaded his fellow NYC members in the Autumn of 1966 that they needed to build a class of Optimist dinghies to cater more directly for the encouragement of their junior sailors, it was abundantly clear that the person to steer the new Junior Section through its formative years from 1967 onwards was the forthright, determined and ever-energetic Carmel Winkelmann, who was already a significant presence – and then some – in the club.

Oppies for ever! Ann Kirwan (left) and Dean McElree racing boats of a type they hadn’t been in for quite some time off the National YC on Sunday

Are the old choppers still up to it? Paddy Boyd re-learning the technique of holding the mainsheet in your teeth.

Gordon Douglas (left) and Ann Kirwan settling into some quite serious racing.

The result was a programme from which the Junior Sailing Syllabus for the entire country developed and evolved. But time has passed so quickly since, with the National YC and many other clubs seeing their rising young stars encouraged to fresh levels of international success, that there was a danger that the Golden Jubilee of it all at the NYC in May 2017 might simply slip by unnoticed.

Paul Kirwan (left) and Paddy Boyd (right), with the latter giving every sign of getting the trim just right

Gordon Douglas left) and Dean McElree

Happily, however, those who benefitted most fully from their time in the programme over the years as it has been reeled out season after season, people such as Ann Kirwan and Paddy Boyd, were keen that the Golden Jubilee should be given total turbo-power, with the Person of Honour (for you can’t be a Guest of Honour in your own beloved club) being Carmel Winkelmann herself.

With the encouragement of NYC Commodore Ronan Beirne, they set up a fun-filled celebratory dinner last Saturday night which attracted an impressive range of “graduates” from over the years. Most heartening of all, the gathering included some keen young people who had emerged from some of the most recent batches, which was inter-generational enthusiasm of a high order.

Paddy Boyd and Michael Horgan Jnr with a bit of bite to the breeze

Carmel herself made a marvellous no-holds-barred speech to set the tone of the evening and night. And then on Sunday, an eclectic collection of graduates – some from a very long time ago indeed – gathered to race in a brisk enough breeze in trainee Optimists (quite a tight fit in some cases) generously provided by Alistair Rumball of the Irish National Sailing School.

And the result? Everybody won. It’s as simple as that.

Ann Kirwan comes to the weather mark, well settled back into Optimist racing by this stage