To mark the beginning of the new season in a revamped class, Dublin Bay Sailing Club Cruisers Two sailors are holding a pre–season supper at the Royal St George Yacht Club on Friday, 21st April.

The guest speaker is sailmaker Des McWilliam who will give 'Tips on Sail Trim' and all sailors are welcome.

Incoming Class captain Adrienne Jermyn says 'It's an exciting year for the class as we've combined Cruisers two and the Sigma 33 class which brings our fleet numbers to 19'. 

Read more about class two racing in Ireland here.

Class captains from twenty Dublin Bay Sailing classes were briefed on the new Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) season this week. DBSC Commodore Chris Moore's briefing notes are below.

The first DBSC race will be on Tuesday 25th April, then the first Thursday race on 27th April and the first Saturday race on the 29th. The midweek race will be as usual finishing in the last week of August Tuesday 29th and Thursday 31st.  

Highlights:          

1. Coastal Races
2. Saturday dinghy racing
3. End of season races
4. ECHO handicaps

Coastal races: Since 2012, the three  coastal races have been a regular feature of the DBSC programme. This, in a way, was imposed on us by the large international dinghy events which the clubs organise on a regular basis. As it happened, people actually liked the coastal races, as a welcome alternative to the short-leg courses we’ve been providing since about 2001.

Chris Moore, Commodore of Dublin Bay Sailing Club

Also there’s been a trend that’s useful to take note of: members seem to be moving into bigger boats. Two Ruffian sailors have recently up scaled to  31.7s and the thriving Cruiser 1 fleet has an influx of people (like myself, indeed) who formerly raced in the lighter end of the keelboat fleet. Inevitably, this give rise to a feeling that some boats on the short, inshore legs, are not being sufficiently challenged – certainly on Saturdays, when we have more time to extend ourselves. It’s also a fact that up to about 2000 we always had some long legs on our courses. DBSC veterans – that is, people who raced before the turn of the century !  – will recall that the Burford buoys always formed part of DBSC courses.

J109s race in a thriving DBSC Cruisers One class Photo: Afloat.ie

This year we’re building on the previous coastal programme, extending the legs out to the Kish lights and where weather conditions allow and even to race around the Moulditch buoy off Greystones. There will be, of course, provision to shorten course where the wind dies, and, indeed, if there are forecasts are for light winds, then we may fall back on the regular inshore programme and run  the coastal races on another day. These longer courses will require earlier starts – probably about an hour. We’ll cover that later in a special notice. 

DBSC costal races may go as far south as the Moulditch buoy off Greystones in County Wicklow Photo: Afloat.ie

With no international dinghy events in the Bay this year,  Tim Goodbody, has designed for us a set of courses with windward starts in the Bay  –the first leg, for example, being Bligh mark with a reach out to the north Kish light. They will be shown on a new course card which is not part of the usual membership pack. Instead, it  can be downloaded from the DBSC website. I should signal at this stage that downloaded course cards from the web site are likely to replace the present printed version. It’s the way things are going: the printed version is horrendously expensive. The web seems to be the way to go. The yearbook will continue to issue as before. We might even enlarge it.

I should add also that if weather conditions don’t suit the smaller keelboats, we can always have recourse to the platonic courses. With the right wind, these can be used give us Olympic courses, either windward-leeward or triangular which please an increasing number of people.  I should add, too, that the green fleet will race, as usual, on their green fleet courses. They’re not included in the coastal race programme.

On Greystones, last year a number of fleets indicated that  they  would like DBSC  feeder race to the Greystones regatta. We’ll provide this facility again this year but we insist that it must be an official class decision, communicated to us in the regular way by the class captain. The date is the 26th August.

The dates for the three coastal races are the 27^th may, the 17^th June and the 5^th August.  We’re putting the Royal Alfred label on them and Alfred cups or trophies  will be awarded to the overall winners. Points for the series will also count for the main series as well .In the jargon, the coastal series is  “ a series within a series”.

Dinghy racing: As last year’s midweek (Tuesday) series  seems to have pleased nearly everyone, we don’t plan this year to change it in any way. Where there were difficulties was the week-end  Saturday series.

 For some time there had been a notable disinclination on the part of part of centre-board sailors to come out on Saturdays. Following the lead of the DMYC with its successful winter Sunday series, we thought we might give Sundays a try. The response was no better. In fact, there was the odd day when  we had our expensive committee boat on hand, a race management team, a rib but no competitors. 

Our first inclination, after this disheartening experience, was to forget about week-end dinghy sailing entirely, recognising that there were perhaps social or family trends in play.  However, we don’t wish to have it said that DBSC does not support dinghy racing and following meetings with dinghy representatives we agreed to give Saturdays another try. This year dinghy racing will take place on 12 agreed days  inside the Harbour when there are no clashes with other events. As the two committee boats are committee elsewhere, racing will be from  a rib. Just as happens with the Wags on Wednesday evenings. We’re grateful to Declan Traynor, who will be in attendance with his rib, precisely for that purpose. DBSC will provide a  patrol rib, and pay for the drivers and also  marks and  the other equipment  needed. The dinghies will provide their own race officers and record keepers etc

The DBSC SB20 start a race Photo: Aflaot.ie

End of Season Races: We’re not going to hold the cruisers challenge this year. It’s been clear from some time that it had outlived its original purpose, which was to provide championship racing for cruisers which, unlike one-designs, had no such outlet. Nowadays they have, ICRA (the Irish Cruiser Racing Association,) and Kinsale, which is within easy reach of the larger  Dublin Bay boats, and beyond that, if they are so minded, they can race in Cork Week every two years. Many boats were having a crew problems For our part,  we  in DBSC were having more than enough trouble in meeting our own needs in finding  race officer personnel  for our own regular racing  personnel at that time of year., with  so many people still away  on holidays.

There is, of course, an argument that the Cruiser Challenge provided, in way, a wrap up, an air of finality, or closure, to the sailing season. It’s an interesting idea and we’ve decided to take it up and build on it - but applying it at the real end of the season, the day of the last Saturday races, the 30^th September.  All DBSC boats will be catered for – not only cruisers but one-designs and dinghies as well. It’ll be a sort of Grand Finale to the Dublin Bay season. It will also give some fillip, a bit of stimulation, to Saturday September racing which most years, with Thursday racing finished, trails away in a tired, lack lustre kind of way. Our plans are fluid at the moment but we hope to have regatta –style courses, say two races for every class, and start a bit earlier than usual. There will be special prizes and, like the coastal series, these races will count for regular Dublin Bay points.

ECHO Handicaps: The ECHO handicapping system has been with us since around 1984 and generally fulfils its purpose - providing a performance –based handicap system as an alternative to handicaps based on the IRC measurement system. Many DBSC cruisers boats, in fact, tend to rely on ECHO, leaving IRC to the (presumed !) hotshots. In the classical or original model, handicaps are adjusted on a monthly basis, which cuts out the see-saw effect deriving  from unusual or out of character performances   - coming, say, from winds that die away in one quarter of the Bay and  leaving other quarters with perfect sailing conditions. Classical ECHO, in fact gives a balanced picture of a boat’s average performance, indicating how it  can be expected to  perform  over a series of races.

Against that, advocates of the Progressive ECHO system - which adjust handicaps after every race -  argue that classical ECHO is bit remote from the experiences of crews who like to be able to see how their handicap responds to their own experience of their boat’s performance. It  certainly has the merit of being more transparent.  Colin McMullen, who was around when Echo came on the scene so many years ago, points out that if computers were as prevalent then as they are now, we might have had  progressive ECHO from the outset. His own sampling, by the way, shows that there is very little to choose from in the overall results from either system. Tim Costello, who is software engineer and former DBSC Commodore, has come to the same conclusion.

Anyway, we’re going to give progressive ECHO a try this season. If you want to see how a  boats amended ECHO  is displayed take a look at the DBSC  web site. Most  of last year’s results have been taken down but there are some results remaining for a Cruisers One   race under ECHO. The ECHO  TCCs for the next race ae displayed in the column on the extreme right.

The buoyant DBSC Flying Fifteen fleet

Late Entries:  Talking about handicaps, may I suggest at this point that boats in cruiser classes be reminded to get their IRC cert to the secretariat in good time. There is always a big influx of certs at the last moment, much of it unnecessary and inexcusable. The same is true of boat entries. We’ve never been keen on late entry penalties but the in recent times these last minute late surges have been going beyond endurance for the secretariat and results function. Would you pas the word along?

Other Changes:  What else in 2017?  Cruisers 2 and Sigma 33s  have finally re-amalgamated and they are now one class, with one class captain. However, the Sigmas will continue to get one – design results as well – another case of “a series within a series”. This is true also of the J109s within Cruisers 1.  

BB21: And we have a new class – the B21s – emigrants, if you like, from Cruisers 3  -  who are now  numerous enough  along the waterfront to have their own start. They will race on Thursdays and Saturdays  with the red fleet, under both ECHO and one-design.  The expectation is that with their own start this class should grow beyond its current numbers.

Mermaids: We come now  to Mermaids, Dublin Bay’s oldest one-design class, designed for DBSC by J.B.Kearney in 1932. The club still holds the design rights, and Jonathan O’Rourke looks after the plans on behalf of DBSC. Locally, the Mermaids have fallen on bad times and, though three boats enter officially  enter, sometimes only one boat turns up. From the scoring point of view, this is a problem because under the Racing rules of Sailing you can’t have a race  with just only one boat.

To deal with this situation, and maintain some  semblance of continuity, we’ve decided to have Mermaids race and scored under PY on Saturdays when they normally start in the Green Fleet with the Squibs. The Squibs will continue to get their one-design results and their DBSC regular points and  their prizes are not affected in any way. It’s just that they get an extra set of results, showing them racing with the Mermaids. The Mermaid prizes will be based on PY and will be awarded to Mermaids only. There’s no problem with the PY handicaps. The RYA publishes a set of for all known dinghy designs but its rules are flexible and local fleets can change them to suit their own circumstances. Flexible, yes, but once fixed, we don’t plan to change them. Unless experience shows they’re definitely wrong, in which event we will bring them into line with what they shou;ld be.

I should assure members that administering PY is no big deal with DBSC. We do it all the time. Valerie Kinnear is our great expert on PY handicaps and in setting the initial PYs we can rely on he knowledge and experience.

Tuesday Racing: Finally, Tuesday  keelboat racing. If people race on Tuesdays, and still have course cards on board their boats , they should get rid of them. Richella Carroll, who is race officer on most Tuesday nights, has made about a dozen changes  to the courses. At this stage I should pay tribute to  Richella and say how much we appreciate her knowledge and expertise at the Hut. She’s terrific race officer. The Hon. Secretary reminds me that she became a member of DBSC on the 2^nd February 1955. No one has ever detected or noticed any lessening in her capabilities in course setting or managing a race. We wish her many more successful years at the West Pier at the West Pier.

One final matter: Boats in Cruisers  0, 1,2, 31.7 and Sigmas who race on Tuesday will have their results combined in one series. Turnouts on Tuesdays for these classes are very intermittent and it’s not worth the trouble giving them each separate series. If there are class or club prizes for Tuesdays, winners can  can be taken from the combined results

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Commodore Chris Moore outlines the club's 2017 season programme that gets underway on April 25th and includes new coastal races and a 'grand finale' planned for September

It was in July 2012, with wide stretches of the Bay unavailable to us because of the ISAF worlds, that the Club first introduced coastal racing into its programme. Its objective was modest enough – to leave the Bay clear for a major world sailing event while not depriving DBSC sailors of their customary Saturday afternoons’ sailing.

As it happened, the innovation proved very popular with most of the membership, even though the courses involved no more than a race to the Burford Bank and or a run down to Killiney Bay through the Muglins Sound.

This year, the Bay being thankfully free of international competitions, there is an opportunity to present the Club’s keelboat fleets with much more extensive and varied coastal courses. Many DBSC boats, in fact, are ocean races racers capable of more challenging racing than what they are normally experience inshore. Accordingly, Tim Goodbody, with the Committee’s support, has built on the former coastal racing courses and planned for this season a set of three really ambitious coastal races, extending to the outfall buoys on the Kish bank and down to the Moulditch bank south-east of Greystones.

The 2017 DBSC Yearbook features the ICRA Boat of the Year, Joker II on the front cover

Races will start from a committee vessel and boats will round DBSC marks before proceeding out of the normal racing area. There will be a range of courses for boats of various size and characteristics and, of course, if conditions prove overly challenging, there can always be a fall-back on platonic courses. The new coastal races will be shown on a separate course card. We’re designating them “DBSC Royal Alfred Courses.” Prizes will be Royal Alfred cups or to be awarded at the usual November prize giving.

We don’t intend to print the course card and include it in the usual membership pack. Instead, it will be shown on the Club’s web site and distributed to members through e-mail to the class captains. It’s a foretaste of how things are likely to develop in the future. Printing and distributing course cards is not cheap- the paper used is horrendously expensive- and obviously we’ll have to go like the rest of the world and depend on the internet for most of our communications. We appreciate that there are people who regard the membership pack as a physical link with DBSC - or, indeed, as a marketing tool, as someone put it - but there are no plans to abandon the yearbook. Quite the reverse. In fact we might endeavour to expand it.

Coastal race start times will be more than an hour earlier than is customary and we may extend the time limit, depending on weather forecasts.

On ECHO handicaps, about which we talked to the classes over the winter, current plans are to use the Progressive ECHO version for the 2017 season. Various studies have shown that, effectively, there is no little or no difference in outcome between the “Progressive” and the “classical” versions, but the former has the merit of increased transparency: people will be able to see much earlier any change in a boat’s performance

There have been problems with dinghy week-end racing. Last year we tried, with no success, running races on Sundays. We have talked to dinghy representatives and another proposal emerged - to run dinghy races on the Water Wag model, inside the Harbour, on twelve nominated Saturday afternoons. Race management will be from a rib. They’ll be regular, official DBSC races, funded by the Club but controlled by the dinghies themselves.

In conclusion, may I draw attention to the last Saturday races? This will be a sort of grand finale to the season, with earlier starts and special prizes presented after racing in one of the Clubs. All classes will be catered for, including dinghies. Plans are not yet complete but we hope to make an occasion of it.

That said, I wish members fair winds and enjoyable racing in 2017.

Chris Moore, Commodore

This article was first published as a foreword to the 2017 DBSC Yearbook 

Class Two is certainly heating up and expanding this year writes Dave Cullen, Skipper of championship winning half–tonner Checkmate XV. The quality of the fleet must make it one of the most competitive with boats ranging from €15k to €150k all in with a fighting chance of the podium.

At the bottom of the rating band, Sigma 33s make up the numbers and the top end is dominated by J97s and Elan 333s.

Such are the numbers that a number of boats might find themselves unhappy participants in Class One which happened in Sovereigns Cup two years ago.

The fleet is diverse and includes a sizeable X302 fleet from Howth YC including the stalwart podium winner DUX, Maximus and Viking to name but a few.

Stephen Quinn’s J/97 Lambay Rules is at the top of the Class Two Rating Band Photo: Afloat.ie

Cork's George Radley adds his latest 'half' Half Tonner Cortegada to the Class Two fleet this season. Photo: Bob Bateman

David Cullen's Checkmate from Howth Yacht Club is the 2015 Half Ton champion

Popular Half tonner Harmony from Howth (Jonny Swan) is on the Class Two circuit Photo: Bob Bateman

Another quality Half tonner campaign from HYC, The Big Picture (Michael and Richard Evans). Photo: Afloat.ie

The Half Ton class is formidable and apart from the locals of Checkmate XV, Harmony, King One and The Big Picture, visiting boats planning on basing campaigns here include Nigel Biggs latest Checkmate XVIII ex Dick Dastardly, Paul Wayte from Swansea's HB31 Headhunter and the highly optimised Miss Whiplash returns to Dublin owned by Paul Pullen visiting from Swansea. Demolition from Falmouth is also likely to appear. George Radley adds his latest 'half' Cortegada to the pile of quality competitors.

The X302 fleet from Howth YC includes stalwart DUX Photo: Afloat.ie

Throw in DB1s, J80s, Corby 25 & 26s and the start line really shapes up with a sharp competitive fleet.

It's easy to predict the half tonners as dominating with light to medium conditions suit them for sure. The same applies with the Corbys. Throw in an extra few knots and the X302s pick up their heels as do the Sigma 33s which are never too far behind. Movistar Blue and Lambay Rules like a breeze too so the field is really wide open.

The Sigma 33 class, formerly a stand alone one design class, have joined DBSC Cruisers Two division this year, boosting numbers on Dublin Bay to 19 Photo: Afloat.ie

Checkmate XVIII – the old Emiliano Zapata, ex Dick Dastardly, ex French Beret, ex Concorde from 1985 is undergoing a refit in North Wales, launching early May

On Dublin Bay, there will be a reported 19 boats in this year's DBSC Cruisers two fleet boosted by eight Sigma 33s who join the division. 

As to predictions, any of the boats in the class can win but need to arrive on the line in good shape and well prepared. Rub your hand over the bum of any of the Class leaders and you will see the efforts put in as the best winning ingredient for race wins is boat speed.

I think a prediction is futile without a weather forecast so I would say for lighter traditional Dublin summer conditions, any of the half tonners or the Corby 25 will feature in a windward–leeward race, Lambay Rules (J97) prefers a reach round the cans races whilst a well sailed Sigma 33 has a real chance if they can stop the mighty Dux in breezy conditions.

Having answered the question like a politician would, if it was predictable none of us would bother, so place your bets and see how it fared out in October. I'll put a tenner on Biggsy though!

Dave Cullen of Howth Yacht Club is Skipper of Half–Tonner Checkmate XV and won the 2015 Half Ton Classics Cup with a race to spare

ICRA Ratings officer Denis Kiely from Cork will chair an open floor Q&A session on the topics of cruiser racer sailing in Ireland at the ICRA Conference on March 4. The aim of the session, according to Commodore Simon mcGibney, is that by sharing of information from the people on the ground will help us all find ways to encourage cruiser racing within the Irish club system.

Recent changes to the 2017 sailing programme of Dublin Bay Sailing Club, as described in this morning's Irish Times Sailing Column here, should therefore be food for thought at the Limerick-based conference.

The Dublin Bay Sailing Club season is to be enhanced by new races. Coastal contests are at the centre of the revamp of competitions held out of Dún Laoghaire but the country's biggest club has also cancelled its annual cruiser challenge because of an overcrowded calendar.

The capital’s racing fleet will also race to the Burford Bank and south to Shanganagh buoy in Killiney Bay as well as using DBSC’s own buoys as turning marks.

DBSC is an umbrella organisation representing all four Dún Laoghaire waterfront clubs and co-ordinates bay racing for a fleet of nearly 300 boats in 22 classes from 50-foot offshore yachts to 13-foot inshore dinghies.

The 2017 courses are a response by reforming Commodore Chris Moore to demand from sailors seeking variations to so-called “round-the-cans” races. Three coastal races are scheduled for May 27th, June 17th and August 5th. Read more in the Irish Times here.

ICRA conference agenda

TIME (APPROX.) ITEM

10:30 Registration & Welcome – Simon McGibney (ICRA Commodore)
10:35 Introductions – Simon McGibney
10:45 National Crew Training Project – Norbert Reilly
11:00 Review of Cruiser Racing – Denis Kiely
– Participation Level Trends
– Round Table Discussion
13:00 Training Grant Scheme – Colin Morehead / Denis Kiely
13:20 Crew Point – Simon McGibney
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Guest Presentation: Wining a World Championship – ‘Prof.’ O’Connell
15:10 Guest Presentation: IRC – Mike Urwin (Technical Consultant RORC Rating)
15:50 ICRA National Cruiser Championships 2017 – Paul Tingle (RCYC)
16:05 ICRA Association Update – Simon McGibney
16:15 ICRA Boat of the Year Presentation – Simon McGibney
16:30 Finish

A great turn–out after two cancellations got the 2017 DBSC Spring Chicken Series for Sailing Cruisers off to a great start on a lovely day at the National Yacht Club last Sunday. 

The Beneteau 34.7 Black Velvet was the first race winner and leads two 1720 sportboats; Wolfe and Optique.

Full results are downloadable for the Rathfarnham Ford sponsored series are below.

15–knot westerlies should give Dublin Bay Sailing Club Spring Chicken sailors grounds for optimism this Sunday at the National Yacht Club.  

After two cancellations, the 50–boat fleet is hopeful for a start this weekend after two missed Sundays so far in the pre–season warmer on Dublin Bay. As Afloat.ie previously reported there's been either too little or too much wind on the Bay so far for the popular Rathfarnham Ford sponsored series. 

Simple courses using just two fixed marks – the West Pier Outfall Buoy and the Muglins Rock – and a starting-line set by Henry Leonard’s of the DBSC Race Management team have proved a winning formula under organiser Fintan Cairns.

The series has also got support from Dun Laoghaire's Irish National Sailing School, North Sails and UK McWilliam Sails.

Attached below are handicaps and starts for Sunday.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), the country's largest yacht racing organisation, is well advanced with plans for its Summer season in just over two months time.

There are some major changes to the Sherry Fitzgerald–sponsored programme this year with the loss of the DBSC Cruiser Challenge but the arrival of three new 'enhanced' coastal races as part of the fixtures line–up in the capital's waters.

There are changes for DBSC dinghies too who will now race in harbour on Saturdays instead of Sundays.

The first DBSC summer races start in April: the first Tuesday is 25th April, the first Thursday is 27th April and the first Saturday is 29th April.

One of the first victims of an 'overcrowded' sailing calendar is DBSC's annual Cruiser Challenge this season. DBSC Commodore Chris Moore feels the cruiser event has 'run its course' due largely to the fact that 'there are now less big boats racing and many more competing events such as the ICRAs, ISORAs and Sovereigns Cup.'

DBSC End of Season Race Day

DBSC will mark the end of the season with it's last race of 2017 that could yet have a twist on the overall results.

The club is keen to see 2017 off in style this year with a special 'DBSC End of Season Race Day' on the 30th September. Keelboats will have two races and therefore double points which, says Moore, 'could be a game changer for some boats in the running for overall prizes'.

On the dinghy front, there will be no dnghy sailing on Sundays, instead dnghy racing will now be on Tuesdays (as last year) and on Saturday afternoons in the harbour on 12 designated days.

Finally, there will be three coastal races with new and enhanced courses, 27th May, 17th June, and 5th August. these will be entitled 'DBSC Royal Alfred Coastal Series' with some special extra prizes.

A series of six Dublin Bay Sailing Club will be held on Sunday mornings for racing under modified ECHO. Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are very welcome to join in the DBSC warm-up series sponsored by Rathfarnham Ford that runs from February 5th to March 12th.

An entry fee €60.00 includes temporary membership of Dublin Bay S.C. and National Y.C. Entry forms are in the waterfront clubs and downloadable below

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

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

Completed entries to Donal P. O’Sullivan, 72 Clonkeen Drive, Foxrock, D.18, by Wednesday 1st February.

The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Cruisers 2 Class held their AGM in the Royal Irish Yacht Club last night.

A good attendance of 26 members unanimously elected Adrienne Jermyne as Class Captain for the 2017 season.

A sailor since childhood, originally from Howth, she now sails 'Helter Shelter', a Jenneau 32, for the last ten years.

The Cruisers 2 schedule of events for 2017 will be announced shortly.