Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Dublin Bay Boating News and Information

Displaying items by tag: Andrew Algeo

J109 National Champion Andrew Algeo of the Royal Irish Yacht Club will have his first regatta in his new J99, Juggerknot II (IRL3990) at Spi Ouest Regatta, this Friday, and it looks like the fleet of 436 boats gathering at La Trinite Sur Mer, will be the biggest in six years.

A very interesting class IRC B line up means the Irish boat will meet stiff competition from the get-go. Afloat reported on the arrival of the new J99 into Dublin in January.

A J99 sistership will be also competing in La Trinite. Called J Lance 14 she is sailed by French pro–sailor Didier Le Moal, so there's going to be plenty of pacing opportunities for the new Irish marque that has a summer of Irish-based regattas awaiting her.  

Here is the full class line up at Spi-Ouest with boat types and TCCs also listed: 

IRC B - Spi Ouest

 ID.   Bateau Voile Skipper Club Bateau TCC
124   AD HOC FRA44058 Jf. Cheriaux C N LORIENT JPK 10.10 1.0010
211   ANAVEL FRA43914 H. Cardon Y C CARNAC JPK 10.10 1.0050
127   APLYSIA 3 43918 C. Faure   SUN FAST 3200 1.0000
146   CAVOK FRA53119 P. Gach Y C CROUESTY ARZON POGO 30 1.0450
149   CLIFDEN FRA44059 F. Jooris Y C TRINITE SUN FAST 3200 0.9950
199   CRESCENDO FRA39098 P. Sauzieres S N TRINITE S/MER JPK 10.10 1.0000
284   DELNIC FRA9210 B. Rousselin S N TRINITE S/MER JPK 10.10 1.0040
221   EDM SERVICE FRA39201 B. Daniels S R ROCHELAISES SUN FAST 3200 0.9940
355   ENEDIS FRA44737 J. Rigalleau SNSablais SUN FAST 3200 1.0000
332   EXETERA FRA21859 A. Rougeulle S N TRINITE S/MER X 36S 0.9990
181   FOGGY DEW FRA37310 N. Racine S N P H jpk 10.10 0.9990
135   HAKUNA MATATA 35914 Jf. Nouel C N PORNIC SUN FAST 3200 1.0000
158   HEY JUDE FRA9624 P. Girardin S N TRINITE S/MER J 120 1.0400
192   IOALLA FRA1382 G. Prietz/Y. Le Trequesser S N TRINITE S/MER X 382 1.0140
394   J LANCE 14 FRA53145 D. Le Moal S R ROCHELAISES J 99 2.0000
171   JACKPOT 9679 H. Mehu S N TRINITE S/MER J 109 1.0040
136   JIBOULIX 25577 Jb. Prot S N TRINITE S/MER X362S 1.0060
137   JUGGERKNOT 2 IRL3990 A. Algeo   J 99 1.0170
410   LEMANCELLO FRA43904 Fx. Mahon C N FERRET SUN FAST 3200 0.9930
138   LINGOBJECTS FRA9804 B. Le Marec S R ROCHELAISES OFCET 32 1.0120
139   MUSIX FRA43893 P. Baetz S N TRINITE S/MER J 122E 1.0430
183   PEN KOENT FRA53160 E. Le Men Y C VAL ANDRE FIRST 40.7 1.0410
141   RACING BEE 2 FRA43933 Lm. Dussere   JPK 10.80 1.0420
314   REALAX FRA21706 Jy. Le Goff S N TRINITE S/MER A 35 1.0210
421   TIGER 5 3303 M.Menesguen   MMW33 1.0070
125   TIP FRA39430 G. Pages YC LA GRANDE MOTTE SUN FAST 3600 1.0520
151   VALORIS&BENEFITS FRA43673 J. Bouic S R ROCHELAISES A 35


Didier's previous very successful boat was another J Lance, a J112e which won both the IRC Europeans and IRC Worlds last year. 

Other interesting boats in the class will be a J112e, Musik, a very well sailed Beneteau 40.7 Pen Koent, a number of A35s, a number of JPK 10.10s, Jpk 10.80s and Jeanneau sunfast 3200s.  These three last designs will perform well if the conditions turn out strong, but will not be great if conditions are light and the long range forecast looks light.

Algeo previewed his new J99 for Afloat in January here and he gave one of the reasons for downsizing to the newer but smaller J model as local crew availability. 

On board for Algeo's maiden sail in France as part of the Irish crew is North Sails Ireland's, Nigel Young.

The J99 type has been sailed recently under IRC at the Warsash Spring series and so far the IRC optimised J109s are still holding sway. Unfortunately, there won’t be many tricked up J109s at Spi Ouest to see how they go. Unlike the Warsash J99, both J99s that will be sailing in La Trinite will be using Symmetric Configurations (with spinnaker poles) as against the sprit asymmetric configuration of the Warsash J99.

From a Dublin Bay and also a national perspective, it will be interesting to see how she goes.

Symmetric v Asymmetric Spinnakers

Another J109 in Ireland, the new Outrageous of Richard Colwell and John Murphy launches this week complete with a symmetric configuration, with the ability to change to asymmetric, if she wishes. Pat Kelly's J109 Celtic Cup champion Storm changed over to symmetric in 2017 too with well-documented success in the Scottish Series. The all-conquering J112e, J Lance, mentioned above, is also a symmetric setup.  

Storm Symmetric(Above) Howth J109 Storm sailing to success in the 2017 Scottish Series with an 'experimental' symmetric kite Photo: Mark Turner and (below) Storm using an asymmetric at last year's Irish Nationals on home waters Photo: Afloat.ie

Storm Assymetic 2782

Generally, it is thought that windward leeward events, especially in medium to strong winds suit boats with poles, whereas offshore likely would suit sprit boats.

Published in ICRA
Tagged under

Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper Andrew Algeo on why he has sold his national championship-winning J109 Juggerknot and replaced it with a brand new J99, Juggerknot 2. 

Juggerknot has been the means to get a bunch of old friends out on the water together and it has worked a treat, most of the time.

Paul Nolan, Gary Haughton, Richard Knatchbull, Ben Cooke and I have sailed with or against each other in one combo or another in boats as varied as RS400s, SB20s, J/24s, Flying Fifteens, 1720s, Lasers and Enterprises going back to the 80s and since. But the activity levels had fallen somewhat in recent years and it was time to kick start our sailing - hence the J/109 in 2016.

Juggerknot crew 1Juggerknot champions - the winning J109 crew at the 2018 national championship prizegiving at Howth were Richard Knatchbull, Shane Conneely, Gary Haughton, Paul Nolan, Ben Cooke, Joe Hughes, Rob O’Leary and Andrew Algeo (with trophy)

Juggerknot got us competing again together on the race track, learning a new discipline of sailing, socialising in the RIYC bar and most enjoyably allowed us to rope many others in so that we’re a much a bigger bunch of friends now in team Juggerknot. Add to that that the J/109 is probably the most competitive boat under IRC in these parts, as well as having its own one design scene, and really what could be better?

"There was not enough of us to get the boat to the start at the weekends"

The only fly in the ointment, albeit a sizeable one, is that we haven’t been able to sail as often as we’d like to. We have found that while the spring and early summer is great, there was not enough of us available to get the boat to the start line from mid-July to the end of Sept at the weekends. That’s 10 or more weekends out of a short season.

Juggerknot 2 is launched

J99 Juggerknot 2

Juggerknot 2 will be a J/99 which will suit us better. With an optimum crew number of 7 or 8 we’ll still get the large team out for regattas and every other time we can. Yet the J/99 is a few feet shorter, has smaller sails and is a good deal lighter than the J/109 so we’ll be able to give racing a shot when only 3 or 4 of us are available because the degree of physicality necessary to sail her is less.

"Our first sail will be for Spi-Ouest, La Trinité Sur Mer at Easter"

So we hope to sail more often in 2019, build the team further and race again in IRC1 which we enjoy so much. Our first sail will be near the J-Composites factory for Spi-Ouest, La Trinité Sur Mer at Easter. In at the deep end for sure, but bucket list stuff too...

Published in Dublin Bay
Tagged under

The Howth crew of Ben Duncan, Brian Moran and Rick Morris on ‘Sharkbait’ are this year’s SB3 Eastern Champions after the six-race series ended on home waters with the local boat tying on points with Cork visitor ‘Sibelius’ (Kieran Dorgan) but taking the title on countback, having two bullets to the rival’s one. Overall results table here.

Brian Carlin SB3 photos from the event on the Afloat Gallery

Consistency was the name of the game, with ‘Sharkbait’ never out of the top four and ‘Sibelius’ notching three third places, a second and a 5th. Both crews are heading to Torbay in mid-May for the SB3 Worlds so this was a useful work-out, especially in difficult conditions. The north-easterly winds were fresher but steadier than on the first day but the swell was significantly greater, making life tougher on crews and equipment. 

That only five points after discards separated the top five boats overall speaks volumes for the intensity of the competition at the head of the 30-boat fleet. These five dominated proceedings to such an extent that the difference in points after discards between fifth and sixth overall was a massive 26 points.

After leading overnight by a slender margin, ‘Sharkbait’ got off to a dream start to the second day with a bullet ahead of’Flutter’ (Andrew Algeo) and Dorgan in the fourth race of the series. Fourth-placed Peter Kennedy of RNIYC in ‘Ridgefence.com’ was making amends for his OCS on the Saturday by following up that result with a win in the penultimate race, with ‘Flutter’ again second.  Sean Craig’s ‘Yeti’ was third while Duncan and Dorgan filled 4th and 5th respectively.

Dorgan left his best to last, winning the final race from Kennedy, Craig and Duncan in that order, a result that set up the tie after discards. In the race for the rest of the fleet, three northern boats filled the sixth to eighth places overall while Shane Murphy’s ‘Dinghy Supplies’ in 9th was the next best placed Howth entry.

SB3 Eastern Championships – overall results

  1. Sharkbait (Duncan/Moran/Morris) HYC     12 points
  2. Sibelius (K.Dorgan) CSC       12 points
  3. Flutter (A.Algeo) RStGYC  14 points
  4. Ridgefence.com (P.Kennedy) RNIYC – 15 points
  5. Yeti (S.Craig) RStGYC) – 17 points
Published in SB20

Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay on the east coast of Ireland stretches over seven kilometres, from Howth Head on its northern tip to Dalkey Island in the south. It's a place most Dubliners simply take for granted, and one of the capital's least visited places. But there's more going on out there than you'd imagine.

The biggest boating centre is at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the Bay's south shore that is home to over 1,500 pleasure craft, four waterfront yacht clubs and Ireland's largest marina.

The bay is rather shallow with many sandbanks and rocky outcrops, and was notorious in the past for shipwrecks, especially when the wind was from the east. Until modern times, many ships and their passengers were lost along the treacherous coastline from Howth to Dun Laoghaire, less than a kilometre from shore.

The Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea and is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south. North Bull Island is situated in the northwest part of the bay, where one of two major inshore sandbanks lie, and features a 5 km long sandy beach, Dollymount Strand, fronting an internationally recognised wildfowl reserve. Many of the rivers of Dublin reach the Irish Sea at Dublin Bay: the River Liffey, with the River Dodder flow received less than 1 km inland, River Tolka, and various smaller rivers and streams.

Dublin Bay FAQs

There are approximately ten beaches and bathing spots around Dublin Bay: Dollymount Strand; Forty Foot Bathing Place; Half Moon bathing spot; Merrion Strand; Bull Wall; Sandycove Beach; Sandymount Strand; Seapoint; Shelley Banks; Sutton, Burrow Beach

There are slipways on the north side of Dublin Bay at Clontarf, Sutton and on the southside at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and in Dalkey at Coliemore and Bulloch Harbours.

Dublin Bay is administered by a number of Government Departments, three local authorities and several statutory agencies. Dublin Port Company is in charge of navigation on the Bay.

Dublin Bay is approximately 70 sq kilometres or 7,000 hectares. The Bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and seven km in length east-west to its peak at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the southside of the Bay has an East and West Pier, each one kilometre long; this is one of the largest human-made harbours in the world. There also piers or walls at the entrance to the River Liffey at Dublin city known as the Great North and South Walls. Other harbours on the Bay include Bulloch Harbour and Coliemore Harbours both at Dalkey.

There are two marinas on Dublin Bay. Ireland's largest marina with over 800 berths is on the southern shore at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The other is at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club on the River Liffey close to Dublin City.

Car and passenger Ferries operate from Dublin Port to the UK, Isle of Man and France. A passenger ferry operates from Dun Laoghaire Harbour to Howth as well as providing tourist voyages around the bay.

Dublin Bay has two Islands. Bull Island at Clontarf and Dalkey Island on the southern shore of the Bay.

The River Liffey flows through Dublin city and into the Bay. Its tributaries include the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac.

Dollymount, Burrow and Seapoint beaches

Approximately 1,500 boats from small dinghies to motorboats to ocean-going yachts. The vast majority, over 1,000, are moored at Dun Laoghaire Harbour which is Ireland's boating capital.

In 1981, UNESCO recognised the importance of Dublin Bay by designating North Bull Island as a Biosphere because of its rare and internationally important habitats and species of wildlife. To support sustainable development, UNESCO’s concept of a Biosphere has evolved to include not just areas of ecological value but also the areas around them and the communities that live and work within these areas. There have since been additional international and national designations, covering much of Dublin Bay, to ensure the protection of its water quality and biodiversity. To fulfil these broader management aims for the ecosystem, the Biosphere was expanded in 2015. The Biosphere now covers Dublin Bay, reflecting its significant environmental, economic, cultural and tourism importance, and extends to over 300km² to include the bay, the shore and nearby residential areas.

On the Southside at Dun Laoghaire, there is the National Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as Dublin Bay Sailing Club. In the city centre, there is Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club. On the Northside of Dublin, there is Clontarf Yacht and Boat Club and Sutton Dinghy Club. While not on Dublin Bay, Howth Yacht Club is the major north Dublin Sailing centre.

© Afloat 2020