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Dublin Bay Boating News and Information

Displaying items by tag: Spring Chicken Series

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.

Published in DBSC

After two races sailed at the AIB DBSC Spring Chicken Turkey Shoot Series, the J109 Dear Prudence leads overall by three points from the 1720 sportsboat Conor K.

Lying third overall in the 50-boat fleet is DBSC's best-performing yacht on handicap over the last two seasons, the Royal St. George J/97 Windjammer jointly skippered by  Lindsay Casey and Denis Power.

Breezy conditions last Sunday meant a reduced fleet of mixed cruisers for the windward-leeward course in Seapoint Bay as reported here. 

Results are downloadable below.

Racing continues each Sunday at 10.10 am until 13th March 2022 inclusive.

 

Published in DBSC

There's no surprise that DBSC organisers have moved to cancel Sunday's third race of its AIB Spring Chicken Series due to a strong wind warning.

Fintan Cairns told competitors this morning "regrettably, having looked at all forecasts for tomorrow, it is obvious that we will be unable to get sailing with strong winds and even stronger gusts".

Gusts of up to 45 mph from the west are forecast for the start time on Dublin Bay.

The first race of the series on February 6th was also cancelled due to strong winds. Racing got underway last weekend (February 13th) with a 1720 sportsboat finishing on top of the 50-boat mixed cruiser fleet.

Racing continues each Sunday at 10.10 am until 13th March 2022 inclusive.

Published in DBSC

Despite holding out until just a couple of hours before this morning's First Gun, Dublin Bay Sailing Club was forced to cancel its first race of 2022. 

A six-race AIB sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series was due to start this morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour at 10.10 hours.

A 50-boat mixed cruiser-racer fleet has assembled for the series following on from a highly successful edition of the 70-boat Turkey Shoot Series before Christmas.

Although a deceptively flat sea state on Dublin Bay appears 'sailable' (see live webcams here), strong offshore winds are gusting to over 30-knots forcing DBSC organiser Fintan Cairns to hoist the cancellation flags at 8 am.

The cancellation adds to the earlier scrubbing of the DMYC Dinghy Frostbites scheduled for this afternoon at the same venue. On the South coast, the first race of Kinsale Yacht Club's dinghy league in West Cork has also been scrapped due to the forecast.

Published in DBSC

Dublin Bay race organiser Fintan Cairns expects a fleet of over 50 (with 48 to date) for what could yet be a very breezy first race of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Spring Chicken Series at the National Yacht Club this Sunday.

Racing for a mixed cruiser-racer fleet will continue each Sunday at 10.10 am until 13th March 2022 inclusive. 

Among the fleet already entered is a number of sportsboats including the regular 1720s, J80s as well as the league's first SB20 entry. 

Also racing are at least two Sunfast 3600s and as regular Afloat readers will know, these Jeanneau skippers have already been out practising on the bay this month.

Cairns issued sailing instructions for the AIB sponsored short and sharp, six-race series yesterday in anticipation of a breezy start to 2022 proceedings with westerly winds currently forecast to gust to 50 knots at race time.

Download sailing instructions below

Starts and handicaps will be issued shortly.

XC Weather forecastXC Weather forecast

Published in DBSC

Dublin Bay Sailing Club has published the Notice of Race for its 2022 Spring Chicken series.

Six races will be held on Sunday mornings from 6 February to 13 March (first gun 1010 hrs), using a progressive handicap on a time-to-time basis.

Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are “very welcome”, DBSC adds. And after the sailing, prize draws, food and more will be kindly hosted by the National Yacht Club.

The entry fee is €60 which includes temporary membership of DBSC and the NYC. Entries can be made online at dbsc.ie.

Anyone experiencing issues with their entries is invited to contact Chris Moore, Hon Sec at 087 7626976 or Fintan Cairns at 087 2439208.

Sailing instructions will be available on Sunday 6 February and will be emailed to entrants beforehand.

DBSC advises that the last date for entries is Wednesday 2 February, and warns that handicaps of late entries will be adjusted accordingly.

Published in DBSC

Next week's final race of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Citroen South Spring Chicken Series and prizegiving have been postponed until September and it will be 'reviewed' at that time.

The decision for the National Yacht Club hosted event comes in the wake of this weekend's Coronavirus emergency measures.

DBSC's Summer season is scheduled for this April. First Race dates as follows: Saturday, April 25; Tuesday, April 28; Wednesday, April 29 and Thursday, April 30.

John O'Gorman's Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club was the winner of the first race of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's 2020 Spring Chicken Series.

19 cruisers raced in a blustery first race with 17 finishers on Sunday morning as Afloat reported here.

The J97 Windjammer and the J109 Dear Prudence were scored joint second on the Seapoint course in the west of the Bay with Liam Shanahan's J109 Ruth in this place. 

Download full results in the Citroen South Series below.

The series continues next Sunday from the National Yacht Club.

Published in DBSC

This afternoon's DMYC Frostbite Series racing for dinghies at Dun Laoghaire Harbour has been cancelled due to adverse weather with gusts in excess of 30 knots on Dublin Bay.

Gale force winds are predicted for the Irish Sea later today.

See live Dublin Bay webcam here

This morning's first race of the DBSC Spring Chicken Series did go ahead in the comparatively sheltered waters of Seapoint Bay.

This morning's DBSC Spring Chicken Series got off to a gentle start in light to medium westerlies on Dublin Bay for the 38-plus boat fleet.

The regular mix of contestants were joined by Iduna, an 80–year–old Lymington L Class design. Viking Marine are prize sponsors again this year and 'Vicky Marine' (pictured below) is not shelling out crystal or silver prizes, but the very useful Dexshell range of hats and gloves to keep winners extremities warm. See the full range from Viking Marine here

See the starting order and initial handicaps for the first race below.

spring chicken vicky marine(Top) New vessel 'Vicky Marine' sets sail for the Spring Chicken Series and (above) some of the Series prizes on offer from Viking Marine

Race two of the National Yacht Club hosted six-race event sponsored by Citroen South Dublin takes place next Sunday.

Published in DBSC
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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