Flat seas and strong offshore southwesterly winds on Dublin Bay presented great sailing conditions for Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on August 16th.

In a two-boat Cruisers Zero division race, the Royal Irish First 40 Prima Forte, skippered by Sean Lemass, beat Michelle Farrell's 44.7 Tsunami from the National Yacht Club.

In a Royal Irish Yacht Club battle, Colin Byrne's XP 33 Bon Exemple beat Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief to win the five-boat IRC One race, which puts Byrne at the IRC One Saturday table. 

Lindsay Casey's Royal St. George J97 Windjammer beat Jim McCann's Peridot from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in a two-boat IRC Two race.

In the one design divisions, Joe Smyth's Yikes in the Beneteau 211 (scratch racing) won from Pat Shannon in Beeswing. Third was Rowan Fogarty's Ventuno.

In a five-boat Beneteau 31.7 race, overall leader Chris Johnston's Prospect from the National Yacht Club won from clubmate John Power's Levante. Third was Michael Bryson's Bluefin Two, also from NYC.

The National Yacht Club's David Gorman continues to lead overall after two more races in a ten-boat Flying Fifteen turnout.

It's all to play for in the final seven Saturdays that will close the 2023 DBSC Summer Series.

See results in all classes below.

The longstanding commitment of Facet Jewellers to the Flying Fifteen Class in Dun Laoghaire Harbour manifested itself again this past Saturday when the Facet Trophy was raced for by ten Flying Fifteens in a relatively empty Dublin Bay. Indeed, a start of ten boats might have been a high for the day in terms of overall participation.

The forecast for the weekend had been dire from the middle of the week, but as the week wore its way towards Friday, there was a sense that the conditions were set to moderate. However, anyone who was awake very early on the Saturday morning (3 – 4am) would have heard a howling gale outside. By 13:00, the concern wasn’t so much the wind but the sea state! However, a preliminary reconnaissance by the committee boat deemed that racing could proceed.

With the wind set to be slightly west of north, according to XCWeather, we set off for a start area in the vicinity of Merrion with a weather mark that was initially in transit with the leading lights at the mouth of the Liffey.

The wind was pretty much as forecast 16/17 knots with gusts coming through with each pass of grey cloud. However, with the tide still having just over an hour of flooding and the course being inshore, in relative terms, the seas were quite confused and lumpy. The majority of the fleet started on starboard tack for the first race with David Gorman & Cormac Bradley (4099) about halfway down the line in the company of Ian Mathews and Keith Poole (4093), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068), with Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) also in this group. Unbeknownst to this scribe, three boats went hard right – Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (3955), Joe Coughlan & Andrew Marshall (3913) and Jill Fleming (3747). The consequence of the latter group going hard right was that the former group, having done their best to get away from their colleagues in the middle and left of the course, found themselves playing second fiddle to Dumpleton & Hickey who were never headed after the weather mark and won by a comfortable margin. Behind them, the running order was Gorman & Bradley in very close company with Mulvin & Beirne and Mathews & Poole. Down the first leeward leg, Mathews and Mulvin closed on Gorman with Alastair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) behind this group. Colin & Casey were also not far away from the chasing three.

As the chasing group gybed and gybed again to get to the leeward mark, Mulvin sneaked in ahead of Gorman while Mathews dropped a little behind. Within the last few boat-lengths to the mark, Gorman came back again, and while he had no room, Mulvin made sure that he wasn’t tempted to squeeze in, by slamming the door shut. At this stage, Mathews and Poole parted company, giving Gorman the chance to chase Mulvin up the next beat unfettered. Court also took advantage to get into fourth place.

There were no changes up the second beat and subsequent run in the lead group, leading to a finishing order of Dumpleton, Mulvin, Gorman, Court, Mathews, Colin, Alan Balfe & son (3995), Coughlan, Mick Quinn & Mary-Jane Mulligan (3960) and Fleming. Back on shore Dumpleton said his decision to go hard right was influenced by the cloud movement and while there wasn’t unanimity about that on the boat, it paid dividends.

For the second race, the RO, Barry O’Neil moved the weather mark quite a bit westward to compensate for the shifting breeze. Once underway the reverse of the first race applied! The bulk of the fleet worked the middle and right of the course after a starboard tacked start. Gorman, peeled off first, taking a modest port tack before coming back into the middle of the course again. Mathews, Court and Mulvin took the port tack later and Gorman found himself leading this bunch as he worked the middle part of the course. But where were Colin & Casey? In contrast to Dumpleton the first time round, they worked the extreme left of the course as Dumpleton had done before on the right and lead the fleet around the weather mark. Behind them came Gorman and Court with a bit of distance before Mathews, Mulvin and Dumpleton rounded.

The run to the leeward mark required only a single gybe and a much later one at that. Colin, Gorman and Court all rounded safely without giving anything away to those who were chasing them. All three set off on the second beat holding a port tack before Court became the first to peel off and go shore-wards. Gorman took the decision to chase Colin and as the beat developed it appeared that was a good decision as some distance had been eked out from Court and Colin’s lead was slightly reduced.

While Gorman had closed on Colin, he had to keep an eye on Court as a slip at this stage might change the whole scene in overall terms. Again, the run to the mark was a single tack sail with a gybe late on to accommodate the short three sail reach to the finish, the wind having swung a bit further westward. Gorman gybed before he reached the leeward mark which allowed him a more relaxed set of the spinnaker and a higher windward slot to the finish. Colin’s later gybe did not go quite so smoothly and Gorman was able to take advantage and the winning gun. Ashore, Colin’s explanation of his first beat tactics was working the shifts on the left hand-side.

Since a recent session on rigging and tuning by John Lavery, there has been a much greater awareness of the need to change rigs in accordance with conditions. Post-race it seems everyone had taken heed of John’s advice as most people made a rigging change between the two races.

The finishing order for the second race was; Gorman, Colin, Court, Mathews, Mulvin, Dumpleton, Coughlan, Balfe, Fleming.

Over the two races the points were as follows; Gorman (4), Court, Mulvin and Dumpleton (7), Mathews (9), Coughlan and Balfe (15), Quinn and Fleming (19), meaning that tie-breaks were needed to resolve the 1-2-3 in both the Silver and Gold Fleet.

Ronan Beirne & David Mulvin (4068) were 2nd Gold Fleet in the Flying Fifteen Facet Trophy race and were presented with the trophy by Pat Shannon of Facet Jewellers (right) Photo: Dasha Hilliard

Ken Dumpleton (left) & Joe Hickey (3955) were 3rd Gold Fleet in the Flying Fifteen Facet Trophy race and were presented with the trophy by Pat Shannon of Facet Jewellers (centre) Photo: Dasha Hilliard

Gold Overall
1. David Gorman & Cormac Bradley 4pts
2. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 7pts
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 7pts

Silver Fleet
1. Joe Coughlan & Andrew Marshall 15pts
2. Alan Balfe & son, 15pts
3. Mick Quinn & Mary-Jane Mulligan 19pts.

Alan Balfe & son (3995) – 1st Silver Fleet in the Flying Fifteen Facet Trophy race Photo: Dasha Hilliard

Andrew Marshall & Joe Coughlan – 2nd Silver Fleet in the Flying Fifteen Facet Trophy race Photo: Dasha Hilliard

Mick Quinn (3960) was 3rd Silver Fleet in the Flying Fifteen Facet Trophy race Photo: Dasha Hilliard

Class Captain Robin Hilliard, ably assisted by his daughter Dasha, officiated at the prizegiving at the National Yacht Club with Facet Jewellers’ Pat Shannon in attendance to hand out the prizes. Pat commended the fleet for the day’s racing and referenced the longstanding relationship between Facet Jewellers and the Flying Fifteen Fleet. He also thanked Class Captain Robin Hilliard for his work in putting the event together.

Fifteen to 20-knot northwesterly winds and big seas on Dublin Bay presented some testing conditions for Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series racing. 

Cruisers Zero division racing was abandoned, and in a race between two boats in IRC One, Tim Goodbody's White Mischief beat J109 sistership, Jump the Gun, skippered by Michael Monaghan. 

Ed Melvin's Ceol na Mara got the advantage over Myles Kelly's Maranda in another two-boat race in the IRC Cruisers IRC Three division.

In the one designs, Jimmy Fischer's Billy Whizz won from Joe Smyth's Yikes in the Beneteau 211 (scratch racing). Third was Jacqueline McStay's Small Wonder.

In a six-boat Beneteau 31.7 race, Chris Johnston's Prospect from the National Yacht Club won from clubmate John Power's Levante. Third was Michael Bryson's Bluefin Two.

The National Yacht Club's David Gorman won from Neil Colin in a nine-boat Flying Fifteen turnout.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Saturday racing was cancelled today due to a high wind forecast.

Despite the flat sea state, westerly winds were gusting to over 35 mph at Dun Laoghaire

The strong northwesterly winds that caused the cancellation of both the 2.4mR and the 29er National Championships at Dun Laoghaire this morning have also led to the scrubbing of racing in all classes of this afternoon's Dublin Bay Sailing Club programme. 

Leslie Parnell's First 34.7, Black Velvet was the winner of Thursday night's (June 15th) Class Two IRC AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

The Royal Irish yacht finished 4 seconds ahead on corrected time over Brendan Foley's First 8, Allig8r from the Royal St. George.

Third in the eight-boat race was Foely's clubmate Dick Lovegrove's Sigma 33, Rupert.

After eight races sailed in the series, 1 Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer leads but on the same eight points as Allig8r, with Black Velvet third on 11.

Full results in all classes below

Michael Cutliffe's Ruffles was the winner of Thursday night's (June 7th) Ruffian 23 class AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

A day of strong winds gave way to another light easterly wind on the Bay for evening racing.

The DMYC yacht finished ahead of Ann Kirwan's Bandit from the National Yacht Club. Third in the five-boat race was David Meeke's Alias.

After seven races sailed in the series, Ruffles leads on 4 points from Stephen Gill's Shannagh on 8, with Brendan Duffy's Carmen in third place on 11.

Full results in all DBSC classes below.

Meanwhile, the Irish Ruffian 23 will celebrate its Golden Jubilee at Portaferry Sailing Club in Northern Ireland from June 15th, as Afloat reports here.

Brendan Foley's First 8 'Allig8r' was the winner of Thursday night's (June 1st) Class Two IRC AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

The light south-easterly winds that prevailed on the Bay in May are continuing into June.

The Royal St. George yacht finished 40 seconds on corrected time ahead of Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer from the same club. Third in the nine-boat race was Leslie Parnell's First 34.7, Black Velvet.

After six races sailed in the series, 1 Windjammer leads on 5 points from Black Velvet on 10, with Allig8r third on 15.

Full results in all classes below

Light south-easterly winds meant many classes 'did not finish' racing in Thursday night's (May 25th) AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

Results (below) show Cruisers Zero finished their two-hour race five north of the Bay with Michelle Farrell's Tsunami, a First 40.7, taking the IRC gun from Kyran McStay's Royal Irish X-35, D-Tox. Third was Tim Kane's X-Treme 37 WOW.

In Cruisers Two IRC division, there was one finisher, Leslie Parnell's Frist 34.7, Black Velvet.

The evening's five-knot breeze was slightly better in the south of the Bay, allowing some finishes in the one design divisions. Not least the 11-boat Flying Fifteen division with Alastair Court's Ffinisterre of the DMYC taking the gun from Shane MacCarthy in Mr Potato Head. Third was Neil Colin in FFuzzy.

Shirley Gilmore emerged the ILCA 6 Radial winner in last night's single DBSC Dinghy race on Scotsman's Bay, to the east of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

After last Tuesday's cancellation, May 23rd's light but sunny conditions produced a fine turnout of dinghies for race nine of the AIB Summer series.

Royal St George's Gilmore was followed home by clubmate Marc Coakley with the National Yacht Club's Daniel Raymond in third in the 14-boat fleet.

Full results for all dinghy classes below