Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire is disarmingly modest about his many achievements in cruiser-racing organisation, based as they are on his extensive experience as an active sailor, his own innovations, and his readiness to acknowledge when he has taken an idea from other centres and adopts it to suit Dublin Bay’s needs. November would not normally be the month of sailing choice for many top boats.

Yet when Fintan Cairns introduced his DBSC Turkey Shoot series to provide seven successive Sunday mornings of brisk racing between late October and mid-December, his own determination to get out there in the Committee Boat and set an interesting course provided inspirational sailing leadership which, towards the end of 2018, saw 78 boats of top quality getting some of the best racing of the year.

Donal O’Sullivan’s retirement after 27 years as Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club provides the opportunity for honours from all sides for someone whose contribution to the continuing vitality of one of the world’s largest yacht racing organisations is unparalleled.

He belies his age with a continuing enthusiasm for sailing and a sense of erudite curiosity on all topics which enhances his many friendships.

The fact that he compiled the comprehensive history of DBSC for its Centenary way back in 1984 is only part of the lengthy achievement of a very accomplished contributor to our sport.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club has announced its key dates for the 2019 sailing season, which kicks off right after Easter.

Tuesday races will begin on 23 April with the last races taking place on 27 August. Thursday racing takes place in the same weeks, from 25 April to 29 August.

Saturday races will begin on 27 April and will continue through to 28 September.

As Afloat.ie reported previously, last Friday's DBSC prizegiving was a gala affair at the Royal St.George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire for the country's biggest yacht racing club. 

As well as six premier awards for best performances, DBSC Commodore Chris Moore congratulated over 100 different winners from 22 DBSC classes.

All the results from 2018 season are here.

Check out our prizegiving gallery from the night below: 

Philip and Richard Lovegrove with their trophy haul

Race Officer Suzanne McGarry won the Viking Award for her outstanding contribution to sailing

Fireballer Frank Miller won the best performing dinghy award

DBSC volunteers

The retirement at the end of this month of eighty–five-year–old Donal O’Sullivan, Dublin Bay Sailing Club’s (DBSC) Honorary Secretary, after 27 years, is a significant moment in the history of one of Europe’s oldest and biggest yacht racing clubs.

In 1968, when Donal lent his next-door neighbour a hand to pull a new 17-foot sailing dinghy up a driveway, he can’t really have imagined what the next 50 or so years might have in store for him.

It was his then neighbour, Olympic helmsman Johnny Hooper, in Deansgrange in South Co Dublin who needed a hand with a new 505 that set Donal’s mind racing about getting afloat himself.

Incoming Commodore Jonathan Nicholson (left) and Donal OSullivan at the Hon Sec's Commendation Dinner at the Royal St. George Yacht Club on Saturday

Back then, small boat sailing was in its heyday in Dun Laoghaire with massive dinghy fleets and queues to get down the slipways for club racing.

Through a family connection, Donal got his first tack with Frank Lemass in 1968 in a Dragon keelboat from the National Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire’s East Pier.

It was Lemass, the club Commodore of the time, who proposed Donal for membership of the National, his waterfront club to this day.

It was from this base, in his early 30s — an age that would be regarded as a late starter these days — that Donal set out in a variety of small craft from the East Pier.

He sailed on another Dragon, too, with Dalkey sailor Brendan Ebrill before owning or part-owning a series of dinghies and small keelboats including Water Wags, an Enterprise, Fireball and Ruffian, and he still sails a Shipman.

It was this immersion in so many classes and with so many different sailors that led Donal to the lifelong conviction that dinghy sailing is the only true introduction to sailing.

“To understand how the forces work on a sailing boat, then the dinghy is essential to the feel of things”, he says.

Donal, a polyglot, uses the German word ‘fingerspitzengefühl’ to best describe the finest ‘seat of the pants’ Dublin Bay sailors who have this superb boat handling, gleaned from many hours of dinghy sailing.

Not only did Donal’s keen observation skills give him a lifelong love afloat, but his administrative talents ashore were also quickly identified by his skipper — and ESB work colleague — Brendan Ebrill as being very useful in the intricacies of the organisation of the sport of sailing on the capital's waters.

Past DBSC Commodore Pat Shannon (left) and Current Commodore Chris Moore present Donal with a special chart of his beloved Dublin Bay at his Commendation evening

Brendan, who served as Donal’s predecessor as DBSC Honorary Secretary, was proved right and Donal served on the club’s protest committee at the suggestion of another of his DBSC skippers, Fireballer John Donnelly.

Donal served two terms on the General Committee over a 10-year period that marked the start of a 40-year administrative relationship with DBSC.

As part of his committee work, he became the driving force behind the club’s centenary in 1984. Donal recognised the significance of the anniversary and how much it could be worth to the club. Under Commodore Michael O’Rahilly, they produced a week of waterfront celebrations that greatly lifted the club's profile.

As part of this work, Donal brought his publishing skills to the fore to compile a 126-page book, Dublin Bay A Century of Sailing, that to this day remains the authoritative work on the club’s sailing history.

Dublin Bay A Century of Sailing was published in 1984 and compiled by Donal. To this day. is remains the most comprehensive record of DBSC activities

It was obvious, then, when Brendan retired as Hon Sec in 1991, who the ideal candidate to replace him was.

In taking on the role, Donal set about applying the administrative rigour he had used in his professional career, and this contributed to the safe stewardship of the club at a time that saw huge growth in yacht racing in Dublin throughout the 1990s.

Always with an eye on the future but with a deep regard of the club's rich history, Donal has been the keeper of the DBSC flame in both good times and in bad. In rough seas recently, when the recession impacted on sailing throughout Ireland, Donal has been a steady hand on the DBSC tiller. Founded in the same year as the GAA, in his unflappable style, Donal would often ben be called on to calm matters down at committee meetings with the observation that DBSC had already 'survived two World Wars and countless recessions'.

Without a clubhouse and physical waterfront presence, DBSC can be easily overlooked, yet with a fleet of nearly 300, this is one of Europe’s biggest yacht clubs.

It is the biggest recreational user of the Dublin Bay’s waters, and a sight to behold every Thursday and Saturday for Dubliners who walk the city shores and see Dun Laoghaire as a suburb of sails.

Donal’s community spirit has earned him the respect of all the bay’s stakeholders from harbourmasters at Dun Laoghaire and Dublin Port, to club commodores, regatta organisers and local civic authorities. His view that Dubliners enjoy the privilege of such a splendid bay and the fact DBSC is welcoming to all who have the club's objectives at heart and who pay a modest subscription has endeared him and DBSC to the community at large.

Over the years, Donal has had to fight the corner for sailing against so many different threats to the Dublin Bay race tracks that are set across the country's busiest shipping lanes.

But whenever he is called on to defend sailing’s rights on DBSC’s behalf, whether it’s cruise liners, oil rigs or harbour headaches, it has always been articulated in a clear, genuine and meaningful way — and it is one of the reasons Dublin sailors continue to enjoy such unfettered access to their city’s waters.

Every summer, DBSC goes about its business — quietly, efficiently and without fanfare — staging weekly racing for what is effectively a fleet the size of Cork Week. It is the work of many hands, but it has, until this month, all been coordinated by one man from the same home office in Deansgrange where the dream of going sailing was born over 50 years ago.

'For he's a jolly good fellow" - Wendy Bass and Carmel Winkelmann, (both seated) part of DBSCs race management team lead the tributes to Donal in the Royal St. George Library

On November 26th, the club's agm bears witness to a changing of the DBSC Guard when Donal officially steps down. Interestingly, it is the outgoing Commodore Chris Moore who will fill his shoes. Moore, over a nine-year period, has also served as rear and vice commodore. The agm will elect a new Commodore Jonathan Nicholson, Vice Commodore Ann Kirwan and a new Rear Commodore Eddie Totterdell. Before that, however, it will be a busy wind-down for Donal with DBSC's annual gala prizegiving next week on November 16

Dublin Bay Sailing Club has released further details about this weekend’s end-of-season race day at the Royal St George.

Amendments to the sailing instructions will see the Blue Fleet (including Shipmans) start and finish at MacLir, displaying a blue pennant, while the Red Fleet will start an finish at the Freebird, displaying a red pennant. Green Fleet boat will race with the Red Fleet.

There will be no starts or finishes at the West Pier (Hut) Line. Macular will be stationed in the northern quarter of the racing area, with the Freeboard in the southern quarter.

Two races will be sailed for each class if possible, and both qualify for Series 2 points.

Also, racing will start around two hours earlier than usual, with the first warning signals at noon.

Boats will be scored up to 20 minutes after the finish of the class leader, after which they will be declared DNF.

Full details of the updated race instructions for tomorrow, Saturday 29 September, are available to download below or from the DBSC website.

There was a buoyant turnout of 146 entries last night for the final Thursday race of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) 2018 season.

The fleet included 100% turnouts for both Cruisers Zero, Cruisers 3A and 31.7s for the Dublin Bay evening race.

DBSC Saturday races, meanwhile, have an extended scheduled, running until 29 September.

Results below:

Cruiser 0 IRC: 1. Rockabill VI, 2. Hot Cookie, 3. Lively Lady

Cruiser 0 ECHO: 1. Hot Cookie, 2. D-Tox, 3. Lively Lady

Cruiser 1 IRC: 1. Chimaera, 2. Jalapeno, 3. White Mischief

Cruiser 1 ECHO: 1. Black Velvet, 2. Chimaera, 3. Jump The Gun

Cruiser 1 J109: 1. Chimaera, 2. Jalapeno, 3. White Mischief

31.7 One Design: 1. After You Too, 2. Camira, 3. Levana

31.7 ECHO: 1. Camira, 2. Kernach, 3. Avalon

Cruiser 2 IRC: 1. Lady Rowena, 2. Windjammer, 3. Elandra

Cruiser 2 ECHO: 1. Lady Rowena, 2. Elandra, 3. Albireo

Cruiser 2 Sigma: 1. Elandra, 2. Rupert, 3. Gwili Two

Cruiser 3A IRC: 1. Cartoon, 2. Running Wild, 3. CriCri

Cruiser 3A ECHO: 1. Cartoon, 2. Running Wild, 3. Enigma

Cruiser 3B IRC: 1. Asterix, 2. Cacciatore, 3. Maranda

Cruiser 3B ECHO: 1. Eleint, 2. Asterix, 3. Pamafe

Cruiser 5A ECHO: 1. Katie Nua, 2. Melusine, 3. Shearwater

Cruiser 5B IRC: 1. Cevantes, 2. Vespucci, 3. Vertigo

Cruiser 5B ECHO: 1. Nirvana, 2. Nauti Gal, 3. Vespucci

Sportsboat: 1. Jester, 2. Jheetah, 3. Zelus

Dragon: 1. Phantom, 2. Zu, 3. Hy-Brasil

Flying 15: 1. Betty, 2. No Name, 3. As Good As It Get

Ruffian: 1. Shannagh, 2. Carmen, 3. Ruffles

Shipman: 1. Viking, 2. Jo Slim, 3. Twocan

B211 One Design: 1. Plan B, 2. Marissa XIV, 3. Small Wonder

B211 ECHO: 1. Yikes, 2. Plan B, 3. Marissa XIV

Squib: 1. Sidewinder, 2. Periguin

Glen: 1. Glendun, 2. Pterodactyl, 3. Glencoe

Cruiser 0 IRC: 1. Rockabill VI, 2. Wow, 3. Lively Lady

Cruiser 0 ECHO: 1. Wow, 2. Rockabill VI, 3. Lively Lady

Cruiser 1 IRC: 1. White Mischief, 2. Bon Exemple, 3. Ruth

Cruiser 1 ECHO: 1. Ruth, 2. White Mischief, 3. Platinum Blond

Cruiser 1 J109: 1. White Mischief, 2. Ruth, 3. Juggerknot

31.7 One Design: 1. Levante, 2. Indigo, 3. Attitude

31.7 ECHO: 1. Levante, 2. Kalamar, 3. Bluefin Two

Cruiser 2 IRC: 1. Windjammer, 2. Leeuwin, 3. Rupert

Cruiser 2 ECHO: 1. Leeuwin, 2. Helter Skelter, 3. Windjammer

Cruiser 2 Sigma: 1. Leeuwin, 2. Rupert, 3. Enchantress

Cruiser 3 IRC: 1. Dubious, 2. Enigma, 3. Starlet

Cruiser 3 ECHO: 1. Dubious, 2. Saki, 3. Starlet

Cruiser 5 IRC: 1. Act Two, 2. Cevantes

Cruiser 5 ECHO: 1. Act Two, 2. Shearwater, 3. Spirit

SB20: 1. Bad-Kilcullen, 2. Know How Do, 3. Carpe Diem

Sportsboat: 1. Jambiya, 2. Toute Si

Dragon: 1. Phantom

Flying 15: 1. The Gruffalo, 2. As Good As It Get, 3. Nimble

Ruffian: 1. Bandit, 2. Ruffles, 3. Ripples

Shipman: 1. Viking, 2. Jo Slim, 3. Invader

B211 One Design: 1. Ventuno, 2. Beeswing, 3. Chinook

B211 ECHO: 1. Ventuno, 2. Beeswing, 3. Yikes

Race 2:

SB20: 1. Venuesworld.com, 2. Carpe Diem, 3. Bad-Kilcullen

Sportsboat: 1. Jambiya

Flying 15: 1. The Gruffalo, 2. Glass Half-Full, 3. Hera

Tonight's DBSC racing programme was abandoned due to lack of wind on Dublin Bay. 

With barely, a ripple on the bay, Dublin Bay buoy recorded just 2 knots of wind. 

Meanwhile, results for Wednesday's (6th June) Water Wag Race were: 1. Pansy, 2. Moosmie, 3. Swift

This Saturday's DBSC racing will be 'starred' to make room for the DMYC Regatta, the first of the waterfront club's Summer highlights.

31.7 - 1. Crazy Horse (F Heath & I Schuster), 2. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 3. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson)

31.7 - 1. Crazy Horse (F Heath & I Schuster), 2. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 3. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson)

B211 - 1. Small Wonder (H Kelly & J McStay), 2. Beeswing (Pat Shannon), 3. Chinook (Andrew Bradley)

B211 - 1. Small Wonder (H Kelly & J McStay), 2. Beeswing (Pat Shannon), 3. Chinook (Andrew Bradley)

Cruiser 0 - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. D-Tox (Patrick McSweeney)

Cruiser 0 - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. Lively Lady (Keith Martin), 3. D-Tox (Patrick McSweeney)

Cruiser 1 - 1. Juggerknot (Andrew Algeo et al), 2. Jigamaree (Ronan Harris), 3. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody)

Cruiser 1 - 1. Juggerknot (Andrew Algeo et al), 2. Jigamaree (Ronan Harris), 3. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody)

Cruiser 1 - 1. Platinum Blonde (Paul Egan)

Cruiser 2 - 1. Antix (Derek Ryan), 2. Elandra (Joe Conway), 3. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove)

Cruiser 2 - 1. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove), 2. Windjammer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Elandra (Joe Conway)

Cruiser 2 - 1. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove), 2. Elandra (Joe Conway)

Cruiser 3A - 1. Quest (Barry Cunningham), 2. Running Wild (B & S Foley)

Cruiser 3A - 1. Running Wild (B & S Foley), 2. Quest (Barry Cunningham)

Cruiser 3B - 1. Cacciatore (M Ni Cheallachain), 2. Escapade (Una O'Dwyer), 3. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle)

Cruiser 3B - 1. Cacciatore (M Ni Cheallachain), 2. Gung Ho (G & S O'Shea)

Cruiser 5A - 1. Shearwater (Eamonn Doyle), 2. Katie Nua (Thomas Dunne et al)

Cruiser 5B - 1. Sweet Martini (Bruce Carswell), 2. Vertigo (Malachi Muldoon), 3. Afternoon Delight (Bennett/Brennan/McKay)

Flying 15 - 1. Betty (D & S Gorman), 2. Ignis Caput (David Mulvin), 3. Frequent Flyer (Chris Doorley)

Glen - 1. Glendun (David Houlton), 2. Glenmiller (P Cusack)

Ruffian - 1. Shannagh (S.Gill/P.MacDiarmada), 2. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 3. Ripples (Frank Bradley)

Shipman - 1. Jo Slim (J.Clarke et al), 2. Invader (Gerard Glynn), 3. Twocan (David Freeman)

Shipman - 1. Jo Slim (J.Clarke et al), 2. Invader (Gerard Glynn), 3. Viking (Fergus Mason)

Sportsboat - 1. Jester (Declan Curtain), 2. Jheetah (Andrew Sarratt), 3. Finding Saoirse (Fiona Staunton)