A fleet of over 500 boats will compete on nine separate courses at Volvo Dun Laoghaire week on Dublin Bay from July 12 to 15th, 2007.
The move was confirmed by Port Company Chief Executive Captain Enda Connellan on Wednesday evening as he lead tributes to Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), following its success in the Mitsubishi Motors Club of the Year award at a ceremony in the Port.
The CEO said radar images showing the fleet of yachts operating in the southern bay was a vindication of the Port's decision in 2005 to close the lane based on safety grounds and avoid any contact between commercial shipping and pleasure craft.
A Dublin Port control radar image taken during the 2005 Dun Laoghaire Regatta – involving all four Dun Laoghaire yacht clubs – shows an estimated fleet of over 400 yachts sailing across the closed southern shipping
channel.
Commodore of Dublin Bay Sailing Club Tim Costello - who lifted the Club of the Year Ships Wheel trophy on Wednesday - applauded the 'sensible decision' by the Port to close the lane.
The closure was also backed by Dun Laoghaire Week organiser Brian Craig who said it was, "yet another example of how the country's busiest commercial port continues to facilitate growing leisure pursuits on the
bay".
Commercial shipping during the event will be required to enter and exit the bay through the northern channel only.
In other news on the bay, a Volvo 60–foot yacht is one of 30 entries received to date for the 280–mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race sponsored by the Dingle Skellig Hotel.
A Dingle racing crew, led by Yannick Lemonnier who came second in their Beneteau 'SouthBound' in the 2005 Race, is chartering the Ocean Race boat in an effort to beat the race record of of 32 hours, 33 minutes established by Galway's Eamon Conneely in his TP52 ‘Patches’ two years ago.
The biennial offshore race starts at the National Yacht club's start line inside Dun Laoghaire harbour on June 10th 2007.
Lemonnier’s is not the only big entry, however, with a Frers 52 now also entered for a chance at the top prize.
In sportsboat news, the extent to which the SB3 continues to grow is being measured not only by the growth in its own numbers (now over 70 countrywide) but also by the decline in its rivals.
This week Adam Winklemann, 1720 class captain, conceded that the arrival of its smaller sister was having a big impact on preparations for the class European championships to be staged on Dublin Bay
in early July.
At best 20 boats will be mustered.
It is hard to see how a fleet of this size, drawn from two countries, now merits its European championship billing.
The Irish Sailing Association (ISA) has admitted it is struggling to cope with the workload involved in processing ECHO and IRC applications. The backlog – of up to five weeks – has become a source of early season frustration for classes in computing handicap results that may now need to be back-dated.
This week its CEO Herry Hermon promised to quickly 'relieve the situation' with the appointment of additional staff.
A resolution to the problem could not come fast enough: one hundred boats in four divisions will race for national handicap honours at the Saab Irish Cruiser Racer National Championships in Crosshaven in one months time.
Three times winner of Division One Anthony O'Leary will be back in action – but in a new boat and in a new division – when the regatta kicks off on his home waters at Royal Cork; it runs from Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th June.
Adding spice to the fleet will be a huge cross-section of cruisers including 12 boats from Ireland's 2007 Commodore's Cup team.
Twenty-five boats are coming from the West coast including Simon McGibney's championship winning boat ‘DisaRay’.
