In comparison to the prospect of an evening of office-based toil, a fresh north easterly breeze with lots of sunshine and a decent swell for SB20 based surfing had the makings of a far more enjoyable latter portion of a Thursday writes Dave Sweeney. That said, there was some niggling doubt in this author’s mind as to whether racing was going to go ahead, as the Dublin bay buoy had been posting gusts the other side of mid 20’s pretty much all day. After checking ahead with the skipper who was already down by the waterside, all looked good and the usual scramble to get out of town and down to the pontoon by 6PM was on.
We launched the good ship venuesworld.com and made our way out into the bay where the NE breeze had whipped up a fairly lumpy sea state and the OOD had set course D2 which was duly noted (for the time being). There were two other vessels in the SB20 fleet this evening, Alert Packaging and Defiant and the small but competitive fleet were bunched at the committee boat end as the gun went with Alert just nudging ahead and forcing venuesworld.com to tack off her lee bow shortly after the start and split off to the right.

This initial split proved favourable to venuesworld.com and as the tide inshore was slightly less foul, and resulted in a narrow lead as the boats converged half way up the first beat with this lead maintained around the first windward, closely followed by Alert and Defiant. Kites went up and off we tore down the bay, spray flying everywhere – the breeze was somewhat slacker as we approached the next mark compressing the fleet somewhat.

There was some place changing on the second upwind leg with Defiant and venuesworld hooking into a right-hand shift which swapped 2nd and 3rd place and this order was maintained as we slogged to windward in the heavy air and lumpy sea, and after some slogging we rounded East, undertook a short two sail jaunt to Molly and popped the kites again headed back towards the shore. This time the wind had picked up a bit more again and the speedo on venuesworld topped out down a wave at 18 knots, great craic altogether.

The rear quarter of an SB20 screaming across the bay in these conditions proved to be a less than optimal place with which to dwell on the finer points of navigation and the intrepid crew of venuesworld chose to aim the bows at Battery instead of Bay (as per the course card, which actually blew away in a subsequent attempt to check it), only coming to the realisation of our error as we were on our side after broaching near the (wrong) mark while attempting to drop the kite. Defiant and Alert Packaging had chosen to follow Venuesworld and by the time all was under control in the leading boat, the chasing pair were also bearing down fast towards the wrong mark.

With the kite dropped and feeling somewhat humbled, the crew of Venuesworld made our way to and rounded the correct leeward mark with the chasing pair also enduring a period of head scratching until the error was realised and the whole fleet corrected their course and continued on with the finishing order being venuesworld.com in the lead followed by AlertPackaging.com & Defiant

With the wind whistling in the shrouds on the pontoon and an even lumpier sea state setting in as the tide was turning, the après sail pints were tasting good.

It wasn't only last night's Dublin Bay keelboats that were having a lively start to 2017 after the spell of north–easterlies. The DBSC Water Wags also had a pretty lively sail on Wednesday with 22 Wags out in force.

Tim Pearson’s Little Tern capsized and was the only non finisher, it was the second race of a mini series within the overall racing series.

After two races Moosmie - David McFarlane and Ciara Bourke are leading the pack with 2 wins for the Newsom Memorial Cup, Eva with Katie Tingle and Dermot O’Flynn leading Divsion 1B for the Hilposteiner Tankard. Chloe with Kate O’Leary and Hugh Delap are leading Division 2 for the Phyllis Cup.

Big seas and a big north easterly breeze made for a lively second DBSC Thursday night race for 22 keelboat classes this evening on Dublin Bay. 

IRC One was won by Tony Fox's Gringo from the National Yacht Club. The J109 Something Else (John Hall) from the same club was second with Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief third.

In IRC two, Jim McCann's Peridot was the winner with Sigma 33s Rupert (Richard Lovegrove) and Leeuwin (Henry Leonard) second and third respectively.  

Results for each class are downloadable below as PDF files.

There were light winds for Tuesday evening's Dublin Bay Sailing Club races. Provisional results are downloadable below. No dinghy results received.

Results for Combined Cruisers, Cruisers 3, Glens and Ruffian 23s below.

With southerly winds gusting to over 30–knots this afternoon, Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) has had its second cancellation in its first week of summer racing for 2017. 

Racing was scrubbed for dinghies on Tuesday, successfully completed on Thursday but cancelled again today in the fresh conditions.

The club is one of Europe's biggest racing organisations with over 200 boats racing across 20 classes on Dublin Bay, three times a week. 

The size and extent of DBSC racing is such that no less than three race officers have to make decisions as regards their separate fleets in the event of any abandonment.

The Blue fleet big boats are based at the west pier hut. The Red fleet one designs from DBSC committee boat MacLir and green fleet, including flying fifteens and sports boats, from DBSC committee boat Freebird.

'Running DBSC is just like running a regular regatta, or if you include Thursday's, two regattas a week, for a whole season', Commodore Chris Moore told Afloat.ie

Four boats bravely fought the cold this evening and ventured out to the start line for the first Thursday race of the 2017 DBSC SB20 sailing programme. The forecast was an enticing 12knts gusting 18knts from a steady north west direction – ideal SB20 planing weather - and it certainly didn’t disappoint!

Recently installed ISA President and OOD Jack Roy called for the longest course at his disposal for the wind direction, Q1 (all starboard roundings) and set up a fairly even line. At the start, the four boats were evenly spaced along the line. Alert Packaging (Justin, Henrik and Gareth) and Sin Bin (Michael, Owen and Ed) preferred the boat end while Sacre Bleu (Richard, Colin and Chris) preferred the pin. Defiant (Gerry et al) chose to hedge their bets and took the middle of the line.

The fleet raced off upwind towards harbour mark in a rising tide helping them towards the mark. Alert packaging tacked off early towards the right to clear their air and in expectation of more favourable tide away from shore while the other three boats drag raced out towards the left. Sacre Bleu tacked first shy of the layline but Defiant slapped an almighty close cover on them, forcing them back onto starboard. Sin Bin had weekdays out a couple of boatlengths lead on Defiant so placed a loose cover to weather, on the layline. As the boats converged at the weather mark, it was clear that the tack out to sea had helped Alert Packaging and they rounded just behind Sin Bin alongside Sacre Bleu. Defiant overlaid the mark and lost ground on the leaders having to reach back to the mark, going from second to fourth.

Once around the top mark, the kites were popped and the boats took off on starboard gybe in a gust, often reaching speeds in the early teens as they hurtled downwind towards the gybe mark (East mark). The clear air helped the leaders extend and by the second mark, Sin Bin had extended their lead on the following pack. The boats were fairly tightly strapped on port gybe heading back in to shore to Bullock mark but those able to keep the boat under the mast gained massively.

Thereafter, the boats sailed up and down the shore from Bullock to Bay, back to Battery and up to Bay again before close reaching out to sea once more to East mark on a tight reach where most boats could only hold their kites for a portion of the leg. After a gybe around East mark, the kites were set again for a final blast downwind on port gybe towards Island mark. From there the boats beat up to the finish close to the harbour. Alert Packaging and Sacre Bleu enjoyed a ding dong battle up the last beat, crossing a tacking to cover/break cover on numerous occasions.

At the finish it was Sin Bin in first, followed by Alert Packaging in second from Sacre Bleu in third. Unfortunately, Defiant never managed to recover from their earlier loss but battled on courageously to the finish, coming in fourth.

This weekend we have the first two Saturday races of series A, first gun is at 2.15pm on a three minute sequence. Several more boats are expected now that the cobwebs have been blown off and the boats are out of the sheds. Strong winds are forecast so there will be plenty of sleigh rides to enjoy!

A low tide and north–westerly wind gusting to 15–knots greeted a strong turnout of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's 200 boat fleet in 20 classes for last night's first Thursday race of 2017. Provisional results are downloadable below.

Paul O'Higgins's Rockabill was a winner in Class Zero in both IRC and ECHO, the JPK10.80 moving up a division from last season.

In Class One, new arrival Juggerknot, Andrew Algeo's J109 continued its winning debut in a fine turnout of 16–boats. The Royal Irish entry won last Saturday's first ISORA race to Wicklow and last night was top boat in both IRC, ECHO and scratch results.

Gusty conditions for the DBSC Flying fifteen's at Bay Mark on Dublin Bay last night

In the one designs, former Fireballer Neil Colin took the gun in a great turnout of 16–Flying Fifteens. The SB20s were first up with a first race report here.

Gremlins in the results system means Afloat.ie presents provisional results class by class as PDF attachments below rather than in the usual format

Last night's opening race in the DBSC summer season was abandoned due to strong northerly winds on Dublin Bay. Unfortunately, it was a predictable outcome given earlier forecasts had suggested the prospect of wind in excess of 25 knots by 19:00

2017 looks like it will be a key year for the new mixed sportboats class on Dublin Bay. First promoted on Afloat.ie in late 2015 as a means of catering for a range of boats currently based in Dun Laoghaire. The new class has fostered and encouraged new buyers to source “fun”, affordable day racers. 

After a positive start in 2016, DBSC has confirmed that the class will again be competing with the Green Fleet racing in Dublin Bay in 2017 starting this Thursday.

Class Captain Vince Lattimore says it's a 'golden opportunity to grow the class and cement its existence and appeal on the waterfront'.

Signs are extremely encouraging and a number of sportboats have been privately acquired to join in the new sportsboat scene. 'I'm getting twice the fun at half the cost of my cruiser-racer,' one owner told Afloat.ie.

New arrival, Jambiya, an RIYC–based J80 will compete in DBSC's Mixed Sportsboat class this season

15 sportsboats were entered into the pre–Christmas Turkey Shoot this year and this year's DBSC Yearbook lists ten entries from J80s to 1720s in the new class with several other new entries in the wings. 

For the first time the mixed sportsboats will have a dedicated start in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, provided that 10 entries are recieved.

An upbeat Lattimore says 'we are very confident that, not only will we achieve this threshold but we also firmly believe that the Mixed Sportboats Class has the potential to be the largest class on the water in July for the regatta.

Andrew Sarratt's new Jheetah, another RIYC based J80, will race in the DBSC mixed sportsboat class

To mark the beginning of the new season in a revamped class, Dublin Bay Sailing Club Cruisers Two sailors are holding a pre–season supper at the Royal St George Yacht Club on Friday, 21st April.

The guest speaker is sailmaker Des McWilliam who will give 'Tips on Sail Trim' and all sailors are welcome.

Incoming Class captain Adrienne Jermyn says 'It's an exciting year for the class as we've combined Cruisers two and the Sigma 33 class which brings our fleet numbers to 19'. 

Read more about class two racing in Ireland here.