The weather in recent weeks has been variable and has curtailed a number of 420 training weekends around the country but three Irish boats travelled to the UK Spring Championships on the 10th and 11th March at Royal Torbay Yacht Club in the hope of some good sailing. Torbay on the south coast of England brands itself as the 'English Riviera' but the Irish boats arrived to sail in testing conditions. On the Saturday after an initial delay to the sailing whilst the race officer waited for the wind to swing round and the visibility to improve, racing kicked off in 20+ knots and rolling waves.

Link to 420 video from Torbay showing the testing conditions here

There were numerous capsizes, some before the start of race one and a number of DNS/DNC’s appearing across the fleet as sailors struggled with the occasional gust of up to 32 knots recorded on the committee boat. Sunday morning was a lot more promising, the wind had dropped slightly to around 15+ knots and swung round to the east. The bad news was there were now some very larger rollers heading into Torbay. For most sailors it was slightly easier, fewer gusts, and a more consistent wind. Of the top 10 boats, 3 were all girl boats and only 2 were all boys. The other 5 boats all being mixed crews of which 4 of the boats had girls helming, interesting statistics for the sailing community in general. Irish boats finished as follows, 10th overall and 3rd girls were Gemma Mc Dowell and Emma Gallagher of Malahide Yacht Club, 15th Michael O’Suilleabhain and Michael Carroll of Kinsale Yacht Club, and 24th Nicola and Fiona Ferguson of the National Yacht Club.

The second spring event scheduled in the UK was to be the Inland Championships at Rutland Sailing Club on the 17th and 18th March, however the Beast from the East II put paid to this event with strong winds and freezing temperatures. The Irish boats made it back across the Irish Sea before the worst of the weather arrived and in good time for the upcoming 420 Class Open training weekend to be held on the 1st and 2nd April at the National Yacht Club.

The training weekend provides an important warm up to the Volvo Irish Sailing Youth Pathway National Championships 2018 being jointly hosted by the National and Royal St. George Yacht Clubs.

There will be a dinner and reunion of the international 12 foot class on 6th April 2018 in the Royal St. George Yacht Club at 20.00hrs.

The class is interested in making contact with any owners of these old but lovely dinghies. On the evening, class activist Vincent Delany will launch his book "The International 12 foot Dinghies in Ireland."

Anybody interested in the class or in the April event should contact Vincent Delany at 086 857 5374 or at [email protected]

The Royal St. George Yacht Club saluted its top performers at its Dun Laoghaire Harbour clubhouse on Saturday. The Black Tie gala dinner recognised some outstanding sailing exploits from youth to offshore as well as cruising and team racing achievements in the club's 180th year.

In a special presentation for a significant contribution to the sport, the Waterfront Award went to Dublin Bay Sailing Club's long serving Honorary Secretary, Donal O'Sullivan.

Donal O'Sullivan (right) receives his award from RSTGYC's Peter Bowring

Sean Flanagan (right) as outgoing Junior organiser won the Causeway Cup

The Club's Causeway Trophy for Sportsmanship went to Sean Flanagan. Flanagan as outgoing Junior organiser was described as 'a true champion for the RStGYC younger sailors and someone 'who worked tirelessly to represent junior interests in the club'.

Youth sailor Greg Arrowsmith (with microphone) has been heavily involved in getting young people involved in Team Racing

The Youth Award went to Team Racing Captain Greg Arrowsmith. The Saint Andrew's College Leaving Certificate student has been heavily involved in getting young people involved in Team Racing.  He also organised the Elmo Trophy (Youth Team Racing) for the second year and led the ‘Team George Racing Team’ in the Cup. The award citation on Saturday night said 'the team is a shining example of the success of the revitalised team racing initiative at the club'. Many of the team finished second for the second year running against much more experienced team racers. Team members were Greg Arrowsmith/Sarah Fogarty - Henry Higgins/Emily Arrowsmith - Toby Hudson Fowler/Kathy Kelly.

Frank O' Beirne with the O'Hanlon Cup for the best cruise in 2017

The O'Hanlon Cup for the best cruise of 2017 went to ‘Samphire’ – Kieron Guilfoyle and Frank O’ Beirne's Anglesey cruise, followed by an extended cruise to Cork and beyond.

The Vice-Commodore's Cup for a significant dinghy performance went to Jack Fahy (Laser Radial Youth). 2017 was a great sailing year for young Fahy. Among his achievements was a first in the Laser 4.7 youth nationals in Ballyholme at Easter, first in the Laser 4.7 Laser Nationals in August, first in the Laser 4.7 Connaughts in Wexford harbour in July. His performance has been recognised by Irish Sailing who invited him to join the Laser Radial Academy.

The Commodore's Cup for the best offshore sailing performance went to ‘Aurelia' (Chris Power Smith). Power Smith's J122 was highly competitive in both the Dun Laoghaire Regatta and the ISORA 2017 series. Aurelia also finished third in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race. 

The Enriquetta Cup for significant keelboat performance went to Michael O'Connor in his SB20 ‘Sin Bin’, the Irish National Champion and Corinthian Division winner of the 2017 SB20 World Championships. Hi result of Top Irish boat overall (6th) was the best ever result for an Irish sailor in this event.

An end of Season race for all Dublin Bay Dinghies fleets is taking place on Saturday, 21st October. To be called the 'Final Fling 2017',  the new fixture is supported by DBSC and hosted by Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

The racing will showcase dinghy racing that takes place on Dublin Bay run by DBSC every Tuesday evening during the summer, according to organiser Ross O'Leary, a DBSC Laser helmsman.

With quick 1-2-3 starts, four sprint races lasting 30 to 35 minutes aim to guarantee some fun, competitive racing.

All fleets welcome. Entry €20 per boat on the day.

An Apres Sail will be held in the Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

Register your entry now: email [email protected] text/call/WhatsApp 087 6642297. Download the poster below.

A group of Royal St. George Yacht Club members have 'joined together' to purchase Irish Sailing's ten-year-old J80 fleet on behalf of the Dun Laoghaire harbour Club.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club was one of several bidders for the eight boat fleet that was originally purchased by the then ISA with a Sports Capital Grant at a cost of circa €240k plus VAT in July 2007.

Writing to members to outline the 'exciting development', Club Commodore Michael Pomeroy says the initiative is to 'meaningfully re-engage with the 25 to 50s and to create a less time consuming more value-driven racing environment for young adults'.

Pomeroy also says it will allow the club, one of the largest in the country, to promote corporate sailing and other activities to further increase Club participation. Pomeroy's full statement is on the club website here.

The International 12 foot and DBSC 12 foot dinghy Irish championships were scheduled, as reported earlier on Afloat.ie, for Dun Laoghaire for the weekend of 10th September 2017. However, the weather forecast was very poor, so, the Royal St. George Yacht Club decided to postpone the event for one week. The two classes of boats have identical hulls, but the International 12 has all the sail area in the mainsail, while the DBSC version has a small jib. The International 12s were approved equipment for the 1920 and 1928 Olympic Games.

Download 2017 Championships results below

The weather on 17th September was ideal, with bright sunshine and a force two breeze from the north. In race one, the International 12s pulled away from the DBSC 12s, with Mark Delany’s Cora a half boatlength ahead of George Millar’s Pixie, as they approached the windward mark. However, Cora was unable to lay the mark, and was forced to gybe away. This handed the lead to Pixie, and dropped Cora to third place behind Gavan Johnson and Gail Varian’s Albany. It took Cora the whole of the next lap to regain her second place. In race two Cora got the best start, and at the windward mark she led from Paul and Tom Gillespie’s Calypso. And the order remained thus until the final beat to the finishing line, when Pixie and Albany managed to overtake Calypso.

The fleet came ashore for a sociable lunch. After lunch, a new course was laid with longer reaching legs, and in the third race, Cora and Albany led around the first windward mark, but the superior offwind speed of the International 12s brought Pixie up into second place, and they retained this order to the finish. In the final race, Pixie needed to win to retain her championship title. Calypso was now being sailed single handed, and she got the best of the start, and held second place behind Cora at the windward mark. Pixie’s superior offwind speed came to the fore again, and she slipped into second place, which she retained to the finish.

Thus, Cora becomes the International 12 ft. dinghy champion and Albany retains her title for as Dublin Bay Sailing Club 12 Ft. dinghy champion.

Royal St. George Yacht Club's Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor and Ed Cook are looking for a podium finish at the SB20 World Championships in Cowes today.

The Dun Laoghaire trio are fourth overall and ten points off the lead and four points off the podium after a stunning penultimate day of racing.

O'Connor is in first position for the Corinthian Trophy and beating many of the professional sailors to boot! 

The forecast is for light winds again today but who knows what the wind gods will throw at the fleet today.

After four days of racing a new world champion will be crowned this evening at the Royal Yacht Squadron and Ireland is in with a shout.

Competitors got four races yesterday in what turned out to be a windier day than predicted. It was pretty shifty with the breeze varying between 6-25 knots in conjunction with strong tides, making this yet another tricky day of sailing.

With conditions making it hard to be consistent, O'Connor's Dublin Bay–based Sin Bin scored a 2, 3, 6 and 17 to move up from seventh to fourth overall. 

it was a tough day for tacticians with no rest from the changeable weather. With a full day of racing now behind us a lot of the top teams are carrying big scores ahead of the final day tomorrow.Now we’ve got one more day to go tomorrow with the potential for an additional three races.

A lot of boats will hope they used their discard up today as there is only one in this final series.

Competitors will compete in the final few races before the new World Champion is crowned tonight.

The results currently stand as follows:
1. Export Roo – Australia
2. Give Me Five! – France
3. Xcellent – Great Britain
4. Sin Bin – Ireland
5. Sportsboatworld.com – Great Britain
6. Marvel – Great Britain

For a full list of results click here

Team Ireland are making a great showing as follows:

4th SINBIN Michael O'Connor, Davy Taylor, Ed Cook
22nd Bad/Kilcullen Stefan Hyde, Jerry Dowling, James Dowling
27th Lia Dave Barry, Cillian Dickson, Gareth Nolan
31st Venuesworld Ger Dempsey, Graeme Grant, Chris Nolan, Diane Kissane
36th Two Men and their Monkey Daragh Sherridan, Shane Murphy, John Phelan
61st Sea Biscuit Marty Cuppage, Niall O'Riordan, Barry Galvin

The third annual event in recent years, representing the revival of Ireland's first international class of dinghy, the International 12 and DBSC 12, will be held at the Royal St. George Yacht Club on September 10th 2017.

Designed in 1912–despite appearing to be relatively slow or old fashioned, the class is organised by a very enthusiastic group of boat owners.

Large fleets were once located in Baltimore, Cork Harbour, Howth, Sutton, Dublin Bay and other Irish sailing venues.

'We are still trying to find the boats which might be hiding in sheds and garages around the country', says class activist, the RStGYC–based, Vincent Delany. 

B21S - 1. VENTUNO (R FOGARTY), 2. SMALL WONDER (H KELLY & J MCSTAY), 3. YIKES (P CARROLL)

B21S - 1. VENTUNO (R FOGARTY), 2. MARISSA XIV (FRANK ELMES), 3. YIKES (P CARROLL)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. After You Too (M Blaney), 2. Levana (Jean Mitton), 3. Crazy Horse (F Heath & I Schuster)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Avalon (R.Conan/J.Fox), 3. Extreme Reality (L Balfe)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Lively Lady (Derek Martin)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Lively Lady (Derek Martin)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Indecision (Declan Hayes et al), 2. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 3. Jigamaree (R Harris)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 2. Juggerknot (A Algeo et al), 3. Bon Exemple (C Byrne)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. RUPERT (R & P LOVEGROVE), 2. GWILI TWO (D CLARKE & P MAGUIRE), 3. Red Rhum (J Nicholson)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. RUPERT (R & P LOVEGROVE), 2. Windjammer (L Casey & D Power), 3. GWILI TWO (D CLARKE & P MAGUIRE 

CRUISERS 3 A - 1. Enigma (J Monaghan), 2. Running Wild (B & S Foley), 3. Cartoon (McCormack & Lawless)

CRUISERS 3 A - 1. Running Wild (B & S Foley), 2. Cartoon (McCormack & Lawless), 3. Enigma (J Monaghan) 

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

CRUISERS 3 B - 1. Maranda (Myles Kelly), 2. Cacciatore (M Ni Cheallachain), 3. Saki (Paget McCormack et al)

CRUISERS 5A - 1. Coumeenole (B Kavanagh), 2. Edenpark (Liam Farmer), 3. Persistence (C. Broadhead et al)

CRUISERS 5A - 1. Coumeenole (B Kavanagh), 2. Persistence (C. Broadhead et al), 3. White Lotus (Paul Tully)

CRUISERS 5B - 1. Fortitudine (D & A Clarke), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Menapia (J Sweeney)

CRUISERS 5B - 1. Vertigo (M Muldoon), 2. The Great Escape (P Rigney), 3. Nirvana (B Neeson) 

DRAGON - 1. Zu (M Minch/C Grimley/T Pearson), 2. Phantom (D.Williams & P.Bowring), 3. DCision (J.Mason/G.Purcell/C.Fleming)

FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Deranged (N Colin), 2. As Good As It Gets (Ben Mulligan), 3. fFinisterre (C O'Leary & A Court) 

GLEN - 1. Glendun (B.Denham et al), 2. Pterodactyl (R & D McCaffrey), 3. Glenroan (T O'Sullivan) 

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Shannagh (S.Gill/P.MacDiarmada), 2. RUFFLES (M CUTLIFFE), 3. Ruff Nuff (D & C Mitchell)

SB20 - 1. Sin Bin (Michael O'Connor), 2. Sacrebleu (R Hayes & C Galavan), 3. AlertPackaging.com (J Burke & D Burke)

SHIPMAN - 1. The Den (A. Costello/G.Millar), 2. Viking (Brian Glynn et al), 3. Bluefin (B.Finucane et al 

SHIPMAN - 1. Viking (Brian Glynn et al), 2. The Den (A. Costello/G.Millar), 3. Invader (Gerard Glynn) 

SQUIB - 1. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago), 2. Sidewinder (R Westrup & R Bowen), 3. Fox (M Moran & M Shiel)

Sportsboat - 1. Jester (D Curtain), 2. Big Bad Wolfe (David Ryan), 3. GRADUATE (D O'KEEFE)

Are you Interested in Sailing or Buying a Sigma 33?

Experience a sail at our Open Morning on Sunday, 24th September 2017 at the Royal St. George Yacht Club

from  9.30–1.00 O’Clock

Followed by finger food in the Club afterwards

For more details call Paddy Maguire 087 2361916 or e- mail [email protected]

More details on the Sigma 33 class from the 2017 season below.

The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta was for the Sigma 33 one design class the third major open Championship of 2017. The season stared in Tarbert, Scotland at the end of May, with the Scottish series with ten competitors and was won by “Mayrise” James Miller of Cove Sailing Club (CCC) with four wins from eight races.

The next event was in Helensburgh in Mid-June for the Class Championships which was won by “ Miss Behavin” Alan Lennox, Helensburgh Sailing Club. The 13–boat fleet completed eight of the ten planned races over the three days.

The Dun Laoghaire Regatta series had 19 entries including nine from the home waters and ten visitors from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, the Isle of Man and local boats from Arklow and Waterford. The nine race series was dominated the top six visiting boats. Most of them had competed in Tarbert and Helensburgh and benefited from the close racing at both events. It proved very difficult for local boats to break into the top six in any race. The racing was very competitive with places changing on all legs. The Dun Laoghaire Regatta series was won by Alan Harper & Kristy Robertson in “ Mayraise” The Irish Championship were run in conjunction with the regatta and won by Paul Prentice in “ Squawk” from the Royal Ulster Yacht Club.

Visiting Sigma 33 crews to Dublin Bay in July visiting crews were made up of young and experienced sailors, both men and women. Photo: Afloat.ie

The Sigma 33’s were the biggest one design keelboat class at the regatta and this added to the more enjoyable competition for competitors. The visiting crews comprised young and experienced sailors, both men and women. It’s on occasions like that that you think of how good Tim Goodbody was in that he was regularly in the top three in such regattas.

It wasn’t all racing and on the Friday night 120 of the fleet held a bicentennial Dinner in The Royal Irish Yacht Club. Prizes were presented to the winners of the day’s racing “ Mayrise” Alan Harper and Kristy Robertson CCC and “Rupert” Richard and Philip Lovegrove of the RStGYC. Thanks to Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, each boat was presented with a History of the Harbour.

The local fleet will recognise that they need to be more competitive as a fleet if they are to compete more successfully in this type of competitive regatta. There is a big incentive for the Class. In 2018, the Sigma 33 National Championships and Irish Championships will be held in Dun Laoghaire and 2019 is a Dun Laoghaire Regatta year. It is expected that similar entries to 2017 will compete each year. This also provides a great opportunity for young local sailors to acquire a Sigma 33 with a major event in local waters for each of the next two years and discover how successfully they could compete against the visitors and local sailors.

The Sigma 33 Fleet will hold a 'Sigma 33 Morning' on Sunday 24th September 2017 at 9.30am in The Royal St. George in Dun Laoghaire

As part of the recognition of the changes required to improve our competitiveness, the Sigma 33 Fleet will hold a 'Sigma 33 Morning' to enable anyone interested in buying or sailing on Sigma 33’s to sail on Sunday 24th September 2017 at 9.30am in The George. All are welcome to come down and to join us for finger food afterwards. If you wish to attend please confirm your attendance by contacting Sigma 33 Class Captain Paddy Maguire at [email protected]