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Displaying items by tag: Cruising Conference

Now is your chance to secure a spot at this year’s RYA Northern Ireland Cruising Conference, which will take place on Saturday 28 January at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, Co Down on Belfast Lough.

The conference will be jam-packed with information, expert advice and opportunities to meet others from the cruising community, as well as the RYANI team.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, speakers for the day include Carol Paddison and Mel Hyde from the RYA, Paul Magee from PGM Training discussing sea survival and Margie Crawford from East Down Yacht Club telling of her experiences cruising Antarctica.

Registration will begin at 9.30am, with the conference running from 10am until 4.30pm.

Tickets for the event, which includes a two course lunch, cost £35 and there is a reduced fee of £30 for RYA Personal Members. Register for the event HERE.

Published in RYA Northern Ireland

RYA Northern Ireland is getting ready for its next Cruising Conference, which will be held at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, Co Down in the New Year.

The conference takes place on Saturday 28 January and will have an interesting line-up of speakers including Paul Magee on sea survival, Margie Crawford on her trip to Antarctic and RYA representatives discussing areas of concern for boaters in Northern Ireland.

Tickets prices are £30-£35 and include a two-course lunch. For more information and to book a ticket, see the Eventbrite page HERE.

Published in RYA Northern Ireland

Next weekend’s Irish Sailing Cruising Conference is now fully booked, with delegates looking forward to a day of exploration and discovery.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the full programme of talks and sessions on Saturday 15 February will take in everything from exciting polar adventures to practical advice for more local cruisers.

Damian Foxall, Niall MacAllister and Lucy Hunt will share footage from the far side of the world — the team still have a small number of places for guests to join them in Antarctica’s waters.

And one lucky delegate will take home the Union Chandlery spot prize of a Seago 190 Pro Lifejacket currently valued at €210.

Published in Cruising

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot Winter Series

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Turkey Shoot Series reached its 20th year in 2020.

The popular yacht series racing provides winter-racing for all the sailing clubs on the southside of Dublin Bay in the run-up to Christmas.

It regularly attracts a fleet of up to 70 boats of different shapes and sizes from all four yachts clubs at Dun Laoghaire: The National Yacht Club, The Royal St. George Yacht Club, The Royal Irish Yacht Club and the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club as well as other clubs such as Sailing in Dublin. Typically the event is hosted by each club in rotation.

The series has a short, sharp format for racing that starts at approximately 10 am and concludes around noon. The event was the brainchild of former DBSC Commodore Fintan Cairns to give the club year-round racing on the Bay thanks to the arrival of the marina at Dun Laoghaire in 2001. Cairns, an IRC racer himself, continues to run the series each winter.

Typically, racing features separate starts for different cruiser-racers but in fact, any type of boat is allowed to participate, even those yachts that do not normally race are encouraged to do so.

Turkey Shoot results are calculated under a modified ECHO handicap system and there can be a fun aspect to some of the scoring in keeping with the Christmas spirit of the occasion.

As a result, the Turkey Shoot often receives entries from boats as large as Beneteau 50 footers and one designs as small as 20-foot flying Fifteens, all competing over the same course.

It also has legendary weekly prizegivings in the host waterfront yacht clubs immediately after racing. There are fun prizes and overall prizes based on series results.

Regular updates and DBSC Turkey Shoot Results are published on Afloat each week as the series progresses.

FAQs

Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are very welcome. Boats range in size from ocean-going cruisers at 60 and 60 feet right down to small one-design keelboats such as 20-foot Flying Fifteens. A listing of boats for different starts is announced on Channel 74 before racing each week.

Each winter from the first Sunday in November until the last week before Christmas.

Usually no more than two hours. The racecourse time limit is 12.30 hours.

Between six and eight with one or two discards applied.

Racing is organised by Dublin Bay Sailing Club and the Series is rotated across different waterfront yacht clubs for the popular after race party and prizegiving. The waterfront clubs are National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC), Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC) and Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC).

© Afloat 2020