The last check on the weather forecast for last evening, before departing work suggested 6/7 knots SE going south and dying as the evening wore on. DBSC Race Officer John McNeilly in his briefing to the fleet on the water advised that he had 6 -6.5 knots at 145° and reminded everyone in the Flying Fifteen fleet that the tide had just turned and would be flooding all evening. Two Thursdays ago, in what we thought were similar conditions, a seaward hike on the first beat had been of enormous benefit in taking the gun, but last night a lesser hike to sea was the initial undoing of this author.

Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093) led a “Lake Garda-esque” charge to the shore and led the fleet into the three-mark course – Bulloch-Island Pier-Island-Pier-Finish. Others in this group included Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774) and probably Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753).

On the opposite side of the course, shortly after the start could be found Alan Green, back after an extended campaign in the UK, sailing with his daughter Caroline in 4083, Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081), Alan Balfe (3995) and Tom Murphy & Nicki Matthews (4057). The first two were the last to abandon this course, with Green politely goading Mulligan to tack. Having done so, Green, in the weather berth simply sailed off, eventually scoring a podium place on the finish line.

Having traversed the beat, Mulligan joined the rest of the fleet as they rock-hopped along the coast between the 40-foot and Dalkey, trying to duck the tide. At this stage, Mulligan was in the mix with John O’Sullivan and Cas (3792), Hugh & Niall Meagher (3938) and Tom Murphy and rounded in ninth place. The light conditions meant that there was no hiking and most crews were either sitting on the cockpit floor or on the leeward deck.

The leg to Island was a two-sailer, with the fleet sailing high to compensate for the tide and it was only at Island that spinnakers were broken out and a running order, from my perspective, could be determined. First to show was the red and black of Mathews & Poole (4093), followed by the blue of the Colemans (4008), the white of the Greens (4083), the yellow of Colin & Casey (4028), the green and yellow of Court & O’Leary (3753) and another blue of Murphy & Mulvey (3774). In their immediate company Mulligan & Bradley (red) had Murphy & Matthews (two-tone blue), Balfe (sky blue & white) and the Meaghers (pink & blue, I think).

For the leg to Pier, the breeze held its strength, but there was no change in the running order at the head of the fleet that this correspondent was aware of. What I can confirm is that the distances between the boats was quite large so there was no close quarter sailing going on in the leading 1 -7 boats. The second beat saw the fleet sail lemming-like to the shore with the exception of Adrian Cooper (3896) who went to sea in a big way. Later Tom Murphy would also head seawards and neither really lost out by it. Indeed, it could be argued that Cooper re-joined the company as a consequence of this tactic.

Mathews & Poole were very comfortable at Island the second time and would go on to win by a very large margin. The Colemans, the Green and Colin & Casey finished in quick succession and with a semblance of being in a close race. Murphy & Mulvey and Court & O’Leary were next home. The next group of boats – Murphy T, Meaghers, Copper and Mulligan had closed in to form a tighter group as they sailed to Pier for the second time and some divergent downwind sailing took place. Copper was on the inside with Mulligan to his starboard side. Team Meagher went much further right while Murphy T tried to source wind by first gong right and then coming back again. Mulligan held a reasonably steady line but was the first to gybe for the final approach to Pier. And this paid off, allowing him to round Pier as the first of this quartet of boats.
For the short hitch to the finish, Copper and Murphy went to the left, while Mulligan sailed to the right and was able to cross the line ahead of the other two.

DBSC Thursday Series: Flying Fifteens

28th July
1. Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093)
2. Niall & Susan Coleman (4008)
3. Alan & Caroline Green (4083)
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028)
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774)

Thursdays Overall

1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 28pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 52pts
3. Keith Poole/Ian Mathews & Tom Galvin 53.5pts
4. Niall, Susan & Laura Coleman 62pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 68pts
Thursdays B Series (5 races) [As posted by DBSC]
1. Niall & Susan & Laura Coleman 10pts
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 12pts
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 17pts
4. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 17pts
5. Adrian Cooper & crews 20pts

The fleet is reminded that it is racing for the Facet Trophy this Saturday, 30th July, with a prize-giving scheduled for 17:15 (approx.) in the National Yacht Club.

Having sought feedback from Dublin Bay Sailing Club Dinghy Class Captains, participation is expected to be low this coming Saturday, so DBSC has decided not to hold dinghy racing on Saturday, 30th July 2022.

Tuesday sailing on 2nd August is still in place as per the club's racing schedule.

DBSC is Ireland's biggest yacht racing club. Full results below.

Late Saturday morning signalled a change in the recent weather, with blue skies giving way to overcast conditions and the light winds of the previous Thursday night’s racing disappearing to be replaced by wind that whistled through the rigging on the platform of the National Yacht Club. It generated some debate as to whether there would be racing but that argument was partially undone by the launching of a large number of ILCAs for their Leinster Championships earlier in the morning. XCWeather had predicted southerlies of 12 knots gusting to the low twenties, one voice claimed that the Dublin Bay Buoy was showing 22knots gusting to 28. However, a later check on that source showed 4knots gusting 22!

The ongoing holiday season and one case of ill health continues to create new combinations for racing in the Flying Fifteens and this Saturday there was no shortage of new names sailing together, with some sailing in unusual places. John Lavery helmed David Mulvin’s Ignis Caput Duo (4068), with David in the sharp end. Joe Coughlan crewed for Ian Mathews in Mike Wazowski (4093), Alan Balfe stepped into the sharp end of Thomas Murphy’s Fflagella (4057) and Chris Doorly teamed up with David Gorman (4099). In the absence of any contrary notification from the Race Officer, Barry O’Neill, these four boats and six others launched for the 2-race programme. A busy race agenda with ILCAs sailing Leinsters and Ruffians sailing their Nationals saw the Saturday Green Fleet going deep into the west of the bay to get their racing in.

Mulligan & Bradley en route to the start area

With low water at 14:30 tide would be a feature of the afternoon and despite the wind whistling in the rigging ashore, the sail out to the start area was quite genteel. On the water, the wind direction was of the order of 145°, not quite the southerly that XCWeather had suggested.

For the first race of the day, the fleet all started on starboard with Mulligan & Bradley closest to the committee boat – by choice. Their decision was influenced by an assessment of tide and wind and while the rest of the fleet belatedly followed them inshore, Mulligan appeared to have stolen a slight march on the fleet. However, the route to the weather mark of the 2-lap Windward-Leeward course meant that those who had taken a starboard hitch initially were better off, though when the fleet converged for the final approach to the weather mark, there wasn’t a great deal of distance between them. Mulligan looked to have cleared those coming in on port tack, but that isn’t how it materialised as Mathews & Coughlan led the fleet around, followed by Lavery & Mulvin, Gorman & Doorly and Mulligan & Bradley. Mathews and Lavery were reasonably close with a gap to Gorman and a further gap to Mulligan who had to watch his windward quarter where Murphy & Balfe lurked with intent.

It was a starboard tack two-sailer all the way to the leeward mark where a gybe was required to round the mark and start the second beat. The leading quartet all went straight inshore with Gorman the furthest boat to windward but behind the front two where Mathews was the leeward boat but still leading. Mulligan eased off to get out from underneath Gorman and “Lake Garda like” the race was on to get to the shore first. These four pulled away from the rest of the fleet and closed on each other to provide a tight rounding of the weather mark for the second time.

Again, the course to the leeward mark was a simple straight-line matter apart from Gorman & Doorly sailing high to try and take the two boats ahead of them. My recall is that this didn’t succeed, but in the short leg to the finish, a decision to try and fly bag cost Lavery & Mulvin, allowing Gorman to take second place.

There was a sense that the breeze got up for the second race and the RO rejigged his course, seeming to make it longer as well as moving the weather mark in a northerly direction. Mulligan again pursued an inshore course and got it right to lead around the first weather mark of the three-lap course. This time the RO had set a course that forced people to make choices as to which route to take downwind. Mulligan favoured a slightly right-hand side biased route and was followed to varying degrees by Lavery and Mathews whereas Gorman sailed a more inshore route. The tactical aspect of the downwind came into play later on in the leg when an early gybe was needed to sail back towards the leeward mark. While an earlier transit has suggested that in straight line terms Gorman and Mulligan would be close, Mulligan’s gybe undid that assessment as he stole a few boat-lengths to get into the mark first. A well-executed spinnaker drop saw him gain another boat-length on Gorman and more importantly the windward slot relative to his pursuer. Mathews and Coughlan’s race came to an end here when they sailed over the spinnaker and Coughlan went overboard trying to resolve the problem.

Compared to the previous trek to the shore, Mulligan & Bradley decided the numbers weren’t good enough and took a hitch to sea. Or at least it started as a hitch and ended as a long solitary passage up the left-hand side of the beat. It was a risk, as none of the chasing pack felt so inclined but with a focus on the compass, they managed to eke out some distance from the chasing pack! As they tacked to come back inshore they were rewarded by being able to comfortably cross the fleet and close out the last metres of the second beat in relative comfort. What followed was another tactical downwind with Messrs Gorman and Lavery in pursuit – never easy and enough to focus the mind very intently. At the very least Mulligan maintained his lead over his pursuers and was able to embark on the third beat with some distance on Gorman who was still ahead of Lavery, but Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (Ffinisterre 3753) were now in the mix. As Mulligan led the chasers upwind on starboard tack it was apparent that Court & O’Leary were closing on Gorman & Doorly. As Mulligan tacked inshore for his final approach to the upwind finish of a shortened course Court and Gorman hit the left-hand corner with Court in the windward berth and ahead on the water. As they, in turn, tacked onto port to close on the finish, it was Court who was ahead and he took the gun for second place.

DBSC Flying Fifteens: Saturday Series. Saturday 23rd July.

Race 1.
1. Ian Mathews & Joe Coughlan 4093
2. David Gorman & Chris Doorly 4099
3. John Lavery & David Mulvin 4068
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
5. Tom Murphy & Alan Balfe 4057.

Race 2.
1. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
2. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 3753
3. David Gorman & Chris Doorly 4099
4. John Lavery & David Mulvin 4068
5. Tom Murphy & Alan Balfe 4057.

DBSC Flying Fifteens: Saturday Series Overall*
1. David Gorman & Michael Huang/Chris Doorly 22pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 34pts
3. David Mulvin/John Lavery & Ronan Beirne 48pts
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 64pts
5. Tom Murphy & Carel/Alan Balfe 71pts

*The DBSC website is now showing the Thursday Night and Saturday Series as Thursday A & B and Saturday A & B, but the “Overall” results for the Saturday Series posted in this article is for all the Saturdays to date.

In a fine 11-boat turnout in IRC One, Colin Byrne's Royal Irish XP33 Bon Exemple beat Paul Barrington's J109 Jalapeno from the National Yacht Club in Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series race on July 23rd.

Third was Barrington's clubmate John Hall in the J109 Something Else in the one-and-a-quarter-hour race. 

Winds on Dublin Bay were light and from the southeast. The Race Officer was Con Murphy.

Lindsay J. Casey's J97 Windjammer was the Cruisers II IRC division winner. The Royal St. George yacht, a double winner of the club's premier Waterhouse shield for the best yacht on handicap, took the gun from Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless. Third in the 7-boat race was Stephanie Bourke's Sigma 33 Boojum.

Kevin Byrne's  Royal St. George Formula 28 Starlet was the IRC 3 winner from Frazer Meredith's Asterix. Third was Freddie Wood's Black Sheep.

In the One Design fleets, Colin Galavan's Carpe Diem was the winner of a three-boat SB20 fleet.

Full results across all DBSC classes below.

Last night’s DBSC race for the Flying Fifteens was challenging on Dublin Bay! And post-race, ashore, the Race Officer, John McNeilly, also conceded that it wasn’t an easy night! Of course, it wasn’t his fault, Mother Nature gave us another light wind puzzle to work out.

The scenario! High tide at 19:10. A forecast from XCWeather suggested 4-6 knots from a westerly direction which wasn’t the case on the water. Initially, a committee boat that was moving around, in what has been posted on the results website, as a South-Easterly of 6 knots.

The course for the night – East-Omega-Pier-Omega-Harbour, (all to starboard) – Finish. A clean start saw the fleet having different approaches to the first leg to East. All started on starboard tack but a quintet of boats pioneered an offshore approach to the first leg. Included in this group were Niall & Laura Coleman (4008), Gerry Ryan & crew (4045), Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (4026) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). This group was reduced to two for the latter half of the beat, Ryan and Mulligan. On the inshore side of the beat, boats to the fore included Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Adrian Cooper & Joe (3896). A mix of inshore and offshore boats made up the first five-six boats for the two-sail leg to Omega. My “call” on the pecking order is Murphy (P), Cooper, Colin, John O’Sullivan (3762) Coleman, Mulligan. The latter had Dumpleton sail through him and Ryan also closed on Mulligan.

The spinnaker leg to Pier saw a similar division of thought as to how to get there. An approximate 50:50 split saw the advantage go to those who pursued an inshore course and Coleman certainly got into the podium places as a consequence. Cooper and Colin maintained their spots at the head of the fleet, but Murphy (P) dropped back. The rounding of Pier saw boats coming in from both sides and there were gentlemanly donations in response to calls for water. At this rounding, Murphy (T) had closed on Mulligan as well. The leaders set off for Omega again with an offshore approach. Mulligan found himself on the inshore track of the beat, in a lifting breeze which was dying and was rewarded by rounding in fourth place, with Cooper, Coleman and Dumpleton ahead (I think). Yet again the fleet split for the downwind to Harbour, but the spread was much more significant with Colin leading a charge (poetic licence) out to the right-hand side. Others followed!! Cooper tried to sail a rhumb-line to the mark but in the fading wind found that he had to deviate from that philosophy.

Coleman, Murphy (T), Mulligan and latterly Niall Meagher & Nicki Mathews (3938) and Dave Mulvin & Chris Doorly (4068) pioneered the inshore route, getting so close to the East Pier that they had to gybe away from the wall. That forced them more towards the middle of the course, but Meagher went back inshore for another bite and made places as a consequence. Meanwhile, better breeze had arrived for those who went hard right and Colin & Casey were making strides (poetic licence) to the leeward mark under a healthy spinnaker set. Others to benefit were Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753), Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan (3960) and Dumpleton.

Of the first five boats home, only Cooper hadn’t gone far right on the run. His efforts on the night, staying in the podium places on the water for the longest duration of the fifteen boats racing, was rewarded with a second place behind Colin & Casey. Behind Cooper the order was Court, Dumpleton and Quinn. The early inshore boats were left to close out 8th, 9th and 11th respectively.

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens 21 July.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 4028
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe 3896
3. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 3753
4. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 4026
5. Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan 3960

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 25pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 46pts
3. Keith Poole/Ian Matthews/Tom Galvin 52.5pts
4. Niall/Susan/Laura Coleman 60pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 64pts.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club Kirwan family won the Cruisers 4/5a Thursday evening AIB DBSC Summer Series race on Dublin Bay on July 21st. 

Skippered by Paul Kirwan, the Beneteau 36.7, Boomerang beat Charles Broadhead's RIYC Sigma 38 Persistence.

In third place in the six-boat fleet was Johnnie Phillips Elan 333, Playtime from the National Yacht Club.

After 13 races sailed, Boomerang leads overall by seven points from Playtime.

A special presentation was made last night at the Royal St. George YC (Thursday, July 21) after Dublin Bay Sailing Club racing in memory of DBSC stalwart, the late Carmel Winklemann, with the presentation of a new perpetual trophy in her name for the top Corinthian boat in the National YC's Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race. More on that story here

Full results for all divisions are below.

Laura and William Prentice sailing Tortoise were the winners of Wednesday night's DBSC Water Wag race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The wind was 10 to 13 northwesterly on the Harbour course.

Race Officer Harry Gallagher set three rounds (four beats) for the 26-boat fleet.

Second was Guy Kilroy's Swift with Cathy Mac Aleavey's Mariposa in third place.

In the Beneteau 211s, Royal Irish Yacht Club boats filled the podium of today's AIB DBSC Saturday race 16 with Andrew Bradley's Chinook winning from Patrick Shannon's Beeswing. Third was James Conboy-Fischer's Billy Whizz. Overall, in the Saturday Series, after nine races sailed and counting seven, Billy Whizz on nine points leads from Chinook on 15 with Beeswing third on 17.

Seabreeze conditions on Dublin Bay provided 10 to 12 knots of wind from the southeast.

Three SB20s contested race 16 which saw James Gorman's Black from the NYC take the win from Barry Glavin's Sea Biscuit from the RSt.GYC. In third place was Nick Doherty's Rubadubdub of the NYC. Overall, in the Saturday Series, Richard Hayes Carpe Diem of the RSt.GYC on ten points leads by three points from Sea Biscuit with Ger Dempsey's Venuesworld of the Royal Irish on 16 in third. Ten are entered. 

Michael Cutliffe's Ruffles of the DMYC was the winner of today's nine-boat Ruffian 23 race 18 from national champion Ann Kirwan's Bandit of the National Yacht Club. In third place was Cutliffe's clubmate, Frank Bradley's Ripples. Overall in the Saturday Series, Ruffles leads from David Meeke's Alias. Bandit lies third.

James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot of the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner in Thursday night's (race 12) six-boat IRC One division of the AIB DBSC Sponsored Summer Series on Dublin Bay.

Second by 13 seconds on corrected time was Dick Lovegrove's Sigma 33, Rupert, from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Third was Sigma sistership Boojum (Stephanie Bourke)

Winds were southeasterly and ten knots. 

Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the Royal Irish took the winning gun in the six-boat IRC One division. 

Goodbody beat Paul Barrington's sistership Jalapeno by just over a minute on corrected time in the one-hour 18-minute race.

Third was Barrington's clubmate, Tony Fox's A35 Gringo. 

At Cork Week Regatta in Crosshaven, the DBSC J109s hold sway in IRC Division Two this week with the Royal Irish's Joker II (John Maybury) in a commanding position going into Firday's final races. Third is Royal Irish's Chimaera skippered by Barry Cunningham. More, as Afloat reports, here.

John O'Driscoll's Moosmie was the winner of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) single Water Wag dinghy race on Wednesday evening in trying conditions inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Following a postponement for 15 minutes, Race Officer Ian Mathews started the race setting a course of two rounds for the 25 starters.

Mathews shortened after one round and a second beat to finish at the weather mark.

William Prentice's Tortoise was second

Scroll down for results below