Patrick Burke's Prima Forte from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the big boat winner by just over a minute on corrected time of the first Saturday AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club 2022 Summer sailing season after the cancellation of the first scheduled race a week ago due to strong winds.

Saturday's light southerly winds were often less than five knots and in some of DBSC's 22 classes, not all boats finished the course. 

Burke's First 40.7 beat clubmate Tim Kane and George Sisk's WOW, an X-Treme 37 from South Africa that is new to the Bay this season. Third in the DBSC Cruiser IRC Zero class was Keith and Rodney Martin's Lively Lady, a First 44.7.

While there is an impressive ten DBSC Cruisers 0s entered for 2022, a full turnout has yet to occur as yesterday's 15-boat ISORA fixture drew several entries to the coastal race to County Wicklow and back. 

An impressive nine boat DBSC Cruisers One IRC class (from a possible 14 entered) was won by the XP33 Bon Exemple skippered by Colin Byrne of the RIYC ahead of Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the RIYC. Third was John Hall's J109 Something Else from the National Yacht Club.

See full results in all classes here

We hear so much about the “New Normal” in everyday life ashore that it’s becoming difficult to remember what the Old Normal was like, as employers resort to bribery (“Special Bonuses” if you insist) to entice WFH employees back into the office. Equally in sailing, while there were always hyper-keen types who made sure that all compliance was in place to enable racing to be possible within the pandemic limits - with Dublin Bay SC setting the pace with weekly turnouts of 142 boats in times of lockdown lifting - there were those who felt that a restrained involvement was the only way to go.

So after two to three years of control at varying levels, it’s welcome to notice a growing and familiar buzz in the new season’s sailing scene as we finally approach May. And equally, it was reassuring to note that God is clearly in his heaven and results were as they should be in last weekend’s two major cruiser-racer happenings on the east and south coasts, with Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC) winning the brisk opening race from Dublin Bay of the Golden Jubilee season of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association, while in Kinsale Denis & Annamarie Murphy’s Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo likewise did the business in robust breezes and offshore conditions in Classes Zero and 1 in the Axiom Private Spring Series, which concludes today.

Both Nieulargo and Rockabill VI are quite hefty boats which enjoy a breeze, which means that in somewhere like Long Island Sound they’d be regarded as distinctly under-canvassed. But in Ireland, they’re just about spot-on for most of the time, even if the idea that Ireland always provides good sailing breezes is a rose-tinted fantasy.

The Vice Admiral Royal Cork YC shows the way off Kinsale. The Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (RCYC Vice Admiral Annamarie Fegan & Denis Murphy) on the way to success at Kinsale in the Axiom Private Spring Series. Photo: Robert Bateman

Be that as it may, another example of a return to normality of sorts was in evidence with the 1898-vintage Howth 17s starting their 122nd season on Tuesday with current champion, the 1907-vintage Deilginis (Massey, Toomey & Kenny) still on the pace with 2022’s first win.

EVERY CLASS NEEDS A DILIGENT RECORD-KEEPER

Those with the ability for instant calculations might wonder how we come up with the figure of 122 seasons, but some racing seasons were lost during the Great War of 1914-1918, and for years the Howth 17s’ Keeper of the Records was TCD engineer-mathematician Gerald FitzGibbon, who typically insisted that the class’s 75th Anniversary be celebrated in 1972. This was even though they weren’t 75 years old until 1973, for in Gerald’s precise class recording terms, the season of 1898 was Year 1, and thus last night’s Howth 17 Annual Dinner, hosted in HYC by Class Captain David O’Shea and the first to be held for a couple of years, was also the Golden Jubilee of the 75th Anniversary.

It may seem pernickety, but every venerable local one design class needs its Gerald FtzGibbon. For among other things, such folk keep the history in proper order, and as things settle down and it becomes clear that to maintain cross-class enthusiasm, a parallel set of results based on performance handicaps is required, when the FitzGibbons of this world become indispensable for its successful implementation.

For those who would argue that handicaps are against the spirit of OD racing, I’d reiterate that it’s a parallel system, not a scratch-racing replacement, which is used. And as for it being un-Irish, I’d suggest you reflect on where local golf would be without it, and remind you that the very idea of golf handicaps was first floated globally in 1897 by George Combe, Honorary Secretary of the Golfing Union of Ireland.

Thus by Gerald’s fastidious standards, the Shannon One Designs should actually be celebrating their 101st Anniversary this year, but as it happens Centenaries and Anniversaries are two different things, and when the Howth 17s’ Centenary came up in April 1998, a flotilla of the class was in Carrickfergus to celebrate. The first five boats to the design (there are now 20) were built by Hilditch of Carrickfergus, who four years earlier had built what is now Hal Sisk’s award-winning 36ft G L Watson cutter Peggy Bawn. 

AN EXCESS OF HISTORY UP NORTH

There was an excess of history going on up north at the time of the Seventeens’ return to Carrickfergus, as the Good Friday Agreement was being signed on the same day in Belfast. So while everyone was watching that, the Seventeens - having visited various places around Belfast Lough – cheekily took advantage of a strong and very cold nor’easter to sail overnight along the 90 miles to Howth, as one does.

Ian Malcolm’s 1898-built Howth 17 Aura off Carrickfergus Castle, celebrating her Centenary at her birthplace in April 1998. Photo: Damian Cronin

Some of the 22 Dublin Bay Water Wags which mustered for their first race of the 2022 season on Wednesday. Photo Wag Association

Ian & Judith Malcolm’s 1915-vintage Water Wag Barbara winning the first race of the 2022 season

A fondness for classic boats and yachts can become multiply-addictive, for one of those boats making the scene back in Carrickfergus in 1998 was Ian Malcolm’s Aura. While he may have been bested in Tuesday’s race at Howth by Deilginis, on Wednesday evening this week he and Judith were across Dublin Bay racing their 1915-vintage Water Wag Barbara in Dun Laoghaire in the 22-strong turnout (a record for the Wags’ first race of the season), and they duly won, with second place going to Guy Kilroy with Swift. He’s another classics multiple-enthusiast, as he also owns the 26ft 1896 Herbert Boyd jackyard topsail gaff cutter Marguerite, restored by Larry Archer.

WATER WAGS ATTRACT THE STELLAR SAILORS

In fact, it rather looks as though cutting the mustard with an immaculate Water Wag of whatever vintage (the current design goes back to 1900) is increasingly expected for stars from other classes, for the word is that tomorrow (Sunday), former Helmsmans Champion, Laser ace and RSAero winner Sean Craig is going to be arriving in Dun Laoghaire with his recently-acquired Water Wag.

Laser Masters Champion and former Helmsman’s Champion Sean Craig is the latest star helm to join the Water Wag class

What with folk like the Craigs involved with the Wags, and the Hal Sisk/Fionan de Barra restoration of the Dublin Bay 21s moving steadily along, the classics scene in Dun Laoghaire is looking much rosier. So who knows, it may yet be the case that in the fullness of time the historic Dublin Bay 24s may find their way back from their various projects on both sides of the Atlantic involving Boat Building Schools, but at present the only one in full sailing trim in Dun Laoghaire is Periwinkle (David Espey & Chris Craig).

At moments of optimism all things seem possible, but even in sunny places they’re finding a challenge in restoring normal rhythm. Thus in the Caribbean, there has been no Antigua Week for three years, but this morning they’re having a re-launch, starting today with the Round Antigua race. In the big winds of this time of year, it can be quite a challenge, so to make it more user-friendly there’s an alternative race partially round Antigua.

HOW CAN YOU HAVE A SHORTER VERSION OF RACE ROUND AN ISLAND?

But quite how they’ll organize that remains to be seen, for a race or voyage round anywhere inevitably reaches a Point of No Return – for instance, if you’ve sailed from Dublin and you pass the decidedly obtuse Slyne Head in Connemara, you’re almost inevitably going to sail round Ireland whether you meant to or not.

Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia (RStGYC) has been entered for Kinsale YV’s new Inishtearaght race

Whatever, the feeling is that if you can somehow temporarily compartmentalise the current events in Eastern Europe, then the prospects for the 2022 Irish sailing season are looking good. The news that Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia (RStGYC) has signed up for Kinsale YC’s new Inishtearaght Race on May 20th is adding spice to an already intriguing challenge, as for the dedicated offshore types, the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow a month later has now broken comfortably through the 40 entry mark with the latest batch led by RORC Commodore James Neville with his HH42 INO XXX. For regatta racing both inshore and offshore there’s the Wave at Howth at the beginning of June and Bangor Town Regatta at the end of the Month, and then in July Volvo Cork Week is spreading its wings with the addition of a Classics Division.

GP14s at Sligo in times past – Curly Morris chasing Ger Owens. The GP 14s are in Sligo this weekend as the countdown to their 2022 Worlds in Skerries in Augst gets under way

There are at least three World Championships, with the countdown towards the GP 14 Worlds in Skerries (from 14th to 19th August) getting under way today with the season’s first Open Meeting at Sligo, and then in a week’s time at Dromineer on Lough Derg, the Fireball 2022 Worlds there on 20th to 26th August are being anticipated on May 6-7th with an intensive training weekend by Thomas Chaix for the growing Irish class.

ILEN FOLLOWS THE MONEY IN LONDON

Meanwhile in London, the Ilen from Limerick berthed at St Katharine Dock yesterday, having overnighted on Thursday at a handy pier in Gravesend in a place which, despite the modern installations across the river, had something of the flavour of the scene-setting in a Conrad novel.

It could be the setting for the start of a Conrad novel – Ilen finds a handy overnight berth in the River Thames on Thursday night

Then yesterday (Friday) it was a case of follow the money, as inevitably her long bowsprit - with sails set – found itself pointing at the finance machine which is Canary Wharf as the flood tide swept her up the Thames. And for those who have been wondering on Afloat.ie’s Facebook page about how Ien could be described as “a Limerick ketch” despite being built and then restored in West Cork, having spent her working life in the Falklands, the explanation is that by “Limerick” we incorporate the entire Shannon Estuary, Ilen was designed by Conor O’Brien of County Limerick in a cottage on Foynes Island (as had her small predecessor-sister Saoirse), and she is of course owned and run by the Gary Mac Mahon-directed Ilen Marine School of Limerick, all partially in celebration of the comparable sailing traders of the Shannon Estuary, which used to depart from Limerick city with each ebb tide, laden with goods for all the small ports on both sides of the estuary as far west as Ballylongford and Kilbaha.

A long way from Ballylongford and Kilbaha……Ilen’s long bowsprit headed for the money-towers of Canary Wharf yesterday (Friday).

Outward voyage completed - Ilen at Tower bridge yesterday (Friday evening)

 Job done - Ilen below Tower Bridge in St Katharine Dock Waiting Berth

Strong winds and big seas on Dublin Bay led to the cancellation of the first race of the summer season for all Dublin Bay Sailing Club fleets this afternoon.

"The weather forecast looks better for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and next Saturday", Commodore Ann Kirwan told Afloat as the country's biggest yacht racing club rolls out its AIB sponsored summer programme that runs from April to October.

Earlier, in a preview of the season, Commodore Kirwan had outlined that up to 270 boats at Dun Laoghaire Harbour were preparing to race in Saturday's first race. Check out the season preview here.

We are delighted to be commencing our AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club 2022 Summer sailing season tomorrow Saturday, April 23rd writes DBSC Commodore Ann Kirwan

After the past two years, the start of our racing season has been delayed due to Covid so it is great to be starting on time this year.

Racing Programme

The DBSC Flag Officers, Committee, and Racing Sub-Committee have been working over the winter months on producing an enhanced racing programme which will run from April 23rd to October 1st and will include new Saturday courses. Our sailing sub-committee led by PRO Ed Totterdell spent the winter months redesigning some of our courses, as well as compiling new ones. Thanks to Tim Goodbody and Paul Barrington for their efforts working with Ed on this.

The DBSC Hut on the West Pier

Our AIB DBSC 2022 summer racing programme consists of 9 fleet races each week:

Saturdays – 4 fleet courses
• Blue or Red fleet racing from a committee boat (including Cruisers 0 and 1) on fixed mark courses
• Blue or Red fleet racing from the West Pier hut (including DB21s) on fixed mark courses
• Green fleet racing on laid mark windward / leeward or triangular courses
• Dinghies racing on laid mark courses

Tuesdays – 2 fleet courses
• Keelboats racing from the West Pier hut on fixed mark courses
• Dinghies racing from a committee boat on laid mark courses

Wednesdays – 1 fleet course
• Water Wags racing from a committee boat on windward / leeward courses

Thursdays – 2 fleet courses
• Blue fleet keelboats (the larger ones) racing from a committee boat on fixed mark courses
• Red fleet keelboats racing from a committee boat with a combination of fixed mark and windward/leeward courses

Preparations for the Season

The DBSC Hut was repaired and painted during the winter. Chris Moore coordinated the hut maintenance programme and its transfer to its position on the West Pier at 07.30 on April 9th assisted by Brendan Dalton and Denis Nolan. It will be used for both Tuesday and Saturday keelboat racing this season.

Cruisers Zero yachts at DBSC Battery Mark on Dublin Bay near Dalkey

Our marks are all in place and ready for tomorrow’s race thanks to Philip Ferguson who organises their winter storage, maintenance and chain replacement, painting, and their setting in position over the Easter period. Our ribs have returned from Rush where they were maintained and stored during the winter months organised by Declan Traynor. Our committee boats are ready to go and our team of volunteers are all set for racing tomorrow.

Entries

We have over 270 boats entered so far. We expect a lower number of dinghies this season as our Laser entries in particular are well down on the past two seasons. However, we have a growing fleet of RS Aeros (10 entered so far), along with 9 Fireballs, 5 IDRA 14s, 3 Finns, and 17 Lasers.

The DBSC Laser fleet Photo: Afloat

Some of our keelboat classes have increased entries on last year with some impressive new boats among them. We have 10 Cruisers 0 entered and 14 Cruisers 1.

DBSC's largest keelboat class is the Flying Fifteen Photo: Afloat

We have good entries from other cruiser classes, and the Flying Fifteens are our largest keelboat class with 28 boats entered.

The Water Wags are our largest fleet overall with 37 entries at present.

The DBSC RS Aero class has ten entries Photo: Afloat

Results

The DBSC results will move from its current system, YR3, to HalSail and we are delighted to announce that Therese Tyrrell is taking on the role of Results Secretary.

Dublin Bay 21s

Geraldine wll join Naneen, Estelle and Garavogue in June and the 4 DB21s will race from the hut on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dublin Bay 21 - Garavogue Photo: Afloat

Congratulations to DBSC member Hal Sisk on receiving the International Classic Boater of the Year award at the Royal Thames Yacht club in London last week for his decades of service to classic craft and sailing history, and along with his colleagues DBSC member Fionan deBarra and Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard they were awarded for their exceptional work in their shared project, the restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 Class.

Dublin Bay 21 - Naneen Photo: Afloat

DBSC start / finish dates

First Saturday Race: Saturday, April 23rd
Last Tuesday Race: Tuesday, August 30th
Last Thursday Race: Thursday, August 25th
Last Wednesday Race: Wednesday, September 21st
Last Saturday Race: Saturday, October 1st

We wish all our members a safe and enjoyable sailing season and look forward to a great summer on the water.

After a successful lift in of yachts at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on April 9th the first Dublin Bay Sailing Club race for the 2022 summer season starts in ten days' time on  Saturday, April 23rd. 

Details of the extent of the changes have been recently published in DBSC's 2022 yearbook that is, as usual, packed with vital information for the Dublin Bay racing sailor.

DBSC provides racing for upwards of 300 yachts and dinghies on a 12-month basis drawn from all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs.

As regular Afloat readers will know, Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) unveiled some of its plans for the 2022 AIB DBSC racing programme in March here. 

DBSC provides nine race courses on four days a week

The DBSC AIB race programme this year has been extended into September for mid-week racing and October for weekend racing. The new season will run from April 23 to October 1 and will include new Saturday courses.

Its 52-page publication available on the DBSC website (and below) is published in an online format and takes into account all the latest changes to the 2022 courses.

Writing in the yearbook, Club Commodore Ann Kirwan makes a special point of thanking 'the many talented people, on and off the water, who have devoted their energies to helping the club'.

Kirwan says 'Our aim is to provide top-quality racing over nine race courses on four days a week. We could not achieve this without our great committee, and a fantastic band of race management teams, race officers and patrol crew organisers'.

Some people find saying "sorry" very difficult, but DBSC's Winter Wunderkind Fintan Cairns has given us a graceful example of how to do it with his re-setting of the final results for the latest Spring Chicken Series, which concluded at the weekend.

Fintan's a busy man, but next thing we'll know is he will add an Etiquette & Courtesy Module to any Race officer Training Programme he's involved in, as his exemplary announcement of yesterday evening states:

"Attached are revised results and Overalls for last Sunday. In the rush to have results for the prizegiving, I made a mistake on the finish time for George 5, and Fred Tottenham of G5 kindly pointed it out despite it being to his own disadvantage.

The rightful Spring Chicken Supreme for 2022 is - SIROCCO! Congratulations, and my apologies, to SIROCCO and her crew. Teddy, trophy on its way from Fred. Welcome to Mermaid V to the podium. My effort to take the mickey out of Teddy and Sirocco - 2 line honours and Overall win - badly bounced back on me! Teddy can now wear his gold ribbon sash to bed with distinction!

Final thanks to our sponsor AIB, our weekly sponsors Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin/The Shed Distillery(Pat Rigney), North Sails (Prof O'Connell), Solas Marine (Tommy Whelan), UK McWilliams Sailmakers (Barry Hayes), Viking Marine (Ian O'Meara), our supporter Afloat.ie (David O'Brien), and our hosts National Yacht Club (John O'Grady and bar
staff). They are all open for business - support them!

Hope you enjoyed the series, have a good summer, see you beginning November."

Revised results below

A final race win in the four-race DBSC Spring Chicken Series handed the 2022 trophy to the George 5 J/80 crew (Fred Tottenham, Will Prendergast, Joe Doyle and Ian Croxon) who won by three points overall. 

There was a joint second finish in the 50-boat fleet with the J/109 Dear Prudence and the Jeanneau 36 Sirocco who both tied on 20 points.

The final race (that doubled as a #Ukrainian fundraiser at the National Yacht Club) got away despite some early strong southeasterly breezes on Dublin Bay on Sunday morning.

Download the overall and race four results below

UPDATE (17/3/22): DBSC Spring Chicken Feathers Ruffled But Now Reset And Smoothed In Final Results

Sunday may bring a breezy conclusion to the DBSC Spring Chicken Series if current forecasts are anything to go by.

With 48 hours to the final race, strong southeasterly winds are forecast for the 50-boat mixed cruiser fleet currently led by the 1720 Optique.

Handicaps and Starts for the final race of the AIB sponsored series are downloadable below. 

Each boat of the 50-boat fleet is expected to fly a Ukrainian flag for the final race. Flags are available from Viking Marine who are supporting the appeal. Ukraine flags (backstay size) are in stock and all proceeds to the Ukraine Red Cross at €15 are available from the shop or over the phone 01-280 6654

DBSC Race organiser Fintan Cairns admits "the weather is a bit changeable at moment but it looks like we will hopefully get sailing on Sunday". 

Overall and race winner prizegivings and weekly draws will be held after sailing on Sunday in the National Yacht Club.

"If, for any reason, we do not get racing on Sunday an extra series race and prizegiving will be scheduled for Sunday 27th March, Cairns told competitors.

 

With just weeks to go to the start of summer racing at the country's largest yacht racing club, Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) has unveiled some of its plans for the 2022 AIB DBSC racing programme, which will run from April 23 to October 1 and will include new Saturday courses.

The DBSC Flag Officers, Committee, and Racing Sub-Committee, have been working hard over the winter months on producing the enhanced racing programme.

The DBSC Hut

The DBSC Hut will be back in position on the West Pier for the entire season and used for Tuesday and Saturday keelboat racing.

The DBSC hut on the West Pier

There will be one additional fleet racing on a Saturday due to the return of the Hut to the Saturday Racing Programme.

Racing Programme

First Race: Saturday, April 23
Last Tuesday Race: Tuesday, August 30
Last Thursday Race: Thursday, August 25
Last Wednesday Race: Wednesday, September 21
Last Saturday Race: Saturday, October 1

Classes will alternate between starting and finishing from the Hut or from a committee boat – see the racing programme below, which indicates which fleet will begin from the Hut and which will start from a committee boat for each Saturday in the DBSC race programme. It also details which keelboat classes form each fleet on the different race days.

DBSC Race Programme 2022

Dublin Bay 21 Footers

The Dublin Bay 21 Footers will always start from the Hut to be closer to their racing area as they don't use engines. This will also provide pier walkers with a good view of these magnificent yachts under sail. The 4th DB21, Geraldine, will be in Dun Laoghaire in June, and all four will race in DBSC this summer.

Dublin Bay 21 Footers will start their races from the DBSC Hut on the West Pier Photo: Afloat

Cruisers 0 & 1

Cruisers 0 and 1 will always start from a committee boat due to their size and speed, and also in the case of Cruisers 1 due to the high number of participants.

Cruisers One entry Raptor from the Royal Irish Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

There is a provision to start all keelboat fleets from the Hut in very exceptional circumstances – see start times for details.

RS Aeros racing in Scotsman's Bay Photo: Afloat

Dinghy racing will be run outside the harbour on Tuesdays and Saturdays when there are sufficient ribs and patrol crews to meet the required safety ratios. The DBSC dinghy fleet consists of Lasers (standard, radial and 4.7 rigs), RS Aeros (7s, 6s, and 5s), Fireballs, IDRA 14s, and a Finn, and is open to anybody aged 16 and over.

DBSC Race Times 2022 Photo: Afloat

Note that fleets' start times and makeup may need to be adjusted depending on the number of entries in each class.

DBSC Laser racing Photo: Afloat

Regattas

There will be no DBSC racing on the days of the four waterfront club regattas – June 11, 18, 25, and July 2. Nor will there be DBSC racing on Saturday, August 27, in support of the Women at the Helm regatta, which takes place on August 27th and 28th. DBSC is signed up to the 20x20 charter, which promotes the participation of women in all sports. DBSC proudly displays the 20x20 banner on its committee boat MacLir.

DBSC Committee Boat Mac Lir Photo: Afloat

To make up some additional race dates, DBSC is commencing Saturday racing one week earlier than normal on April 23 and finishing one week later than normal on October 1.

The Flying Fifteen one-design keelboat is one of DBSC's most popular classes Photo: Afloat

Nine Separate Race Courses Each Week

With the addition of the Hut for Saturday racing, there will be nine separate DBSC courses provided each week. Each of these nine courses will have a Race Officer, a Committee Boat Driver and a Race Management team with timers, flaggers, sound signals, and recorders. DBSC says it is extremely fortunate to have a very experienced pool of race officers, many with Local, Regional, National and even International Race Officer qualifications. In addition, we have a pool of 50+ very willing volunteers who operate the committee boats for each of these nine separate DBSC race events, which take place over four days of the week, namely:

Tuesdays
• Keelboats racing from the Hut on fixed mark courses
• Dinghies racing from a committee boat on laid mark courses

Wednesdays
• Water Wags racing from a committee boat on windward / leeward courses

Thursdays
• Blue fleet keelboats (the larger ones) racing from a committee boat on fixed mark courses
• Red fleet keelboats racing from a committee boat with a combination of fixed mark and windward/leeward courses

Saturdays
• Blue or Red fleet racing from a committee boat (including Cruisers 0 and 1) on fixed mark courses
• Blue or Red fleet racing from the Hut (including DB21s) on fixed mark courses
• Green fleet racing on laid mark windward / leeward or triangular courses
• Dinghies racing on laid mark courses

Under 18s

As DBSC have under 18s both racing and doing patrol crew and mark laying duties, DBSC are required to have a Children's Officer and to undergo Garda vetting for a number of people who interact with the U18s. This process is currently underway for the DBSC Race Officers, patrol crew organisers, and patrol crews who are aged 18+.

Pre-Season Race Officer Briefing and Q&A Session

PRO Ed Totterdell briefed the race officers and race management team leads on the new courses that will be introduced for the 2022 season at a session on March 8. Tim Goodbody has done a lot of work on designing new Saturday fixed mark courses for the keelboat fleets starting from both the Hut and the committee boat. These are currently being finalised and will be available on the DBSC website shortly. Ed took the group through any changes in the SIs which are available on the DBSC website along with the racing programme and the race start times.

Presentation of the Viking Trophy to the DBSC Volunteers

The DBSC volunteers were awarded the Viking award, one of DBSC's premier trophies, for their 'Outstanding Contribution' during the 2021 season, at a gathering in the National Yacht Club on March 8. This band of 50+ volunteers make DBSC racing possible by giving generously and willingly of their time and experience week after week, whatever the weather. DBSC presented this award at the annual prize-giving which took place in the magnificent setting of the National Maritime Museum in November but due to the rise in Covid cases, very few of the volunteers were able to attend. DBSC were very pleased to be able to re-present the trophy and it was happily received on behalf of all the volunteers by race management team leads Ida Kiernan and Rosemary Roy. 

DBSC race management team leads Ida Kiernan (centre) and Rosemary Roy (left) accept the DBSC Viking Trophy on behalf of all the club volunteers from Commodore Ann Kirwan

New Results System

Commodore Ann Kirwan thanked Colin McMullen for his tireless work on DBSC over the past number of years. Colin is stepping back from his role as DBSC Results Secretary in order to spend more time racing his Ruffian and doing some race officer duties in Mayo.

The DBSC results will move from its current system, YR3, to HalSail and DBSC are delighted to announce that Therese Tyrrell is taking on the role of Results Secretary.

The 1720 sportsboat entry Optique leads Lindsay Casey and Denis Power's J/97 Windjammer into the final race of the DBSC Spring Chicken Series for mixed cruisers on Dublin Bay.

Three races have been sailed in the weather-hit series with the final round scheduled for this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Full results of the race and overalls are downloadable below.

Ukraine appeal

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward has applauded the Spring Chicken sailors' Ukrainian Humanitarian appeal that raised nearly €5,500 last weekend after racing at the National Yacht Club.

The Senator tweeted "Congratulations to @DBSC_1884 and all competitors on this scheme to support #Ukraine by buying and flying a Ukrainian flag during the #SpringChicken races. Great idea made possible through @vikingmarine

Congratulations to @DBSC_1884 and all competitors on this scheme to support #Ukraine by buying and flying a Ukrainian flag during the #SpringChicken races. Great idea made possible through @vikingmarine ??? https://t.co/iNl2RWAdPa pic.twitter.com/xuEtMqcZJP

— Barry Ward (@barrymward) March 9, 2022

Each boat of the 50-boat fleet is expected to fly a Ukrainian flag for the final race. Flags are available from Viking Marine who are supporting the appeal. Ukraine flags (backstay size) are in stock and all proceeds to the Ukraine Red Cross at €15 are available from the shop or over the phone 01-280 6654