#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 Echo- 1. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 2. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan), 3. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 2. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan), 3. Bluefin Two (M & B Bryson)

CRUISERS 0 Echo - 1. Lively Lady (Derek Martin), 2. Wow (George Sisk), 3. Loose Change (P Redden & M Mitton)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Loose Change (P Redden & M Mitton), 3. Lively Lady (Derek Martin)

CRUISERS 1 Echo - 1. Bon Exemple (C Byrne), 2. Gringo (Tony Fox), 3. Axiom (M.O'Neill)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Bon Exemple (C Byrne), 2. Gringo (Tony Fox), 3. Jigamaree (R Harris)

CRUISERS 2 Echo - 1. Antix (D Ryan), 2. Black Sheep (E Healy), 3. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Black Sheep (E Healy), 2. Graduate (D O'Keeffe), 3. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson)

CRUISERS 3 A - 1. Hamilton Bear (S Hyde), 2. Hard on Port (F O'Driscoll), 3. Quest (B Cunningham/J Skerritt)

CRUISERS 3 A Echo - 1. Solidarity (Whelan/McCabe/Cary/Cramer)

CRUISERS 3 B Echo - 1. Escapade (U O'Dwyer), 2. Syzrgy (R Fogarty), 3. Capilano (Seamus Soran)

CRUISERS 3 B - 1. Gung Ho (G & S O'Shea), 2. Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell), 3. Chouskikou (R Sheehan & R Hickey)

FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Thingamabob (T Galvin), 2. Frequent Flyer (C Doorley/A Green), 3. Perfect Ten (A Balfe)

GLEN - 1. Pterodactyl (R & D McCaffrey), 2. Glenshane (P Hogan), 3. Glendun (B.Denham et al)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Bandit (Kirwan/Cullen/Brown), 2. Diane ll (A Claffey/C Helme), 3. Ruffles (Michael Cutliffe)

SB20 - 1. Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey), 2. Should be... (Michael O'Connor), 3. Timber (A McNabb & L Burke)

SHIPMAN - 1. Gusto (C Heath/G Miles), 2. The Den (A. Costello/G.Millar), 3. Malindi (B.Smith/A.Gray)

SIGMA 33 - 1. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove), 2. Gwili Two (D.Clarke/P.Maguire), 3. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody)

SQUIB - 1. Anemos (Pete & Ann Evans), 2. Perfection (Jill Fleming), 3. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS Echo - 1. Sweet Martini (Bruce Carswell), 2. Nirvana (Bernard Neeson), 3. Lucy O (Aonghus O hEocha)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. Vespucci (S & K O'Regan), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Nauti-Gal (J & J Crawford)

#fireball – The penultimate Tuesday night Fireball dinghy race of the DBSC Series of races for Fireballs produced an entertaining and competitive night of racing that saw the final result in question until the last lap writes Cormac Bradley.
Although my favoured website forecaster had been predicting light winds of the order of less than 10 knots, just as the afternoon progressed into evening some more breeze came through to give us a lively sail out to the race area. Five boats answered the starter's call for a 3-lap triangular course with the wind coming from a bearing of 340˚. A windward mark was set off the East Pier of the harbour, the gybe mark was set inshore, and with a flooding tide, logic would have suggested that going offshore to gain the tidal effect, out from underneath the wind-shadow of the pier wall would be the way to go.........and 60% of the fleet thought that way. Wrong!!
Mick Creighton & Stephen Oram (15061), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775) and Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) all went offshore after some last second manoeuvring to avoid being over the line at the start. This left the "inshore track" completely open to the two all-lady crews of Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854) and Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865). While the "60- per-centers" were keeping a close watch on each other the two inshore boats sailed a more relaxed first beat to round the weather mark in 1st and 2nd respectively. The other three boats had by now tacked back onto starboard and reading from inshore to offshore the sequence was Creighton, Colin and Smyth. The first two were below the mark with Colin in the controlling position, effectively blocking Creighton's tack onto the port layline to round the mark – a repeat of a similar tactic the previous week when the shoe was on the other foot. Creighton eventually gybed out of his predicament to round the weather mark by a longer route behind Power, Chambers, Colin, and Smyth, but an oversized blanket would have covered the last three boats.
Smyth's spinnaker hoist came "unstuck" with a fouled spinnaker halyard (internally) relegating him quickly to fifth place. Releasing the rig tension allowed that situation to be recovered, but would the spinnaker come down? All five boats gybed safely and the fleet condensed as they went down the second reach of the triangle. Creighton and Smyth locked horns halfway down the leg with a bit of barking at each other, but there was no contact and in any case both were keeping an eye on Colin as well. Power rounded the leeward mark in the lead but Chambers had a drop problem which saw her drift slightly to lee. Colin too had a difficult spinnaker drop but managed to stay ahead of both Creighton and Smyth. Initially all the boats headed offshore until Smyth took an early hitch inshore as much to get out of everyone else's "dirty wind". After all, the tactic had worked for the girls earlier. This tactic did bring some benefits as it allowed him to close on Creighton and Colin and overtake Chambers.
At the second weather mark the order was Power, Creighton, Colin, Smyth & Chambers. Down the run and Smyth got ahead of Colin and closely marginally on Creighton, but Power still had the lead. Cariosa & Marie were revelling in the conditions and proving very hard to catch. A tighter rounding by Smyth of the second leeward mark left him further inshore than Creighton and when the wind shifted shorewards, it left both Power and Smyth in "the pound seats". The beat had become a long one-tack, slightly relaxed two sailer and with Creighton to leeward of him, Smyth was able to sail into second place. But there was one more throw of the dice!
With the wind going shorewards, it would mean that the first reach of the second triangle would be tighter, so it was with some surprise that we saw a red sail coming out of the leading boat. Surely not! Smyth & Bradley had already decided to two sail the leg and behind them Creighton & Oram were doing the same. Realising the error of their ways the red sail was recovered but not in time to save their lead and see two places lost to Smyth and Creighton. The gap between Smyth/Bradley and Creighton/Oram was, at this stage down to maybe 5-6 boat lengths. Could the former negotiate the last gybe and stay ahead on the spinnaker leg? Yes! The gybe was safely negotiated and while the two boats stayed in close contact, there was no sense that the pursuers were closing in on their quarry.
A tidy drop at the leeward mark saw Smyth safely round the last leeward mark for the two-sailer to the finish. Creighton & Oram were inside them but this wasn't enough of an advantage to mount a final attack on the leaders. Colin got through the long-time race leaders to record third place on the night.
Thus, for the majority of the five entries, spinnaker decisions and handling influenced their evening's pursuits, with Marie and Cariosa paying the heaviest price.

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 3, Race 4, 19th Aug.
1 Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harb.
2 Mick Creighton & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC
3 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 3, Overall (with one discard).
1 Mick Creighton & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC 3pts
2 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 9pts
2 Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harb. 9pts
4 Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire 14865 DMYC 12pts
5 Cariosa Power & Marie Barry 14854 NYC 14pts

Thus with one race to sail, Butler & Oram are yet again secure in 1st place overall, but there should be an interesting race between Colin & Casey and Smyth & Bradley for the bridesmaid slot!
The Nationals at Lough Ree Yacht Club outside Athlone are just less than a month away and provisional arrangements with our hosts for the regatta are being discussed as this goes to print. The venue has been chosen for ease of access and the hospitality that we were afforded there last year when we went in September. Racing takes place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with an early afternoon "kick-off" proposed to accommodate those who want to travel on the Friday morning. A challenge has gone out to our "northern brethren" to have a presence at the regatta. Camping is available again so the idea is to try and emphasise the social potential as well as the racing.

#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Borraine (Ean Pugh), 2. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson)

CRUISERS 3 Tuesday - 1. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle), 2. Wynward (W McCormack), 3. Isolde (B Mulqueen & J Martin)

Ensign - 1. INSC1 (K Rumball), 2. INSC2 (A Rumball), 3. RIYC 2 (Mark McGibney)

FIREBALL - 1. Licence to Thrill (Louis Smyth), 2. No Name (S Oram), 3. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey)

GLEN - 1. Pterodactyl (R & D McCaffrey), 2. Glendun (B.Denham et al), 3. Glenshesk (Walker\Faulkner\Henderson)

IDRA 14 FOOT - 1. Slipstream (Julie Ascoop), 2. Dunmoanin (Frank Hamilton), 3. Dart (Pierre Long)

PY CLASS - 1. Colin Galavan (Laser), 2. David Dwyer (Laser), 3. P Smith & P Mangan (Mermaid)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 2. Cresendo (L Balfe), 3. Different Drummer (D Tonge)

SQUIB - 1. Perfection (Jill Fleming), 2. Anemos (Pete & Ann Evans)

#sb20 – The SB20 fleet were treated to an exhilarating, white-knuckle ride on Dublin bay on Sunday afternoon in conditions gusting over thirty knots writes Michael O'Connor.

OOD Barry O'Neill and his team of Fionnuala Loughrey, Cathy Booth and Barbara Conway kept a watchful eye on the wind and pressure readings all morning and after careful consideration, the call was made to go racing. The committee boat team made their way up towards Seapoint for a more sheltered race area and set a windward leeward course with a standard leeward mark rather than a leeward gate.

The boats got away at the first time of asking with Venuesworld (Ger, Chris et al) taking the favoured pin with Should Be... (Michael, Owen, Peter and Dave) just to weather of them and SacreBleu (Ben et al) further to weather still. The boats raced out towards the left hand side of the course with Venuesworld and Should Be... going all the way to the layline and SacreBleu tacking 10 boat lengths to leeward of the layline. Should Be... managed to squeeze out a narrow lead over their rivals at the weather mark and as the boats rounded onto the run, the kites went up without hesitation (!). As the boats blasted down the run at speeds easily into the high teens, the three leaders gybed before a monster gust came through knocking both Should Be... and Venuesworld over on their ear while SacreBleu showed everyone how it should be done and skilfully kept the boat under the mast and screaming towards the leeward mark, skipping past their rivals. At the leeward mark, SacreBleu had taken the lead from Venuesworld with Should Be in a close third. With the wind now beginning to howl, the OOD signalled a shortened course and SacreBleu took a well deserved gun from Should Be..., who had managed to squeeze past Venuesworld, in second and Venuesworld in third ahead of Bad in fourth.

In the absence of the forecast easing of the wind strength, there was a question over whether or not to continue but after some deliberation the decision was made to run a second race. In race 2, Bad attempted a port tack start but just couldn't make it past Venuesworld and tacked just to leeward of them as the fleet made their way out left again. Should Be... tacked out to the right side of the course and made some gains on the fleet after a sluggish start. At the weather mark, Venuesworld led by a boat length from Should Be... with Bad and SacreBleu a few boatlengths further back. Once again, the boats decided to throw up the kites and be damned... A few short minutes later the boats were approaching the leeward mark and Venuesworld still held a short lead from Should Be... with SacreBleu and Bad in a tussle for third. Up the second beat, Should Be... managed to work their way ahead of Venuesworld and SacreBleu won their tussle with Bad for third. Down the last sleigh ride, Venuesworld expertly gybed off early into a rich vein of breeze and when the boats converged at the leeward mark, they had overtaken Should Be... once more. The short beat to finish didn't provide any further overtaking opportunities and the top three in race two were Venuesworld from Should Be... with SacreBleu in third.

The OOD decided that the fleet had had enough fun for one day and called the very happy but exhausted sailors ashore, many commenting on how it was the best thrill ride of the season and hoping for more of the same next weekend at the Westerns in Galway.

SB20 Class notices:

Next weekend (23rd & 24th) we have the Westerns in Galway and we are hoping for a great turnout. Galway never, ever disappoints and it is sure to be a cracking event. Here's hoping for big wind and big waves to go with the mighty craic!

Unfortunately, it will not be possible to make up last Sundays lost SB Sunday (no. 8) with a replacement day. However, the intention is to run 4 shorter races each day on SB Sundays 9 and 10 so that series three will constitute 8 races instead of 9 and a second discard will be able to be applied (I believe) making for a closer, more enjoyable series.

Look forward to seeing you all next Thursday for the penultimate Thursday race of 2014! 

#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO - 1. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan), 2. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan), 3. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan), 2. Magic (D.Espey), 3. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan)

CRUISERS 0 ECHO - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. Wow (George Sisk)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell)

CRUISERS 1 ECHO - 1. Jigamaree (R Harris), 2. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 3. Axiom (M.O'Neill)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 2. Jigamaree (R Harris), 3. Gringo (Tony Fox)

CRUISERS 2 ECHO - 1. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 2. Black Sheep (E Healy), 3. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson), 2. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Black Sheep (E Healy)

CRUISERS 3 ECHO - 1. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle) 2. Supernova (McStay/Timbs/Monaghan/Costello)3. Syzrgy (R Fogarty)

CRUISERS 3 - 1. Supernova (McStay/Timbs/Monaghan/Costello), 2. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle)

FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Frequent Flyer (C Doorley/A Green), 2. Thingamabob (T Galvin), 3. Perfect Ten (A Balfe)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 2. Cresendo (L Balfe), 3. Paramour (Larry Power et al)

SHIPMAN - 1. Poppy (Peter Wallis et al), 2. Jo Slim (J.Clarke et al), 3. Gusto (C Heath/G Miles)

SIGMA 33 - 1. Popje (Ted McCourt), 2. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody), 3. Gwili Two (D.Clarke/P.Maguire)

SQUIB - 1. Perfection (Jill Fleming), 2. Femme Fatale (V Delaney), 3. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS ECHO - 1. Calypso (Howard Knott), 2. Just Jasmin (Philip Smith), 3. Persistence (C. Broadhead et al)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. Persistence (C. Broadhead et al), 2. Calypso (Howard Knott), 3. Warrior (D Shanahan)

#flyingfifteen – 13 Flying Fifteens turned out for the DBSC racing last night, on arrival the wind had faded completely and it looked like we might get the night off. As the fleet headed out to the start area a new wind filled in from the NE and there was a nice force 3-4 wind with the tide flooding.

The race was won by Chris Doorly & Alan Green in Frequent Flyer who now lead Series 2. The pin end was biased and in the scramble Colman/Quinn in Flyer popped out just ahead of Doorly, Mulvin and Galvin. The individual recall flag went up, Mulvin did go back but was he the only one? As usual the culprits would not all be known till the end of the race. As we were heading out to Zebra most boats tacked out to sea on starboard. Colman, Doorly and Murphy went to the left side where there seemed to be more wind. These were the first three at the weather mark closely followed by Galvin and the new Mulligan/ Sherry combination.

There were great reaches down to Harbour and then Bullock marks, Colman and Doorly had pulled away but Galvin was up to third place and further back Mulvin was working his way through the fleet after going back at the start. It was a beat out to East, Colman kept to the right as did Doorly but Galvin went more left and closed the gap.

Again there was a lovely reach down to Pier, Colman kept ahead and after rounding headed towards the harbour wall to the left, had he over stood the finish line? Doorly sensing an opportunity to make the finish line tacked straight away. This was going to be close, both crews were working hard to keep the boats at full speed. Colman was able to reach down a bit and crossed the line . . . a deafening silence, no hooter! Doorly

& Green then crossed the line to the sound of the hooter. Galvin was third with Hugh & Michael Cahill third and Mulvin fourth. A most enjoyable race and thanks to PRO Jack Roy and his team in Freebird for an excellent course.

A thought for the day is that although sailing is generally self policing maybe there is a case to be made for calling out the numbers of boats OCS over the radio, not for the benefit of the boats over the line but for the benefit of those who are not over the line and sailing within the rules.

It's a busy week ahead, DBSC racing on Saturday with the Captains prize on Sunday followed by the Championships of Ireland in Portaferry next weekend.

#sb20 – A perfect force 4 NNW breeze and plenty of close reaching provided challenging conditions for the SB20 fleet this evening on Dublin Bay.

OOD Jack Roy set the line up with a pin end bias and Bad (Enda, Jerry and Jimmy), Should Be... (Michael, Owen and Gavan) and Venuesworld (Ger, Peter and Chris) were all in a dogfight vying for the pin with seconds to go... Bad ran out of race track and had to duck below the pin before the start to avoid being over early while Should Be... took the pin with Venuesworld close on their hip. Alert Packaging (Justin et al) and SacreBleu (Richard, Tom and Matt) started further up the line keeping their noses clean.

With a beat up to Zebra mark, Venuesworld tacked off moments after the start onto port and were followed out right by Alert Packaging while Should Be... and SacreBleu continued left, everyone going in search of better breeze. As the boats converged at the weather mark, Venuesworld on starboard had Should Be... by a whisker but Venuesworld had understood the starboard lay line. Should Be... on port tack, passed behind Venuesworld and tacked onto starboard a couple of boatlengths later on the starboard lay line. Venuesworld in turn tacked onto port but uncharacteristically, they had a slow tack putting them on a collision course with Should Be... on starboard. Venuesworld tacked just below Should Be... in an effort to get around the mark in first. As is now an SB tradition, there was plenty of shouting at the weather mark! Should Be... managed to get over the top of Venuesworld and the boats set their kites for a fast close reach down to Harbour mark.

Down the reach, Should Be... experienced some difficulties with their spinny sheets and Venuesworld skilfully managed to get past them, keep their kite flying and the boat on her feet all the way down the tight reach. Also making big gains down the reach were Bad and Alert Packaging. Alert Packaging kept their powder dry and two-sailed it down the reach whereas Bad and Should Be... in front persevered but struggled with their kites, eventually having to drop them.. At harbour mark, Venuesworld had pulled out a good lead and Bad had managed to just overtake Should Be... with Alert Packaging now a very close fourth. A gybe at harbour mark and another tight reach to Bullock mark ensued and Alert Packaging, short-handed, struggled on the reach while Bad and Should Be... made hay of the fast reaching conditions and tried to cut into Venuesworld's impressive lead. Should Be... managed to sneak past Bad down the reach.

Disaster nearly struck Venuesworld at Bullock mark as they were unable to get their kite fully down until approximately 15 lengths after the mark. Fortunately for them, their lead was so great that when they did manage to get the kite back in check, they still held a commanding lead. A beat to East mark, followed by a reach to Bay mark and another beat to finish followed but the boats in front all shut up shop and quickly fell into covering mode, preventing their nearest challengers from overtaking.

At the finish, it was Venuesworld by a comfortable margin in first from Should Be... With Bad a close third, Alert Packaging in fourth and SacreBleu in fifth. Exhausted, the crews adjourned to the bar for some refreshments!

Class notices:

This Sunday is the rescheduled SB sunday no. 3. Please show your appreciation to all the volunteers (of which there are many!) and get out there and race. If you can't sail your boat or if you need help with crew, we can help find people to sail with/for you. The results of the "when to race" survey will follow under separate cover in due course but suffice to say, unless it is blowing dogs off chains (i.e. 30knts constant) and provided the committee vessel can hold its anchor and the rescue crew are happy to proceed, we will be racing this Sunday. It is, of course, at the absolute discretion and sole responsibility of each boat to decide whether or not they wish to race.

Finally, sadly, the SBs are losing one of our own this month as Matt from SacreBleu is returning to his homeland of Canada. Just as things were looking up in this country and with house prices once again experiencing double digit growth each quarter (hold on, that sounds worryingly familiar...), Matt is outta here! As those of you that have met Matt this year will know, he has been a friendly and positive presence in the George this season and he will be sadly missed. Hopefully Matt, you will be able to make one last hurrah this Sunday and go out with a blast!

See you all on Sunday,

Michael O'Connor

BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO - 1. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 3. Legally Blonde (C.Drohan/P.Egan)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Magic (D.Espey), 2. Levana (Jean Mitton), 3. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan)

CRUISERS 0 ECHO - 1. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell), 2. Wow (George Sisk), 3. Loose Change (P Redden & M Mitton)

CRUISERS 0 - 1. Wow (George Sisk), 2. Loose Change (P Redden & M Mitton), 3. Tsunami (Vincent Farrell)

CRUISERS 1 ECHO - 1. Axiom (M.O'Neill), 2. Jigamaree (R Harris), 3. Indecision (Declan Hayes et al)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Gringo (Tony Fox), 2. Bon Exemple (C Byrne), 3. Jigamaree (R Harris)

CRUISERS 2 ECHO - 1. Antix (D Ryan), 2. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Black Sheep (E Healy)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Jester (Declan Curtin), 2. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 3. Black Sheep (E Healy)

CRUISERS 3 A ECHO - 1. Hamilton Bear (S Hyde), 2. Hard on Port (F O'Driscoll), 3. Cri-Cri (P Colton)

CRUISERS 3 A - 1. Hamilton Bear (S Hyde), 2. Quest (B Cunningham/J Skerritt), 3. Cri-Cri (P Colton)

CRUISERS 3 B - 1. Chouskikou (R Sheehan & R Hickey), 2. Taiscealai (B Richardson), 3. Gung Ho (G & S O'Shea)

CRUISERS 3 B ECHO - 1. Saki (Paget McCormack et al), 2. Syzrgy (R Fogarty), 3. Eezee Tiger (O Prouvier)

DRAGON - 1. Zu (M Minch/C Grimley/T Pearson), 2. Zinzan (Daniel O'Connor et al), 3. Phantom (D.Williams)

FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Frequent Flyer (C Doorley/A Green), 2. Thingamabob (T Galvin), 3. Frenetic (H & M Cahill)

GLEN - 1. Glenshane (P Hogan), 2. Glencree (J.Bligh/H.Roche), 3. Glendun (B.Denham et al)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Diane ll (A Claffey/C Helme), 2. Ruff Nuff (D & C Mitchell), 3. Cresendo (L Balfe)

SB20 - 1. Venuesworld.com (Ger Dempsey), 2. Should be... (Michael O'Connor), 3. Bad - Kilcullen (J Dowling)

SHIPMAN - 1. Gusto (C Heath/G Miles), 2. Whiterock (Henry Robinson), 3. Curraglas (John Masterson)

SIGMA 33 - 1. White Mischief (Timothy Goodbody), 2. Gwili Two (D.Clarke/P.Maguire), 3. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove)

SQUIB - 1. Anemos (Pete & Ann Evans), 2. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago), 3. Perfection (Jill Fleming)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS ECHO - 1. Lucy O (Aonghus O hEocha), 2. Fortitudine (D & A Clarke), 3. Calypso (Howard Knott)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. Persistence (C. Broadhead et al), 2. White Lotus (Paul Tully)

#fireball – Five Fireballs enjoyed a blustery start to the third evening of the third Series of Tuesday night races last night in Dublin Bay writes Cormac Bradley. Rigging up in the harbour beforehand, the wind appeared to be quite squally prompted by rain clouds coming out of the west. The passage through Hell's Gate, between the ice house and the west pier was also a bit hairy, but in the main body of the harbour it was a bit more settled.
With the tide due to bottom out at 19:00, coincident with our race start time, there was a modest swell outside the harbour created by a wind against tide situation but in truth it gave us a dry and fast three sail trip out to the start area.
With the wind coming out of the west, a windward-leeward course of four laps was set with a windward mark off the east pier and a leeward mark just east of the 40-foot bathing spot.
Stephen Oram, joined by guest helm Phil Lawton, (15061) and Neil Colin & Margaret Case (14775) picked a fight with each other for the pin. However, this left them too early and they had to bear off, gybe and revise their starting plans. A boat-length off their transoms, Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007)inherited the pin slot but needed to tack onto port to clear the line. The two other all-lady crews of Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854) and Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire (14865) were further back along the line, closer to the committee boat. Lawton, Colin and Smyth went off on their port tacks, away from shore with Smyth to windward of the other two. Colin bailed first to head inshore, and when Lawton tacked, Smyth followed suit. It looked to be a keen contest!
Bang! Smyth's main outhaul broke and the advantage was gone. Fortunately a lull in the wind allowed the outhaul to be re-secured and the chase was on! In the meantime, Colin had closed on Lawton but was in the weaker position and Lawton sailed them away from the first weather mark.
The ladies meantime were doing their own thing and combined with Smyth's gear failure, the pecking order at the first weather mark was Lawton, Colin, Chambers, Smyth and Power. All five boats stayed on starboard tack under spinnaker, sailing parallel to the shore. Until halfway down! Colin put in a gybe that, on the water, didn't seem to make sense. We could see the leeward mark which was downwind of us.........so why where they going hard left? It seems that there was some confusion as to where the leeward mark was, not helped by the fact that the committee boat was "off-line" in terms of being in a median position relative to the two marks of the course. Colin's mistake didn't cost him as he rounded the leeward mark in 2nd place. Smyth overtook Chambers however.
Up the second beat, Smyth & Bradley closed on Colin & Casey, helped by taking an inshore hitch halfway up the beat. This left them within attacking distance of Colin's transom for the second downwind leg. Lawton had pulled clear, so these two were the only ones to have close encounter action on this leg. Travelling on a slightly more inshore line than Colin, Smyth was able to pull ahead just enough to gybe and cross ahead of Colin to take the inside slot for the rounding of the 2nd leeward mark. Behind, Chambers & McGuire took a swim at the weather mark to allow their "sisters" to overtake them into 4th.
Smyth applied a loose cover to Colin on the next beat and was able to pull away to put some distance between the boats at the third weather mark. By now, with the tide turned, the tactic was to go offshore for the beat and put in a starboard tack hitch to make the weather mark. With the wind starting to ease the beats were less demanding than they had been. There were no further changes for the remainder of the race but Power & Barry did close on Colin & Casey as the final stages of the 4th downwind leg and final beat were completed. Slightly unusually, the finish was upwind of the weather mark but this made no difference to the final placings.
DBSC Tuesday Night; Series 3, Race 3.
1 Phil Lawton & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC
2 Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harb.
3 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 3 Overall (No discard).
1 Noel Butler/Phil Lawton & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC 3pts
2 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 12pts
3 Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire 14865 DMYC 14pts

Two Irish crews will be in action at the UK Fireball Nationals in Tenby, Wales next week. Barry McCartin & Conor Kinsella, fresh from their successes in Shetland at the Fireball Europeans (Winners Shetland Nationals, 2 x Race wins at the Europeans and 4th overall) will be joined by Team Clancy, Conor and James, in a 40+ boat championships in the Principality. We wish them every success.
And as part of the build-up for our own Nationals, in Lough Ree, readers and Fireballers are reminded that this event will take place in four weeks' time at the Athlone venue. We will be sharing the waters on the Saturday and the Sunday with the Wayfarers who will also sail their Nationals.
We also offer best wishes to two former Fireballers from the Irish fleet, Shane McCarthy & Damien Bracken who are contesting the GP14 Worlds in Strangford. They had plenty to contend with on Monday and after yesterday's racing they are in the top ten (along with two other "Irish-flagged" boats).

#dbsc – CRUISERS 3 Tuesday - 1. Capilano (S Soran), 2. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle), 3. Chouskikou (R Sheehan/R Hickey)

Ensign - 1. INSC1 (K Rumball), 2. RIYC 2 (Mark McGibney), 3. INSC2 (A Rumball)

FIREBALL - 1. No Name (S Oram), 2. Licence to Thrill (Louis Smyth), 3. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey)

GLEN - 1. Glendun (B.Denham et al), 2. Glenshane (P Hogan), 3. Glencoe (Rose Mary Craig et al)

PY CLASS - 1. Colin Galavan (Laser), 2. Ross O'Leary (Laser), 3. Tom Murphy (K1)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy), 2. Ruff Nuff (D & C Mitchell), 3. Cresendo (L Balfe)

SQUIB - 1. Kookaburra (P & M Dee)