¢dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan), 3. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 3. Attitude (T Milner J Sugars M Branigan

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Black Sheep (E Healy), 2. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson)

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

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

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

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

PY CLASS - 1. R Kenneally (Laser), 2. P Smith & P Mangan (Mermaid), 3. B.Martin & D Brennan (Mermaid)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Cresendo (L Balfe), 2. Ruff Diamond (D.Byrne et al), 3. Ruff Nuff (D & C Mitchell)

#fireball – Tuesday night order was restored for the Fireballs racing under the burgee of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club when Noel Butler, "fresh" from a 16th place overall in the Round Ireland Race and Stephen Oram, recently returned from holiday, won the Tuesday night race in Scotsman's Bay by a 3 min 30 sec margin writes Cormac Bradley.

Due to a work commitment, this correspondent was not out on the water, so I can't offer you an account of the first lap of the three lap triangular course. By the time I got into my observation position, onshore, with binoculars, Messrs Butler and Oram had a comfortable lead as they sailed up to the second weather mark. Later, in the DMYC clubhouse I established that their position was due to a pin end start that benefitted for the wind going left, giving them a substantial lift and allowing them to break free from the five boat fleet. Again, conditions were light with a wind that started in the NE and a flooding tide that had two hours to run. By the time I got to watch proceedings, the wind had gone northwards and crews were sitting to leeward on the upwind legs.

At the second weather mark, Butler (15061) led with the rounding order thereafter, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (14775), Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe (14691), Cariosa Power & Marie Barry (14854) and Frank Miller & Francis Rowan (14713). At the weather mark the distances between the boats were such that none of them would have been anxiously looking over their shoulders, but they couldn't afford to ignore what was going on behind them..........with the exception of Butler & Oram.

These two headed inshore on starboard tack whereas the next three boats went offshore on port tack. Miller replicated Butler's approach. McKenna & O'Keeffe were the first ones to bail out of the offshore approach and this left them the furthest out on the right hand side of the downwind sausage. There was better breeze on this side (or just less where Colin/Casey were) because McKenna/O'Keeffe sailed round Colin & Casey to reach the leeward mark in 2nd place with a 20 sec advantage over Colin & Casey who also found their rearward horizon shortened by Power & Barry who had also crept up on them.
The approach to the final beat was to take a hitch to sea – the right hand side of the course – tack and sail across the course on starboard tack and wait for the header on the left hand side that prompted another tack to approach the last weather mark on port. This was executed to varying degrees by all five boats with Power & Barry seeming to close again on Colin & Casey.
The first reach of the 2nd triangle was tight, so much so that Colin & Casey didn't fly spinnaker and didn't seem to suffer distance-wise as a consequence. This leg was pretty straightforward. The second reach produced a very wide diversity of execution plans. Butler gybed and headed upwind in a direction that took him away from the shortest distance to the leeward mark. He would eventually end up to windward and to the east of the committee boat, necessitating a second gybe to approach the leeward mark on a tight reach on starboard. Still, he had the comfort of a big lead! McKenna, Colin and Power all gybed at the gybe mark and sailed low toward the shoreline – with McKenna covering/shepherding Colin so that she stayed between him and the leeward mark. This of course opened the door for Power to do her own thing but she was unable to upset the order. Miller, meantime was even more radical than Butler, seeming to take a line on port tack that would have delivered him to the position of the weather mark had it still been in position. As with Butler, he too ended up putting in another gybe to approach the leeward mark on starboard, but his game was long over by that stage. Butler's margin of victory was very comfortable and McKenna ended up being a minute ahead of Colin. Seven minutes spanned first to last in what was a seasonal race – evening sunshine under blue skies with a gentle breeze. Grey clouds were incoming from the west, but the showers that had populated the day stayed away for the race and one could believe that it was an Irish July!

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 2, Round 4.
1 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC
2 Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe 14691 RStGYC
3 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC

With the Round Ireland, holidays, line duty and work commitments, the overall situation for Series 2 has an interesting look to it, and the three combinations that have been least upset in their Tuesday routine lead the series in overall terms.

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 2, 4 sailed, no discard.
1 Louise McKenna & Hermine O'Keeffe 14691 RStGYC 7
2 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14775 DMYC 8
3 Frank Miller & Francis Rowan 14713 DMYC 9
4 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC 10
5 Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire 14865 DMYC 13

This past Saturday saw the conclusion of the four one-day regattas of the Dun Laoghaire Waterfront Clubs with the Royal St George Yacht Club hosting their event which attracted close to 200 entries from Cruisers 1 all the way down to the dinghy classes. Five Fireballs contested the event on a dinghy course that was closer to the mouth of the River Liffey than Dun Laoghaire. In very difficult conditions that prompted a lot of "snakes and ladders" racing, Louis Smyth and Cormac Bradley "threw a six" at the right time to take the two race wins and a hat-trick of DL Club Regatta wins – Royal Irish Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club and Royal St George Yacht Club. Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe won the National Yacht Club Regatta. Two of the regattas were decided by virtue of the winners of the second race and Conor Clancy lost two of those.
The weekend of 19/20th July sees the fleet re-visiting an old venue – Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club. With ten days to go there is a "decent commitment" to boats for the event, but we would like to see even more boats make the trip. From Dublin the venue is about 1.5hours drive, (driveable on Saturday morning) there is free camping and camper-vanning at the club and they are very excited at our return. Discounted entry is available until 17:00 this Friday (11th July). We know that the south coast will be represented, we know that the west will be represented, there will be the usual Dublin contingent, but we would love to have some northern commitment and while the midlands might think it is a long haul, the more boats we have the better the event.

#dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty)

CRUISERS 3 Tuesday - 1. Capilano (S Soran), 2. Wynward (W McCormack), 3. Papytoo (M Walsh/F Guilfoyle)

Ensign - 1. RIYC 1 (Tim Goodbody), 2. NYC1 (A Dooley)

FIREBALL - 1. No Name (S Oram), 2. Goodness Gracious (Louise McKenna), 3. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey)

GLEN - 1. Glenshesk (Walker\Faulkner\Henderson), 2. Glenshane (P Hogan), 3. Glendun (B.Denham et al)

IDRA 14 FOOT - 1. Slipstream (Julie Ascoop), 2. Dart (Pierre Long), 3. Doody (J.Fitzgerald/J.Byrne)

PY CLASS - 1. R Kenneally (Laser), 2. Colin Galavan (Laser), 3. Tom Murphy (K1)

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

#flyingfifteen – The last of the waterfront clubs summer regatta's took place at the RStGYC on Saturday and the Flying Fifteen class was won by Dave Gorman & Chris Doorly in Betty in testing conditions as the winds were all over the bay. This gives them the 'grand slam' as they won all four waterfront regattas. Second was Ian Mathews with Jonathan O'Rourke helming on the same points as Adrian Cooper & Joe in Gulfstream in a well deserved third place.

It was forecast to be windy from the west, something we havnt had for a while but during racing the prevailing wind was fighting with the sea breeze and the usual hole appeared in the Bay giving a testing time to the competitors and the Race Officers.

In race 1 there was a bias to the pin and there were about 12knots under the big dirty cloud above so full hiking was the order of the day . . for a while at least! O'Rourke/Mathews led the way after a good start at the pin, as the boats tacked onto port there was a shift and a change in wind strength, those on the left were knocked and the two boats that had gone right were coming in full steam with Ken & Maryjane leading at the weather mark from O'Rourke, Justin Maguire and Adrian Cooper, Gorman was fifth to the weather mark. On the reach Gorman sailed low to try and get some place by getting water at the next mark, this worked well and at the gybe mark was second. The wind was holding, O'Rourke went to the right of the second beat along with Adraian while Gorman and Maguire went left, by now the wind was getting lighter and flukier. Maguire & Burgess made big gains and tacked in under O'Rourke at the weather mark but were sailed over, Gorman was fifth. Downwind Gorman went right hoping for that sea breeze and the help of the incoming tide, it looked good for a while as those on the left had no wind Then the wind gods gave those on the left wind and took it from the right! As the boats neared the leeward mark the wind picked up for a few minutes. As Gorman went left on starboard he got tangled with a port Fireball, for the last lap the positions didn't change so O'Rourke won from Justin & Frank with Gorman third and Adrian & Joe fourth.

There was a very long break between races as all classes were given 3 laps, this is preventable if the first couple of classes are given an extra lap. With the winds now more easterly the PRO reset the course, due to the uncertainty it was to be a shorter two lap course- this proved to be an inspired decision!

To have any chance of winning the regatta Gorman had to win and hope O'Rourke and Maguire have a poor race, this was unlikely but you would never know. The Meagher's were also out to add to the mix for the second race after having a lie in! In race 2 the wind was up and the pin end was biased, O'Rourke got the pin, with Colman to his weather, Gorman started away from the pin and managed to trap the two boat below, as in last week regatta there was actually very little time to be on starboard ,Gorman went a little beyond the lay line and O'Rourke and Colman had now overstood the mark and were in Gorman's dirt. As he approached the weather mark the boats from the right were coming in on starboard, Gorman got in about two boat lenghts in front of Alan Dooley and Adrian Cooper with the Cahills close behind. There was a bit of heavy traffic at the weather mark and O'Rourke and Maguire got caught up in it as Gorman increased his lead. On the second beat Dooley was sailing well on the right, the wind had now dropped and anything could happen, Gorman was in the middle but headed slightly right and was relieved to get around the weather mark intact- the rest were not so lucky. It was a beat now on the run, Gorman went left to the forecasted wind from the west and kept moving in the light winds, the beat to the finish was a run. Dooley stayed second with Adrian third, the Cahills fourth and the Meagher's fifth with O'Rourke in sixth place and Maguire behind them. So the regatta was won in difficult conditions where anything could happen and anything did happen.

Once ashore it was down to the RStGYC for the usual regatta festivities and prize giving, the club had a great bbq with super food and live music. Next week its back to the DBSC series.

#flyinfgfifteen – The wind gods were toying with the Flying fifteens last night and depending where you were you had zero wind up to about 10knots towards the end, despite a good forecast with a steady building wind from the SE it was always a surprise to what direction it came from last night.

The course was set up by Jack and his team and it was to be a short beat to East mark with the pin favoured, this was reinforced as we watched the SB start. Chris with Valerie Mulvin crewing and Ben & Maryjane crossed the fleet and were looking good, then from below Joe and Tom Murphy sailed around the leaders to take the lead . . or so they thought!

As Tom tacked for the mark he ended up pointing northwest back towards Dun Laoghaire. Meanwhile Chris and Ben seemed to redeem themselves as they pointed east towards the mark. At this stage those on the left got their own private breeze and Adrian, the Cahills and Alan Balfe came into the mark to be confronted by the Dragons and Sb's coming from the right with spinnakers up . . figure that one out! Those in the middle had little or no wind but and this led to a dangerous situation with all the inside boats coming in demanding their rights at the mark. The boats with no wind had no time and opportunity to get out of the way and some very poor seamanship was shown by some of the bigger boats, a dragon was actually spotted in Alan Dooley's boat!

Eventually everyone got around and headed to Omega, out of the mess Alan Balfe & Karl Lynch led the way hotly persued by Hugh & Michael Cahill with Adrian & Joe next. This is the way it finished as very little changed after that as the next four legs were all fetches. Alan Dooley & Joe Hickey recovered to be fourth after disentangling himself from the dragon earlier. It may take others longer to recover and get their heads together. So well done to Alan and Karl, it was Karls first ever win in the class!

Hopefully they can keep the good form for the RStGYC regatta at the weekend where there should be some great racing in a good sized fleet assuming the wind gods will be kinder to us As usual it will be fiercely contested, Dave Gorman & Chris Doorly may be slight favourites as they will be looking to complete the grand slam of the four waterfront regattas.

sb20 – Eight SB20s battled it out on Dublin Bay this evening in a northerly, easterly, and southerly breeze (depending where you were on the race course at any given moment in time) in a wind ranging in strength from 0 to 15knts (again depending where you were and when you were there!). Warning - Those easily confused should probably look away now...

Initially, the fleet prepared to start in 6knts of wind coming from the east with an ebbing tide pushing the fleet over the start line. The OOD had set a short line with a pronounced pin end bias, normally a recipe for disaster with an SB fleet not shy at coming forward... However, approximately 1 minute before the start, the wind died away to about 3 knts and backed, making the line practically impossible to cross on starboard, even with the help of the ebbing tide. Spotting the opportunity, Bad (Jerry, Jimmy et al) started on port at the pin and nailed it, owning the entire fleet. Just to leeward of them, Bomchickawahwah (John, Ed et al) and Alert Packaging (Justin et al) tacked onto port just as the gun went and kept their bows out from Bad. The remainder of the fleet also tacked onto port as the gun went and the entire fleet started heading out right in the very fickle easterly breeze.

Should Be... (Michael, Gavan and newest SB fleet member Andy Gale) were forced to tack back onto starboard shortly afterwards and head left once again but they found a rich (4knts!?!) vein of wind as they separated from the fleet going towards the opposite side of the course. Not long after, they were joined by Bad and Smoke on the Water (Bob et al) on the left side of the course as the remainder of the fleet continued right.

As the boats made their way slowly towards East mark, disaster struck the boats on the right hand side of the beat as the wind swung further left to the north, allowing the boats out left to reach into the mark while the boats out right were left struggling back against the tide to get to the mark. Particularly badly hit were SacreBleu (Richard, Ben et al) and Manamana (Doug, Ronan et al) who had been looking good for a time on the right. At the top mark, Should Be... led from Smoke on the Water and Bad and the three boats set their kites expecting a reach inshore towards Omega mark. However, as soon as they set their kites and looked up, they were greeted with the site of boats reaching under spinnaker heading directly towards them, on the same gybe! The boats that had gone right up the beat were now in a 12knt southerly breeze about 50 metres away from the weather mark! The three leaders dropped their kites and waited for the new breeze to hit them with Should Be and Bad going right and Smoke on the Water heading left into what had turned into a beat to Omega in the now southerly breeze.

Smoke on the Water did very well out left and took the lead from Should Be... in second and Bad in third. Unfortunately for Smoke on the Water, they overstood the lay line to Omega in the ebbing tide allowing Should Be... to sneak inside them at the mark and retake the lead. A fetch to Pier mark followed by a gybe and a close spinny reach to Poldy mark didn't provide much opportunity for overtaking, but with some very slick boat handling, Bad managed to sneak in front of Smoke on the Water at Poldy mark. By now, Venuesworld (Ger, Chris and Rory) were in hot pursuit of Smoke on the Water followed closely by Alert Packaging and Bomchickawahwah. Another fetch to Pier followed by a close spinny reach to Omega meant that once again passing was not going to be easy and by Omega mark, Should Be... had extended on Bad in second, Bad in turn had extended on Smoke on the Water in third and Venuesworld had closed to within a boat length of Smoke on the Water...

With only a fetch to finish, it looked like it would stay that way but as the boats rounded Omega mark before heading for Harbour mark and the finish, Smoke tacked straight away while Venuesworld continued on a couple of boat lengths to avoid the Squib, Dragon and Glen fleets heading towards and away from Omega mark. This move was to provide great dividends with Venuesworld managing to pass Smoke on the Water as Smoke contended with the added disturbed air and sea... alert Packaging and Bomchickawahwah battled it out to the very end with Alert Packaging appearing to squeeze Bomchickawahwah out at the finish line.

At the finish it was Should Be... in first, Bad in second, Venuesworld in third, a very hard-fought and well deserved fourth for Smoke on the Water, Alert Packaging in fifth, Bomchickawahwah in sixth, Manamana in seventh and SacreBleu in eighth. Timber (Alan et al) unfortunately appear to have missed the start but we hope to see them out next Thursday along with the return of some Thursday regulars (Probably, Seriously Bonkers) to make the magical double figures on a DBSC Thursday...

Saturday is the RStGYC regatta and by the latest head count we are approaching double figures so it looks like we have another great days racing ahead of us. Next SB Sunday is the following weekend, 13th July, only two weeks before the nationals... See you all out there...

Michael O'Connor

dbsc – BENETEAU 31.7 ECHO - 1. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen), 2. Extreme Reality (P.McSwiney/E.O'Rafferty), 3. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al)

BENETEAU 31.7 - 1. Levante (M.Leahy/J.Power), 2. Prima Nocte (Patrick Burke et al), 3. Fiddly Bits (Timmins/Quigley/Murray/Breen)

CRUISERS 1 ECHO - 1. Jigamaree (R Harris), 2. Dear Prudence (B Lyons & J Given), 3. Something Else (J.Hall et al)

CRUISERS 1 - 1. Something Else (J.Hall et al), 2. Jigamaree (R Harris), 3. Raptor (D.Hewitt et al)

CRUISERS 2 ECHO - 1. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 2. Antix (D Ryan), 3. Peridot (Jim McCann et al)

CRUISERS 2 - 1. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power), 2. Red Rhum (J Nicholson & C Nicholson), 3. Jester (Declan Curtin)

CRUISERS 3 A ECHO - 1. Hard on Port (F O'Driscoll), 2. Huggy Bear (Doyle & Byrne), 3. Papytoo (M.Walsh/F.Guilfoyle)

CRUISERS 3 A - 1. Quest (B Cunningham/J Skerritt), 2. Hard on Port (F O'Driscoll), 3. Cartoon (McCormack/Brady/Lawless)

CRUISERS 3 B - 1. Asterix (Counihan/Meredith/Bushell), 2. Taiscealai (B Richardson), 3. Maranda (Myles Kelly)

CRUISERS 3 B ECHO - 1. Eezee Tiger (O Prouvier), 2. Maranda (Myles Kelly), 3. Taiscealai (B Richardson)

DRAGON - 1. Zinzan (Daniel O'Connor et al), 2. Phantom (D.Williams)

FLYING FIFTEEN - 1. Perfect Ten (A Balfe), 2. Frenetic (H & M Cahill), 3. Gulfstream (A Cooper)

GLEN - 1. Glenshesk (Walker\Faulkner\Henderson), 2. Glendun (B.Denham et al), 3. Glenroan (T O'Sullivan)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Diane ll (A Claffey/C Helme), 2. Shannagh (S.Gill/P.MacDiarmada), 3. Alias (D.Meeke/M.McCarthy)

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

SHIPMAN - 1. Gusto (C Heath/G Miles), 2. Curraglas (John Masterson), 3. The Den (A. Costello/G.Millar)

SIGMA 33 - 1. Moonshine (R.Moloney), 2. Springer (I Bowring), 3. Rupert (R & P Lovegrove)

SQUIB - 1. Glassilaun (D O'Neill), 2. Why Not (Derek & Jean Jago), 3. Tears in Heaven (M Halpenny & G Ferguson)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS ECHO - 1. Menapia (J Sweeney), 2. Aurora (Ray Conway), 3. Jama (J Moyney)

WHITE SAIL CRUISERS - 1. White Lotus (Paul Tully), 2. Menapia (J Sweeney), 3. Vespucci (S & K O'Regan)

#fireballsailing – For the second Tuesday in a row the Tuesday night Dinghy DBSC racing was kept inside the Dun Laoghaire harbour, for the same reasons as last Tuesday (24th) – light winds and a strongly ebbing tide.

Light winds are also afflicting one half of the Tuesday night kings as Noel Butler and his crew battle their way around Ireland in the J109, Adelie. Having started last Saturday afternoon, leader-board predictions are that Noel will only reach the finish line sometime tomorrow.

Five Fireballs answered the starter's call last night with Frank Miller, crewed by Francis Rowan (14713), Conor and James Clancy (14807) and Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley (15007) bunched tightly on the line. These three worked the middle and left of the projected four-lap triangular course which had a weather mark under the east pier and a gybe mark close to the end of the west pier at the harbour mouth. The leeward mark had a minimal amount of water surrounding it so close was it to one of the inner breakwaters – a fouled spinnaker drop could not be contemplated!
The other two Fireballs, Margaret Casey & Joe O'Reilly (14775) and Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe (14691) worked the middle and right hand side of the first beat. For those who are familiar with Dun Laoghaire harbour you will know that there is a busker who plays the banjo at the end of the east pier. The wind was so genteel last night that we could hear tunes such as "Boolavogue" and other favourites from his repertoire as we approached the weather mark and went down the first reach.
Team Clancy, probably the lightest of the all-male crews took the lead at the first weather mark and pulled away from Miller & Rowan down the first reach. "Pulled away" in this instance only means opened a gap because with the light winds there was no speeding on this course. Smyth & Bradley rounded third and chased the other two without making any real headway. Louise & Hermine rounded fourth with Margaret & Joe fifth.
On the second beat, Team Clancy seemed to increase their lead but the downwind leg of the sausage became a challenge to stay in wind rather than a tactical challenge. This had the effect of prompting early gybes to take boats in directions away from the leeward mark or further to the right hand side of the course towards the harbour mouth. But at the leeward mark, at the second time of rounding, the order was still the same, though the distances between the leading three had reduced.
On the third beat, Team Clancy and Miller & Rowan went left towards the harbour mouth. Smyth & Bradley went hard right and at one stage looked very good, seeming to have more breeze and better boat speed than the other two on the opposite side of the harbour. Team, Clancy bailed first to come back towards the middle, but Miller/Rowan went as far as they could while still keeping inside the confines of the harbour. While Smyth & Bradley were being lifted on port tack, the challenge was to cross the harbour to get to the weather mark. When this latter passage was undertaken, the gap to Clancy was substantially reduced and Miller/Rowan only reached the weather mark a boat length ahead of them.
Clancy got away again on the first downwind leg of the triangle – calling it a reach would be too prescriptive and a transgression of the "Trades Description Act" and initially Miller & Rowan got a couple of boat-lengths up on Smyth & Bradley. An early gybe was executed by the latter two to get into a little better breeze and this had the effect, with a second gybe, of the two boats approaching the gybe mark on opposite tacks. Miller & Rowan gybed again leaving them as windward boat and outside boat at the mark giving water to Smyth. They continued outwards towards the harbour wall (west pier) while Smyth & Bradley came back inside the course towards the breakwater. With the blue flag flying from the committee boat to indicate it was on station for a finish, the shortened finish line then became "no-go" territory. Thus, the two boats approached the leeward mark from either end of the finishing line...........except that going so close to the wall had left Miller & Rowan with less breeze than Smyth & Bradley who rounded the leeward mark in relative comfort with a short hitch to the finish for 2nd place.
Casey/O'Reilly & McKenna/O'Keeffe kept a close watch on each other down the two downwind legs of the second triangle and found themselves on the left-hand side of the committee boat on their approach to the leeward mark. Casey & O'Reilly did not look to be in a particularly favourable position but the results show that they got themselves out of that precarious position to finish behind Miller & Rowan in fourth place.
Officials results posted on the DBSC website show that Team Clancy did not get the first place they had on the water (as they are not registered for DBSC), so everyone gets a paper bonus of an elevation of one place.

DBSC Tuesday Night: Series 2, Round 3, 1st July 2014
1 Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harbour
2 Frank Miller & Francis Rowan 14713 DMYC
3 Margaret Casey & Joe O'Reilly 14775 DMYC

With three races sailed in Series 2 and absentees due to holidays, the Round Ireland Race and line duty commitments (your correspondent last Tuesday), the overall situation is quite surprising;

DBSC Tuesday Nights: Series 2, Three races sailed, no discard. Pts
1 Frank Miller & Grattan Donnelly & Francis Rowan 14713 DMYC 9
1 Neil Colin & Margaret Casey & Joe O'Reilly 14775 DMYC 9
3 Louise McKenna & Mick Creighton & Hermine O'Keefe & Joe O'Reilly 14691 RStGYC 11
4 Mary Chambers & Brenda McGuire 14865 DMYC 14
5 Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley 15007 Coal Harb. 14
6 Noel Butler & Stephen Oram 15061 NYC 17
7 Cariosa Power & Marie Barry 14854 NYC 26

Saturday 5th July's focus will be the Royal St. George Yacht Club's Regatta which is the fourth and final summer regatta of the four waterfront clubs. The Fireball turnout for the last two regattas, the National Yacht Club Regatta and the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club's Regatta has been five boats and there is a distinct possibility that there will be a similar turnout for the RStGYC. Louis Smyth & Cormac Bradley have taken two titles, the Royal Irish and the DMYC while Louise McKenna and Hermine O'Keeffe took the NYC event. Two of the three events were decided by tie-break and Conor Clancy must feel hard done by as he lost both tie-breaks.
Thereafter, the Fireball scene will take us to Wexford Harbour Boat & Tennis Club on the weekend of 19/20th July for the Munster Championships. This is a new(ish) venue for the fleet as we haven't been there for quite some time.

#dbsc – CRUISERS 2 - 1. Borraine (Ean Pugh), 2. Black Sheep (E Healy), 3. Bendemeer (L Casey & D Power)

CRUISERS 3 Tuesday - 1. Grasshopper II (K & J Glynn), 2. Asterix (Boushel/Meredith/Counihan), 3. Maranda (M Kelly)

FIREBALL - 1. Licence to Thrill (Louis Smyth), 2. Blind Squirrel (Frank Miller), 3. Elevation (N.Colin/M.Casey)

GLEN - 1. Glendun (B.Denham et al)

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

PY CLASS - 1. R Kenneally (Laser), 2. D O'Connell (Laser), 3. Colin Galavan (Laser)

RUFFIAN 23 - 1. Blue Moon (C Collins & B McCormack), 2. Ruff Diamond (D.Byrne et al), 3. Ripples (Frank Bradley)

SQUIB - 1. Free Trader (Margaret Hannan), 2. Periguin (N Colcough)

#dbsc – The SB20 OOD brought the fleet in towards Scotsman's Bay in search of some wind in the dying easterly breeze and some respite from the strong flooding tide that was beginning to rip through the race course writes Michael O'Connor. An unusually long line was set with a heavy pin end bias which posed an interesting conundrum for the sailors: the upwind pin end in more adverse tide or the downwind committee boat end in less tide? Bad (Jerry, Jimmy et al), Venuesworld (Ger, Chris and Rory) and Smoke on the Water (Bob et al) opted for the committee boat end while Alert Packaging (Justin, Darren et al), Seriously Bonkers (Peter, Caroline et al), SacreBleu (Richard, Ben and Peadar) and Should Be... (Michael, Dave and Gavan) went for the pin. Mananmana (Doug, Ronan and Ainsley) hedged their bets and went for a more mid-line approach.

As soon as the gun went, the majority of the fleet peeled off onto port and drag raced towards shore to get out of the tide. Initially, as the boats approached the shore, those that had started closer to the committee boat began to gain as they made their way out of the strongest tide. However, a big left hand shift and more breeze offshore favoured those boats that had started closer to the pin and they would lead as the fleet started tacking up the shoreline. Alert Packaging and Seriously Bonkers led from the chasing pack as the boats went "rock-hopping" en route to Bullock mark. There were big gains and losses to be had as the fleet worked their way up the shoreline and it was still all to play for. Alert Packaging and Seriously Bonkers skilfully walked the tightrope between the flat calms close to shore and the vicious tide offshore and they squeezed around the mark ahead of a pack including Should Be..., Bad, Manamana and Venuesworld, with SacreBleu and Smoke on the Water close behind. A fetch across to Poldy followed by a broad reach down to Pier mark didn't offer much opportunity for passing and the fleet settled into those positions to the finish. Although another round was scheduled, the OOD wisely shortened the course and finished the fleet at Pier mark before the wind shut off entirely.

After racing, the fleet got together in the George for the regular end-of-month sailing supper. 27 sailors and guests attended the supper, preceded (and followed!) by pints on the balcony. We were delighted to be joined at the dinner by the newest members of the growing Dun Laoghaire SB fleet, Ronan Murphy, Niall O'Carroll and Ainsley Gibney. We will be holding the next SB Sailing Supper in the Royal Irish Yacht Club on Thursday 31st July, all welcome. Put it in your diary now!

This Sunday (29th June) is SB Sunday No. 5