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Displaying items by tag: Seafood Festivals

#SeaFoodFest - Linking in the St Patrick's Weekend is the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival (17-19 March) which offers three days filled to the brim with fun, food and delights to suit all.

The festival located in the apt setting of the fishing harbour village easily accessible by DART, offers many award winning restaurants along the West Pier and the on the food village’s main street.

So whatever way you like your prawns – barbecued, whole, shelled, fried, skewered, marinated, sauced – there’s no excuse not to indulge.

In addition there is the market offering local foods, fish filleting & fishery skills and a programme of family fun.

Neven Maguire will also be on hand in the food village as he will have live cooking demonstrations for all those budding cooks out there.

Why not as part of your day out visiting Howth explore offshore given the harbour’s wonderful backdrop of the island of Ireland’s Eye. The island which has sandy beaches, bird colonies and a ruins of monastery.

Ireland's Eye can be easily reached and explored by taking an excursion boat operated by Ireland’s Eye Ferries. They provide landing trips to Ireland's Eye and also to boat trips around the island. They run from 10:30am to 5pm from the West Pier. Weather permitting, the trips operate daily.

In addition why not take in the scenic coastal walks on Howth Peninsula which affords panoramic views. Firstly are those views overlooking Howth Harbour and to Ireland’s Eye, Lambay Island and further northwards to the Mountains of Mourne.

There are also in the opposite direction wonderful sweeping views facing south across the broad expanse of Dublin Bay and the peninsula's iconic landmark of the Baily Lighthouse perched above the sea. Beyond the bay this spectator vista is framed with the backdrop of the rolling hills and mountains of Wicklow. 

Published in Coastal Notes

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot Winter Series

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FAQs

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

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

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

Between six and eight with one or two discards applied.

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

© Afloat 2020