Overall leader Tim and Richard Goodbody's J109 White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner of the Cruisers One IRC Race eight in DBSC's AIB Summer Series on Saturday.

The Saturday DBSC racing marked a return to club racing after a four-week gap for the Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht club's regattas.

Light airs predominated on both the cruiser and one design courses.

Goodbody beat Colin Byrne's Xp33 Bob Exemple, also from the Royal Irish, with Thomas Shanahan's J109 Ruth from the National Yacht Club third in the six-boat fleet.

In a two-boat Cruisers Zero division, Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte beat Paddy McSwiney's X-35 D-Tox in a one-and-a-half-hour race. 

There was Sigma 33 success for Royal St. George's Richard Lovegrove sailing Rupert who beat Ian Bowring's Sigma 33 Springer in a two-hour race. Third was James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Sixteen Flying Fifteens took to the water for the first July Thursday race of DBSC and needed a second attempt at starting to get the race underway. Race Officer John McNeilly set a simple “triangle – sausage course” using Bulloch, Island and Pier, with the “sausage” being between Pier and Island. There was then a short upwind leg from Pier to the finish. Despite John’s warning of the consequences of an ebbing tide a General Recall was signalled for the first start and thereafter the fleet got underway under a “U” Flag. It is only on review of the results for this report that I see that one boat fell foul of the “U” flag.

The wind was not in accordance with the forecast I use, coming from a SE direction, hence the use of Bulloch as the windward mark. With an ebbing tide all evening, the question was, “Where was the better wind”, which wasn’t in huge supply in the first place. The first beat had crews sitting on the windward deck but that was about as good as it got. At the pin end of the start that got away, we had two boats attempting a port-tack start. One was more successful than the other, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) clearing the entire fleet off the line. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) didn’t quite achieve that and had to wend their way through the starboard tack boats to get clear air. Others at the pin end, coming from the committee boat end included Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara (3896) and Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (3955). These two would dominate the front end of the fleet for the whole night with Adrian & Joe McNamara leading the race around every mark bar the last one, when Ken & Joe took over that mantle.
Having worked their way to the inshore side of the course Colin and Mulligan found that others who had started off inshore were in slightly better shape. In this latter bunch we would find Gerry Ryan & crew (4045) Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938) and Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774). At the rounding of Bulloch the order was Cooper, Dumpleton, Ryan, Colin & Mulligan with Meagher, Coleman, Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) and Murphy & Mulvey breathing down Mulligan’s neck.

The long spinnaker leg to Pier saw the fleet spread across the course and initially those who went off to sea fared better, but further down the leg, having transitioned from inshore to offshore, Mulligan looked to have gained places, until breeze came in from the inshore side to see, Meagher, Court, Murphy (P) and Coleman squeeze him wide of the mark. Ahead of this group were Cooper, Dumpleton and Colin.
Mulligan stayed “out of step” from the rest of the fleet and worked the inshore side of the second beat to Island. At times it looked very good, but it didn’t last long enough and with the ebbing tide taking him up to the mark, an easing of sheets marked the final approach to Island. With the fading breeze, the leg to Pier seemed even longer than the first time and the spread of the fleet was even more significant. Cooper and Dumpleton initially took as slightly offshore route which got progressively more offshore as the leg proceeded. At on stage they looked as though they were making a beeline for Clontarf. Between them and Mulligan on the inshore side of the run could be found – Colin, Coleman, Meagher, Murphy (P) with Court marginally further inshore. From this initial position there was a lot of changes with Colin and Coleman gybing to come inshore. Court went offshore and then came back, while Murphy (P) stayed out longer before he too came back inside. Meanwhile Cooper and Dumpleton were still ploughing an offshore furrow. All this in fading breeze.

Colin’s gybe brought him much closer to Mulligan and Coleman followed suit, with both sitting inshore of Mulligan. Slightly later Murphy was in the same position. Mulligan got one or two zephyrs that the others didn’t get and sailed away from them. By this stage we were in the final run in to Pier. Dumpleton had taken Cooper’s place at the head of the fleet and these two arrived at Pier before two Ruffians and two Shipmans that would impact on the rounding of Pier for Mulligan, Coleman, Colin, Murphy (P) and Court. The latter four boats found themselves inside a red-hulled Ruffian who seemed determine to give away the least amount of room possible. Mulligan sailed around the outside of both Ruffians, red-hulled and white-hulled, and a Shipman and holding onto spinnaker till the last possible moment squeezed through a gap that opened up behind the first Shipman. This was enough to get him away from Pier on port tack, in clear air. A subsequent tack to occupy the weather slot relative to Coleman on the starboard tack to the finish, allowed Mulligan to steal third place – an unlikely result give the way the race had gone earlier.

Dumpleton and Copper led the fleet home, in that order and behind Mulligan the finishers, in sequence, were Coleman, Murphy (P), Court and Colin.

Flying Fifteens DBSC, Thursday 7th July.
1. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 3995
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara 3896
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
4. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 3774

Flying Fifteens DBSC Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (24)
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (45)
3. Keith Poole & Others (49.5)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (59.5)
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (60)

In Hayling Island starting today (Friday), the UK Flying Fifteen fleet has their Nationals and there is Irish representation in the form of John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and I assume (but am not certain) Shane McCarthy (4085). The latter has just won the Irish GP14 Nationals as a run-up to the GP14 Worlds, scheduled for August in Skerries. We wish them all fair winds.

Lindsay Casey's Royal St. George J97 Windjammer was the winner of last night's (Thursday, 7 July) light air eight boat AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Series in the Cruisers Two IRC division.

Southeast winds were light for race 11 of the series leading many competitors to count a 'Did Not Finish' DNF score as the wind died almost completely on the bay later into the evening.

Second in IRC Two was Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless with third place going to James McCann's Mustang.

In the big boat IRC Zero class, Jonathan Nicholson's Puma 42, El Pocko, beat Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI. Third was Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte.

There were no finishers recorded in the eight-boat IRC One class.

In the DBSC one design fleets, Ger Dempsey's Venuesworld from the Royal Irish won from Charlotte O'Kelly's National Yacht Club Sneaky B. Third was Patrick McGrath's Smoke on the Water. The class has scrubbed its national championships scheduled for next week's Cork Week due to a 'number of late cancellations, some Covid related'.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Water Wag dinghy racing in tonight's DBSC Wednesday League at Dun Laoghaire Harbour has been cancelled due to strong winds.

Westerly winds are forecast to gust to 25 mph.

Dun Laoghaire yacht racing official Rosemary Roy has been appointed as Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), Ireland's biggest yacht racing club, following the retirement of the outgoing Chris Moore. 

Moore retired as DBSC Honorary Secretary on Thursday, June 30th.

He served three terms as Rear Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Commodore, followed by a further three and a half years as Hon. Secretary.

Moore also previously served as Commodore of Bray Sailing Club and Commodore of the National Yacht Club and is regarded as a stalwart of the Dun Laoghaire sailing community.

He is the Irish Commissioner of the World Sailing Speed Record Council and authenticates all Irish record bids including high-profile Round Ireland speed attempts.

Chris Moore Photo: Afloat

In paying tribute, Club Commodore Ann Kirwan said, "I have worked closely with Chris since I joined the DBSC committee in December 2012 when Chris was elected as Vice Commodore. Chris' wealth of knowledge and experience has been invaluable to us at DBSC".

"Chris always manages to achieve a good balance between embracing progress and innovation while not losing sight of Dublin Bay Sailing Club traditions, which are an important part of our 138-year history, " she said.

"It was during Chris' tenure as Commodore that the Green Fleet was introduced, and it now forms a key part of our Saturday Racing Programme", Kirwan said.

In addition to steering the DBSC ship during his time as Commodore, Chris could be seen working in the bilges of MacLir and Freebird, as well as doing demanding physical work on the Marks and the Hut. He will continue to be involved in these elements of DBSC operations. 

"We wish Chris the best of luck with his future involvement with DBSC, hopefully with a less onerous workload," Kirwan said.

Rosemary Roy is the new Honorary Secretary of DBSC, joining the committee at its AGM in December 2021.

A key member of the DBSC Race Management Team for many years, she is the regular Timer on DBSC Red Fleet on Thursdays.

As well as her Race Management duties with DBSC, Roy is in much demand for running events outside Dublin and is part of next week's Cork Week Race Management team.

Rosemary Roy and her late husband Jack Roy were named Afloat Sailors of the Month in March 2020 for their combined contribution to sailing in Ireland and abroad.

"We know that Rosemary will do a great job as Honorary Secretary, and we look forward to working with her in that role", the DBSC Commodore added.

Read the full DBSC statement here

An 11-boat turnout for race ten of Cruisers One (IRC) saw the Royal Irish's XP33 Bon Exemple skippered by Colin Byrne take the gun in the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night Series. 

A 15-knot or less westerly breeze saw a strong DBSC fleet turnout for the first July cruiser races on the Bay.

Overall, after ten races sailed Andrew Craig leads in Chimaera by four points from J109 sistership White Mischief (Tim Goodbody)

Third overall is Bon Exemple.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Up to 17 races have now been sailed in the 2022 AIB DBSC Dinghy series on Dublin Bay.

Last night's racing for PY, RS Aero, Fireball, Radial, Laser Standard and IDRA 14 took place in strong and gusty south easterly winds racing took place inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The Race Officer was Barbara Conway on the DBSC Committee boat Freebird.

In the five-boat IDRA 14 fleet, Frank Hamilton's Dunmoanin' leads on 13 points leads by a point from Pierre Long's Dart overall. Last night only two IDRA 14s raced in race 15 with John Fitzgerald's Doody winning from Long. 

In the nine boat Fireball class, despite discarding a 'DNC' last night Neil Colin's Elevation continues to lead overall on 14 points. Clubmate, and last night's race winner, Frank Miller, stays second and Pink Fire skippered by Royal St. George's Louise McKenna is third. 

In the Radial class, another win in last night's race 17 for the single-handers keeps Wicklow's Michael Norman in the lead on 19 points from Hugh Cahill on 28 and Alison Pigot on 30 points.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

On arrival at the National Yacht Club on Thursday evening, the prospects for sailing didn’t look that good. The forecast had been for a handful of knots and the boats trying to finish the Round Ireland race were limping down the east coast of the island in very fickle winds. However, the Irish flag at the end of the East Pier had some life to it and so we launched.

Flying Fifteen Race Officer John Mc Neilly had situated “Freebird” just east of the harbour entrance to avail of a forecast that suggested the wind would start SSE and slowly migrate to SSW. He also, rather cleverly, set a windward-leeward course using two of the fixed Dublin Bay marks, Bulloch (R) and Pier (V), with the length of race set at 3 laps, leaving both marks to Port. It took a bit of thought to decipher the course declaration but when the “penny dropped” it made infinite sense.

We (4081) decided that the thing to do was to get out of the flooding tide, as low water had been in the early afternoon and a preliminary first beat before the start suggested that was the way to go. However, a late check of the line also suggested that the pin was the place to start, which is what we did! Others who shared that view, but with slightly less conviction were Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Ken Dumpleton & Joe O’Reilly (3955) and Tom Murphy & Keith Poole (4057).

Niall & Susan Coleman (4008) didn’t share that view and started closer to the committee boat before working the inside half of the beat. Of the quartet at the pin, Colin bailed first, followed by Mulligan (4081), Murphy (4057) and finally Dumpleton (3955). Mulligan and Colin were looking good halfway up the beat and then it all went pear-shaped. The Colemans looked very good on the inside and to windward, Dumpleton and Murphy also seemed to have found something extra. The rounding order at Bulloch, for the first time was Dumpleton, Murphy, Coleman, Colin and Mulligan with a vanguard of boats behind Mulligan of Frank Miller & Conor O’Leary (3845), Adrian Cooper (3896) and Niall Meagher & Nicky Mathews (3938), all in a threatening position.

Adrian Cooper took a decidedly inshore course to Pier and flying a green spinnaker to great effect, closed on the boats ahead of him in such fashion that he rounded Pier in either first place or a very tight second. Dumpleton, Murphy and Coleman rounded in quick succession and Meagher wasn’t too far off the pace.

By now the breeze was easing which meant that tide was becoming a much bigger factor and the fleet split significantly. Meagher & Mathews went to sea and trumped everyone as a consequence to round Bulloch for the second time in the lead. Colin and Mulligan worked the inshore side of the beat and never got any change out of that approach. Coleman and Murphy managed to hold on to that which they already had as did Dumpleton. At Bulloch for the second time the order was Meagher, Cooper, Coleman, Murphy, Dumpleton and Mulligan had Miller and Frazier (3790) just ahead for very close company. Mulligan gybed early to pursue an inshore course and a second gybe brought him into a shortened course, downwind finish at Pier. Dumpleton was a little too far ahead to catch, but we got close. The better angle of attack allowed two places to be pinched at the finish, leaving a finishing order of Meagher, Cooper, Coleman, Murphy, Dumpleton, Mulligan, Frazier and Miller.

All agreed that getting a race in was a significant achievement given our pre-race scepticism. And RO John McNeilly was commended for shortening when he did – no-one missed the idea of another upwind leg to Bulloch!

DBSC; Thursday 23rd June.

Flying Fifteens (11 boats).
1. Niall Meagher & Nicky Mathews 3938
2. Adrian Cooper & crew 3896
3. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
4. Tom Murphy & Keith Poole 4057
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe O’Reilly 3955.

Overall (with discards)
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 16pts
2. Keith Poole & others 24.5pts
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 34.5pts
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 35pts
5. David Gorman & Michael Huang 36pts

David Gorman's 'Fomo' was the winner of Race eight in the Flying Fifteen race of tonight's AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night series.

Neil Colin, who leads the Tuesday night DBSC Fireball series, was second in Ffuzzy with DMYC clubmate Ben Mulligan third in Enfant de Marie.

Unusually, the Flying Fifteen Thursday night fleet was small in size but for those who did get out, there was some very close racing…….at least for the majority of the participants. Conditions on site in Johnstown, some 40 minutes inland from Dun Laoghaire suggested that a sea-breeze might be in play as we baked in 20° + heat under blue skies, but the racing in Dun Laoghaire took place under grey skies and an initially brisk South-Easterly that started to fade shortly after the start.

Race Officer, John McNeally, set a course with long beats and downwind legs, using Battery and Bullock as the upwind extremities of the course and Harbour as the downwind extremity. Battery was a passing mark to be left to port en route to Bullough.

With an incoming tide the fleet was able to start close to the line and at the pin end were Dave Gorman & Michael Huang (4099), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Tom Murphy & Frank Miller (4057) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). Taking an initial shoreside hike were Jill Fleming & Joe Coughlan (3913), Niall Coleman & daughter (4008) and Mick Quinn & Mary-Jane Mulligan (3960). Of the quartet at the pin end, Gorman and Mulligan vied for the best start with Gorman marginally ahead but to leeward of Mulligan. Colin was astern of Mulligan and slightly to leeward. Gorman pulled out on Mulligan and Mulligan took his medicine and tacked off to go inshore. Gorman and Colin persisted a bit longer with the offshore course before they too headed shorewards. At this stage it was difficult to say which side was the better, because when the fleet congregated at Battery, only Gorman had a margin of distance on the fleet. An over-sized blanket would have covered Colin, Mulligan, Murphy, Coleman and Fleming.

Gorman stretched his lead on the leg to Bulloch and was able to get around clear ahead. The others managed the tide at the mark in different ways with the sequence of rounding being – Colin, Coleman, Murphy, Fleming and Mulligan.

These five spread themselves across the downwind leg with Mulligan sailing an inshore route down the left-hand side and Colin sailing an offshore route. At various stages some of the others flirted with Mulligan on the left but none stayed the pace and Mulligan dragged himself back into the reckoning at the rounding of Harbour. From Harbour, everyone took an inshore hike and used this as the basis for the attack on the remainder of the long haul to Bulloch. Colin, Coleman, Murphy and Mulligan were playing various forms of cat & mouse with each other, before Mulligan bailed and went off to sea. At this stage Gorman could watch the chasing pack from a very safe distance.

The wind was easing at this stage and while Mulligan was getting lifted on starboard tack towards Bulloch, the boats inside him were still in the ascendency – Colin, Coleman and Murphy. Again, managing the tidal race around Bulloch was challenging and at least one boat underestimated the tide and lost ground to the others.

For the second run to harbour, Mulligan persisted in playing the left-hand side and for the second time it worked. The others were to his seaward side and in the final run-in to the mark, the quartet of boats could be covered by that same oversized blanket – Colin, Murphy, Mulligan and Coleman. The latter had a spinnaker that wouldn’t come down so we were left with a trio of boats heading inshore on port with Colin watching two boats and Murphy watching one!

Murphy & Miller worked very hard to make sure Mulligan didn’t sail through their weather, so Mulligan bailed. A few hitches later, the three boats came together again with Mulligan in the weather slot. At this stage it was reasonable to set a final course for the finish situated on the Scotsman’s Bay side of the harbour entrance. With a final throw of the dice producing a six, fresh breeze arrived from Dalkey island which allowed Mulligan to pinch 3rd place on the line behind Colin and only just ahead of Murphy. Gorman, of course, was long gone!

DBSC Flying Fifteens, Thursday 16th June

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang (4099)
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028)
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081)
4. Tom Murphy & Frank Miller (4057).

Overall: (Eight races, two discards): Colin (13), Keith Poole (16.5), Gorman (22), Mulvin (26.5), Mulligan (29)

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Royal St. George's Sean and Heather Craig were first race winners in Wednesday's Dublin Bay Sailing Club Water Wag Race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a result that also put them in the frame for overall NYC Water Wag Regatta honours. 

Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly gave the Water Wags two races in a light southeasterly breeze (SE 5-7kts) at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. 

The first race was three rounds, and the second race was two rounds.

Results were:

Race 1:
1. 19 Shindilla - Seán Craig
2. 42 Tortoise - William Prentice
3. 1 Ethne - David Sommerville

Race 2:
1. 38 Swift - Guy Kilroy
2. 1 Ethne - David Sommerville
3. 45 Mariposa - Cathy MacAleavey

Water Wags had two races in a light southeasterly breeze (SE 5-7kts) at Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Tonight’s racing also counted as the Wag’s National YC regatta.

Results for the NYC Water Wag 2022 Regatta:

1. Shindilla, Sean and Heather Craig,
2. Ethne, Dave Sommerville and Emer Kelly,
3. Swift, Guy and Jackie Kilroy.

First Div 1B, Sara Paul and Ailvhee Smith

First Div 2 Coquette, Seymour Cresswell and Beno Mc Cormack

The main NYC Regatta is sponsored by Davy Stockbrokers and will be held this Saturday as Afloat reports here.