Displaying items by tag: squibs

26th July 2020

Kinsale's Allegro Crew Leads Squib Championships at Cove Sailing Club

Colm Dunne (right) and Rob Gill's Allegro leads at Cove Sailing Club. Scroll down for photo slideshow

Colm Dunne and Rob Gill's Allegro from Kinsale Yacht Club leads the 2020 Squib Southern Championships after three races sailed in Cork Harbour yesterday.

Scroll down for Bob Bateman's photo gallery of Day one racing below.

The Cove Sailing Club hosted event is the first on design championships of the season and was sailed over windward-leeward courses on the Eastern Bank of the Harbour.

13 are competing including three Northern Ireland entries and a strong seven boat turnout from Kinsale.

Racing so far has been in light to medium westerly breezes.

Royal North of Ireland's Peter Wallace, on five points, trails Dunne by two points with Dunne's club-mate Ian Travers five points off the lead.

The Championship resumes this morning with a first gun at 10.55

Results are here

Published in Cove Sailing Club

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26th August 2012

Royal St. George Pair Lead Irish Squib Championship (Photos Here!)

#squib – Vincent Delany and Fergal Gaynor sailing Femme Fatale are in charge after the first day's racing of the Irish National Squib championships on Dublin Bay. Scroll down for photos from Gareth Craig below. The Royal St. George YC paring have established a lead of six points after thre the first three races. Kinsale visitors Marcus and Megan Hutchinson are second on 15 points. Third is another local pairing Aidan O'Connell and Ben O'Donoghue Provisional Day one results subject to protest are posted below as a pdf for download.

Published in Squib

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27th July 2011

Squib Nationals at Howth over Bank Holiday Weekeend

Howth Yacht Club hosts the SIAC Construction Squib National Championships over the Bank Holiday Weekend, with the biggest fleet in a decade – 36 and growing - contesting the 7-race series.

The 2010 National Champions, Gordon Patterson and Ross Nolan from the Royal North of Ireland YC, will be defending their title, with competition coming from clubmates Peter Wallace and Kerry Bloomer (winners of the Squib Traveller’s Trophy already), and also Aiden O’Connell and Sian McCleave of the Royal St.George YC.

The local Howth challenge will be headed by Emmet Dalton and Sé O’Leary in ‘Klipbok’ (who have narrowly missed out on a podium finish on several occasions) and Jonathan and Hazel Craig in ‘Kerfuffle’, who performed well in the recent UK Champs in Plymouth.

Published in Squib

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3rd March 2011

Howth Yacht Club expands Spring Warmer Series

The highly successful HYC Spring Warmer series in April, this year sponsored by Key Capital Private, has been expanded to include Classes 1, 2, 3 and Puppeteers along with the usual sailing one-design classes – Etchells, J24s, SB3s and Squibs.

Over 40 boats took part in the 2010 series and with the SB3 Easterns taking place in Howth at the end of April and the Cruiser Classes getting racing practice ahead of their ICRA Championships, the standard of competition should be even higher this year.

Taking place over the first three Saturdays in April, the 2011 series will have two race areas for the eight classes. The racing format will be the same as last year with two windward/leeward races scheduled for each of the 3 Saturdays finishing with a prize-giving after the final races on April 16th.

First guns will sound at 10.55 on April 2nd and entries can be made online on www.hyc.ie.

Published in Howth YC

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17th June 2010

70 Squibs Head for Dun Laoghaire

More than 70 Squibs will converge on Dun Laoghaire this weekend for the start of its SF Marinas sponsored UK national championships.

The championships, which are held in Ireland every five years, will see some of the top competitors in this class including Dick Batt, a sailmaker and chief measurer for the Beijing and London Olympics and Irishman Owen Delaney, former Irish Helmsman Champion of Champions.

There is also keen interest from a wide range of clubs including the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club and Kinsale Yacht Club at the other end of the Island.

Squibs are two-man keelboats measuring seven metres long. They are favoured both as an exciting racing boat, because of their strength and safe design, and as a teaching boat. The Squib Class fleet is one of the largest one-design fleets in Britain and Ireland, with over 810 boats.

The Royal St George Yacht Club says it is delighted to have been selected by the Squib Class to host the 2010 Championship which is a great opportunity to show what Dublin Bay can offer, including its beauty, the varied sailing waters, and the vagaries of the tides.

“We believe Dun Laoghaire, both on and off the water, is a wonderful venue to make Squibs 2010 a memorable event.”

The sponsors of this year’s championship are marine services company, SF MARINA IRELAND, which last month installed new, all concrete, breakwater pontoons at the Royal Saint George Yacht Club, a great addition to the clubs facilities.

SF MARINA IRELAND builds marinas and installs floating pontoons and breakwaters all over the island of Ireland as well as the UK. The directors are Rod and Julie Calder-Potts who trade under the name, Milford Marina Systems, based in Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny.

Recently, the company designed and fitted concrete pontoons weighing 1,000 tonnes on the River Liffey to service the Waterbuses Spirit of Docklands and Liffey Voyage. The project consisted of a mega yacht visitors berthing facility on the Custom House Quay and three waterbus landing stages - one at The Point, one south-east of The Ha’Penny Bridge and one at the mouth of George’s Dock on Custom House Quay.

SF MARINA IRELAND is the sole Irish agent for Swedish company SF MARINA specializing in the supply and installation of floating concrete breakwaters that can stand up to the rigorous maritime conditions.

Rod Calder Potts said the company is very proud to be associated with the historic Royal Saint George Yacht Club and with the Squibs National Championships.

He said the installation of the new pontoons last month was the company’s third major installation in Dun Laoghaire Harbour and the eighth in the Dublin Bay area. “We enjoy the challenge of dealing with the difficult Irish tides, winds and waves. It is a pleasure and a privilege dealing with the wonderful sailing clubs around Dublin Bay.” he said.

Published in Racing

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.