Displaying items by tag: Cruisers III

20th September 2021

Seize the Days! Cartoon Wins New-style DBSC Cruisers 3 Championship In Best of Weekend's Breezes & Sunshine

Two days of sunny Dublin Bay perfection, with light easterlies on Saturday and an initially brisk westerly on Sunday, provided the notably sociable DBSC Cruisers 3 with an ideal launch pad for their new style championship, which produced an oven-ready event simply by combining the penultimate DBSC Saturday Race with the annual DMYC Kish Race on Sunday.

Almost all of the Class 3 fleet turned up for both races, and over two very different contests, there wasn't a single OCS, DNF, or DNC – it was a credit to the Class, and made for some great racing.

Saturday's DBSC race was on the cusp of being cancelled, but the RO wisely postponed for about 30 minutes and sure enough, a light breeze filled in, enough to stage a reasonable race around the bay. The course was wisely chosen so as not to interfere with the J/109 Championships which were being held in close proximity to the DBSC fleet. As the RO described it the conditions turned out to be champagne sailing, a light breeze of just 7kts and an almost flat sea. A great race ensued around 4 marks, ending at the MacLir finish line just outside the Harbour entrance.

Morning start. All the promise of a great day's sailing as the Kish Race fleet head away from the pier start, with the restored DB21 Garavogue on right and below

DB21 Garavogue

Sunday's Kish Race was a stunning day out. Forty-one boats crossed the start line off the DBSC Hut, which is no mean feat in itself, and set off on a downwind run to the Kish Light. Conditions couldn't have been better with a 10kt apparent wind and just a slight sea, spinnakers set and many colours flying.

The Cruiser 3's were well up with the leaders and remained so all the way out to the Kish. Then there was a huge fleet split, some going northwest on a port tack up towards Howth, the remainder going southwest towards Killiney on a starboard tack, with both groups being heavily affected by a strong ebb tide, and there's still discussion as to which way paid best.

Fascinating yacht design mixture, with the Nich 31 left, a Shipman 28 at centre, and the Dublin Bay 21 Garavogue on right

When the results were posted, there were clear winners in both IRC and ECHO. The Quarter Tonner Cartoon (Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack) posted an impressive win on IRC on both Saturday and Sunday to take the overall prize, with the Formula 28 Starlet (Kevin Byrne) posting second overall and Maranda (Myles Keogh) coming in third. The ECHO prize was won emphatically by the vintage Beneteau First Papytoo (Frank Guilfoyle), followed by Eleint (Michal Matulka) in second with Cartoon emphasising the solidity of her performance by posting another podium place on third under ECHO.

The Trapper Eleint (Michal Matulka) on her way to the Kish

Perfect sailing conditions prevailed out at the Kish LV

It all made for a wonderful finale to the season with two days of cracking sailing and some great competition on the Bay. Class Captain Kevin Byrne issued a big thanks to DBSC, DMYC and Colin McMullen for all their help in staging the Championship, and especially to the skippers and crews for taking part to provide a great turnout with a solid showing of boats that augurs well for the future of Cruisers 3.

The prizes will be awarded at the Class Dinner on the 27th November in the Royal St George YC

The new champion. The Fauroux Quarter Tonner Cartoon at the start of Kish Race in the late summer weather of the championship weekend. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O'Brien

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Dublin Bay Cruisers 3 Make Imaginative Use of Existing Programme to Create Class Championship

Success in sailing's organisational development can sometimes be found in seeing previously "invisible" underlying patterns in the existing fixtures list, and a talent for doing this has added value as we try to optimise the amount of sailing available while the inevitably limited main season of 2021 draws towards the traditional closing time.

Cruisers 3 in the greater Dublin area was always a happy hunting ground for some novel ideas, as it has always had a greater variety of boats than the more orthodox classes provided for craft of larger size. So although the largest focus of the class is now in Dun Laoghaire with Dublin Bay SC, current Class Captain Kevin Byrne and his organisational team have shown they're in the long line of Cruiser 3 innovation, with a fresh look at this weekend's events which provides them with an oven-ready Cruisers 3 Championship, and one with a slight offshore element to add spice.

The Championship will consist of the normal (penultimate) DBSC race around the cans on Saturday 18th, and then the following day Sunday 19th - with the kind permission of the DMYC - the fleet will compete in the annual Kish Race, quite a distance for the fleet. The results will then be collated by DBSC Race Officer Colin McMullen to produce a winner, and prizes will be awarded on both IRC and ECHO.

Cruisers 3 Class Captain Kevin Byrne races the Formula 28 Starlet

The Cruiser 3 fleet has been active this season, as it is the second-largest keelboat class in Dublin Bay SC, and actively competes on all three days of keelboat racing on the bay. It is regularly the largest fleet in Tuesday evening racing, and is well supported in the ever-popular Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon series. Earlier in the season, Novice Helm and Ladies races were run, and the new-look Championship finishes off the season for the fleet, with prizes being presented at the Class Annual Dinner on the 27th November in the RSGYC.

The fleet thrives as a fascinating mix of boats, spanning a wide handicap range - double that of other Cruiser Class fleets – as it runs from .800 to .919. It has an extensive and eclectic selection of members, from the stately and elegant Nicholson 31 Saki (Michael Ryan & Paget McCormack) to the Fauroux Quarter Tonner Cartoon (Ken Lawless & Sybil McCormack), with much variety in between, including a pair of First 285 sister ships, Pamafe (Gerry Costello) and Papytoo (Frank Guilfoyle).

In addition to newer boats, the Cruisers 3 fleet provides a welcoming home for a wide variety of vintage Firsts from the Beneteau stable. Photo Afloat.ie/David O'Brien

The class is also home to a number of Sonatas such as Ceol na Mara (Melvin & Heaney), and naturally a close companion is the Senator 22 Maranda (Myles Keogh). Class Captain Kevin Byrne has been having a good year of it with the Formula 28 Starlet in a selection which includes Wynward (Wyn McCormack) and the Hanse 301 "Grasshopper II" (Kevin Glynn).

The Trapper Eleint was the 2019 DBSC Turkey Shoot winner and competes in the 2021 Cruisers III Championships Photo: Afloat

More recent additions to the fleet include Eleint (Michal Matulka), and the First 260 Krypton (Alan Turner) which has been showing well on the leaderboard in recent races.

Senator 22 Maranda (Myles Keogh) Photo: Afloat

Nevertheless like most other fleets on the Bay, Cruisers 3 has been somewhat reduced in numbers as a result of the pandemic. But basically, it has remained active and resilient throughout, and looks forward to resurgence next season with a full return to normality. Meanwhile, this will be a busy weekend with every promise of some close competition and great sailing for a friendly group of boats sharing that special time-honoured Cruiser 3 camaraderie.

Racing round the Kish will be the highlight of the two-day Cruisers 3 Championship.

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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.