Last night’s DBSC race for the Flying Fifteens was challenging on Dublin Bay! And post-race, ashore, the Race Officer, John McNeilly, also conceded that it wasn’t an easy night! Of course, it wasn’t his fault, Mother Nature gave us another light wind puzzle to work out.

The scenario! High tide at 19:10. A forecast from XCWeather suggested 4-6 knots from a westerly direction which wasn’t the case on the water. Initially, a committee boat that was moving around, in what has been posted on the results website, as a South-Easterly of 6 knots.

The course for the night – East-Omega-Pier-Omega-Harbour, (all to starboard) – Finish. A clean start saw the fleet having different approaches to the first leg to East. All started on starboard tack but a quintet of boats pioneered an offshore approach to the first leg. Included in this group were Niall & Laura Coleman (4008), Gerry Ryan & crew (4045), Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (4026) and Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081). This group was reduced to two for the latter half of the beat, Ryan and Mulligan. On the inshore side of the beat, boats to the fore included Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774), Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), Adrian Cooper & Joe (3896). A mix of inshore and offshore boats made up the first five-six boats for the two-sail leg to Omega. My “call” on the pecking order is Murphy (P), Cooper, Colin, John O’Sullivan (3762) Coleman, Mulligan. The latter had Dumpleton sail through him and Ryan also closed on Mulligan.

The spinnaker leg to Pier saw a similar division of thought as to how to get there. An approximate 50:50 split saw the advantage go to those who pursued an inshore course and Coleman certainly got into the podium places as a consequence. Cooper and Colin maintained their spots at the head of the fleet, but Murphy (P) dropped back. The rounding of Pier saw boats coming in from both sides and there were gentlemanly donations in response to calls for water. At this rounding, Murphy (T) had closed on Mulligan as well. The leaders set off for Omega again with an offshore approach. Mulligan found himself on the inshore track of the beat, in a lifting breeze which was dying and was rewarded by rounding in fourth place, with Cooper, Coleman and Dumpleton ahead (I think). Yet again the fleet split for the downwind to Harbour, but the spread was much more significant with Colin leading a charge (poetic licence) out to the right-hand side. Others followed!! Cooper tried to sail a rhumb-line to the mark but in the fading wind found that he had to deviate from that philosophy.

Coleman, Murphy (T), Mulligan and latterly Niall Meagher & Nicki Mathews (3938) and Dave Mulvin & Chris Doorly (4068) pioneered the inshore route, getting so close to the East Pier that they had to gybe away from the wall. That forced them more towards the middle of the course, but Meagher went back inshore for another bite and made places as a consequence. Meanwhile, better breeze had arrived for those who went hard right and Colin & Casey were making strides (poetic licence) to the leeward mark under a healthy spinnaker set. Others to benefit were Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753), Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan (3960) and Dumpleton.

Of the first five boats home, only Cooper hadn’t gone far right on the run. His efforts on the night, staying in the podium places on the water for the longest duration of the fifteen boats racing, was rewarded with a second place behind Colin & Casey. Behind Cooper the order was Court, Dumpleton and Quinn. The early inshore boats were left to close out 8th, 9th and 11th respectively.

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens 21 July.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 4028
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe 3896
3. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 3753
4. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 4026
5. Mick Quinn & Sarah Jane Mulligan 3960

DBSC Thursday Nights: Flying Fifteens Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 25pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 46pts
3. Keith Poole/Ian Matthews/Tom Galvin 52.5pts
4. Niall/Susan/Laura Coleman 60pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 64pts.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club Kirwan family won the Cruisers 4/5a Thursday evening AIB DBSC Summer Series race on Dublin Bay on July 21st. 

Skippered by Paul Kirwan, the Beneteau 36.7, Boomerang beat Charles Broadhead's RIYC Sigma 38 Persistence.

In third place in the six-boat fleet was Johnnie Phillips Elan 333, Playtime from the National Yacht Club.

After 13 races sailed, Boomerang leads overall by seven points from Playtime.

A special presentation was made last night at the Royal St. George YC (Thursday, July 21) after Dublin Bay Sailing Club racing in memory of DBSC stalwart, the late Carmel Winklemann, with the presentation of a new perpetual trophy in her name for the top Corinthian boat in the National YC's Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race. More on that story here

Full results for all divisions are below.

Laura and William Prentice sailing Tortoise were the winners of Wednesday night's DBSC Water Wag race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The wind was 10 to 13 northwesterly on the Harbour course.

Race Officer Harry Gallagher set three rounds (four beats) for the 26-boat fleet.

Second was Guy Kilroy's Swift with Cathy Mac Aleavey's Mariposa in third place.

In the Beneteau 211s, Royal Irish Yacht Club boats filled the podium of today's AIB DBSC Saturday race 16 with Andrew Bradley's Chinook winning from Patrick Shannon's Beeswing. Third was James Conboy-Fischer's Billy Whizz. Overall, in the Saturday Series, after nine races sailed and counting seven, Billy Whizz on nine points leads from Chinook on 15 with Beeswing third on 17.

Seabreeze conditions on Dublin Bay provided 10 to 12 knots of wind from the southeast.

Three SB20s contested race 16 which saw James Gorman's Black from the NYC take the win from Barry Glavin's Sea Biscuit from the RSt.GYC. In third place was Nick Doherty's Rubadubdub of the NYC. Overall, in the Saturday Series, Richard Hayes Carpe Diem of the RSt.GYC on ten points leads by three points from Sea Biscuit with Ger Dempsey's Venuesworld of the Royal Irish on 16 in third. Ten are entered. 

Michael Cutliffe's Ruffles of the DMYC was the winner of today's nine-boat Ruffian 23 race 18 from national champion Ann Kirwan's Bandit of the National Yacht Club. In third place was Cutliffe's clubmate, Frank Bradley's Ripples. Overall in the Saturday Series, Ruffles leads from David Meeke's Alias. Bandit lies third.

James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot of the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner in Thursday night's (race 12) six-boat IRC One division of the AIB DBSC Sponsored Summer Series on Dublin Bay.

Second by 13 seconds on corrected time was Dick Lovegrove's Sigma 33, Rupert, from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Third was Sigma sistership Boojum (Stephanie Bourke)

Winds were southeasterly and ten knots. 

Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the Royal Irish took the winning gun in the six-boat IRC One division. 

Goodbody beat Paul Barrington's sistership Jalapeno by just over a minute on corrected time in the one-hour 18-minute race.

Third was Barrington's clubmate, Tony Fox's A35 Gringo. 

At Cork Week Regatta in Crosshaven, the DBSC J109s hold sway in IRC Division Two this week with the Royal Irish's Joker II (John Maybury) in a commanding position going into Firday's final races. Third is Royal Irish's Chimaera skippered by Barry Cunningham. More, as Afloat reports, here.

John O'Driscoll's Moosmie was the winner of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) single Water Wag dinghy race on Wednesday evening in trying conditions inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Following a postponement for 15 minutes, Race Officer Ian Mathews started the race setting a course of two rounds for the 25 starters.

Mathews shortened after one round and a second beat to finish at the weather mark.

William Prentice's Tortoise was second

Scroll down for results below

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) presented its outgoing Honorary Secretary Chris Moore with a 3-D chart of Dublin Bay in the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire on Friday evening.

The presentation follows Moore's retirement 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.

As Afloat previously reported, the busy role of Hon Sec at the country's biggest yacht racing club has been taken over by Rosemary Roy.

By way of a straw pole on their WhatsApp Group the Flying Fifteen fleet signed up to a three-race DBSC programme offered by designated Race Officer for the day, Barry O’Neil.

On arrival at the waterfront, the prospect of three races seemed to be a bit optimistic given the wind conditions and the forecast. XCWeather was only promising 4-6knots from a northerly direction moving eastwards as the afternoon wore on. Overhead, the clouds weren’t doing much to suggest there was breeze either. And yet, the Irish tricolour flying at the end of the East Pier suggested that there was something in the bay.

Over the radio, our Race Officer indicated that he was in mobile mode to accommodate MacLir doing the big boat race but latterly his problem was a wind from a Southeast/SSE direction that wouldn’t settle and later again there were problems when he sought to relay the weather mark. However, the best efforts of the committee boat and the mark-layers allowed a three-race programme to be completed, with a short final race being squeezed in before the afternoon was out.

It would be impossible to give a detailed account of three races from memory, so this piece will instead concentrate on some of the aspects of the day!

The “Performance of the Afternoon” Award has to go to Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774, Hera) who won the first and last races of the day. In the first race they were well placed throughout the race rounding the first weather mark of a windward-leeward course of two laps in 3rd place behind Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081, Enfant de Marie) and Conor O’Leary & Margaret Casey (4028, Ffuzzy). These positions stayed intact for the downwind leg, but on the second beat, first Fuzzy and then Hera got past Enfant de Marie and on the second downwind leg, Hera took the lead and the winning gun on the short hitch to the finish.

The “Most Astute Start of the Day” Award goes to Ian Mathews & Chris Doorly (4093, Mike Wazowski) who executed a perfect port-tacked, pin end start and were never headed thereafter. Mulligan & Bradley were closest to them on starboard tack and took the same inshore route approach to the beat. As with the first race, these two were never headed, but behind them the chasing pack was having a good competition. In the end Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938, Ffantastic Mr Fox) won through to 3rd place with Murphy & Mulvey coming home fourth. On this basis, three boats were tied on five points each (if it had been a day regatta) – Murphy & Mulvey (1,4), Mathews & Doorly (4, 1) and Mulligan & Bradley (3,2). While one boat had departed after Race 1, a number of others departed after Race 2, leaving a slightly depleted fleet for the third race, a single lap race to the inner weather mark (used previously by Squibs and Mermaids), with the promise of an upwind finish.

The “Symmetry of the day” Award goes to the aforementioned Peter Murphy and Tom Murphy, crewed by Carel (4057, Fflagella) who finished first and second in this race. Mathews & Doorly had departed the scene after their first place so the day’s overall honours should have been a call between Murphy P and Mulligan. However, the least effective start of the day in this race gave Mulligan some work to do and the fading breeze didn’t help his cause either. Murphy & Mulvey led a charge into the weather mark from the left-hand side of the course with Mulligan working the right-hand side in isolation. That basically sealed the outcome of the theoretical “winners of the day” chase.

If it were a “day regatta”, the results might read as follows, all races to count;

1. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey – 1, 4, 1 = 6pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley – 3, 2, 5 = 10pts
3. Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews – 6, 3, 4 = 13pts
4. Ian Mathews & Chris Doorly – 4, 1, DNC = 15pts
5. Tom Murphy & Carel – 9, 11, 2 = 20pts.

In overall terms, DBSC has the series recorded as follows,

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang, 4099, 14pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley, 4081, 23pts
3. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey, 4028, 24pts.

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.