Displaying items by tag: Galway Bay Sailing Club

24th January 2012

North Sails Ireland Start Nationwide Seminar Tour

#NORTH SAILS SEMINAR – US Sailmaker Bill Gladstone of North Sails returns to these shores for a nine stop lecture tour of Ireland starting this Saturday at the country's biggest club, the Royal St George YC in Dun Laoghaire. Gladstone was last here in 2009 and the series proved popular. From Dun Laoghaire the North Sails seminar heads West to Galway Bay. The full schedule is below.

northsailsseminar

Gladstone has been teaching sailing and racing for over 30 years. Topics this week, for the €20 pay at the door event, include starting tactics, upwind trim, wind shift Strategy to spinnaker trim and handling.

For more information, contact the club, Maurice O'Connell ([email protected] / 086 2364200) or Nigel Young ([email protected] / 087 2514434)

2012 SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Royal St George Yacht Club.....28 January 2012
9:30 am - 1:30 pm
National Yacht Club..................30 January 2012
7 pm - 11 pm
Galway Bay Sailing Club...........31 January 2012
7 pm - 11 pm
Tralee Bay Sailing Club...........01 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Cork Yacht Club.............02 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Kinsale Yacht Club...................03 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Irish Yacht Club.............04 February 2012
10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Howth Yacht Club....................06 February 2012
7pm - 11pm
Royal Ulster Yacht Club*......... 07 February 2012
7pm - 11pm

Pay at the door. €20 per person. *RUYC £18 per person.

Published in Boating Fixtures

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Galway J109 Crew are Superleague Performers

Glen Cahill and the crew of the J109 Joie de Vie from Galway Bay Sailing Club were crowned overall winners of the West Coast Super League 2010 in both IRC & Echo at the prize giving held last Saturday night at Foynes Yacht Club.

The Murphy Marine Services sponsored league was an extracted series of seven events on the West Coast of Ireland and is organised by the West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association with the help from various clubs involved which where Galway Bay Sailing Club, Tralee Bay Sailing Club, Clifden Boat Club, Foynes Yacht Club and the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland.

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Simon Mc Gibney (WIORA Commodore) Glen Cahill, Jennifer Cuddy, Chris Law, Bobbi O Regan (WIORA) Bernard McCarthy. More prizegiving photos below

The events where the Tralee Bay Sailing Club Regatta, West Coast Championships hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club, O'Sullivan Marine 100 Mile Race, Clifden Boat Club Regatta, Galway Bay Sailing Club Regatta, Northwestern Offshore Racing Association Regatta hosted by Galway Bay Sailing Club and Foynes Yacht Club Regatta.

In excess of sixty boats took part in the various events during the League and the final placing where not decided until the Foynes Yacht Club Regatta was completed.

Joie de Vie had a very impressive season wining Class 1 in no less than four of the seven events including the West Coast Championships and fought off stiff competition from Raymond McGibney's Dehler 34 Disaray from Foynes Yacht Club, who finished overall runner up in both IRC & Echo and Liam Burke's Corby 33 AWOL from Galway Bay Sailing Club who collected the most competed events WIORA Trophy and Rob Allen's Corby 36 Mustang Sally from the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland.

Results after all seven events completed -

Overall IRC & ECHO

Overall IRC & ECHO Winner – Glen Cahill's J109 Joie de Vie Galway Bay Sailing Club

Overall IRC & ECHO Runner up - Raymond Mc Gibney Dehler 34 Disaray Foynes Yacht Club

Class Prize & The most competed events WIORA Trophy

Liam Burke's Corby 33 AWOL Galway Bay Sailing Club

Class Prize

Rob Allen Corby 36 Mustang Sally Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland

awol

Awol: Bobbi O Regan (WIORA) Nigel Thornton, Noreen Mc Carthy, Simon Mc Gibney (WIORA Commodore)

Disaray Crew: Simon Mc Gibney (WIORA Commodore) Edward Enright, Fionn Mc Gibney, Louise Barrett, Rory Mc Gibney, Bobbi O Regan (WIORA) Raymond Mc Gibney

Mustang Sally: Simon Mc Gibney (WIORA Commodore), Rob Allen, Bobbi O Regan (WIORA)

Published in Shannon Estuary

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Galway Bay Event Sets Scene for Nationals decider

With breeze on at nearly every round this year the battle for honours at the front of the SB3 fleet has been compared to a tennis match between McCready Gill Racing and Sharkbait.
The opening salvo of the year took place at the Easterns, hosted by the Royal St George in May,

Galway Bay Sailing Club hosted the latest instalment of this epic battle, the SB3 Ireland Western Championships, over the weekend. The legacy of the city being host to the 2008 Volvo stopover means that, with the addition of a few further basic amenities, Galway is now a first class championship venue. The fleet were hosted by Galway Harbour Company in the docks and clear water out to the west meant the course had superb wave conditions to go with the 20-25kts of breeze. Ideal conditions for ripping it up in an SB3. But for a single 30kt squal the breeze barely wavered all weekend putting boatspeed, technique and fleet management skills to the fore.

Dave Quinn and the crew of Investwise have been in increasly fine form at HYC so it was no surprise to see them storm off the line to round the first windward mark in the lead. Sharkbait looked to follow them but badly misread the tide and had to eject out below the windward mark eventually rounding 6th with McCready Gill Racing in 4th. The first helterskelter run of the weekend followed with the entire fleet powering down the run under A-sails at the bottom of which Sharkbait pulled through the last couple of boats to take the lead on the drop. From there they eased away to a comanding lead whilst back in 3rd McCreadys spun out at the final gate (caught on camera for the entertainment of the masses in the bar that evening) and went wide of the gate. Once they realised their error they retired from the race leaving Investwise a comfortable 2nd with Lia in third followed by Belfast Kitchens and Duff Beer in 4th and 5th.

In the second race the trio including Loch Derg stalwarts Geoff O'Donoghue and Michael McCarney launched out of the left and into an early lead closely followed by Ronan Downing in Profile Park. But the pack slowly hunted them down with Sharkbait taking their second win, followed by the McCreadys. Profle Park held on for 3rd followed by Belfast Kitchens and Lia.

In the third and final race of the first day Sharkbait jumped clear off the first line with a significant bias to take up a controlling position. Marking the fleet most of the race they let slip at the top half to let Peter Kennedy through. PK, Tom Molloy and Peter Mackel on Belfast Kitchens sailed up the beat to round first with inches to spare. Down the run the McCreadys belted out to the left hand side of the run while the two leaders headed off neck and neck down the right. Belfast Kitchens held their own with Sharkbait down the run leaving a frantic pressure drop from both boats at the leeward gate. Bow vs bow to get the kites down and under control it was honours even as Sharkbait closed to within inches of Belfast Kitchen's stern before being ready to tack off. Both boats crossed tacks half way up the final beat with Belfast Kitchens having extended to a 2 boatlength lead. Both teams worked their boats for all they were worth and the finish was greated with celebration on the Northern Irish boat as they took the pin end line bias for a win by feet to serve notice that they will be there to defend their National title come September. Discount them at your peril. McCready Gill Racing came 3rd with Sean Craig, Stephen Boyle and Alan Green in Yeti making their first appearance at the front of the fleet this year from Profile Park.

With the lock gates firmly closed until 1pm on Sunday full advantage was taken of the Captains Morgans sponsorship at McSwiggans Bar in the evening. As the poster said 'we're off the edge of the map now lads, here be monsters!'.

On Sunday afternoon a steady 18-20kts westerly welcomed the competitors back to the race course. Despite enjoying all that Galway has to offer for the evening Dave Barry wiggled Lia up the first beat to round first, followed by Sharkbait and McCready Gill Racing. All the Lake Garda practice paid off when their kite went up with a wrap. they gybed off smartly undoing the wrap and holding 3rd to the end of the race. Sharkbait powered away to an early lead down the run with the McCreadys' hot on their heels and an early drop closed the race right back up again. Patrolling the middle of the course up the second beat Sharkbait took a 10 boatlength lead into the final run which they extended to 15 boat lengths before wiping out in the final gybe of the race. All the advice on broach recovery came in handy and but by the time the kite was back up the mast McCready Gill Racing where hot on their heels. Perfect drops from both boats at the gate and a game of tack and cover to the line saw the Howth team home for their 3rd bullet sewing up the event. Game Sharkbait.

In the 5th and final race McCready Gill Racing tidied up 2nd place overall with a race win from Dinghy Supplies, Monkey, Duff Beer and Yeti.

Photograph below by Olivier Bauduin

_SBT6538

Published in SB20

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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.