Malahide Yacht Club are kicking off their sailing season in style with the launch of an inaugural open Dinghy Regatta on the waters of Broadmeadows Estuary on Friday 18th March 2022.

The Regatta is open to entries in PY Single and Doublehanded classes, ILCA/ Laser all rigs and Optimist class with an early bird entry fee available for entries received before 13th March 2022.

There will be a competitor briefing at 10.40, and the first gun at 11.20 with individual starts for Optimist, ILCA and PY Fleet.

Prize giving and complimentary food will take place later that day in the Broadmeadows Clubhouse.

Online entry is now open here, and the NOR is downloadable below.

The Dún Laoghaire ILCA Laser fleet has announced a bumper 2022 season for local sailors.

With over 150 regular sailors, the ILCA/Laser fleet in Dun Laoghaire is the largest one-design senior dinghy fleet in the country. Sailors launch from all of the local clubs, including the Coal Harbour, with 120 launching from the Royal St. George Yacht Club alone in 2021. Local organisers are expecting the fleet to continue to grow in 2022 given the flexibility of this particular dinghy.

This year’s plans see the local class continuing with the sprint regatta format which they trialled last year. This regatta format, sponsored once again by Grant Thornton, offers five races back to back in quick succession. Both of last year’s sprint events were sold out within days of being announced and so it is no surprise that the class intends to host five regattas with this format in 2022. The first regatta takes place on Saturday, April 02.

To facilitate weekly full-fleet racing in the bay a new “Friday Nights R&R” (Race & Relax) series is being introduced this season, running from April through to September. Sponsored by MGM Boats, this will consist of up to three races in the bay back to back on Friday evenings. The format is open to all ages and fleets, with series prizes awarded across the fleets in both male and female categories. The series kicks off on Friday, April 29.

The Irish Laser Association, recently renamed ILCA Ireland, is hosting two events in Dublin Bay this summer. On May 28-29, the National Yacht Club will be organising the Masters National Championships. Then on July 23-24 the Royal St. George Yacht Club will be hosting the Leinster Championships which is open to all fleets. Given the size of the fleet locally, it is expected that both events will achieve record turnouts.

In addition to the regional events, the local Laser fleet will be organising its own mini-series on the basis of Laser results from the four local club regattas hosted by DMYC, NYC, RIYC and RSGYC each weekend from June 11 to July 02. Entrants to the regattas will be eligible to win prizes at each individual regatta plus overall prizes across the four-regatta mini-series.

The local fleet is well known for the high level of open coaching that it organises at both junior and adult levels. This year will see the introduction of new coaching formats for both beginners and advanced sailors. A new “strength and conditioning” coaching format, launched in January, which focuses on on-the-water fitness and resilience is already proving very popular. The fleet plans to introduce mid-week free sailing which will be a mix of racing and fun in Dublin Bay.

When asked about the rationale behind the plans for 2022, local class captain Brendan Hughes said, “The ILCA Laser fleet locally is unique in that it caters for the broadest range of skills and ages; from novices through to Olympic campaigners, from teens to sailors in their seventies. Existing local structures are currently unable to meet the needs of the largest fleet in Dublin Bay, so we needed to create our own agile approach to ensuring that sailors of all ages and abilities can have a challenging, fun and safe place to sail. We are not a club, but operate as a group of around 30 volunteers who work within the club structures to make things happen.”

Full details of the 2022 schedule are downloadable below as a PDF

The rising young stars in Ireland's ILCA 6 aka Laser class have had a very successful outing to the seasonal opener of the XVII Andalusian Olympic Week in southern Spain. In a hugely popular win for the times that are in it, the convincing victor was Andrii Verdysh of Ukraine on a scoreline for Gold in which he discarded a third, and came in with four firsts and two seconds.

Royal Cork's Jonathan O'Shaughnessy discarded a 7th from a scoreline of 2,2,4,2,2, and 4 to take Silver, while Howth's Rocco Wright took the Bronze on very improving form as it was he who pushed Verdysh into his two concluding seconds by taking a couple of wins, his other scores with a sixth discarded being 4,5, 6 & 6.

Fiachra McDonnell of Royal St George was next best of the Irish on 6th overall.

Twenty-knot blustery conditions brought the six-week Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser Winter League to a close in Cork Harbour yesterday.

The host club's Ronan Kenneally successfully defended the MBSC Yard of Ale Trophy with the experienced Rob Howe (also an SB20 sailor) taking second overall in the 20-boat dinghy fleet.

Paul O'Sullivan of the host club came up to third. One time series leader Kieran Dorgan of Cove Sailing Club slipped to fifth and Brendan Dwyer finished fourth. 

Rob Howe (centre) with Race Officer Alan Fehily (left) and MBSC Commodore Sandy Rimmington

Paul O'Sullivan (centre) with Race Officer Alan Fehily (left) and MBSC Commodore Sandy Rimmington

The overall leader of the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser Winter League Ronan Kenneally (right) has a six-point lead going into next Saturday's final races in Cork Harbour.

Kenneally took the advantage on the penultimate Saturday to oust Cove's Kieran Dorgan from the top spot in the 20-boat fleet.

Races 13, 14 and 15 were solid races with some great gusts for fast downwind sailing that produced three different race winners in the competitive outing.

The first race was a windward-leeward course over three rounds on Monkstown Bay.

The wind rose from the southwest rose for the second and third races and Race Officer Alan Fehily added a triangle for the second round in both these races giving high speed reaches and a number of spills.

Sunday's Well sailor Paul O'Sullivan capsizes Photo: Bob Bateman

Scroll down for a photo gallery of Saturday's races plus vids by Mary Malone of the racing and a short interview with the MBSC Officer of the Day. 

MBSC Laser Winter League results

Photo Gallery By Bob Bateman of Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser Winter League

Despite the massive upsurge in Laser sailing in the capital's waters over the last few seasons, it was Cork Harbour helmsman that topped the 2021 Irish Laser rankings in all three rig divisions.

In the Standard rig (ILCA 7) rankings, Royal Cork Yacht Club's Ed Rice finished 2021 in first place, just .5 of a point over Royal St. George's Ross O'Leary. 

In the ILCA 6 rankings, the latest Crosshaven wunderkind, Jonathan O'Shaughnessy finished top of the Radials. As regular Afloat readers know, O'Shaughnessy had a standout season for which he was rewarded in January with RCYC's Pyewacket Trophy.

O'Shaughnessy's clubmate Dara Collins led the 2021 rankings in the ILCA 4 or 4.7 rig.

 Download the full Irish Laser rankings for 2021 below.

Rush Sailing Club hosted Tokyo Olympic campaigner Aisling Keller from the Irish Laser Association for a two day Laser dinghy training course for 13 of its junior members on January 22/23.

A report from the club's Michael Gosson says "the Juniors got some great experience under super guidance from Aisling".

"They were fully engrossed in the theory and debriefing lessons afterwards; The quietest we have seen them and all excitedly chatting in the club at the end of both days", he said. 

Aisling Keller (front row second from right) and the Rush Sailing Club juniors

Rush Sailing Club is hoping the dedicated Keller who hails from Lough Derg will return for more sailing on the Rogerstown estuary soon.

As regular Afloat readers will know, the Tipperary Laser ace qualified Ireland for the Tokyo Olympics in the Laser Radial class at the 2019 World Championships only then to be ruled out of contention due to a cut short trials series, an ad hoc change to the selection procedure by the Irish Sailing Association that left Keller 'devastated' and drew the ire of many observers. 

Wins for Kieran Dorgan in races nine and ten of the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser Winter League was a significant result for the Cove Sailing Club ace in Cork Harbour on Saturday.

Top scorer Dorgan was followed by two host club sailors Brendan Dwyer and Paul O'Sullivan in the light and patchy southwest winds. See overall results below.

Three quick races were sailed off Monkstown leaving six left to sail in the 20-boat series. Dorgan gave Mary Malone his view on the series for far in this vid below:

Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser Winter League after ten races sailed

 The fleet come ashore after racing at Monkstown Bay

Local helmsman Chris Bateman leads the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club Laser League after a light air seventh race was sailed in Cork Harbour on Saturday.

The single race sailed brings the lead to its half way stage. A race win for Bateman in ghosting conditions puts him ahead of clubmate Ronan Kenneally with Paul O'Sullivan of Sunday's Well lying third in the popular Frostbite series.

The painfully slow going is depicted in this video clip below by Mary Malone together with an overview from Brendan Dwyer who finished second in the race.

20 boats are competing in the series.

See photos and results in Bob Bateman's Photo Gallery below.

Local Laser sailor Chris Bateman emerged as the winner of today's three races of the Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's Yard of Ale Trophy in Cork Harbour. 

The 14-boat fleet braved strong gales for today's series, the first dinghy racing of the new year.

Second overall was Ronan Kenneally with third place going to Sunday's Well Sailing Club's Paul O'Sullivan. 

Monkstown Bay Sailing Frostbites Results 2022