Displaying items by tag: spring Chicken

6th February 2024

J109 Joker II is Winner of First DBSC Spring Chicken Race

Multiple championship-winning J109 Joker II of the Royal Irish Yacht Club won the first race of the DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Sunday.

The results are downloadable below.

As Afloat reported previously, strong westerly winds reduced the fleet to 17 boats as winds gusted to over 20 knots on Dublin Bay.

Second was the recent winner of the 2023 Turkey Shoot Series, the 1720 Optique with third place, on modified ECHO handicap, going to the quarter tonner Snoopy from Courtown Sailing Club in County Wexford.

Racing in the six races series hosted by the National Yacht Club continues next Sunday.

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14th January 2024

2024 DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay is Launched

Dublin Bay Sailing Club has published the Notice of Race for its AIB 2024 Spring Chicken Series.

Six races will be held on Sunday mornings from 5 February to 10 March (first gun 1010 hrs), using a progressive handicap on a time-to-time basis.

Download the Notice of Race below.

The 2023 Series attracted a fleet of nearly fifty boats, and organisers are expecting a similar fleet next month.

Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are “very welcome”, DBSC adds. After the sailing, prize draws, food and more will be kindly hosted by the National Yacht Club.

The entry fee is €60, which includes temporary membership of DBSC and the NYC. Entries can be made online at dbsc.ie.

Anyone experiencing issues with their entries is invited to contact Rosemary Roy, Hon Sec, at 087 7626976 or Fintan Cairns at 087 2439208.

Sailing instructions will be available on Sunday, 4 February and will be emailed to entrants beforehand.

DBSC advises that the last date for entries is Wednesday, 31st January, and warns that handicaps of late entries will be adjusted accordingly!

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23rd February 2023

DBSC Spring Chicken Fleet Prepares for Fourth Race on Dublin Bay

The AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series 37-boat cruiser-racer fleet heads into its fourth race on Dublin Bay this Sunday (26th February).

After three races sailed, John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club continues to lead overall on 33 points, but results are due to get a shake-up when a discard is applied after the fourth race is sailed.

Second is the J80 Derry Girls on 37, and another J80, Sea Jade, is third.

Six races are being held on Sunday mornings from 5 February to 12 March (first gun 1010 hrs), using a progressive handicap on a time-to-time basis.

DBSC Race organiser Fintan Cairns has released handicaps and starts for the fourth race and these are downloadable below.

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14th January 2023

2023 DBSC Spring Chicken Series is Launched

Dublin Bay Sailing Club has published the Notice of Race for its AIB 2023 Spring Chicken Series.

Six races will be held on Sunday mornings from 5 February to 12 March (first gun 1010 hrs), using a progressive handicap on a time-to-time basis.

Download the Notice of Race below.

The 2022 Series attracted a fleet of fifty boats, and organisers are expecting a similar fleet next month.

Cruisers, cruising boats, one-designs and boats that do not normally race are “very welcome”, DBSC adds. And after the sailing, prize draws, food and more will be kindly hosted by the National Yacht Club.

The entry fee is €60, which includes temporary membership of DBSC and the NYC. Entries can be made online at dbsc.ie.

Anyone experiencing issues with their entries is invited to contact Rosemary Roy, Hon Sec, at 087 7626976 or Fintan Cairns at 087 2439208.

Sailing instructions will be available on Sunday, 5 February and will be emailed to entrants beforehand.

DBSC advises that the last date for entries is Wednesday, 1 February, and warns that handicaps of late entries will be adjusted accordingly!

There is special advice for charterers and school boats to ensure you enter with the correct sail numbers.

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spring Chicken

14th March 2022

Royal St. George's J/80 'George 5' Wins DBSC's Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay (UPDATED)

A final race win in the four-race DBSC Spring Chicken Series handed the 2022 trophy to the George 5 J/80 crew (Fred Tottenham, Will Prendergast, Joe Doyle and Ian Croxon) who won by three points overall.

There was a joint second finish in the 50-boat fleet with the J/109 Dear Prudence and the Jeanneau 36 Sirocco who both tied on 20 points.

The final race (that doubled as a #Ukrainian fundraiser at the National Yacht Club) got away despite some early strong southeasterly breezes on Dublin Bay on Sunday morning.

Download the overall and race four results below

UPDATE (17/3/22): DBSC Spring Chicken Feathers Ruffled But Now Reset And Smoothed In Final Results

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11th March 2022

Breezy Conclusion to DBSC Spring Chicken Series Anticipated

Sunday may bring a breezy conclusion to the DBSC Spring Chicken Series if current forecasts are anything to go by.

With 48 hours to the final race, strong southeasterly winds are forecast for the 50-boat mixed cruiser fleet currently led by the 1720 Optique.

Handicaps and Starts for the final race of the AIB sponsored series are downloadable below.

Each boat of the 50-boat fleet is expected to fly a Ukrainian flag for the final race. Flags are available from Viking Marine who are supporting the appeal. Ukraine flags (backstay size) are in stock and all proceeds to the Ukraine Red Cross at €15 are available from the shop or over the phone 01-280 6654

DBSC Race organiser Fintan Cairns admits "the weather is a bit changeable at moment but it looks like we will hopefully get sailing on Sunday".

Overall and race winner prizegivings and weekly draws will be held after sailing on Sunday in the National Yacht Club.

"If, for any reason, we do not get racing on Sunday an extra series race and prizegiving will be scheduled for Sunday 27th March, Cairns told competitors.

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9th March 2022

1720 Sportsboat Entry Leads J/97 into Last Race of DBSC Spring Chicken Series

The 1720 sportsboat entry Optique leads Lindsay Casey and Denis Power's J/97 Windjammer into the final race of the DBSC Spring Chicken Series for mixed cruisers on Dublin Bay.

Three races have been sailed in the weather-hit series with the final round scheduled for this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Full results of the race and overalls are downloadable below.

Ukraine appeal

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senator Barry Ward has applauded the Spring Chicken sailors' Ukrainian Humanitarian appeal that raised nearly €5,500 last weekend after racing at the National Yacht Club.

The Senator tweeted "Congratulations to @DBSC_1884 and all competitors on this scheme to support #Ukraine by buying and flying a Ukrainian flag during the #SpringChicken races. Great idea made possible through @vikingmarine

Congratulations to @DBSC_1884 and all competitors on this scheme to support #Ukraine by buying and flying a Ukrainian flag during the #SpringChicken races. Great idea made possible through @vikingmarine ??? https://t.co/iNl2RWAdPa pic.twitter.com/xuEtMqcZJP
— Barry Ward (@barrymward) March 9, 2022

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7th March 2022

DBSC Spring Chicken Sailors Raise €2,735 for Ukraine Red Cross Fund With Matching Support From Viking Marine

DBSC Spring Chicken Series competitors raised €2735 in donations for the Red Cross in Ukraine after yesterday's fifth race on Dublin Bay.

Event supporter Viking Marine will match the amount raised.

Next weekend, following an initial idea from DBSC champion and Spring Chicken sailor Lindsay Casey, the 50-boat fleet will fly Ukrainian flags (courtesy size) for people to purchase before sailing in the last race of the series.

All proceeds from the flag sale will again go to the Red Cross.

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4th March 2022

DBSC Spring Chicken Series Prepare for A Third Race in Weather-Hit Event

Handicaps and start times have been published for the weather-hit DBSC Spring Chicken Series.

Two of a possible four races have been sailed so far due to strong winds in the six-race series but weather conditions look 'kinder' this weekend, according to race organiser Fintan Cairns.

As Afloat reported earlier, the J109 Dear Prudence leads overall by three points from the 1720 sportsboat Conor K.

Lying third overall in the 50-boat fleet is DBSC's best-performing yacht on handicap over the last two seasons, the Royal St. George J/97 Windjammer jointly skippered by Lindsay Casey and Denis Power.

Handicaps and Starts for the next race are downloadable below.

Racing continues each Sunday at 10.10 am until 13th March 2022 inclusive.

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15th February 2022

1720 Sportsboat Wins First Race of DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay

The 1720 sportsboat 'Conor K' was the winner of the first race of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Spring Chicken Series in Seapoint Bay last Sunday morning.

Second in the 37-boat fleet was the Jeanneau 36, Sirocco. Third was the Royal St. George Yacht Club J80, George 7.

Racing for a mixed cruiser-racer fleet will continue each Sunday at 10.10 am until 13th March 2022 inclusive.

Download results below

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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.