The third annual event in recent years, representing the revival of Ireland's first international class of dinghy, the International 12 and DBSC 12, will be held at the Royal St. George Yacht Club on September 10th 2017.

Designed in 1912–despite appearing to be relatively slow or old fashioned, the class is organised by a very enthusiastic group of boat owners.

Large fleets were once located in Baltimore, Cork Harbour, Howth, Sutton, Dublin Bay and other Irish sailing venues.

'We are still trying to find the boats which might be hiding in sheds and garages around the country', says class activist, the RStGYC–based, Vincent Delany. 

Since 1913 the 12 Footers have been an important dinghy class in Ireland and abroad. They were such a successful class that they quickly were awarded international status. The 12–footers were the equipment selected for the Olympic Games in 1920 and 1928. The class grew quickly in Cork, Baltimore, Sutton and Howth (North Co. Dublin) and in Seapoint (South County Dublin).

In the 1960’s, National Yacht Club’s J.J. O’Leary, revised the rig of the 12 footers, by replacing the single sail balanced lug rig with a gunter rig, with a Water Wag jib. Most of the Dublin Bay boats were changed to the new rig.
In recent years the class has been revived on the east coast of Ireland, and an Irish National Championships were held in Dun Laoghaire in 2010. The second championship of recent years took place last year in Dun Laoghaire, with entries from Ireland, Britain and Australia.

The third championship will be hosted again by the Royal St. George Yacht Club on 28th August, at which dinghies with each rig will sail against each other. This will present a unique challenge. The jibs do assist the DBSC rigged boats to point higher on upwind legs, but the larger mainsail of the International boats provides greater speed on the downwind legs.

Last year’s International Championship was won by George Miller of RStGYC, while Gail Varian of the same club headed the D.B.S.C. boats.

Anybody interested in the 12 Footers should contact [email protected] for more information.

The historic International 12 foot Dinghy Class and Dublin Bay 12 footer Irish Championships will be hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club on August 30th. 

Only one race is required to be completed to constitute a series and there will be one discard if four races.

Prizes will be the Seapoint Trophy and the Cora Cup which are the 12 Foot Irish  National Championship prizes.