Displaying items by tag: DBSC
Dublin Bay Sailing Club Fires the First Gun for 119th Season
#DUBLIN BAY SAILING CLUB – There are a number of key changes to the 2012 Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) racing programme this year that reflect the times we live in but recession isn't going to hold back this club. After all DBSC has survived two World Wars, the War of Independence, the Civll War and the Great Depression to boot!
Ten to 15-knot north westerly winds are expected for tomorrow's first race. 360 boats will be competing in 19 classes with over 3,000 sailors for the first gun at 2pm. Dublin Port Company is on board again as Club sponsor for the season.
There has been a merger of cruiser classes three and four and classes zero and one will start together this season. And in a further contraction of cruiser class activity the country's biggest yacht club has decided not to run its annual cruiser challenge for 2012 at least.
And in a further departure from the norm the club has introduced a coastal race this July, something it has not done for many years.
These changes might indicate a drop off in interest but on the contrary the club's honorary secretary Donal O'Sullivan reports no drop in numbers for the first race of the 2012 DBSC season tomorrow.
Instead the changes this season are much needed tweaks to a durable race programme that has 90 perpetual trophies as well as 509 pieces of glassware up for grabs for what is the club's 119th season.
Handicap Classes
Nineteen classes will be racing tomorrow representing a mix of cruiser, one design and dinghy fleets.
Colin Byrne, the winner of one of the top awards in 2011 becomes the class captain of Cruisers 1, now an 18 boat fleet that counts among its numbers at least one new arrival this season. Ruth, a J109 yacht from the National Yacht Club will be skippered by Liam Shanahan and it is one of five 109s racing in DBSC class one.
Byrne who skippers the X-34 Xtravagance won the Waterhouse Shield and also sailed to overall IRC handicap racing victory on Saturdays and Thursdays in 2011. Byrne also took the overall Thursday Echo trophy (although the Royal Irish entry failed to make a clean sweep by two points in Saturday Echo).
Last year's Irish Cruiser Racer annual conference in Dun Laoghaire tried to tackle long festering issues such handicapping and perhaps there is nowhere more pertinent than in Dublin Bay Sailing Club where some class changes are long overdue.
For example, is it equitable for modern designs such as J109s or A35s to be racing with older Sigma 38s or X-332s? A realignment of handicap bands across all fleets could bring about better racing and, as ICRA Commodore Barry Rose conceded last November, such reform is long overdue.
Handicapping is something that ICRA should be empowered to tackle rather than tinker with. 'It's time to flush this out and get it sorted', Rose has promised.
In a DBSC context, with the country's largest handicap fleets there is little doubt that more handicap tweaks remains to be done but in a Cruisers III context at least the solution to the quandry for 2012 has been to split the 43-boat fleet in to alpha and beta divisions for the first time.
Last year's Bay champion Supernova is back in action tomorrow racing in the new class III alpha division
The view of the Committee is that it will produce better racing because Cruisers 3, to which Cruiser 4 were joined last year has a very wide handicap band.
It is a big task where yachts ranging in length from 23–foot to 29–foot are competing together and with handicap bands stretching from .760 to .820.
The beta division is made up of the old class IV boats and Beneteau 211s plus some others who have been to join.
Combined and separate results will be provided. This will be true also of Cruiser 0 and Cruisers 1, who will start together, both on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Ensign class
Last season the 350-boat club tackled the long standing problem of crew shortages. Together with Dun Laoghaire's waterfront yacht clubs, DBSC introduced an 'Ensign Class' to extend the possibility of bay racing to a greater number of people, many of whom are novices.
Up to 1,500 sailors race each Thursday and Saturday during the Summer but typically cruiser classes which represent the bulk of the fleets always run short of a crew. A typical 30 foot boat can require a crew pool of 15 or more.
People with no experience are now being taken afloat in a cosseted fashion by the club and introduced to the rudiments of sailing.
The idea has proved so successful the National Yacht Club now operates a waiting list for its club 1720 sports boats, the Ensign class of choice.
The hope is that racing skippers, who rarely want complete novices onboard but who are nevertheless short of crew will be encouraged to pick from those graduating from the Ensign class.
There was some concern earlier that the ISAF Youth Worlds, which will be held in Dublin Bay in July, would seriously impact on DBSC racing. The event will certainly have an effect on dinghies, which will have to vacate the club forecourts for the best part of a fortnight. Keelboats, not so much or hardly it all.
Many of the DBSC committee boat personnel will be tied up with the ISAF event but the club intends to start races from the Hut and they plan to run a coastal/ distance race in the Sth Burford direction, something we have not done for some years. The SB3s will be racing on away events at this time and will not be affected.
Though boat entry numbers have been down a bit since they peaked in 2009, all indications for this year are that DBSC's unique attractions – regular, consistently well-managed racing in a splendid sailing area within easy reach of members' home or workplace - will continue to exercise their perennial appeal. This is after all the 119th DBSC season!
The cover of the new yearbook features Supernova
Other DBSC posts
Jezequel 116 Newcomer is Bay's Spring Chicken Winner
#DBSC – The club's only Jezequel 116 marque, Cri-Cri skippered by Paul Colton who last November picked up the trophy for 'the best new boat on the DBSC racing scene' at the annual DBSC prizegiving has also won the 2012 Spring Chicken Series.
Cri Cri shared the overall after four races sailed on modified ECHO and although she was overtaken in race five she was back at the top of the 40 boat fleet in time for yesterday's prizegiving at the National Yacht Club.
Just one and a half points behind was White Knight with Legally Blonde third.
Full fleet results for the 40-boat Viking Marine Spring Chicken results are available for download below.
#DBSC – The Sadler 34 Lady Rowena (David Bolger) leads Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Spring Chicken Series by a single point into next Sunday's final race.
Because handicaps are revised each week any one of the top ten boats can still win the series with only 15–points difference separating first and tenth place. The full overall results are available to download below.
Second overall on 42–points is the Beneteau 31.7, Legally Blonde (Cathal Drohan) and third Declan Hayes's J109 Indecision from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
Over 43–boats are competing in the Viking Marine sponsored pre–season warm up in advance of April's DBSC summer season that starts in seven weeks time on Saturday, April 21st.
The normally well attended annual Spring Chicken final prizegiving (of Easter eggs among other items) will be held at the National Yacht club immediately after racing next Sunday.
Meanwhile Howth Yacht Club is inviting DBSC sailors across the bay for the Key Capital Spring Warmer Series that precedes the Dublin Bay summer series.
Howth are organising two races a day over three Saturday's in April. The fleets will be split over two windard–leeward race courses.
Howth are promoting the event as a great practice series for the Howth based ICRA Nationals the following month.
The €100 entry fee includes berthing/hard standing for the three weeks.
#DUBLIN BAY – Although over 40 Dublin Bay Cruisers got some specacular downwind sailing in yesterday morning in the penultimate round of the Dublin Bay Spring Chicken Series the strong north westerlies put paid to yesterday afternoon's DMYC Frostbite racing. The fixture was blown off in blustery conditions about five minutes before the commencement of the start sequence when wind strengths went into the high twenties!
Full DBSC results on this site later.
First 36.7 and Jezebel 116 Share 'Spring Chicken' Lead
#DBSC – After four races sailed and one discard applied a Jezequel 116 and a Beneteau First 36.7 share first place in the popular Dublin Bay Sailing Club Spring Chicken series, the first racing of the 2012 season.
The club's only Jezequel 116 marque, Cri-Cri is skippered by Paul Colton who last November picked up the trophy for 'the best new boat on the DBSC racing scene' at the annual DBSC prizegiving.
Colton now shares the lead with Lula Belle, a First 36.7 that has had success offshore. Last season the Dun Laoghaire yacht won an ISORA overnight race to North India buoy.
Full fleet results for the 40-boat Viking Marine Spring Chicken results are available for download below.
Calypso Wins it but Legally Blonde Holds Overall Lead
#SPRING CHICKEN – Inspite of winning last Sunday's race Calypso, a Beneteau Oceanis 361 from the Royal St. George Yacht Club, lies 21st overall in the 43-boat DBSC Spring Chicken Series fleet, some 30–points behind overall leader Legally Blonde.
Second overall and joint eighth last Sunday is White Knight. Full results are attached below for download.
The fourth race of the Viking Marine sponsored series takes place on Sunday morning.
White Sails Fleet to Hold Pre-Season Meet
#WHITE SAILS – Dublin Bay's White Sails fleet meets at the Royal Irish Yacht Club on March 6th to discuss new progressive ECHO and the 2012 racing schedule. The meeting will also include details of training days for the class, now one of the biggest on Dublin Bay. The DBSC White sail season kicks off Saturday, April 21st.
Mustang 30 Leads in Sailing's Spring Chicken Series (Results here)
#DBSC – Peridot leads the overall standings in the Viking Marine sponsored Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay. The Mustang 30 leads Lula Belle (Beneteau 36.7) by a single point as the series approaches the half way point this Sunday. Joint third in the 42-boat fleet are two J109 designs; early leader Indecision and Joker 2. Full results are downloadable below in word format.
Archambault A34 is Winner of DBSC Spring Chicken Race
#DUBLIN BAY SAILING – There were cheers for an Archambault A34 design last Sunday when Another Adventure was declared winner of the first race of the Viking Marine sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series. The local yacht beat Indecision, a J109, for race honours under the modified ECHO handicap rule. 38 boats are competing in the annual warm-up series that precedes the main DBSC season starting in April.
The results are downloadable below.
