#woodenboats – You can't make a news item about the wooden Dublin Bay 24 yachts into an add-on to another story. When we focused on October 11th on the challenges of maintaining classic wooden yachts, citing as examples the difficulties being faced with a rusting steel ketch and a 1902-built timber classic, we tail-ended it with an update about the continuing saga of the Dublin Bay 24s, those by now almost-mythical Mylne-designed beauties which have been gone from the bay for nigh on ten years. For our readers, this setting of priorities was a complete reversal of the proper order. They saw the Dublin Bay 24 as outshining everything else. W M Nixon tries to redeem the situation.

We soon learned that the Dublin Bay 24 is the story. Everybody seems to care about them. They were first envisaged in 1934, but didn't finally race as a class off Dun Laoghaire until 1947. They were immediately la crème de la crème. Yet within sixty years, they'd been spirited away to France to form the basis of a class of "accessible classic One Designs" which, after complete restoration, were to be owned or chartered for racing from a new resort on the French Riviera.

The recession put the dampeners on all that for a while, and the boats were reportedly put in store in a warehouse in Southern Brittany. But this past summer, rumours started circulating about one of the DB 24s being restored – effectively rebuilt in fact - to a classic standard which is way beyond the original straightforward and quite economical specification for the class. It turned out that all the rumours were true. And for us here at Afloat.ie, it confirmed that if you just hint at a mention of the Dublin Bay 24s, then people want to know everything.

Periwinkle in Dun Laoghaire in July 1997 for the DB 24 Golden Jubilee Woodenboat Regatta – she is berthed outside sister-ships Harmony and Arandora. Photo: W M Nixon

Periwinkle as she is today, completely re-built except for her ballast keel, and sailing off La Turballe on France's West Coast in September

The "new" boat Periwinkle is based on the keel of the DB24 which never left her birthplace in Scotland, except to visit Dun Laoghaire in 1997 for the class's Golden Jubilee Regatta. But Periwinkle in the late summer of 2014 proved to be an exquisite bit of new work built by an organisation called Skol ar Mor, which is dedicated to preserving, developing and promoting classic boat-building and maritime skills. Naturally people in Ireland wondered why we can't have something similar in Ireland. However, it can be revealed that we do, not least in the form of a remarkable one-man operation in Galway. But first, let's try to unravel the story in France.

On the French Atlantic coast, due east of Belle Ile and midway between the Morbihan and the mouth of the Loire, there's a watery area at Mesquer on the edge of the Briere Nature Reserve. In this place, sea and land intertwine, and a traditional boatyard can have ample space, and easy access to the water, if the people involved are happy to wait for the tide to come up the nearest creek.

Classic boat builders of France. Mike Newmeyer (left) of Skol ar Mor where Periwinkle was re-built, and Cyril Benoist who is restoring Arandora at his own boatyyard in Kercabellec. Photo:Ian Malcolm

A curious confection. The gable wall of Mike Newmeyer's house near the Skol ar Mor boatyard. Photo: Ian Malcolm

It's here that Skol ar Mor has its attractive boat-building shed. Roughly translating as Breton for The School of the Sea, it's a sort of international commune which takes on apprentices for boatbuilding and shipwright's skills. Its President is the noted Francois Vivier, designer of highly individual wooden boats, while the Director is Mike Newmeyer, an energetic American who has taken to life in this region with such exuberance that his house in the midst of it all is an extraordinary confection created from recycled bricks and stonework some of which, in a former life, was part of a mediaeval castle.

Skol ar Mor is constantly on the prowl for interesting boatbuilding challenges which will both inspire and instruct its workforce, with the complete re-build of Periwinkle being one of its most ambitious projects. And as other traditional boatbuilders on both sides of the Atlantic have discovered, the thriving One Design scene in Ireland around the time the 19th Century was turning into the 20th has continued to provide a fertile design sourcebook, for one of the current Skol ar Mor projects is building a classic 14ft Dublin Bay Water Wag.

The new French Water Wag under construction – the stem was supplied by noted Irish classic boatbuilder Jimmy Furey of Leecarrow in Roscommon. Inspecting the work and exchanging ideas are Shannon OD measurer Noel Donagh and Mike Newmeyer of Skol ar Mor. Photo: Ian Malcolm

The word on the grapevine was that the new boat would be making her debut at the Paris Boat Show 2014, which is currently in full swing. But as a technical party from the Water Wag Association discovered when they went down to check out the project at the boatyard and take a few measurements some weeks back, something so boringly bourgeois as precise timekeeping is not really a feature of life in this secret region.

So not only is there no sign of a Water Wag in Paris this week, but there's no sign either of a traditional American Whitehall pulling boat, which was seen beside the Water Wag at a more advanced stage of construction in the hope she really might be ready to go to Paris instead. However, it certainly wasn't a matter of excessive agitation whether she did or not, and the Whitehall has also stayed on in Mesquer to be properly finished.

Planking under way on the carvel built Whitehall pulling boat at Skol ar Mor, which is being built upside, down while the Water Wag (below) is being built upright. Photos: Ian Malcolm

But then, as the Water Wags group of owners Cathy MacAleavy and Ian Malcolm, and advisory measurer Noel Donagh were to discover, the commune of Mesque soon begins to seem like the centre of the universe, while remote places like Paris become no more than incidental fixtures somewhere far inland along the road to the east. But before we go any further, what's this about an "advisory measurer"?

Well, it seems that although they've been in existence since 1903 in their present form, and as a class since 1887, the question of precise measurement in the Water Wags has always been given a fairly generous scope. But the Shannon One Designs, founded in 1922 when much of Ireland was distracted by a small Civil War, have always been interested in precise measurement to the point of obsession. And Noel Donagh, who lives on the shores of Lough Ree, is the Shannon OD Measurer – not a man to be trifled with when you've a classic one-design clinker-built sailing dinghy being built by strange folk in an even stranger part of France.

Noel Donagh and Cathy MacAleavy "discover" the DB24 Arandora undergoing restoration in Cyril Benoist's extensive shed in Kercabellec. Photo: Ian Malcolm

But the strict man from the Shannon One Designs, like the two owners from the Water Wags, found himself being drawn into a state of enchantment. Not only did they make a mutually useful input into construction details of the new boat, but they journeyed to Kercabellac nearby, where Cyril Benoist has his enormous boatshed. There, the main line of business is in looking after fleets of Requins, the popular French One Design keelboats, which look slightly like an International Dragon above water, but like nothing else on sea or land underneath - not even the sharks after which they're named. Yet it wasn't the oddity of the Requins which drew them in, but the fact that in a corner of the shed, the Dublin Bay 24 Arandora is being restored.

Arandora, forsooth. The Golden Yacht or the Banana Boat, depending whose side you're on. Dublin Bay 24 No 8. The youngest of them all by a year or two. Built in Alfred Mylne's own boatyard at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in 1949. For Col. W. A. C. Saunders-Knox-Gore DSO, Royal Irish Yacht Club and bar. You just couldn't make it up.

In her prime, Arandora was usually sailed by a crew of boisterous young ruffians, most of whom went on to achieve a certain level of respectability, and some even became Pillars of Society. Like everyone else, they were eventually drawn towards the world of more easily-maintained fibreglass boats as the hard-sailed Dublin Bay 24s began to show signs of age. And so, like her sisters, Arandora took the emigrant ship to France.

They're just gorgeous boats. The Dublin Bay 24s at the Golden Jubilee regatta in 1997 are (left to right) Harmony, Arandora and Euphanzel. Photo: W M Nixon

She was showing her age and making a drop of tea. Arandora racing at 1997's regatta, with the bilge pump outlet hose in action over the lee side. Photo: W M Nixon

Just wait till we try to change a light bulb. At the Golden Jubilee regatta, neither Arandora (left) nor Euphanzel were sailing short-handed. Photo: W M Nixon

Only the DB24 Harmony retained the original austere coachroof configuration which now features on the re-built Perinwinkle. Photo: W M Nixon

The Glen Class racing in 1997's Regatta. As the only surviving wooden keelboat class now in Dublin Bay, the Glens in 2014 have upped their game in the quality of their sails. Photo: W M Nixon

The visiting Howth 17s in full flight at the Golden Jubilee Regatta in 1997. The class has increased its numbers since then, while retaining their 1898 rig. Photo: W M Nixon

Party time for the Dublin Bay 24s celebrating their Golden Jubilee at the Royal Irish YC in July 1997 with Perinwinkle from Scotland berthed outside Harmony, and Arandora next the pontoon. Photo: W M Nixon

Only in Ireland would we think that this is a day for the Pimm's. In reality, the many who had sailed on her were taking their farewell from the golden-hulled Arandora at the regatta in 1997. Photo: W M Nixon

A last hurrah. Periwinkle, Harmony, Arandora, Fenestra and Euphanzel berthed together at the RIYC for the unique events of 1997. Photo: W M Nixon

For it had gradually become painfully clear that the Dublin Bay 24 Golden Jubilee Celebrations of July 1997, which expanded to become a major one-off Wooden Boat Regatta involving classics from both sides of Dublin Bay including Water Wags, Mermaids, Glens and Howth Seventeens, were leading inexorably to the last hurrah for the class. Within four years, the new Dun Laoghaire Marina was opened, then the Celtic Tiger was upon us, and ten years or so after their Golden Jubilee, all the 24s – including Perwinkle extracted from Scotland – had been shipped to France in the hope of a better future. People in Dun Laoghaire may indeed have felt a genuine attachment to them, but in the mood of the time their relevance was no longer dominant, while their maintenance costs were prohibitive.

In France with the recession upon the world, they were out of sight and out of mind, yet there were signs of hope. But whereas it was Perwinkle which was the first to re-emerge from the wilderness through a total re-build, Arandora is the first of the truly Dublin Bay boats to begin the long road to recovery, and in her case it will be a restoration rather than a re-build, for although there's much new material going into her, there's quite a bit of the original still in place.

We've struck gold! The tiny area of topside enamel left on the stemhead of the boat undergoing restoration in Kercabellec indicates she is indeed Arandora. Photo: Cathy MacAleavy

Arandora's restoration is verging into re-build territory, but it's reckoned enough of the orginal remains. Photo: Ian Malcolm

And at the very tip of her stem, the timber hasn't been entirely scraped back to the bare wood. There's still a tiny area of that unmistakable and unique hull colour. The golden boat lives on, in a place where classic boat-building skills are revered and central to a way of life. And the work on her restoration will now be monitored, for in May 2015 it's expected that a flotilla of Water Wags and maybe a Howth 17 or three will be trailed to the region to take part in the Morbihan Week for Classics & Traditionals, from Monday May 11th to Sunday May 17th 2015.

Meanwhile, for those who wonder that we don't have such community boatbuilding projects going on in Ireland, the answer is we do, it's just that they have their own special Irish flavour, and you have to seek them out. For instance, you'd be doing well, in driving west along the shores of Galway Bay from Barna into Connemara, to notice Jim Horgan's workshop. For it's a modest little place beside his house right on the road in Furbo, and dealing with the traffic is the priority, rather than finding a very special craftsman going abut his work.

For that's what Jim has been ever since he was signed up to a boatbuilding course at the age of 15 in Youghal. There, his father Joe was the electrician at the hospital, but supplemented his income by running boatbuilding courses in evening classes and on Saturdays. Boatbuilding was so much a part of the family's life that his son Jim was allowed to fabricate his age up to the lower limit of 16 so that he could do one of his father's courses. One way or another, he seems to have had boatbuilding as a steady stream of his life even while he took in moving to Galway in his day job as a teacher, and marrying Mary and setting up home in Furbo.

The cover of Jim Horgan's book on boatbuilding says it all. The Horgan-built boats featured on it in Spiddal harbour, with the white-hulled restored dinghy of Conor O'Brien's Saoirse (left), include in the front row (left to right) a new sister-ship of the Saoirse dinghy, a "sailing currach" known as the Galway Bay 16, a 19ft "Jollyboat Currach", and a 19ft rowing/sailing yawl. Beyond are another 19ft yawl and16ft sailing currach.

His father Joe had a no-nonsense approach to boat-building, and kept a notebook with sketches of his straightforward techniques. It's a path which Jim has followed, while developing it all into a handy little book which is the very soul of modesty, for it doesn't tell you where or when it was published, or indeed where you can get hold of a copy, yet it's a treasure trove of a whole way of looing at life and getting on with the job.

As Jim so neatly puts it, what he teaches is vernacular boatbuilding. Nothing too fancy, just a sensible approach based in real life with a practical timescale which makes satisfactory projects feasible within a manageable period. Sometimes a very manageable period – from his Youghal days, he includes this terse account:

"We built an 18ft salmon yawl with 16ft cedar strips in Youghal Co Cork in just two weeks. It had six solid frames instead of moulds. Clamping strips to these frames made the job very easy, and with lots of help we planked the boat in four days".

Jim Horgan in his workshop in Furbo with the Droleen/Beetlecat nearing completion. Photo: W M Nixon

Jim makes models too. He's here in his workshop with a classic Galway hooker. Photo: W M Nixon

The boatbuilder himself sailing the new Droleen/Beetlecat at Lettermore in Connemara. Photo: Conall Horgan

The diversity of boats he is involved with is bewildering. He restored what is reputedly the dinghy used by Conor O'Brien on Saoirse, and built a sistership while he was still in the mood He has built boats up to 20ft gleoteogs, in fact his main work this winter is repairing a gleoteog he built many years ago. But in his boat-building claases, getting the job done and encouraging people by tangible results within a reasonable time-frame has always been the underlying philosophy.

Thus he states: "My present classes consist of three hours on a weeknight, and four hours on Saturday. Starting in October with templates and moulds to hand, any non-sailing boat should be planked by Christmas, and finished by 1st May".

That's that, then. It's no wonder you'll come across boats of distinctive Horgan origin all around Galway Bay. And he also built three Shannon One Designs for Lough Corrib. His most recent project in his own boatshed was building to the Bray Droleen design (see http://afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/item/24479-the-irish-heart-is-still-in-wooden-boats). That had emerged from a design created quite a long time ago by O'Brien Kennedy in response to a demand from Bray to re-create the local dinghy class of a hundred years ago. But the boatbuilder of Furbo being Jim Horgan who finds ideas everywhere, the design has further evolved and he readily admits to inspiration from the American catboats, in fact he calls his Droleen – which has been sailing successfully in Connemara regattas – a Beetlecat.

Over the years, Jim Horgan has built up a following among those who have taken much from his boat-building classes, and got afloat as a result. Yet you won't often hear of him away from the shores of Galway Bay, and he is long gone from Youghal, But in his own special way, Jim Horgan is a maritime hero of our time.

Mystery photo. It's Kinvara, and we know that is one of Jim Horgan's Galway Bay 16s in the foreground. But can anyone help us with identifying the mighty Bad Mor with her? Our Galway hooker expert tells us it could be one of three vessels, but he can't be sure which.

#frostibtes –Strong and gusty westerly winds gusting to over 30–knots at times put paid to both cruiser racing and dinghy competitions from Dun Laoghaire today writes Cormac Bradley.

First to be scrubbed was Rathfarnham Ford's DBSC's Turkey Shoot series for 59–cruisers this morning.

Racing's 'flags of surrender'to the elements, N over A, were flying as early as 12:30 this afternoon from the yardarm of the DMYC signalling that no Frostbite racing would be taking place. 

From an earlier view from my office windows, the sea conditions didn't look that bad but the absence of the bigger boats from the waters of Dublin Bay gave the game away. Even the INSC's white-sailed Squibs seemed to take an early relief from the conditions.

While it is still a cloudless sky here in Dun Laoghaire, the forecast is for westerlies of 18/19 knots gusting up to 29 knots – as advised by both the XCWeather website and the Windfinder App – with a projected air temperature of 6˚.

This leaves the Frostbite Series with a single race left for 2014 as, traditionally, there is no racing on the last Sunday before Christmas.

#dbscturkeyshoot – One could have been forgiven for having a severe case of déjà vu yesterday morning as the DBSC Turkey Shoot had almost the exact same conditions as in the previous weeks racing writes INSC's Kenneth Rumball. The wind was from a similar direction, however this week being more westerly than southerly and also a change in race officer with Henry Leonard taking the reins this week. A similar course was laid, to last week with a short beat to a laid weather mark followed by a short reach to the yellow outfall mark and from there to another laid mark in Scotsman's bay and then down to the Muglins Island again before passing the other marks in reverse order back to a finish at the outfall mark.

The startline was a much more disciplined affair in the third fleet as opposed to the last two weeks with the entire fleet getting away cleanly. The 1720s mostly took a course in towards the Harbour to gain a valuable windbend up the course. A tight weather mark saw Brian Matthews and team round first with the remaining 1720s separated by inches bow to stern along the top reach. With such a tighly packed fleet, the hoist at thenext mark was going to be crucial, tack lines pulled on too early saw the RIYC's Lady A and Brian Matthews pair trawling for some Dublin Bay Mackerel.

Slowing these tow boats down and with some start 2 traffic, 6 1720s were neck n neck racing down the West Pier INSC1 and INSC2 Kenneth and Alexander skippering each were praising their crews on the race training programme for providing excellent spinnaker handling and trimming to keep the boats up at the top of the fleet.

The initial downwind saw the boats stay quite tight until the mark set just off the 40 foot where the fleet split, the Royal St George's Merlin and Lady A from the RIYC went out to sea in search of more wind while Brian Matthews kept close to shore. INSC1, INSC2 and Niall O'Neills 1720 kept to the middle putting in a few more gybes than the rest. At the Muglins, It was apparent that hugging the side was the right call with Brian Matthews rounding first, followed by the RIYC's Lady A, Merlin, INSC2, INSC 1 and Niall O'Neill and team popping around.

A long beat upwind saw little place changing with the final finishing order in the 1720 fleet with Brian Matthews and team claiming the win.

With two more races to go, the racing is intense as ever across the Turkey Shoot fleet.

#dbsc – With three races to go in the Rathfarnham Ford DBSC Turkey Shoot series, the 67–boat fleet is preparing for light winds this Sunday. The latest starts and handicaps have been revealed by the organisers and are downloadable below. Overall results to date that show Mermaid IV leading are here.

#dbscturkeyshoot – A Beneteau First 50 is being chased hard by two J109 designs for the overall lead in DBSC's Turkey Shoot fixture. The fifth race of the series is this Sunday and after four races sailed and some changing handicaps, the overall scores are getting very interesting.  

Mermaid IV has an overall lead of six points from Dear Prudence. A J/109 sistership and Turkey Shoot regular, Indecision, is third by a single point.

The overall scoresheet for the 67–boat fleet is downloadable below.

#insc – Clear skies, 15 kts from the South West and a flat sea greeted all competitors for the fourth race of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club Rathfarnham Ford Turkey Shoot series writes Kenny Rumball. Fintan Cairns laid the course we all love in the Turkey Shoot, a quick beat to the outfall mark off the west pier with then a long run down to round the Muglins Island off Dalkey Island, not to mention a small kink of a dog log in Scotsmans bay which was there to test boat handling as kites needed to be dropped for the short fetch. Starts and Handicaps for yesterday are downloadable below.

In start three or what is commonly looking like the 1720 start, the level of competitiveness has been building throughout the series. Despite INSC1's (Skipper Kenneth Rumball) efforts to push the fleet above the barging line failed and in a questionable 'Clear Start' INSC1 was down the pan up the first beat. INSC2 Alexander Rumball tustled with Brain Matthews and crew from the NYC and Collie Byrne and crew aboard Lady A up the left hand side of the race track hugging the harbour walls to get a few crucial lifts from the wind bends. Martin Byrne and crew from the RstGYC kept out of trouble up the right hand side of the course.

At the top mark, INSC2 was right in the mix of the top boats, followed by a quick hoist and a gybe out to clear breeze looked to be a good option for the team as opposed to the rest of the fleet who took a track closer to the Harbour walls. Some tight sailing especailly between Martin Byrne and Niall O'Neill tested crew's boat handling at Fintan's kink in the course into Scotsman's bay. Niall ONeill was an unfortunate casualty of the test with a spinnaker wrap causing valuable time. INSC2 (skipper Alexander Rumball) suffered some technical issues with their tack-line on the re-hoist causing them to loose some valuable time sailing under main and jib on the long downwind.

While most boats sailed a course in under the Forty Foot and Loreto Dalkey, the team on INSC1 sailed dead down the rhumb line towards the Muglins with excelent rrimming from the crew keeping the baot moving at full tilt. The more direct course paid off at the bottom mark as INSC1 had moved to third 1720 aroundthe Muglins only a hairs breath behind Brian Matthews and team with both boats not leaving an inch to spare around the iconic mark. The beat home was mainly a tight fetch with only a handful of tack along the 2.25nm leg back to the harbour mouth. The kink was still there to contend with but Martin Byrne and team sailed fast to finish first 1720 across the line followed by Brian Matthews and team in second and INSC1 taking third.

It was a fantastic last leg with the 1720s revelling in perfect conditions for the boats sailing higher and faster than the lfeet with only Wow (Farr42) and Mermaid V (First 50) beating them for line honours.

INSC race skippers, Kenneth and Alexander Rumball then went on to coaching/racing duties in the DMYC Frostbite series.

Our junior teams competing in the PY fleet in their double handers and adult sailors competing in their Laser dinghies enjoyed a thrilling two races with Kenneth and Alexander giving a thorough de-brief and answering tactical and other questions at the end of the day in the INSC clubhouse.

#dbsc – The latest Turkey shoot results for Dublin Bay Sailing Club have been published this afternoon and reveal a new overall leader in the 51–boat fleet.

The 1720 sportsboat 'Third time Lucky' has a 2.5 point winning margin over the ILC 30 'Incorrect'. 

Third overall is DBSC regular, the Mustang 30 Peridot.

Full overall results to date are availabe to download below as a word document.

#dbsc –The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) prizegiving is a highlight of the Dun Laoghaire sailing season with an array of magnificent and ancient yachting silverware. This year's event was especially so because it marked the close of DBSC's 130th season.

Prizes were awarded in all of DBSC's 22 classes by Commodore Pat Shannon at a packed Royal St.George YC clubhouse last Friday night.

DBSC historian and Hon Sec Donal O'Sullivan provided insightful commentary to the award winners – and the trophies –  and we reproduce a sample flavour of this with Donal's citations for the club's 'Premier awards' below.

In its 130th season, the club – one of the largest yacht racing clubs of its type in Europe – was acclaimed by Afloat blogger WM Nixon who posed the question: Is Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) The Most Effective Sailing Organisation in the World?

Scroll down for awards photography of the evening by DBSC photographer Joe Fallon plus the full DBSC 2014 awards table.

PREMIER AWARDS

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Trophy
This is for the best new boat racing in the DBSC fleet. Cruisers I, with its strong contingent of J109s, is a vigorous, competitive fleet. Though a newcomer, the winning boat more than held her own in a very competitive racing environment – Jigamaree, Ronan Harris.

The George Arthur Newsom Cup
An important figure in the Dublin commercial life of his day, a director of Jacobs, of biscuit fame, Newsom was one of the early Dublin Bay pioneers who raced competitively in a number of fleets and contributed much to the development of DBSC. When he died in 1933 his wife presented this cup in his memory.
The owner and skipper of the winning boat in 2015, through her family has deep roots in the Dublin Bay sailing community. Besides racing locally, she has also sailed off-shore, bringing and navigating a boat on one occasion, I recall, to Iceland. The winning boat this year is the Shipman Gusto, Christine Heath.

The Waterhouse Shield
There has been a Waterhouse Shield at this event since the 1890s. Waterhouses were jewellers in Dame St and they used to do the engraving of the club's trophies in its early days. There are great names among the winners of the Waterhouse Shield and this year it's our pleasure to add a very competitive Cruiser 2 to the list- Red Rhum, sailed by the Nicholson brothers, Jonathan and Chris.

The Dr.Alf Delaney Cup
Dr Delaney first joined DBSC in 1932 and raced competitively until a few short years ago.This cup commemorates Alf's achievements as a sailor, both locally and elsewhere- he was one of the Irish team in one of the post-war Olympics. It's for the best boat on the dinghy course and this year it goes to the almost unbeatable Fireball 15061, sailed by Stephen Oram.

The Brendan Ebrill Cup
Brendan was my predecessor as hon secretary and organised this event over many years. The Ebrill trophy commemorates Brendan's' life-long commitment to DBSC. It's awarded to the highest-scoring boat with the highest attendance not winning a major trophy. The owners of the winning boat frequently grace this event, but this year they are without their partner, who died earlier this year. So, the winner of the Brendan Erill trophy in 2015 was Something Else – John and Brian Hall and the late Sue McDonnell.

The Viking Award
This award is for a notable able contribution to sailing. The recipient this year is an occasional DBSC Flying 15 sailor when he has the time but his greatest achievement in sailing was in a Fireball in 1995 when with John Lavery they won the Fireball Worlds. He is mostly known today as a marine journalist and publisher, performing a valuable public service in bringing maritime matters to public attention. He is chairman of the Irish Marine Federation, which inter alia, organises the boat show.
As publisher and editor of Afloat Magazine, despite a daunting publishing environment, he has continued over many years to maintain the magazine's high journalistic, typographical and design standard. Its associated web site is an extraordinary achievement - drawing news, information and comment from a wide range of sources in the maritime world. It's DBSC's pleasure this year to present the Viking Award to David O'Brien

 

All prizegiving photos by Joe Fallon

TROPHY	CLASS	Yacht	1ST NAME	SURNAME	SERIES
Centenary Trophy (4)	Cruisers 0	Lively Lady	Derek	Martin	Saturday Echo overall
Knox-Gore Cup (2)	Cruisers 0	WOW	George	Sisk	Saturday IRC overall
Knox-Gore Bowl (1)	Cruisers 0	WOW	George	Sisk	Thursday Echo overall
Martin Cup (3)	Cruisers 0	WOW	George	Sisk	Thursday IRC overall
Tiamat Trophy (6)	Cruisers 1	Black Velvet	Leslie	Parnell	Thursday Echo overall
Weir Cup (8)	Cruisers 1	Bon Exemple	Colin	Byrne	Saturday IRC overall
West Pier Officers cup (7)	Cruisers 1	Bon Exemple	Colin	Byrne	Thursday IRC overall
Osterberg Cup (5)	Cruisers 1	Jump the Gun	Jn. Kelly &	Ml. Monaghan	Saturday Echo overall
Centenary Cup (10)	Cruisers 2	Antix	Derek	Ryan	Thursday ECHO overall
T.P. Early Cup (11)	Cruisers 2	Bendemeer	L J.Casey &	Denis Power	Saturday Echo overall
Briscoe Trophy (9)	Cruisers 2	Bendemeer	L J.Casey &	Denis Power	Tuesday Echo overall
Silver Foam Trophy (77)	Cruisers 2	Black Sheep	Eoin	Healy	Most improved boat
Silver Salver (12)	Cruisers 2	Red Rhum	Jon.& Chris	Nicholson	Saturday IRC overall
Lady Shamrock Trophy (13)	Cruisers 2	Red Rhum	Jon.& Chris	Nicholson	Thursday IRC overall
Smalldridge Cup	Cruisers 3	Quest	B.Cunningham	& Jonathan Skerritt	Thursday IRC overall (3a)
Jack Kennedy Memorial Cup (15)	Cruisers 3	Supernova	J.McStay, J.Timbs	J.Monaghan, J.Costello	Saturday IRC overall
Mercia Cup (16)	Cruisers 3	Supernova	J.McStay, J.Timbs	J.Monaghan, J.Costello	Saturday Echo overall
Viking clock Trophy	Cruisers 3	Supernova	J.McStay, J.Timbs	J.Monaghan, J.Costello	Thursday Echo overall
Whimbrel Rose Bowl (19)	Cruisers 3(b)	Eezee Tiger	Olivier	Prouveur	Thursday Echo overall
Sanderling Trophy (14)	Cruisers 3(b)	Gung Ho	Grainne & Sean	O'Shea	Thursday IRC overall (3b)
Annette Cup (90)	Cruisers 3(b)	Papytoo	M.Walsh &	Frank Guilfoyle	Tuesday overall
White Sail Class Trophy (21)	Cruisers 5	Persistance	Charles Broadhead, Ian	Stuart & Jerry Collins	Saturday IRC overall
Burford Trophy (23)	Cruisers 5	Persistance	Charles Broadhead, Ian	Stuart & Jerry Collins	Thursday IRC overall
Anna Livia Trophy (22)	Cruisers 5	Sweet Martini	Bruce	Carswell	Saturday Echo overall
Gerry Henry Salver (20)	Cruisers 5	Warrior	David	Shanahan	Thursday Echo overall
Rupert Bowl (26)	Sigmas 33	Leeuwin	Henry & Caroline Leonard	Robert Kerr	1st Saturday Series-Trophy
Bective Lights Crystal Trophy (27)	Sigmas 33	White Mischief	Timothy	Goodbody	Saturday overall
Fireseal Sigma 33 Trophy (24)	Sigmas 33	White Mischief	Timothy	Goodbody	Thursdays overall
J.B. Stephens Trophy (25)	Sigmas 33	White Mischief	Timothy	Goodbody	Thursday & Sats combined
Horrigan Cup (28)	31.7s	Fiddly Bits	PJTimmons,W.Quigley	G.Murray, D.Breen	Thursday Overall -Echo
Feanor Trophy (31)	31.7s	Levana	Jean	Mitton	Thursday overall One-Design
Long John Silver Cup (29)	31.7s	Levante	Michael Leahy &	&John Power	Saturday Overall- Echo
Arandora Trophy (30)	31.7s	Magic	David	Espey	Saturday Overall-One Design
Oxford & Cambridge Cup (33)	Dragons	Diva	Rick Johnson	& R.Goodbody	Thursday overall
Old Time Cup (87)	Dragons	Diva	Rick Johnson	& R.Goodbody	Combined Sunday & Thursday
RIYC Cup (32)	Dragons	Phantom	David J.H	Williams Esq	Saturdays Overall
Torry Cup (88)	Dragons	Whisper	Michael	Cotter Esq	Special conditions
Pterodactyl Cup (34)	Glens	Glendun	Brian	Denham	Thursday overall
Glen Challenge Trophy (35)	Glens	Glendun	David	Houlton	Crews races
Pair of Silver Vases (39)	Glens	Glendun	Alison	OBrien	Ladies Race
Hamilton Reid (38)	Glens	Glendun	Brian	Denham	Dalkey Island Race
Harry Maguire Memorial Cup (36)	Glens	Glenluce	Donal and Rd	O'Connor	Saturday overall
The McMullen Cup (37)	Glens	Glenluce	Donal & Richard	O'Connor	Sts & Thurs combined + regatta
Commodore O'Meara Trophy	Glens	Glenluce	Donal and Richard	O'Connor	Olympic races
John Donnelly Perpetual Cup (41)	Ruffians	Alias	David Meeke	& Martin McCarthy	Best Tuesday Boat
British Airways Trophy (44)	Ruffians	Bandit	A Kirwan, B Cullen	C Brown	Saturday Overall
Huet Trophy (43)	Ruffians	Diane II	Chris Helme &	Alan Claffey	Thursday overall
J.Lamont Brown Trophy (42)	Ruffians	Ruffles	Michael	Cutliffe	Sat & Thurs overall
The Shipman Perpetual Trophy (47)	Shipmans	Curraglas	John	Masterson	Special conditions
The Malindi Cup (46)	Shipmans	Gusto	Christine	Heath	Saturdays overall
The Midweek Trophy (45)	Shipmans	Gusto	Christine	Heath	Thursdays overall
Sunday SB3 Cup (51)	SB3	Should be	Michael	O'Connor	Sunday overall
Bealtaine Trophy (49)	SB3	Should be	Michael	O'Connor	Special Conditions
Equinox Trophy (50)	SB3	Should Be	Michael	O'Connnor	Special Conditions- 3rd series)
Crichton Trophy (52)	SB3	Should be....	Michael	O'Connor Esq	Thursday overall
Lunasa Trophy (48)	SB3	Venuesworld.com	Ger	Dempsey	Special Conditions (Sunday Series 2 etc)
G.Pugin Melden Trophy (53)	Water Wags	Swift	Guy	Kilroy	Wags Series 2
Goldsmith Cup (54)	Water Wags	Swift	Guy	Kilroy	Wednesday Overall
Blue Bird Trophy (55)	Water Wags	Tortoise	William & Linda	Prentice	Wags Series 1
Brian S.Ryan Trophy (57)	Flying 15's	Fflogger	Alan	Dooley	Saturday overall
Flying Fifteen Gun (56)	Flying 15's	Frequuent Flyer	Chris Doorley &	Alan Green	Thursday overall
Fifty Something Cup	Flying 15	Thungamabob	Tom	Galvin	First Thursday Series
Blake Cup (89)	Flying 15's	Thingamabob	Tom	Galvin	Special Conditions
Stella Cup (60)	Mermaids	Aideen	Br. Martin	& Dan Brennan	Thursday;special conditions
Amy Cup (58)	Mermaids	Aideen	Br. Martin	& Dan Brennan	Tuesday Overall
Iolar Cup (59)	Mermaids	Jill	Paul Smith &	Patrick Mangan	Saturday overall
J.B.Kearney Shield (61)	Mermaids	Tijuana	David	Stedmon	Saturday-special conditions
Shannon Cup (62)	Squibs	Perfection	Jill	Fleming	Saturday Overall
Minx Trophy (63)	Squibs	Perfection	Jill	Fleming	Thursday Overall
The Saturday Cup (65)	Fireballs	Licence to Thrill	Louis	Smyth	Saturday Overall
Nuits St.George Trophy (64)	Fireballs	15061	Stephen	Oram	Tuesday overall
Melampus Cup (78)	IDRA 14's	Dart	Pierre	Long	Special conditions
Crews Challenge Cup (79)	IDRA14's	Dunmoanin'	Therese	Clarke	Special Conditions
The Kennedy Cup (66)	IDRA 14's	Dunmoanin'	Frank	Hamilton	Saturday overall
Bay Cup (67)	IDRA 14's	Slipstream	Julie	Ascoop	Tuesday overall
Half-Way Trophy (80)	IDRA 14's	Spray	Chris	Corrigan	Special Conditions
The Windmill Cup (68)	PY	Laser 192703	Ronan	Kenneally	Tuesday overall
Sailcraft Tray (69)	PY	Laser 192703	Ronan	Kenneally	Combined Saturday & Midweek
Early Bird Trophy (71)	PY	Laser 192703	Ronan	Kenneally	1st series Tues, & Sat.combined
Lanaverre Cup (70)	PY	177852	Richard	Tate	Saturdays overall
Seapoint Cup (82)	Optimists	1475	Clare	Gorman	Optimist September Series
Mitchell Cup (83)	RS Feva	1588	Laura	Coleman	RS Fever September Series
PY Junior Trophy	PY	8655	Helen	Sheehy	PY September Series
Lawson Cup (84)	Toppers	46767	Oscar	Gleeson	Topper September Series
Pioneer Trophy (85)	Lasers 4.7	170857	Toby	Hudson Fowler	Laser September Series
Jimmy Mooney Goblet (86)	Laser Radial	180244	Finn	Coolican	Laser Radial September Series
Dr Alf Delaney Cup (73)		Fireball 15061	Stephen	Oram	Best Boat on dinghy course
Newsom Cup (74)		Gusto	Christine	Heath	Best one -design boat
Dun Laoghaire Harbour Trophy (72)		Jigamaree	Ronan	Harris	Best new Boat
Waterhouse Shield (75)		Red Rhum	Jon. and Chris	Nicholson	Best Cruiser on handicap
Brendan Ebrill Memorial Cup (81)		Something Else	John & Brian	Hall & Sue McDonanell	Special conditions
Viking Trophy (76)			David	O'Brien	Notable contribution to sailing

#dbscturkeyshoot – It was a tough day for INSC teams in DBSC Turkey Shoot Race three but a better day for the INSC dinghy teams in the DMYC Frostbite series yesterday afternoon. From last week's dominant performance in the Turkey Shoot, both INSC teams were in top spirits heading out into a sloppy north easterly race track with wind against tide and around 10-15 kts of wind speed. A shifty breeze was changing the bias of the line rapidly and despite a start where most were over, the team got away in the middle of the bunch on the more port side of the ine.

Up the beat, INSC1 (Kenneth Rumball) went initially left but then came out to the right hand side while INSC2 (Alexander Rumball) held on out to the left a bit longer coming into the weather mark a bit below the port layline. It was the closest race so far in the 1720 fleet racing on the bay with Brain Matthews around first on the NYC boat, followed by INSC2, then INSC 1 with a tight gap of the Colin Byrne's entry from the RIYC rounding just below INSC1 and Niall O'Neill and Martin Byrne sailing Merlin from the Royal St George just behind.

On the downhill leg of the two lap windward leeward, Brian Matthews and team got away cleanly allowing them to gybe out to the left early followed quickly by Lady A from the RIYC and INSC2. At this stage Martin Byrne used his prior 1720 experience, powering through at high angles to get up to third by the next bottom mark. The usual tight 1720 racing followed on afterwards with small place changing but tow boats in particular gained mostly being Martin Byrne and Niall O'Neill.

INSC1 suffered on poor spinnaker work with a wrapped kite on the next downhill putting them at the back off the 1720 pack. Despite this, some great sailing and surfing in cracking conditions had a smile on all crews on the way home after another faultless race by the DBSC race committee team.

Moving to the afternoon, our INSC teams took to the water for the DMYC frostbite series in the INSC dinghy fleet. A smart move by Olivier Prouveur and team to run the race outside the harbour in 'cleaner' breeze gave all a five lap trapezoid style race track. Junior racers from the INSC were competing primarily in the PY fleet and all enjoyed considerable success compared to the initial race over two years ago.

Race coaches Alexander and Kenneth were competing in their boats in the RS400 and Fireball class respectively. Kenneth and crew Brian Byrne made it two from two while Alexander managed a credible 3rd in his first race of the series.

#dbscturkeyshoot – With the tweets from the Dublin Bay Buoy giving an average wind speed of 10kts and gusts of 16kts, the two INSC teams (INSC1 skippered by Kenneth Rumball, INSC2 skippered by Alexander Rumball) headed out to the second DBSC Turkey Shoot race with smiling crews after the baptism of fire from the previous week writes Kenny Rumball. Such light southerly winds meant most 1720s thumbed a tow from passing engine driven yachts to hitch a lift to the outer harbour. As the training days for both INSC teams were mostly blown out, the two teams took advantage of the lighter conditions to practise a few hoists gybes and drops of the bigger mast head spinnakers on the 1720s.

Shifty conditions gave Fintan Cairns and his team on Freebird a tricky course to lay, so shifty that between the second and third start, there was almost a 50 degree shift from the south to south east turning a square start line into a heavily biased pin end line inside the sequence. INSC2 lined up for a run in on port tack at the pin end whereas INSC1 took a more conservative start on starboard tack near the pin end. INSC2 pulled off a great start but with a narrow infringement with a RIYC boat forcing the INSC2 team to do a few penalty turns. INSC1 got buried in the line and immediately set about rolling into a few tacks in the shifty conditions to pull back into the race. It was anybody's guess as to what was the best track up the beat, INSC2 went out towards the left side with one of the Royal St George 1720s, Merlin, helmed by Ben Cooke and the National Yacht Club entry helmed by Brian Matthews. INSC1 took a route more up the middle of the track availing of the puffs and shifts coming in from the right hand side of the beat. The boats on the left ended up in a hole near the top mark with the other Royal St George entry helmed by Hugh Butler storming in on the starboard lay line in a lovely little bit of pressure. INSC1 tacked out to fall in behind the Royal St. George boat around the top mark, a quick hoist in almost no wind on the top reach allowed INSC1 to roll most boats by the next mark on the trapezoid course. At this stage INSC1 had managed to squeeze through and find some breeze to gain a dominant lead over the rest of the fleet. INSC2 after struggling in the hole on the top left of the beat had managed to work through the fleet in the downwind legs using some smart sailing to get up into the top end of the fleet.

INSC1 continued with its lead massively reduced up the last beat as the breeze died off again towards the top of the course but still managed to claim line honours followed in a very close finish between the NYC's Brian Matthews and the RstGYC's team lead by Ben Cooke with Brian Matthews and team claiming the narrow spot for second over the water.

The INSC race team then returned to the water in a horrendous downpour before the start of the DMYC Frostbite series which was unfortunately abandoned today due to lack of wind.