It doesn’t seem at all like ten years ago since the O’Brien Kennedy-designed Dragonfly Class of Waldringfield in Suffolk sent one of their boats to represent them at Clontarf in the 70th Anniversary festivities of their near sisters, the Irish Dinghy Racing Association 14ft OD, but it seems that such is the case.
Or at least it had better be. Although many of us may not be too sure where the last ten years have gone, the IDRA 14 Class are determinedly setting up the stalls for their 80th Anniversary celebrations in a fortnight’s time at the 151-year-old Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club.
Back in the day, they were everywhere….Donal McClement on trapeze for Dougie Deane on the helm sailing IDRA 14 No 4 Dusk in Cork Harbour in 1960
The IDRA 14 plans as they appeared in The Yachting Year of 1946. The Waldringfield Dragonfly and the YW Dayboat are hull sisters
SMOKESTACK SAILORS
In recent decades, CY&BC may have found their unrivalled view of the Dublin and Wicklow hills and mountains becoming somewhat diminished by the continuing expansion of Dublin Port, but as was recently observed in Afloat.ie, the sailors of Dublin Bay have made a virtue out of all this by deciding that the elegant Poolbeg smokestacks have become the icons of their sailing waters.
No doubting where they are – contemporary IDRA 14 fleet racing against a changed Clontarf backdrop
The 151-year-old Clontarf Yacht & Boat Club has its headquarters in the formerly beachside farmhouse of Belvedere
And though dinghy sailing numbers may have become relatively static at Clontarf, the cruiser fleet seems larger than ever thanks to the lift-keel E Class boats, supported by twin keelers to such an extent that the drying anchorage at CY&BC is now Twin Keel Central.
Nevertheless, if they’re staging a major regatta, they do need the tide to be in with total enthusiasm, and it will be that way at a convenient time on 26th & 27th September, details here:
