Nine  SB20s battled it out in Scotsman's Bay for the 2014 NYC regatta title. With a persistent veer forecast, OOD Harry Gallagher had his work cut out setting a course that would provide a good test over the course of the day. Fortunately, Harry and his team were in top form and they managed to set a great test for the competitors.

Race 1 started in 10-12 knts of breeze and with a substantial pin end bias on the line. Should Be... (Michael, Owen and Gavan) took the pin with Bad (Dave, Gerry and Jimmy) close on their hip with early season pace-setters Alert Packaging (Justin et al) and Venuesworld (Ger, Chris and Rory) further up the line. With better breeze out right and a forecasted veer, boats were eager to get out to the right hand side of the course quickly after the start and one by one the boats began to peel away onto port tack. The wind held steady for the first beat though and as the boats converged at the weather mark, Should Be... led by a few boatlengths from a congested pack including Bad, Alert Packaging, Probably (Ian, Billy and Tom) and visitors from HYC, Monkey (Keith Cassidy et al). Down the run, there was quite a spread across the course as each of the boats tried to find their own patch of clear air but coming to the leeward gate, it was clear that the left hand side of the course down the run had paid. Should Be... Bad and Monkey had made gains on the fleet by going left down the run and those three boats would keep their lead and those positions for the remaining three rounds to the finish. Behind them, there was a real dogfight for places with Venuesworld and Odin (James, Ted and Stroud) both having to come from deep early on in the race to keep their hopes alive in the two race series. At the finish, Alert Packaging held on to fourth ahead of Venuesworld (5th), Probably (6th) and Odin (7th) with Smoke on the Water (Bob et al) holding onto 8th ahead of Seriously Bonkers (Peter et al) in 9th.

After a short break for lunch, Race 2 got off in a lighter breeze of 8-10 knts. Again the OOD set the line with a pin-end bias although this time the bias was less pronounced. Should Be... again took the pin with Bad to weather and trucking. Once again, the emphasis was on getting out to the right hand side of the course as quickly as possible and Alert Packaging, Venuesworld and Odin were the first to get out there followed by Bad and Probably. This time, the forecasted veer did arrive and both Should Be... and Monkey, early pace setters from race 1, were further down the pack with work to do. At the weather mark, Venuesworld led from Alert Packaging and Odin. Just behind them, disaster struck Bad when they had a tiller extension malfunction mid-tack and hit the weather mark in the flooding tide. By the time that they had exonerated themselves they had lost several places and importantly, both Should Be... and Monkey had snuck ahead of them. Down the run, Venuesworld had their work cut out covering boats going either side of them down the run but they skilfully kept in the gusts in the middle to maintain their lead down the run. At the leeward mark, Venuesworld led by the narrowest of margins from Alert Packaging with Should Be... rounding just ahead of Odin and Monkey. There were few place changes to speak of on the next beat and run however all was to change on round three up the final full beat...

As the boats went around the leeward mark onto the last round, Alert Packaging, in second place, seeing better breeze on the right tacked off to the right hand side of the course while Venuesworld in first continued left followed by Should Be... in third and Odin in fourth. Monkey and Probably rounded approximately 10 boatlengths further behind in 5th and 6th with Bad, having recovered from their earlier misfortune, nipping at their heels. Shortly after Monkey and Probably had rounded the leeward gate, there was a massive right hand shift with the wind that Alert Packaging had expertly spotted and it seemed that the persistent right hand shift had finally arrived in spades. Venuesworld and Odin continued on in the hope of a left hander further up the course while Should Be... tacked back onto port and took the transoms of both Probably and Monkey. At this stage, Alert Packaging was in a regatta winning position, but only just! As if things weren't hotting up enough, Bad had come right back into it and trailed Monkey and Should Be... by only a couple of boatlengths so it was all to play for between these three boats up the final beat! The wind continued to clock further right, Alert Packaging made massive gains on the fleet and both Odin and Venuesworld had suffered large losses. Alert Packaging led around the weather mark by a distance. Somehow, Venuesworld managed to find a patch of private breeze to come back towards the fleet from the far left corner and held on to second place ahead of a bunch that included Should Be..., Monkey, Probably, Odin and Bad, all within a couple of boatlengths of each other. Those five boats tacked, ducked and crossed their way up the final quarter of the beat and at the mark it was Should Be... in third ahead of Monkey, Odin, Bad and then Probably. From there, after the significant right-hand shift, it was a drag race to the leeward mark and the last short beat to finish. Uncharacteristically, Venuesworld had failed to take into account the massive right-hander up the beat and rather than doing a gybe set, continued on in a nice patch of breeze after the weather mark. When they gybed back onto port, they couldn't hold their kite and dropped back to seventh as the boats with kites above sailed over the top of them en route to the leeward mark. At the finish, it was Alert Packaging by a country mile, followed by Should Be... (2nd), Monkey (3rd), Odin (4th), Bad (5th), Probably (6th), Venuesworld (7th), Seriously Bonkers (8th) and Smoke on the Water in ninth.

Overall, the regatta results were 1st Should Be, 2nd Alert Packaging, 3rd Monkey, 4th Bad, 5th Odin.

Just a reminder that there will be an SB Social evening in the RStGYC this Thursday after sailing. The fleet will gather for a drink on the balcony after sailing followed by sailing supper @ c. 9.15pm. Looking forward to seeing as many of you there as possible. Also, next Sunday (29th June) is SB Sunday No. 5. Let's hope the weather holds!

#nyc – The National Yacht Club's J109 Something Else (John Hall) was the IRC class one winner of today's National Yacht Club Jelly Bean sponsored regatta on Dublin Bay. Official results sheets for all classes are downloadable below in powerpoint format.

The NYC boat skipper beat club mate Ruth, a sistership skippered by Liam Shanahan. Third was Royal Irish XP–33 yacht Bon Exemple (Colin Byrne) in the 13–boat fleet.

25 different classes were racing in the biennial event, a highpoint of the Dublin sailing season.

In the Flying Fifteen one design keelboat class, one of the most popular of the National Yacht Club fleets, the event was won by past national champions David Gorman and Chris Doorly in new boat, Betty.

Official results sheets for all classes are downloadable below in powerpoint format.

#flyingfifteen – As the Flying Fitteen's get close to the longest day of the year, the DBSC PRO certainly made sure they had the longest race of the year in light N/NE winds with an extremely strong ebbing tide. After the excitement of going to the FF Northerns at Cushendall last weekend it was back to bread and butter racing on the Bay. This first series was won by Tom Galvin, with Alan Dooley second aided by guest driver Jonathan ORourke finishing one point ahead of Doorly/Green, Tom Leonard finished fourth.

Back to last night's race, the pin end was favoured, there appeared to be more wind uptide out on the left and the two boats that stayed left came in to the first mark first and second. Green missed the mark allowing Jonathan & Carol in to take the lead. Downwind Green went right and got through to lead but it was to be short lived as Jonathan regained it on the next beat.

The wind was light and it looked like we wouldn't finish within the time but we all kept going. On the last beat out to East mark, Jonathan covered Green all the way up the beat on the right side allowing Tom & Geraldine to hit the left side, where there was consistently more wind, Tom came in at the mark into second place and this was how it stayed, Jonathan first, Leonard second and Green third with series winner Tom Galvin fourth. Well done Tom!

This Saturday the NYC regatta takes place and we are expecting a large turnout.

#flyingfifteen – British Flying fifteen ace Charles Apthorp will lead a training day for one of Dublin's biggest one design keelboat fleets on Saturday, June 7th. 

The former World and British champion from Hayling Island Sailing Club will focus initially on the critical area of mast set-up in the 20–foot keelboat. 

The training will start at 10am at the National Yacht Club before on the water tuition that will lead into DBSC racing where the class has been achieving turnouts of up to 18 boats for Bay competition.

#j109 – After several seasons of success on both inshore and offshore circuits, the Irish J109 class is expanding and hopes are high that the Irish title to be decided in Dun Laoghaire and not Cork as previoulsy announced, will be a 14–boat event.

London 2012 Olympic race officer Jack Roy will be in charge of the National Championships from Friday 18th July to Sunday 20th July at the National Yacht Club. Wires were previously crossed when a January piece indicated Cork Week would be the 2014 venue.

The Irish J109 fleet is expanding with two new new boats joining the Irish fleet this year.

There is now also a number of J109s from Wales and the West coast of UK participating in Irish events.

The 'Celtic Sea' area now boasts16 boats and the Irish class has forged much closer ties with UK sailors to promote a competitive sailing scene for the J109s.

The hope is to have at least 14 boats on the start line for the Dublin Bay Nationals.

#isora – It's a busy weekend for offshore sailors with both British and Irish crews heading on separate key races counting towards overall series points in the RORC and ISORA programmes but as well as the forthcoming fixtures the most pressing matter for offshore sailors this week is the hope of finding four fellow racing sailors alive in the Atlantic Ocean. As Afloat reported last night, renewed calls have been made for authorities to resume a search for a Brtitish crew from a 40–yacht returning from racing in the Caribbean.

On the UK South coast, a fleet of 40 yachts from five nations will compete in RORC's Myth of Malham Race while on the Irish east coast up to 20 are expected on ISORA's 100–mile race from Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead sailed under the burgee of the National Yacht Club.

One boat that will miss the start is Isle of Man regular, Polished Manx, a Sigma 33 that was dismasted and rescued a fortnight ago in a punishing race off Holyhead. It had been hoped that the yacht would be back on the startline on Friday but instead the aim now is to be ready for the Liverpool race on May 28th. Still not a bad turnaround!

The exact Irish Sea course to be sailed on Saturday will not  will be published until the eve of the race, next Friday evening, and may include one of ISORA's innovative new virtual marks. 

The race, which is also one of the qualifying races for next month's Round Ireland Race from Wicklow, will start in Scotsman's Bay in Dublin Bay between the DBSC 'Pier' mark and an adjacent committee boat flying a NYC burgee.

According to the Sailing Instructions, (downloadable below as a pdf file) the finish line off the Welsh coast shall be between the end of the Holyhead breakwater and the Clippera Buoy – 0.6 miles off pier head, bearing 067(T).

#flyingfifteen – National Flying fifteen champions Ian Mathews and Keith Poole were dismasted during a breezy start to the Dublin Bay season last weekend. It's a set back in preparations for this weekend's first regional Flying fifteen event at Dundalk Sailing Club on Carlingford Lough which the duo are still expecting to contest.

The National Yacht Club pair, who won the national championships in Dunmore East last season, broke a stay leaving them looking for a replacement spar for the County Louth fixture. Sailing Instructions for the event are downloadable below.

Up to 30 boats are expected on the northern lough on Saturday for a five race event that is forecasted to be a light air event.

Meanwhile, there was an early start to the season for a number of Irish FF sailors who travelled to Palma Vela regatta, held in Mallorca a fortnight ago. The National Yacht Club's Alan Green sailing with Michael Clough was the winner of the Flying Fifteen division. Irish crews Simon Murray, Chris Doorly and Ken Dumpleton were also racing in Spain.

In buoyant times for the class, the Kia sponsored Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet continues to expand with a number of new boats to the fleet as well as some crews upgrading their boats. For the first time in a long number of years the fleet has expanded to include boats in the DMYC. More on the FF fleet expansion here

Flying fifteen duo Ian Mathews and Keith Poole secure their boat after a dismasting in DBSC racing last weekend

#topper – A strong performance from Carlingford Lough's Conor Quinn saw off a home club challenge for the Jelly Bean sponsored Leinster Topper title at the National Yacht Club on Sunday. Full results downloadable below as a pdf file.

Quinn counted a  2,2,(3.0) 3, 2 and a final race win to finish the six race series on ten nett points, seven points clear of the host club's Hugh Perrette in second overall. Perette's club mate Heather Spain was third on 19 points.

The 35–boat fleet had sailors from 17 different Irish yacht clubs, including Royal Cork who dominated last weekend's Laser youth nationals at Howth. 

#surfing – The Irish Surfing Association (ISA) is planning to introduce up to 500 girls and women to Stand Up Paddle, one of the world's fastest growing water sports, at a weekend for women on the 10/11 May at one of Ireland's leadng yacht clubs, the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire.  

Stand Up Paddle or SUP is an ancient discipline of surfing that has re-emerged in recent years and is taking the world by storm. SUP can be enjoyed by everyone. Learning the basics is physically less demanding then surfing and it does not require waves to get going, therefore can be enjoyed on calm water.

The weekend is free. A team of all-female instructors will be on hand and all equipment required to get going will be supplied. Participants will only need bring a towel and swimming suit.

Our Stand Up Paddle weekend is hosted under the Women in Sport Initiative, run by the Irish Sports Council, to encourage more Irish women to participate in sport, and supported by the National Yacht Club.

For further information and booking contact-

Zoё Lally, Development Officer, Irish Surfing Association LTD, Easkey Surfing & Information Centre, Easkey, Co Sligo, Ireland Tel: Office: 096 49428 Mobile: 087 2333789

#yachtclubs – A new Dun Laoghaire-based political party, People United in Republican Endeavour (PURE), has launched its campaign for the forthcoming Local Government Elections with demands for changes in the style and names of the leading yacht clubs, both in Dun Laoghaire and throughout Ireland reports W M Nixon.

Introducing a Policy Document on behalf of PURE, the new party's spokesman Mr Hugh Mannity stated: "It makes me suffer to see these unfortunate people, the members of the Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs, being forced into aping the airs and graces of their former colonial oppressors".

 "Despite the imminence of a State Visit to the Queen of England by the President of Ireland, we who are PURE demand that all vestiges of former royal dominance and patronage be removed entirely from every organisation, building and boat in Ireland".

However, Mr Mannity insisted that the changeover would be effected with a minimum of expense. "We know that perhaps the most costly aspect of this fresh new initiative will be in the changing of signs, letterheads and so forth," he said. "In the case of yachts, there would be additional expense in changing the lettering on the hulls denoting the club to which the owner belongs."

The Research Department in PURE has been burning the midnight oil, Mr Mannity claimed, in order to minimise expense, or indeed make it unnecessary altogether. "Thanks to our far-seeing think tank," he said, "the initials for the Royal Irish Yacht Club will stay exactly the same, only now it will be known as the Republic of Ireland Yacht Club".

"Equally, the Royal St George Yacht Club will retain its initials, but the title of the club will be changed to the Religious St George Yacht Club. This is because we in PURE find it doubly offensive that a leading yacht club should have a royal title combined with a political overtone which completely ignores the underlying theme of the sanctity of St George. So we hope to put the holiness back into the club for the good of its members"

"A problem arises with the Royal Alfred Yacht Club. We find it offensive that it should commemorate a now unknown son of the ruthless Queen Empress Victoria. Thus we have decided that, while it should retain its present initials, it should henceforth be known as the Real Alfie Yacht Club, named in honour of the much-loved long-term Lord Mayor of Dublin Alfie Byrne, who was also world-renowned for his pioneering work in moustache research and manipulation."

Mr Mannity continued by stating that his grouping would show its even-handedness by insisting on a change in the title of the National Yacht Club. "While we laud this fine club's lack of any royal associations in its name," he said, "we are concerned that these days too many organisations, in sailing as elsewhere, insist on having "National" in their title, thereby rendering it meaningless. Thus we will expect the NYC to become the TNYC – the True National Yacht Club. We appreciate that this will cause the members some expense, but our Field Researchers who regularly walk Dun Laoghaire's East Pier with their whippets tell us that, judging by the boats stored in the club's forecourt, the members could well afford to lay out the money on a 'T'."

When questioned about PURE's intentions regarding the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Mr Mannity said he did foresee a special problem. The Republic of Cork already existed within the Rebel County, and re-naming the club would be a matter of whether or not it became the Republic of Cork Yacht Club, or the Rebel County Yacht Club. "There could well be blood in the streets over that one" he admitted.

However, in order to show the depth of research undertaken by PURE's think tank on this entire matter, Mr Mannity pointed outthat not many people were aware that within the Royal Cork YC's present structure, the old Royal Munster Yacht Club still existed, and was recognised by the role of Commodore in the RCYC officer board, along with the Admiral.

"We feel that too many problems would be created by trying to establish a Republic of Munster in order to facilitate the existence of a Republic of Munster Yacht Club. Thus we have decided it should be re-titled the Province of Munster Yacht Club. We realise that this will necessitate a small change in the initial letter. But where some traditionalists still have RMYC across the sterns of their boat, we would point out that changing it to PMYC would only involve painting out one little leg of the letter 'R'. However, to show our goodwill, a small phial of white paint will be provided to owners to facilitate the change. We realise that this will only work with white boats. But the Irish taxpayer cannot be expected to fork out hard-earned cash for the awkward minority who insist on parading about on the ocean in boats coloured Mediterranean Blue or Sunset Red or whatever, when any civilised person knows that all proper yachts are white".

In concluding his PURE statement, Mr Mannity admitted that the root of the problem in creating a Republic of Munster lay in the continuing existence of the Kingdom of Kerry. "We're not crazy" he asserted. "We know that trying to subsume Kerry into a new Republic in a combination with Cork would be a step too far".

"Nevertheless we feel strongly that it is time and more for the good people of Kerry to reconsider their claims to the status of being a monarchy. Thus we propose what we feel will be a real vote getter. We plan to re-position Kerry as a Duchy. And plans are well advanced to request a noted KiIgarvan family to become the hereditary Dukes of Kerry. We feel sure that this brilliant innovative idea will be a surefire runner"