Mysterious maritime events that happened on Dublin Bay exactly 256 years ago are recounted for the first time in a new book about an extraordinary seafarer, Captain George Glass and his brave wife.

The saga involves piracy, mutiny, and murder - and the Muglins Rocks at the southern tip of the Bay.

A thrilling non-fiction tale from Ireland of maritime murder and mayhem. In 1765, the Glass family became involved in multiple murders on a British ship off the southeast coast of Ireland.

Taking readers from Scotland to Senegal and back to the quaint fishing town of Dalkey, the author Des Burke Kennedy works with original research and narrative flair to deliver this historical story, with 30 illustrations.

This high quality bound hardback book is printed on 90gm Munken stock, using an easy-to-read 11.5pt New Baskerville font

Available directly from the author here.

The interest in the GP14 Frostbite Series on Dublin Bay continued with seven taking to the water last Sunday morning for some very close and competitive races.

Curly Morris with Josh Porter upfront joined Sam Street and Josh Lloyd and Colman Grimes and Meg Tyrrell in making the journey to Sutton Dinghy Club.

Add in the home Clubs Hugh and Dan Gill, Peter and Stephen Boyle, Alan Blay and Hugh McNally and Kerri-Ann Boylan & David Johnston and the build-up to the World Championships for Irish crews had some cracking racing under PRO Jim Lambkin with Safety and Mark Laying managed by Club Commodore Ian McCormack.

Despite it being low water, the racing was underway by ten past 11 in 15kts of breeze. Before the end of the morning, it had reached 20kts with a few gusts to 26kts. Aside from a broken toe-strap on the Blessington boat and a visit to the drink for Kerri-Ann and David during a spinnaker gybe, two superbly competitive races were completed.

On the day Alan Blay/Hugh McNally won both races.

Race 1: Alan Blay (1), Peter Boyle (2), Colman Grimes (3), Hugh Gill (4), Sam Street (5), Curly Morris (6), Kerri-Ann (7)
Race 2: Alan Blay (1), Peter Boyle (2), Hugh Gill (3), Kerri-Ann (4), Colman Grimes (5), Curly Morris (6), Sam Street (7)

Racing continues this Sunday.

John O'Gorman's Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club (on board footage from Prof O'Connell of North Sails below) is the overall leader of the mixed cruiser DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay after four of seven races sailed. 

Another top DBSC campaigner, the Lindsay Casey skippered J/97 Windjammer, from the Royal St. George Yacht Club, is lying second in the 75 boat fleet on 87 points, 11 points behind the leader. 

Early series leader Joker II (John Maybury's J/109 of the Royal Irish Yacht Club) is lying third on 94 points.

Download results below as a pdf file.

Race five starts next Sunday at 10.10hrs.

Race Organiser Fintan Cairns reports a great atmosphere in the Royal Irish Yacht Club Wet Bar and the Terrace after racing, subject to COVID guidelines.

‘All In A Row 2021’ is coming back to the capital’s River Liffey on Saturday 11th December with a rowing challenge for the teams to smash a 1,000km target in eight hours. Forty skiffs, kayaks, canoes and currachs will all be on the water to raise funds for RNLI Lifeboats and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit.

The organisers are hoping to exceed last year’s target of rowing 1,000km during the event on the river, which will start from St. Patrick’s Rowing Club at the Tom Clarke Bridge (formerly the East Link Bridge) and go up to the Ha’penny Bridge. The challenge is being undertaken with the aim of showcasing the River Liffey as one of Dublin’s best amenities while raising funds for the water-related charities, RNLI Lifeboats and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit. The event raised €15,000 in 2019.

The event will start at 9 am on Saturday 11th December and at 1 pm all boats will gather on the Liffey at the Sean O’Casey footbridge. A wreath-laying ceremony, attended by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, will take place to commemorate all those who have lost their lives through drowning.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Alison Gilliland, who will be attending the event, said “The River Liffey is such an important part of the city of Dublin and it is wonderful to see so many people using and enjoying the river in a range of skiffs, kayaks, canoes and currachs. Best of luck to all those taking part and well done for rising to the challenge of rowing 1,000 km, showcasing our beautiful river and raising money for two great water-related charities, RNLI Lifeboats and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit.”

Many Dublin rowing clubs have their home on the River Liffey and are a regular sight on the water. At the port end of the river is St. Patrick’s Rowing Club, Stella Maris Rowing Club, East Wall Water Sports Group and Poolbeg Yacht and Boat club. Ringsend Basin is home to the Plurabelle Paddlers (dragon boats) and the Dublin Viking Dragon boats.

At the other end of the city beyond Heuston Station, there are many river rowing clubs and kayaking clubs, including Phoenix Rowing Club. Rowing clubs from other parts of Ireland will join in this challenge to raise funds for RNLI Lifeboats and the Irish Underwater Search and Recovery Unit.

The J/109 Dear Prudence is the overall leader of the mixed cruiser DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay after three of seven races sailed. 

The 1720 sportsboat 'What did you Break?' that led until race two is now in sixth place at the Royal Irish Yacht Club hosted event.

Download results below as a pdf file.

Second is a former double winner of the Christmas Series – one of the biggest yachts in the fleet – theFirst 50, Mermaid IV that sailed home in third place last Sunday.

The Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie is third overall. 

Race four starts next Sunday at 10.10hrs.

The 1720 sportsboat 'What did you Break?' is the overall leader of the mixed cruiser DBSC Turkey Shoot Series on Dublin Bay after two of seven races sailed. 

Download results below as a pdf file.

Second is the former GBR Commodore's Cupper, the First 40 Prima Forte, while another Turkey Shoot regular, the 1720 Optique, lies third overall.

Race three starts next Sunday at 10.10hrs.

Race Organiser Fintan Cairns reports a great atmosphere in the Royal Irish Yacht Club Wet Bar and the Terrace after racing, subject to COVID guidelines.

The life and times of Dublin Bay and glimpses of its wildlife against the backdrop of the capital and major port is the theme of a new series beginning on TG4 this week.

Filmed over four seasons, An Cuan is narrated by Eoin Warner. The series is billed as “a celebration of the beauty of Dublin Bay and a timely reminder of the challenges and dangers that its natural habitat faces”.

With a population of almost 1.5 million, Dublin Bay is also home to one of the most important wildlife conservation projects on the island, the series points out.

The series describes how the brent goose is the “unofficial mascot” of the Dublin Bay Biosphere, finding an unlikely feeding ground in the port.

In the first episode, which begins with Spring, Bull Island and the seabird colonies of Howth are explored, while kitesurfers take to the water. However, environmental challenges, including one family’s battle to save its house from the “ever-encroaching” sea and the impact of gorse fires in Howth are also profiled.

A Dublin Bay seal

Special pontoons built for the local tern population among the cranes and berths of Dublin Port are filmed in the second episode, entitled Summer, when the bee orchid comes into bloom on Bull island.

The vintage Howth 17 fleet feature in the new TG4 Series

The impact of human activity – on litter and in gorse fires – is also a theme, while Joyceans celebrate the special connection between Ulysses and Dublin Bay on Bloomsday, June 16th.

Autumn and winter seasons are captured in the final two episodes of the series, which was produced by Oddboy Media for TG4.

An Cuan is on TG4 from Wednesday November 10th at 9.30 pm

For sixty years and more, Carmel Winkelmann was a force of nature and a power for the good in sailing in Ireland, especially in Dublin Bay. While she gave generously of her time in all areas of interest, her speciality was the encouragement of young people into the sport, and the development of their talents. Her death in June of this year in her 93rd year marked the end of an era, and now it is time for the Final Watch, the scattering of her ashes on the waters of her beloved bay.

Tomorrow (Saturday 30th October) at 2.15 pm, a small flotilla led by the Winkelmann family will leave the Royal Irish YC heading for the Muglins, and accompanied by fellow sailors from Dublin Bay SC and the other Dun Laoghaire clubs with which Carmel was associated.

Communication will be on VHF 72 to co-ordinate a simple yet significant ceremony to mark the Final Watch for one of sailing’s truest and most enduring enthusiasts and pioneers.

The East Coast Cruisers Zero competition just got tougher with the news that a third J122 may be joining the Dublin fleet later this year. 

In 2021, Chris Power Smith's top ISORA offshore performer J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club got company in May from a new Greystones Harbour sistership Kaya (Frank Whelan), which went on to win ICRA and Calves Week honours this season as well as last month's September's DMYC Kish Race too.

The Golden One - Chris Power-Smith's Royal St. George J122, Aurelia

The J/122, a 40-foot cruiser/racer, was designed by Alan Johnstone of the legendary J/Boats family and built in France by J/Europe. Its sporty credentials include light-to-moderate displacement (14,900 pounds), minimal overhangs, and a slippery, flat-bottomed hull form.

Now, Afloat understands that a third Irish J122 is destined for Howth (but with Dublin Bay 2022 race plans), will join from France.

The new addition, an 'Elegance' version, may arrive here in time for at least some of the forthcoming DBSC Turkey Shoot Series starting in November.

Hammy Baker of Strangford Lough has won the RS Aero National Championships on an imposing score of three first places with a discard of a sixth. The RS Aero Nationals sponsored by Irish National Marine Services were held on Saturday and Sunday at the Irish National Sailing Club in Dun Laoghaire.

It was a repeat of Baker's unstoppable performance in July when he won the RS Aero Easterns at the Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

The event welcomed 18 RS Aeros with a stellar lineup of top-class competitors and those newer to the class looking to learn and bring on their racing. All sailors choose to compete in the seven rigs. Class President Brendan Foley was delighted "With 18 of the 30 Aeros in Ireland competing here today, the Aero class has arrived – there are few other classes where so many past champions in other classes are sailing together, and so many new people are starting their racing journey, all in a friendly, sharing environment".

On the water, Baker was pushed hard by Howth's Paul McMahon, who opened the series on the Saturday with a win in frustratingly light and fickle winds. Only just for McMahon, as Roy Van Maanen, who had been leading, started to sail an extra lap – letting McMahon in, who in his excitement roll gybed so hard he fell out of his boat. A quick re-righting was enough to get McMahon across the line in first. Noel Butler of the National Yacht Club was second, and Sean Craig, back to try his hand at Aeros, got into the third spot. So light was the wind after race one that Race Officer Michael Conway of Wexford decided to abandon and send the fleet home after two hours of waiting for race two.

Thankfully, Sunday brought the much-awaited breeze gusting at times into the low twenties. A clear 1,2,3 emerged in these conditions, with Hammy, Paul and Daragh Sheridan (HYC) consistently in the top 3. Hard hiking, playing the shifts and sound waves technique downwind were the order of the day and while the first three places were secured, a massive battle was going on for fourth between Brendan Foley of the Royal St George, Noel Butler and Robert Howe (ex UK Laser ace) now sailing from Monkstown Bay Sailing Club. All three boats finished on 14 points, with the tie-break falling in favour of Butler in 4th, Foley in 5th and Howe in 6th. Howe's clubmate Emmet O'Sullivan was fast in serious condition. He put in a very credible 9th with another Monkstown Bay sailor Robbie Sullivan swopping his RS 400 for a blast in the Aero coming home in 11th.

Joan Sheffield Captain INSC, Hammy Baker - National Champion, Kenneth Rumball RS Agent ROI and sponsor

Sarah ‘Skinny’ Dwyer (left) - First Lady RS Aero sailor

In this brilliant one-design fleet, places traded faster than bitcoin, with a missed shift or bad tack resulting in areas lost or gained. Debutant competitors from Greystones Sailing Club Conor Galligan (10th) and Adam Leddy (12th) loved their introduction into the Aero class and put in a strong performance in a field stacked with champions. The first Master was Sean Craig of the Royal St George in 7th place who just edged Van Maanen of Greystones and George in 8th place and second Master. Emmet O'Sullivan was the third Master.

13th was lucky for some with Sarah 'Skinny' Dwyer battling her 7 rig around the course to win the first Lady prize. Normally a 5 rig sailor, completing all 4 races in a 7 was a great achievement and Skinny along with many of the competitors, as their legs were aching, dreamed of the forthcoming 6 rig. Demand for the 6 rig coming soon from RS is expected to be high with many sailors moving up from the 5 and down from the 7. The 6 is equivalent to the ILCA 6 is tipped to be the boat of choice for many sailors in Ireland.

Race management legend Robin Gray was first Grand Master in 14th with club mate from Ballyholme Christina Cunningham coming home in 15th place, who like skinny is normally a 5 sailor but stuck it out to get her 7 around the track. John Phelan of HYC, Mick Mc Cambridge of NYC and Keith Maxwell of EDYC certainly equipped themselves well in the very challenging conditions on the Sunday. Protest Committee Chair Gordon Davies was sad to not meet any of the competitors as there were no protests.

Joan Sheffield, Captain of the host Irish National Sailing Club presented the prizes in beautiful sunshine overlooking Dublin bay from their stunning outdoor roof deck. There was great buzz and everyone is looking for the next event at Greystones on 23/24th of October

Download results below as a PDF file