Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) yacht racing for its Blue fleet, Green fleet and dinghy divisions was cancelled on the Bay this afternoon just as races were about to get underway.

A heavy sea mist brought visibility down to less than 100 metres before 2 pm start time forcing DBSC Race officers to fly AP race postponements signals.

Soon after DBSC Committee vessels were flying 'N over A' as visibility became very poor at Dun Laoghaire Harbour and across the Bay.

Race Officers on these courses were Ed Totterdell, Barry O’Neill and Suzanne McGarry.

The bank of fog that cancelled a large section of DBSC racing at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: courtesy Barry O'Neill

The Hut fleet comprising Cruisers 4, 5, Shipman, Glen and DB21 did however manage to race in a 10-knot easterly under Race Officer Jim Dolan.

20 boats started, 18 finished.

DBSC Results below. Live Dublin Bay webcams here

Colin Byrne's XP33 Bon Exemple from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner of tonight's windy third race of the AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Thursday night series.

Tony Fox's A35 Gringo from the National Yacht Club was second with Andrew Craig's RIYC J109 Chimaera in third place in the 12-boat fleet.

Flat seas with strong westerlies up to 20-knots made for some excellent racing.

The top three in a four-boat Cruisers Zero contest was an entirely RIYC affair. Paul O'Higgins JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI, who will contest Saturday's cross channel ISORA race, was the winner from Patrick Burke's First 40.7, Prima Forte. Third was Rodney and Keith Martin's 44.7 Lively Lady.

In IRC 2, Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless won from Leslie Parnell's First 34.7 Black Velvet with Richard Lovegrove's Sigma 33 Rupert third in an eight boat turnout.

The DBSC Cruiser division Race Officer was Eddie Totterdell.

In the one designs, DMYC sailors finished occupied the top three of a 13-boat Flying Fifteen race. Alastair Court's Ffinisterre won from Ben Mulligan's Enfant de Marie with Neil Colin's FFuzzy third.

As the SB20s build up for their RIYC based World championships this September (and this month's Dun Laoghaire Sportsboat Cup), Davy Taylor's Ted from the Royal St. George won from Ger Dempsey's Royal Irish based Venuesworld. Third was Barry Glavin's Seabiscuit.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below

John O’Driscoll at the helm of No. 15 Moosmie was the winner of Wednesday's single DBSC Water Wag dinghy race in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. 

Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly ran racing over three rounds in a westerly breeze with gusts of up to 20 knots.

All boats carried a reef in the blustery conditions. 20 boats started and 18 finished. 

The second boat home was No. 38 Swift sailed by Guy Kilroy with Martin Byrne's No 49 Hilda in third position.

John O’Driscoll at the helm of No. 15 Moosmie crosses the finish line to win Photo: Brendan Briscoe

With winds between 8 and 20+ knots and plenty of squalls predicted, racing took place for the DBSC Lasers inside Dun Laoghaire harbour on Tuesday, May 10th. Staying in your boat with the mast pointing at the sky was the best tactic. In the Radials, with huge wind shifts allowing for big gains upwind, the never say die attitude of Michael Norman and Hugh Cahill allowed them to share the honours with one win each.

In the standard rig Gary O’Hare and Conor O’Leary, standing in for Theo Lyttle, battled it out. Both had capsizes and the 2nd race was particularly close after a well-fought battle for the favoured pin end at the start.

All sailors were delighted when the DBSC race committee posted a X2 course rather than X3, there were some tired sailors nursing their boats ashore afterwards.

Standard Rig

Race 1, 1: Gary O’Hare 2: Theo Lyttle

Race 2, 1: Gary O’Hare 2: Theo Lyttle

Radial rig

Race 1, 1: Hugh Cahill 2: Michael Norman 3: Judy O’Beirne

Race 2, 1: Michael Norman 2: Alison Pigot 3: Judy O’Beirne

RS Aero sailor Noel Butler was last night's winner of both DBSC PY races and sits on three net points to lead the overall Dublin Bay series after four races sailed by six points. 

The DBSC Race officer for the inside Dun Laoghaire Harbour racing was Declan Traynor. Winds were 10 to 12 knots from the southwest.

Second overall, counting a two and a three last night, is Greystones Harbour sailor Roy Van Maanen.

Third overall is Richard Tate in his Finn dinghy.

Butler has had a busy start to the racing season with – in the last fortnight alone – a podium finish on Lake Garda at the Italian Nationals RS Aero Series while last weekend he was back in his Fireball dinghy for some pre-World championship training on Lough Derg.

On arrival at the sea-front late on Saturday morning, one might have been forgiven for thinking that Keat’s Ode to Autumn was in vogue as a mist had descended on Dun Laoghaire to the extent that there was shore-side speculation as to whether we would get to race at all. Curiously though, there was sense that there was some breeze on the water. In the absence of any sound signals or flags to the contrary, the fleets went afloat………..and were rewarded with a glorious afternoon of sunshine with and a breeze that the weather mark rib recorded as 4.5knots early in the afternoon. The Flying Fifteen fleet mustered 18 boats on the water, including Dunmore East visitors Lee Statham and Andy Paul, in their upgraded Fifteen, 4070. Their previous boat, 3896 (I think) is also in Dun Laoghaire in the ownership of Adrian Cooper.

XCWeather was suggesting a SE breeze that would go ESE as the afternoon wore on, but in the light conditions, it was also a day for watching what was happening on other parts of the Bay. Is it ever otherwise? The Race Officer took the Green Fleet west of the harbour and set up a 2-lap Windward-Leeward course for the first race of the day. At one stage the conversation between RO and Rib driver suggested a beat of 1900m, with the weather mark in the direction of the harbour.

Initially, there was a suggestion that there was more breeze out the left-hand side, but then there was the question of where the tide could be used to best advantage, given that at 14:00 it was approaching the fastest rate of flow, with high water at approx. 17:00. My recall is that the lead boats came in from the left-hand side at the top mark and on rounding the spreader mark most boats went right initially, before taking an inshore hitch. On this first downwind leg there was no sense of the leading group pulling away from the rest of the fleet, but rather there was a steady stream of boats rounding the mark. To the fore though were John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (4093), David Gorman (4099), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028).

Bearing in mind that there had been a promise of the wind going slightly further east, this correspondent and helm, Ben Mulligan (4081) stayed on the left-hand side of the second beat and were rewarded by catching up to Messrs Mulvin & Beirne and a low single digit placing. These two crossed each other’s paths on the downwind leg, in gentlemanly fashion and by the leeward mark, Mulligan had eked out a “short-head lead”. In the two-sail fetch to the finish, Mulligan held on to finish ahead of Mulvin.

For the second race, the Race Officer set a four-lap Windward – Leeward course with a proposal that the race might be shortened at the weather mark. Again, there was some debate as to which was the best way to tackle the beats, but for a substantial part of the race, the lead group was made up of Statham/Paul, Lavery/Green, Gorman, Mulvin/Beirne, Colin/Casey. Others who flirted with a top ten position included Niall Coleman, sailing with his daughter (4008), Tom Murphy & Carel (4057), John O’Sullivan & Cas (3762) and Peter Sherry, sailing with his daughter (4056).

While there was a bit more “oomph” for this second race, the wisdom of checking what was happening elsewhere came to the rescue of 4081. Rounding the leeward mark of a shortened three-lap race in the low teens, we observed other classes enjoying breeze beyond the top right-hand corner of our course. While the majority of the boats ahead of us had gone to sea, we ploughed an inshore furrow and found ourselves being lifted on the port tack as we moved up the course. A timely header allowed us to put in a starboard tack for the finish line and while three boats went past us, we were able a to sneak a fourth place.

Race 1: Lavery & Green, Mathews & Poole, Gorman, Colin & Casey, Mulligan & Bradley.

Race 2: Statham & Paul, Lavery & Green, Gorman, Mulligan & Bradley, Mulvin & Beirne.

Saturdays Overall (after 4 races & 1 discard)

1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 6pts
2. David Gorman 8pts
3. John Lavery & Alan Green 11pts
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 11pts
5. Lee Statham & Andy Paul 13pts.

Royal St George Yacht Club skipper Chris Power Smith, won the Cruiser 0 DBSC Saturday Series Race in IRC today on the J122 Aurelia. The race which was nearly three hours long was sailed in light to medium winds against a flooding tide on Dublin Bay. It was very competitive both on the water and on the clock.

Royal Irish boats filled the rest of the podium in the AIB sponsored series. Second place was taken by Patrick Burke on the First 40 Prima Forte with Keith and Rodney Martin's First 44.7 Lively Lady in third.

Tim Kane skippering the new Extreme 37 Wow, with co-owner George Sisk onboard and a 'Happy 60th Birthday Balloon' flying from the backstay, celebrated his birthday in style by winning line honours by just over a minute from Aurelia.

Power Smith was competing for the first time in six years in DBSC after a long absence since winning the Cruiser 1 Series for two years in a row in his former J/109 Rollercoaster.

As Afloat previously reported, the Aurelia crew are preparing for the 240-mile Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale around the Blasket Island taking place on the 20th of May. The only Dublin boat entered in the race, they see it as the perfect warm-up race for the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race starting from Wicklow on the 18th of June.

In an 11 boat race in the 'Cruisers 1 IRC fleet, also under Race officer Barry MacNeaney, Timothy Goodbody's RIYC J109 White Mischief won from John Hall's National Yacht Club J109 Something Else. Third was Colin Byrne's XP33, Bon Exemple.

James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot was the Cruisers 2 IRC winner in a four-boat turnout from Lindsay J. Casey's Royal St. George J/97 Windjammer. Third was Casey's clubmate, Dick Lovegrove, in the Sigma 33 Rupert.

A similarly sized class, Class 3 'Cruisers 3 IRC, was won by Frazer Meredith's Asterix ahead of Myles Kelly's Maranda. Third was Kevin Byrne's Starlet. 

In the one-design divisions under Race Officer Barry O'Neill, Lee Statham won in a 16 boat Flying Fifteen fleet. Second was John Lavery's Phoenix, with third place going to David Gorman in new boat number 4099. 

Flying Fifteens exiting the leeward mark in Saturday's DBSC race on Dublin Bay

In an eight boat Ruffian 23 fleet, David Meeke sailing Alias won from Michael Cultiffe's Ruffles. Third was Frank Bradley in Ripples.

Full results here

There was an impressive turnout of seven of the ten Cruisers Zero class yachts entered for the second Thursday Race of the AIB DBSC Summer Series on Dublin Bay tonight.

The weekend winner of the light wind ISORA coastal race was again dominant in sub ten knots on the Bay. Paul O'Higgins JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI beat clubmate Patrick Burke's Prima Forte in the one hour forty-minute race for IRC honours. Third was Royal St. George's Aurelia skippered by Chris Power Smith.

There was also a strong 11-boat turnout in the Cruisers One division where another Royal Irish yacht was also on top in the light airs. 

Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief was the first of three J109s home. Andrew Craig's Chimaera was second with Paul Barrington's Jalapeno in third.

In the one-design fleets, the Flying Fifteens, as DBSC's biggest keelboat class, had a turnout of 18 from a possible 32. The race was won by David Mulvin's Ignis Caput with Neil Colin's FFuzzy second and Keith Poole's Mike Wazowski third as reported here

Noel Butler put his recent top form in Italy to good use on Dublin Bay last night when the RS Aero sailor won the PY division of the AIB DBSC Tuesday race.

Winds were light southerlies light and racing took place in Scotsman's Bay under Race Officer Jim Dolan.

RS Aeros took the top three places with Michael McCambridge's RanchAero second and Sarah Dwyer's Tikka in third.

Overall, after just two races sailed in a ten boat Tuesday Series, Butler leads by three points from Richard Tate on six. Greystones sailor Roy Van Maanen is third on eight.

Patrick Burke's Prima Forte from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the big boat winner by just over a minute on corrected time of the first Saturday AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club 2022 Summer sailing season after the cancellation of the first scheduled race a week ago due to strong winds.

Saturday's light southerly winds were often less than five knots and in some of DBSC's 22 classes, not all boats finished the course. 

Burke's First 40.7 beat clubmate Tim Kane and George Sisk's WOW, an X-Treme 37 from South Africa that is new to the Bay this season. Third in the DBSC Cruiser IRC Zero class was Keith and Rodney Martin's Lively Lady, a First 44.7.

While there is an impressive ten DBSC Cruisers 0s entered for 2022, a full turnout has yet to occur as yesterday's 15-boat ISORA fixture drew several entries to the coastal race to County Wicklow and back. 

An impressive nine boat DBSC Cruisers One IRC class (from a possible 14 entered) was won by the XP33 Bon Exemple skippered by Colin Byrne of the RIYC ahead of Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the RIYC. Third was John Hall's J109 Something Else from the National Yacht Club.

See full results in all classes here