Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

#dbsc – After the success of the Irish National Sailing Club's racing programme in conjunction with the Royal Irish Yacht Club for the Dublin Bay Sailing Club Turkey Shoot, INSC took the decision to grow the programme and build on it for the Dublin Bay Sailing Club Spring Series 2013 writes instructor Kenneth Rumball.
Lots of old faces returned for the Spring Series and with those less skilled with the spinnaker, we ran a training day one week prior to the start of the series. For this training day we had two boats learning the ins and outs of mastering the mast-head spinnakers on the 1720s. Kenneth Rumball and Brian Flahive were the two coaches on the day showing our sailors the best way to handle these spinnakers on the faster boats.
Unfortunately, the first morning of racing had to be cancelled. A wise decision given the forecast for the day of a building breeze, a bit of a let-down for our clients. However, we occupied the morning in the National Yacht Club discussing our plans for the coming weeks over a few cups of coffee.
The following week couldn't have come quick enough; with a lighter forecast and some lighter weather we enjoyed a fantastic first race. The wet and cold didn't put anybody off, and our three skippers for the series, Kenneth Rumball, Noel Butler and Andrew Boyle were all eager to show our crews around the race-track. Noel and Kenneth started at the pin end with a strong pin bias while Andy was a little bit further down the line. We tackled the long port leg leaving most of the boats in our start in our wake and catching some of the start 2 boats by the first mark. With a building breeze, the prudent thing would have been for the boats to move from a mast-head spinnaker to a fractional kite however it was a case of 'go big or go home' and the big kites found their way to the top of the rig! This gave us all a great last blast downwind with INSC 1 pippng the 1720 Luna Sea on the line to take line honours.
Week 3 and Race 2, big waves and big breeze from the east. The race was always going to be rough with a falling tide and gusts of 30 knots form the east gave us a big wind against tide sea state across the course. With the weather mark being the Muglins Islands themselves the conditions at the weather mark were interesting to say the least. INSC1 went in close to the shoreline of Sandycove and Dalkey to keep out of the tide and also get into the flatter water allowing for improved boat speed. INSC 2 & 3 took a more offshore route, getting the worst of the big seas! For every cloud there is a silver lining, what you slog through up wind, once you come around the top mark and pop the kite, nothing beats a 1720 downwind in the big breeze. Our 1720s were seen comfortably screaming past A35s and J109s revelling in the conditions.
Race 3 was an altogether lighter affair. INSC2 picked out some dark rain clouds on the left of the course and kept heading that way. INSC1 and INSC3 took a course more up the middle of the track. The left paid, allowing INSC2 to comfortably get around the mark at the top of the fleet. A 'Z' course caused all manners of fun and games with INSC1 decided to ambitiously go for a windward hoist on a tight reach leg, needlessly to say this manoeuvre went somewhat interestingly. A great race with INSC 2 claiming line honours!
The final race of the Spring Series being Race4 was in doubt due to a refreshing lack of wind. We drifted/sailed out to the race course and enjoyed a fantastic race. INSC1 & INSC2 were neck and neck around the weather mark not giving each other an inch! However at the bottom mark, the J109 Ruth did INSC1 a massive favour by sailing on top of INSC2. This enabled INSC1 to gain back their advantage. A close tacking duel between the two boats up the rest of the right of the beat was hard work for all crews. INSC1 came out on top only being pipped to line honours by the J109 Ruth.
Little did we know this was to be the last race of an exciting and adventurous series. All crews gained invaluable experience and are looking ahead to the busy summer season.
The Irish National Sailing Club is up and running with all it's Adult Sail Training Programmes and we are looking to the DBSC Tuesday night's series as the next Race Training programme. We will be in this case focusing on clients taking the helm and learning how to drive our boats to victory.