DBSC Starter’s Hut Arrival Signals Dun Laoghaire Sailing Season is About to Start

15th April 2017

Donal O'Sullivan

The DBSC Starter's hut is moved into position on the West Pier at Dun Laoghaire

The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Starter’s Hut, that enduring centre of Dublin Bay racing for the best part of fifty years, was moved to it traditional platform on the West Pier on Friday morning, at the ungodly hour of 7:30 am writes DBSC Hon Sec Donal O'Sullivan.

For sailors along the Dun Laoghaire waterfront, the appearance of the Hut on the Pier is regarded as a warning signal that the start of Dublin Bay season is now in count down mode. In fact, the start of the season is just short of a fortnight away, with the usual flurry and last-minute servicing activity among DBSC’s 300 boat owners and crews.

DBSC hut 2 Used every Tuesday and Saturday the current hut was built by DMYC member Denis Nolan who also constructed the flag hoist. Photo: Chris Moore

There has been a starter’s hut on the seaward side of the Pier since 1968. Before that, boats started inside the Harbour, just beyond from where the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club is now. The chief race officer, Jack Kennedy, presided over racing – and presided is the right word – from a wooden shelter on the Pier.

With the arrival on the scene of new ferries, the then-Harbour Master, Commander Thompson, decided that racing in and out of the Harbour was not such a good idea. The proposal was then made to start and finish outside the Harbour, with a starter’s hut located, at the knuckle or elbow nearest the West Pier lighthouse. The late Stanley Dyke drew up the plans (with Tim Goodbody designing new courses) and a hut has been there ever since – at least during the sailing seson.

DBSC Hut Ned Knight Ned Knight of the National Yacht Club in an early photo of the DBSC Starters Hut at its 'new' location on the West Pier. Photo: Courtesy Simon Coate

The present structure dates from 1993. In that year the DBSC committee decided that the Hut was showing signs of stress and decided to replace it. Demolishing it turned out, surprisingly, to be somewhat of a fraught affair. No sooner had the demolition crew applied their drills etc. to the outside surface than the whole structure collapsed in a cloud of smoke and flame. Con Moran, the committee member in charge, later entertained his fellow-committee members with a graphic description of the event – dropped jaws all round and a natural inclination among all present to take to their heels

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