IDRA14’s, Vagos and Finns from the DBSC, Fireflies from the universities, Magno’s and Pico’s from the INSS, and Waszp’s toing and froing from the National YC – Dun Laoghaire harbour on Saturday represented all that is good and healthy about dinghy sailing in Dublin Bay, as the DBSC dinghy fleets gathered for the final Saturday races of the season.
A light breeze and glorious warm sunshine greeted the sailors as they made their way to the race area. A full turnout of eight boats in the IDRA14 fleet continued a season long trend – a trend which has seen a 67% average turnout for Saturday racing.
Racing has been both competitive and good natured, with tight competition on the water matched by a strong spirit of friendship and cooperation off the water. Saturday racing within the harbour walls has provided great opportunities to introduce new members both to the class and to racing in Dublin Bay. This was also evident on Saturday when Charles Sargent brought his granddaughter Eimear (pictured above) out for her first active racing in an IDRA14.
On the racing itself Frank Hamilton and Marjo Moonen in 14/140 proved to be an unstoppable force as they recorded three straight wins (results are here) to put them in pole position for the Saturday title. In the PY fleet, Richard Tate made a successful return in his Finn to also record three straight wins.
Brian Murphy of the IDRA14 fleet in Dun Laoghaire told Afloat.ie 'we would like to extend our thanks to DBSC, the committee boat personnel, and the patrol crew personnel for what has been a very successful 2017, and we look forward to more competitive Saturday racing with an ever growing fleet in 2018'
