Between the delivery of its new committee boat and the strong entries received so far, it looks like a great season ahead for Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC).
DBSC Commodore Ed Totterdell visited builder Gerry Smyth Boats on St. Brigid's holiday weekend and was delighted with the progress. “We have a firm delivery date of March, and she will be on station for the first race of the season,” he told Afloat.
With a bumper edition of the pre-Christmas Turkey shoot successfully concluded and with racing already underway in the Spring Chicken Warm-Up Series, DBSC 2024 summer racing begins in April
DBSC has received entries for each of its racing classes, with, for example, over half of the B211 class having entered so far. "With a very busy season on the bay, including the club regattas, J Cup, J109 Europeans, ICRAs and IRC European Championships, we have a lot of work to do to make sure we provide all our members a season to remember and receive these entries helps with that planning", Totterdell said.
Ruffian 23s will now start with the DBSC Red Fleet for Saturday Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat
"We intend to contact the Class Captains of CR0, 1 and 2 shortly and ask that they poll their members who have entered as to whether they would like to start their race (Starred races do not count towards season points) for the Saturday of the ICRAs," he says.
"It is important, therefore, that everyone has a voice, and we urge members to put their entries in as soon as possible, he notes.
Some classes have also approached DBSC to change their racing schedule, such as the Ruffians now starting with the Red Fleet on Saturdays and the FF15s changing their position in the start sequence, putting them as second start to the SB20s.
Between making these changes, designing some new regatta-type courses, commissioning and launching the new committee boat and working with the clubs to ensure DBSC can run racing while they run championships, it is shaping up to be a busy and exciting 2024 season.
