After two weather-related Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) cancellations and last week's disruption to the Blue Fleet programme, racing returned to Dublin Bay on Thursday evening with cruiser and one-design keelboat fleets back in action across a range of classes.
Cruiser racing was contested under IRC, ECHO and ORC handicaps, while the bay's one-design keelboat classes continued their summer programmes in conditions that allowed a full evening of competition.
IRC and ORC Cruisers
In Cruiser Zero, Sean Lemass's First 40 Prima Forte secured victory ahead of Tim Kane's X-Treme 37 Wow. The same pair occupied the top two places under ORC scoring, with Prima Forte completing a clean sweep of the division.
Cruiser One produced one of the closest contests of the evening. Brian and John Hall's J/109 Something Else won under IRC ahead of Barry Cunningham's Chimaera, while the Shanahan family's Ruth and Bobby Kerr's Riders on the Storm shared third place on corrected time. Under ORC, Chimaera reversed the result to head Something Else and Riders on the Storm.
In Cruiser Two IRC, Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer finished first ahead of Brendan Foley's modified First Class 8 Allig8R and Philip Lovegrove's Sigma 33 Rupert. ORC scoring favoured Allig8R, which took victory from Windjammer and Rupert.
IRC Results below and ORC results are here
ECHO Fleet
The ECHO divisions again provided some of the evening's most competitive handicap racing. Michael Ryan's Saki led Cruiser ECHO home ahead of Gerry Costello's Pamafe and Frank Guilfoyle's Papytoo.
In Cruiser 5A ECHO, Derek Ryan's Brizo claimed first place from Bill Quigley's Misfits and Peter Richardson's Dehliverence. Cruiser 5B ECHO went to Howard Knott's Calypso, (pictured top) with Gavin Denn's Setanta second and Menapia, sailed by J McSweeney and P Madigan, third.
Class Act — Patrick Shannon's Beneteau 211 Beeswing won her class on Thursday evening, leading Capilano and Isolde as DBSC's one-design keelboat fleets completed the final race of Series A on Dublin Bay. Photo: Afloat
Flying Fifteens
The Flying Fifteens again supplied the largest one-design fleet on the water. Fourteen boats entered and ten recorded finishing positions. Sean Craig's Farfalla led home Alastair Court's Ffinisterre, while Niall Coleman's Flyer completed the top three.
Ruffian 23s and Sportsboats
The Ruffian 23 fleet produced six finishers from eight entries. Ann Kirwan's Bandit secured victory ahead of Frank Bradley's Ripples, with Brendan Duffy's Scéal Eile taking third place.
Five boats completed the Sportsboat race, where Martin Ryan's Jambiya finished ahead of Stephen Gill's Javelin and Kevin Byrne's StarJay.
Other One-Design Keelboats
The Beneteau 31.7 fleet saw Chris Johnston's Prospect take the honours from John Power's Levante, while Michael Bryson's Bluefin Two was third.
Patrick Shannon's Beeswing (pictured above) won the Beneteau 211 class ahead of Capilano and Jimmy Martin's Isolde.
In the Dragon fleet, Declan Gordon's Zinzan defeated WhyWhyWhy? in a two-boat finish, while John Bligh's Glencree overcame Ross Cahill-O'Brien's Osiris in the Glen class.
The SB20 fleet was won by Michael O'Connor's Ted, ahead of Colin Galavan's Carpe Diem and Ger Dempsey's venuesworld.com.
The Shipman 28 class saw Alain Deladiennee's Poppy finish first, with David Freeman's Twocan second and Gerard Glynn's Invader third.
Thursday's race also marked the conclusion of DBSC's Series A programme, bringing the opening phase of the 2026 Thursday Series to a close before competitors move into the next stage of the summer schedule on Dublin Bay.
