Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Saturday fleet headed south on coastal courses in a light northerly on August 29th, with Aurelia, Something Else and Windjammer all completing IRC and ORC wins in Cruisers Zero, One and Two respectively.
It was a grey and subdued day on the bay, with flat seas and a light northerly breeze. It was also an exceptionally busy day for sailing along Ireland's east coast. The DBSC fleet shared Dublin Bay with the ILCA 7 Men's World Championship fleet, racing on a separate track in the north-west of the bay, the Majestic Princess on a cruise call anchored for the day in Scotsman's Bay while further south the Taste of Greystones Regatta was being staged off the Wicklow coast.
Offshore activity had begun much earlier, with the ISORA fleet starting from Dún Laoghaire at 8am for its race across the Irish Sea to Pwllheli, adding another fleet to the concentration of sailing activity stretching from Dublin Bay to the Wicklow coast.
Race Officer Barry McNeaney recorded a north-easterly breeze of seven to nine knots for the cruiser starts, while Brian Matthews' one-design course had a northerly of around nine knots.
Aurelia Heads Coastal Course to Bray
Cruisers Zero and One were sent on a coastal course from Dublin Bay, taking in the East mark, the Muglins and Bray Outfall, before returning via a laid mark east of the Muglins and Bulloch.
Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia won Cruiser Zero IRC, correcting to 3:00:08 to beat John Treanor's Cristina by five minutes and 29 seconds. Sean Lemass's Prima Forte was third.
Under ORC constructed-course scoring, Aurelia completed the double with a corrected time of 2:27:05. Prima Forte moved into second, 4:59 behind, with Tim Kane's Wow third. The ORC course data gave the coastal race distance as 12.05 nautical miles.
In Cruiser One, Brian anf John Hall's Something Else was the IRC winner, correcting to 2:44:48, 8:37 ahead of Fintan Cairns' Raptor. R & T Goodbody's White Mischief took third.
Something Else also headed the ORC results at 2:13:25, with Raptor again second, 8:34 behind, while Anthony Fox's Gringo moved into third ahead of White Mischief.
Windjammer Wins Shorter Cruiser Two Coastal
Cruiser Two sailed a shorter version of the coastal course, substituting Shanganagh Outfall for Bray Outfall, with the ORC course calculated at 9.15 nautical miles.
Lindsay J. Casey's Windjammer won IRC in 2:18:52 corrected, with Jim McCann's Peridot second, 11:07 behind, and Honey Bee, helmed by McStay McSwiney, third.
Windjammer also won under ORC, correcting to 1:58:55, with Peridot second by 6:28.
In Cruiser Three ECHO, Gerry Costello's Pamafe was the sole finisher, while Frank Guilfoyle's Papytoo was recorded DNF.
Greystones Bound: Part of the Cruiser 5A fleet departs Dublin Bay for the Taste of Greystones Regatta on a grey, flat Saturday afternoon Photo: Afloat
There was no completed Cruiser 5A race, with much of the fleet away competing at the Taste of Greystones Regatta. Bill Quigley's Misfits was the only 5A boat recorded as starting but did not finish.
Cruiser 5B produced three finishers, headed by Rodney Martin's Gemini, which won on ECHO in 2:40:14. Michael Keating's Red Tape was second, 4:11 behind, with Shane O'Neill's Afternoon Delight third.
IRC and ECHO results are below and ORC are here
Six Seconds Separate Beneteau 31.7 Leaders
One of the closest finishes of the afternoon came in the Beneteau 31.7 class, where John Power's Levante beat Chris Johnston's Prospect by just six seconds after more than two and a half hours of racing. Michael Bryson's Bluefin Two was third.
In the Dublin Bay 21s, Jean O'Driscoll's Naneen won from Michael Reid's Garavogue and Seán Doyle's Estelle.
Ailbe Millerick's Glenluce headed the Glen class from David McCaffrey's Pterodactyl, while Alison O'Brien's Glendun was DNF.
David Meeke's Alias won the Ruffian 23 race from Ann Kirwan and Brian Cullen's Bandit. Eimear Ní Mhéalóid's Ruff Diamond was OCS.
Flying Fifteen Honours Shared
Two Flying Fifteen races produced two different winners.
Frank Miller's Glass Half Full won the first from David Gorman's Fomo and Niall Meagher's Shadowfax.
Philip Lawton's Puffling took the second, with Fomo again runner-up and Peter Murphy's Hera third. Gorman's two second places made Fomo the most consistent performer across the two races.
There was a clean sweep in the J/80s, where Kevin Byrne's StarJay won both races, with George Misstear's Jambon second on each occasion.
In the only SB20 result posted, Michael O'Connor's Ted won from Patrick Ryan's Turbulence Too.
With DBSC's coastal and one-design fleets, the ILCA 7 Men's World Championship, the Taste of Greystones Regatta and the early-morning departure of the ISORA fleet for Pwllheli, the last Saturday of August produced an unusually concentrated programme of sailing along the Dublin and Wicklow coasts.
