After an extended run of light wind conditions for Thursday night racing, Flying Fifteen Race Officer John McNeilly had some wind to play with on Thursday night (August 4).

The DBSC results sheet for the night suggests we had 10–18 knots on the course, but post-race John made the comment that he had recorded 10 – 16 knots. My sense was that the higher wind strength was at the start of the evening. Fifteen boats made their way out to the start and as the wind was behaving in accordance with the forecast – N-Westerly, a race from the QW suite of races was chosen – QW2. It appears that this caused some confusion later on the course, with one person citing dyslexia pre-start as their excuse for getting the course wrong.

QW2 – Harbour-Island-Pier-Island-Omega-Island-Finish was a course that involved lots of spinnaker and upwind sailing and resulted in one of the longer races we have had on a Thursday night for some time. Another observation of the night was that there was very little tactical sailing on the night and that the only tactical beat was the leg to Harbour. Aside from that comment, most people seemed to have enjoyed a night where we had good breeze throughout the evening and there were incidents aplenty on the course. There was a port/starboard on the first beat with turns having to be taken, there were two boats who decided to go trawling with their spinnakers, there was an emergency gybe to recover a cherished and distinctive piece of headgear that had blown off its owner’s head – a very commendable gesture by the helm, wearing a more secure hat!! The same boat also had the night’s second port/starboard incident. And to finish off the evening an attempt to squeeze over the finish line at the pin end caused the boat in question to loose the boat closest to him and certainly one other place. And as for the racing…………

A brisk NW wind, an ebbing tide, a relatively short first beat, a consideration as to which side the spinnaker would fly on the leg to Island and determining where to start in a fifteen-boat fleet gave everyone food for thought. Mulligan & Bradley (4081) attempted to commandeer the pin and were marginally too early. They sailed through the line, gybed and restarted finding a gap not too far from the pin to wend a way out onto the course side. Others in the area of the pin were Tom Galvin & Keith Poole (4093), Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) and possibly Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774). In close proximity to this bunch could be found Class Captain Jill Fleming sailing with Joe Coughlan (3913). On the opposite side of the start, working a more offshore passage were Alan and Caroline Green, sailing Phoenix (4083) and David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068). As the fleet closed out the latter stages of this leg, Mulligan found himself being pushed to the wrong side of Harbour mark by Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara (3896). A hail to the effect that Harbour was to be rounded to starboard, like all the other marks on the night, had the desired effect. At Harbour, Galvin & Poole had a good lead, with Mulligan and Bradley in second. However, with spinnakers finally set, the chasing pack was spread across the course with Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028), the Greens, Murphy & Mulvey and Court & O’Leary almost in a row from inshore to offshore. Most people put into a number of gybes on the way to Island which Galvin & Poole rounded in first place. Mulligan played greyhound to Galvin’s rabbit while behind Mulligan, Green, Colin, Murphy P and Court played greyhounds to Mulligan’s rabbit.

With the ebbing tide, the universal view was to go inshore with Galvin leading the charge. Mulligan appeared to be closing the gap in straight line terms while he occupied a position slightly to windward of Galvin. An inboard tweak of the genoa caused Mulligan to drop to Galvin’s lee, but Mulligan’s speed was not compromised so that the straight-line distance between the boats continued to reduce. Galvin went offshore first while Mulligan hung on to the inshore route for that bit longer. The wind was now showing some fluctuation so lifts and headers came into the equation to an enhanced extent. Mulligan’s passage to the right-hand side of the beat showed that he had closed considerably on Galvin, because although the latter crossed him on starboard, the gap between the boats was down to a couple of boat-lengths. Behind, Colin, Green, Court and Murphy were still in close company but Mulligan had enhanced his lead over them.

At Pier, Galvin & Poole’s lead was down to a few boat-lengths and they and Mulligan & Bradley sailed the leg to Island in reasonably close company until late on in the leg when the lead pair eked out a few more metres of a lead. Mulligan was requested to execute a rounding that would leave them sitting to windward of Galvin for the start of the leg to Omega. He duly obliged to put some more visual pressure on Galvin. With a lead that allowed Mulligan to concentrate on hauling in Galvin rather than looking over his shoulder at Colin, Green, Murphy and Court, 4081 progressively bit into 4093’s lead and by Omega, Mulligan had taken the lead by an 80m margin. Galvin’s approach to Omega went a little awry which allowed Colin to get to very close quarters and indeed, Colin may have rounded in second place. Behind these two, Court & O’Leary were not too far away and Mulvin and P Murphy were also in striking distance. Omega to Island was executed safely by Mulligan with Galvin, Colin and Court staying in close company. The Greens may still have been here, but Alan advised that they had a hiccup on the water and it may have been on this leg, as I can’t place them at this stage of the race.

The leg to the finish, upwind of Pier, again meant getting out of the tide, now running out at its strongest. So, heading inshore was the best policy which everyone adopted. However, as one sailed towards the shore and the harbour, the numbers on the compass made it obligatory to take the highs and try and mitigate the lows. And so, approximately halfway up the leg, Mulligan as leader, started to play the shifts, encouraged by the crew not to stray too far from a loose cover on the rest of the fleet and wherever possible to occupy a weather slot relative to the chasing pack.

A little bit later, Colin & Casey broke ranks and put in a tack to the offshore side of the beat. Ever wary of Colin’s tactical nous, Mulligan & Bradley decided that he should be given more attention than the others simply because he had done something different to everyone else. They sailed across on a favourable number to make sure there were no “eleventh-hour” surprises as the finish came into view. They were still in the “pound seats”!

Mulligan & Bradley took the gun at the pin-end of the line in close company with a Beneteau 21, while Colin finished closer to the committee boat. Galvin and Court were very close closing in on the pin, and from our perspective Court was slightly to leeward of the pin and in danger of not making the finish line. He then appeared to tack to get over the line on port tack, but extremely close to Gavin who was on starboard. Court may then have clipped the pin so had to go back to the course side and re-finish which cost him a place to Mulvin & Beirne. The excitement never stops!

DBSC Flying Fifteens Thursday Night Series

Thursday 4th August.
1. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
2. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 4028
3. Tom Galvin & Keith Poole 4093
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 4068
5. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 3753

Thursdays Overall Series B.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 14pts
2. Niall, Susan & Laura Coleman 18pts
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 19pts
4. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 24pts
5. Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara 27pts

Thursdays Overall (All season)
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 30pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 54pts
3. Ian Mathews, Tom Galvin & Keith Poole 56.5pts
4. Niall, Susan & Laura Coleman 70pts
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 78pts.

In a five-boat turnout in IRC One, the DP Partnership's J109 Dear Prudence beat Tim Goodbody's White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series race on August Bank Holiday weekend (July 30th).

Third was Colin Byrne's XP33 Bon Exemple in the one-and-a-three-quarter-hour race.

Dublin Bay's winds were light and up to 11-knots from the southeast. The Race Officer was Barry MacNeaney.

Lindsay J. Casey's J97 Windjammer was the Cruisers Two IRC division winner. The Royal St. George yacht took the gun from Jim McCann's Mustang Peridot. Third, in the three-boat race, was Ian Bowring's Sigma 33 Springer.

Kevin Byrne's Royal St. George Formula 28 Starlet was the IRC 3 winner from Frazer Meredith's Asterix. Third was Myles Kelly's Maranda.

In the One Design keelboat fleets, Peter Carvill's Leviathon was the winner of the first race in a six-boat SB20 fleet.

In the seven-boat 31.7 fleet, Chris Johnston's Prospect came from behind at the last mark to squeeze Attitude ((Trina Milner) be five seconds ahead at the finish.

As previously reported, DBSC dinghy racing on Saturday was scrubbed due to a forecasted low turnout on the bank holiday weekend.

Full results across all DBSC classes are below.

In the Beneteau 211s, Royal Irish Yacht Club boats filled the podium of today's AIB DBSC Saturday race 16 with Andrew Bradley's Chinook winning from Patrick Shannon's Beeswing. Third was James Conboy-Fischer's Billy Whizz. Overall, in the Saturday Series, after nine races sailed and counting seven, Billy Whizz on nine points leads from Chinook on 15 with Beeswing third on 17.

Seabreeze conditions on Dublin Bay provided 10 to 12 knots of wind from the southeast.

Three SB20s contested race 16 which saw James Gorman's Black from the NYC take the win from Barry Glavin's Sea Biscuit from the RSt.GYC. In third place was Nick Doherty's Rubadubdub of the NYC. Overall, in the Saturday Series, Richard Hayes Carpe Diem of the RSt.GYC on ten points leads by three points from Sea Biscuit with Ger Dempsey's Venuesworld of the Royal Irish on 16 in third. Ten are entered. 

Michael Cutliffe's Ruffles of the DMYC was the winner of today's nine-boat Ruffian 23 race 18 from national champion Ann Kirwan's Bandit of the National Yacht Club. In third place was Cutliffe's clubmate, Frank Bradley's Ripples. Overall in the Saturday Series, Ruffles leads from David Meeke's Alias. Bandit lies third.

James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot of the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner in Thursday night's (race 12) six-boat IRC One division of the AIB DBSC Sponsored Summer Series on Dublin Bay.

Second by 13 seconds on corrected time was Dick Lovegrove's Sigma 33, Rupert, from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Third was Sigma sistership Boojum (Stephanie Bourke)

Winds were southeasterly and ten knots. 

Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the Royal Irish took the winning gun in the six-boat IRC One division. 

Goodbody beat Paul Barrington's sistership Jalapeno by just over a minute on corrected time in the one-hour 18-minute race.

Third was Barrington's clubmate, Tony Fox's A35 Gringo. 

At Cork Week Regatta in Crosshaven, the DBSC J109s hold sway in IRC Division Two this week with the Royal Irish's Joker II (John Maybury) in a commanding position going into Firday's final races. Third is Royal Irish's Chimaera skippered by Barry Cunningham. More, as Afloat reports, here.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) presented its outgoing Honorary Secretary Chris Moore with a 3-D chart of Dublin Bay in the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire on Friday evening.

The presentation follows Moore's retirement as DBSC Honorary Secretary on Thursday, June 30th.

He served three terms as Rear Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Commodore, followed by a further three and a half years as Hon. Secretary.

Moore also previously served as Commodore of Bray Sailing Club and Commodore of the National Yacht Club and is regarded as a stalwart of the Dun Laoghaire sailing community.

He is the Irish Commissioner of the World Sailing Speed Record Council and authenticates all Irish record bids including high-profile Round Ireland speed attempts.

As Afloat previously reported, the busy role of Hon Sec at the country's biggest yacht racing club has been taken over by Rosemary Roy.

Overall leader Tim and Richard Goodbody's J109 White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the winner of the Cruisers One IRC Race eight in DBSC's AIB Summer Series on Saturday.

The Saturday DBSC racing marked a return to club racing after a four-week gap for the Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht club's regattas.

Light airs predominated on both the cruiser and one design courses.

Goodbody beat Colin Byrne's Xp33 Bob Exemple, also from the Royal Irish, with Thomas Shanahan's J109 Ruth from the National Yacht Club third in the six-boat fleet.

In a two-boat Cruisers Zero division, Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte beat Paddy McSwiney's X-35 D-Tox in a one-and-a-half-hour race. 

There was Sigma 33 success for Royal St. George's Richard Lovegrove sailing Rupert who beat Ian Bowring's Sigma 33 Springer in a two-hour race. Third was James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Lindsay Casey's Royal St. George J97 Windjammer was the winner of last night's (Thursday, 7 July) light air eight boat AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Series in the Cruisers Two IRC division.

Southeast winds were light for race 11 of the series leading many competitors to count a 'Did Not Finish' DNF score as the wind died almost completely on the bay later into the evening.

Second in IRC Two was Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless with third place going to James McCann's Mustang.

In the big boat IRC Zero class, Jonathan Nicholson's Puma 42, El Pocko, beat Paul O'Higgins' JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI. Third was Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte.

There were no finishers recorded in the eight-boat IRC One class.

In the DBSC one design fleets, Ger Dempsey's Venuesworld from the Royal Irish won from Charlotte O'Kelly's National Yacht Club Sneaky B. Third was Patrick McGrath's Smoke on the Water. The class has scrubbed its national championships scheduled for next week's Cork Week due to a 'number of late cancellations, some Covid related'.

See full DBSC individual and overall results in all classes below. 

Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Dun Laoghaire yacht racing official Rosemary Roy has been appointed as Honorary Secretary of Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC), Ireland's biggest yacht racing club, following the retirement of the outgoing Chris Moore. 

Moore retired as DBSC Honorary Secretary on Thursday, June 30th.

He served three terms as Rear Commodore, Vice Commodore, and Commodore, followed by a further three and a half years as Hon. Secretary.

Moore also previously served as Commodore of Bray Sailing Club and Commodore of the National Yacht Club and is regarded as a stalwart of the Dun Laoghaire sailing community.

He is the Irish Commissioner of the World Sailing Speed Record Council and authenticates all Irish record bids including high-profile Round Ireland speed attempts.

Chris Moore Photo: Afloat

In paying tribute, Club Commodore Ann Kirwan said, "I have worked closely with Chris since I joined the DBSC committee in December 2012 when Chris was elected as Vice Commodore. Chris' wealth of knowledge and experience has been invaluable to us at DBSC".

"Chris always manages to achieve a good balance between embracing progress and innovation while not losing sight of Dublin Bay Sailing Club traditions, which are an important part of our 138-year history, " she said.

"It was during Chris' tenure as Commodore that the Green Fleet was introduced, and it now forms a key part of our Saturday Racing Programme", Kirwan said.

In addition to steering the DBSC ship during his time as Commodore, Chris could be seen working in the bilges of MacLir and Freebird, as well as doing demanding physical work on the Marks and the Hut. He will continue to be involved in these elements of DBSC operations. 

"We wish Chris the best of luck with his future involvement with DBSC, hopefully with a less onerous workload," Kirwan said.

Rosemary Roy is the new Honorary Secretary of DBSC, joining the committee at its AGM in December 2021.

A key member of the DBSC Race Management Team for many years, she is the regular Timer on DBSC Red Fleet on Thursdays.

As well as her Race Management duties with DBSC, Roy is in much demand for running events outside Dublin and is part of next week's Cork Week Race Management team.

Rosemary Roy and her late husband Jack Roy were named Afloat Sailors of the Month in March 2020 for their combined contribution to sailing in Ireland and abroad.

"We know that Rosemary will do a great job as Honorary Secretary, and we look forward to working with her in that role", the DBSC Commodore added.

Read the full DBSC statement here

Wicklow Sailing Club's Michael Norman, who won the Great Grandmaster title at the ILCA 6 Irish Laser Master Championships on Dublin Bay on Sunday was still in winning form on the Bay last night, taking the gun in the DBSC's AIB Summer dinghy series Tuesday evening Laser Radial Race. 

Second was Alison Pigot of the National Yacht Club. Third was Royal St. George's, Hugh Cahill. Four competed. 

In the PY fleet, the National Yacht Club's Noel Butler sailing his RS Aero 'Orion' was on top again with another win in his RS Aero dinghy to bring his strike rate to eight wins from nine races sailed.

Full results in all DBSC classes are below. Three live Dublin Bay webcams featuring some DBSC race course areas are here

Given that the Heineken Cup, as it was then, has made an appearance in at least one of the Dun Laoghaire clubs at a major regatta in times past (a Volvo Regatta), it was hardly surprising that Saturday’s DBSC’s schedule of races was adjusted to accommodate those who wanted to watch the Leinster – La Rochelle game first-hand rather than rely on a delayed recording. For the 14 Flying Fifteens and others on the Green Course that meant we had a single race with a start area literally just outside the harbour mouth. Of course, this location was also impacted by the fact that the Dragons (12 boats) were having an East Coast Championship NE of the harbour and the ILCAs were having a Masters’ Championships to the West and all the other DBSC fleets were out. Even the DBSC dinghies sailed inside the harbour!

Green Course Race Officer Barry O’Neil set a long Windward -Leeward course, with weather mark offset, with 4 laps signalled but the prospect of a shortened course in his radio briefing to the fleet. In the better-than-expected easterly breeze which moved around a bit and under an ebbing tide, there was some excitement when Alan Balfe, crewed by his son, (3995) decided to upset what had, until then, been an orderly approach to the start. There was nothing improper about his manoeuvring other than the fact that it wasn’t what we were expecting. Post-race David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) were of the view that it didn’t help their cause whereas it opened an opportunity for Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) that Mulvin had endeavoured to cut off.

The gap created by these “shenanigans” allowed Mulligan and Bradley a clean break to go right initially, before working the left-hand side of the beat on port tack. Further to leeward of them on port tack were David Gorman & Michael Huang (4099), the aforementioned Mulvin & Beirne, Tom Murphy & Carel (4057) and Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753).

With what appeared to be better breeze on the left-hand side of the course, Mulligan was able to go into the lead at the first rounding of the weather mark. Behind him were Gorman, Mulvin and Murphy, in close company. These four stayed on the right-hand side of the run and then put in late gybes to get round the leeward mark, by which time Mulligan had pulled out by a couple more boat-lengths.

On the second beat, Mulligan followed the recipe from the first, working the middle and left of the beat. The others had twigged to what he was cooking and while the gap didn’t close significantly initially, Gorman, Mulvin, Murphy and latterly, Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey (4028), made sure Mulligan & Bradley didn’t get too comfortable and by the end of the beat Gorman and Mulvin were just that bit closer for Mulligan’s comfort. For all three, the starboard tack run lasted longer before late gybes were again put in to get around the leeward mark.

A slight wind shift came into play as the fleet rounded the leeward mark and Gorman took best advantage to gain the weather slot relative to Mulligan. Mulvin peeled off immediately at the mark to go left but Mulligan and Gorman worked the right-hand side on port tack with Gorman pulling through Mulligan’s weather to go into the lead. As they got further up the course, they went right working the shifts, but Gorman didn’t relent and extended his lead into the weather mark for the third time. Mulvin, too had closed on the lead pair.

With spinnakers set, Gorman had 10 – 15 boat lengths on his chasers, while only a couple of boat lengths separated Mulvin and Mulligan with Mulvin to starboard of Mulligan and also to weather. For Mulligan the challenge was not to let Mulvin past as well. As they approached the leeward mark with a RIB flying an “F” flag and making sound signals – “Go straight to the Finish” - a potential fly in Mulligan’s ointment appeared – a Squib who didn’t quite grasp the significance of the F flag and sound signals. It left Mulligan having to go around the Squib, while Mulvin had the better choice of going to windward. Naturally, he seized the chance with both hands and closed on Mulligan – to within half a boat length. However, Mulvin’s attempts to pass to weather were thwarted each time and at the finish, there may have only been a boat length between the two red-spinnakered boats, in Mulligan’s favour.

DBSC; Saturday 28th May 2022. Flying Fifteens (14 boats)

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang 4099 
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081 
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 4068 3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
4. Tom Murphy & Carel 4057 4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
5. Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 4028 5. Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.

Saturday Series Overall: 7 Races sailed/5 to count

1. David Gorman & Michael Huang 8pts
2. Neil Colin/Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 15pts
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
5. Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.