Displaying items by tag: Dublin Bay Sailing Club
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
Shortened Programme for DBSC Flying Fifteens on Saturday
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)
- David Gorman & Michael Huang 4099
- Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
- David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 4068 3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
- Tom Murphy & Carel 4057 4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
- Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 4028 5. Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.
Saturday Series Overall: 7 Races sailed/5 to count
- David Gorman & Michael Huang 8pts
- Neil Colin/Jill Fleming & Margaret Casey 15pts
- Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 18pts
- David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 20pts
- Niall Coleman & crews 33pts.
Royal St George Yacht Club skipper Chris Power Smith, won the Cruiser 0 DBSC Saturday Series Race in IRC today on the J122 Aurelia. The race which was nearly three hours long was sailed in light to medium winds against a flooding tide on Dublin Bay. It was very competitive both on the water and on the clock.
Royal Irish boats filled the rest of the podium in the AIB sponsored series. Second place was taken by Patrick Burke on the First 40 Prima Forte with Keith and Rodney Martin's First 44.7 Lively Lady in third.
Tim Kane skippering the new Extreme 37 Wow, with co-owner George Sisk onboard and a 'Happy 60th Birthday Balloon' flying from the backstay, celebrated his birthday in style by winning line honours by just over a minute from Aurelia.
Power Smith was competing for the first time in six years in DBSC after a long absence since winning the Cruiser 1 Series for two years in a row in his former J/109 Rollercoaster.
As Afloat previously reported, the Aurelia crew are preparing for the 240-mile Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale around the Blasket Island taking place on the 20th of May. The only Dublin boat entered in the race, they see it as the perfect warm-up race for the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race starting from Wicklow on the 18th of June.
In an 11 boat race in the 'Cruisers 1 IRC fleet, also under Race officer Barry MacNeaney, Timothy Goodbody's RIYC J109 White Mischief won from John Hall's National Yacht Club J109 Something Else. Third was Colin Byrne's XP33, Bon Exemple.
James McCann's Mustang 30 Peridot was the Cruisers 2 IRC winner in a four-boat turnout from Lindsay J. Casey's Royal St. George J/97 Windjammer. Third was Casey's clubmate, Dick Lovegrove, in the Sigma 33 Rupert.
A similarly sized class, Class 3 'Cruisers 3 IRC, was won by Frazer Meredith's Asterix ahead of Myles Kelly's Maranda. Third was Kevin Byrne's Starlet.
In the one-design divisions under Race Officer Barry O'Neill, Lee Statham won in a 16 boat Flying Fifteen fleet. Second was John Lavery's Phoenix, with third place going to David Gorman in new boat number 4099.
In an eight boat Ruffian 23 fleet, David Meeke sailing Alias won from Michael Cultiffe's Ruffles. Third was Frank Bradley in Ripples.
Full results here
Patrick Burke's Prima Forte from the Royal Irish Yacht Club was the big boat winner by just over a minute on corrected time of the first Saturday AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club 2022 Summer sailing season after the cancellation of the first scheduled race a week ago due to strong winds.
Saturday's light southerly winds were often less than five knots and in some of DBSC's 22 classes, not all boats finished the course.
Burke's First 40.7 beat clubmate Tim Kane and George Sisk's WOW, an X-Treme 37 from South Africa that is new to the Bay this season. Third in the DBSC Cruiser IRC Zero class was Keith and Rodney Martin's Lively Lady, a First 44.7.
While there is an impressive ten DBSC Cruisers 0s entered for 2022, a full turnout has yet to occur as yesterday's 15-boat ISORA fixture drew several entries to the coastal race to County Wicklow and back.
An impressive nine boat DBSC Cruisers One IRC class (from a possible 14 entered) was won by the XP33 Bon Exemple skippered by Colin Byrne of the RIYC ahead of Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief of the RIYC. Third was John Hall's J109 Something Else from the National Yacht Club.
See full results in all classes here
Strong winds and big seas on Dublin Bay led to the cancellation of the first race of the summer season for all Dublin Bay Sailing Club fleets this afternoon.
"The weather forecast looks better for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and next Saturday", Commodore Ann Kirwan told Afloat as the country's biggest yacht racing club rolls out its AIB sponsored summer programme that runs from April to October.
Earlier, in a preview of the season, Commodore Kirwan had outlined that up to 270 boats at Dun Laoghaire Harbour were preparing to race in Saturday's first race. Check out the season preview here.
AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club Summer Season 2022 Starts This Saturday with 270 Entries
We are delighted to be commencing our AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club 2022 Summer sailing season tomorrow Saturday, April 23rd writes DBSC Commodore Ann Kirwan
After the past two years, the start of our racing season has been delayed due to Covid so it is great to be starting on time this year.
Racing Programme
The DBSC Flag Officers, Committee, and Racing Sub-Committee have been working over the winter months on producing an enhanced racing programme which will run from April 23rd to October 1st and will include new Saturday courses. Our sailing sub-committee led by PRO Ed Totterdell spent the winter months redesigning some of our courses, as well as compiling new ones. Thanks to Tim Goodbody and Paul Barrington for their efforts working with Ed on this.
Our AIB DBSC 2022 summer racing programme consists of 9 fleet races each week:
Saturdays – 4 fleet courses
• Blue or Red fleet racing from a committee boat (including Cruisers 0 and 1) on fixed mark courses
• Blue or Red fleet racing from the West Pier hut (including DB21s) on fixed mark courses
• Green fleet racing on laid mark windward / leeward or triangular courses
• Dinghies racing on laid mark courses
Tuesdays – 2 fleet courses
• Keelboats racing from the West Pier hut on fixed mark courses
• Dinghies racing from a committee boat on laid mark courses
Wednesdays – 1 fleet course
• Water Wags racing from a committee boat on windward / leeward courses
Thursdays – 2 fleet courses
• Blue fleet keelboats (the larger ones) racing from a committee boat on fixed mark courses
• Red fleet keelboats racing from a committee boat with a combination of fixed mark and windward/leeward courses
Preparations for the Season
The DBSC Hut was repaired and painted during the winter. Chris Moore coordinated the hut maintenance programme and its transfer to its position on the West Pier at 07.30 on April 9th assisted by Brendan Dalton and Denis Nolan. It will be used for both Tuesday and Saturday keelboat racing this season.
Our marks are all in place and ready for tomorrow’s race thanks to Philip Ferguson who organises their winter storage, maintenance and chain replacement, painting, and their setting in position over the Easter period. Our ribs have returned from Rush where they were maintained and stored during the winter months organised by Declan Traynor. Our committee boats are ready to go and our team of volunteers are all set for racing tomorrow.
Entries
We have over 270 boats entered so far. We expect a lower number of dinghies this season as our Laser entries in particular are well down on the past two seasons. However, we have a growing fleet of RS Aeros (10 entered so far), along with 9 Fireballs, 5 IDRA 14s, 3 Finns, and 17 Lasers.
Some of our keelboat classes have increased entries on last year with some impressive new boats among them. We have 10 Cruisers 0 entered and 14 Cruisers 1.
We have good entries from other cruiser classes, and the Flying Fifteens are our largest keelboat class with 28 boats entered.
The Water Wags are our largest fleet overall with 37 entries at present.
Results
The DBSC results will move from its current system, YR3, to HalSail and we are delighted to announce that Therese Tyrrell is taking on the role of Results Secretary.
Dublin Bay 21s
Geraldine wll join Naneen, Estelle and Garavogue in June and the 4 DB21s will race from the hut on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Congratulations to DBSC member Hal Sisk on receiving the International Classic Boater of the Year award at the Royal Thames Yacht club in London last week for his decades of service to classic craft and sailing history, and along with his colleagues DBSC member Fionan deBarra and Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard they were awarded for their exceptional work in their shared project, the restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 Class.
DBSC start / finish dates
First Saturday Race: Saturday, April 23rd
Last Tuesday Race: Tuesday, August 30th
Last Thursday Race: Thursday, August 25th
Last Wednesday Race: Wednesday, September 21st
Last Saturday Race: Saturday, October 1st
We wish all our members a safe and enjoyable sailing season and look forward to a great summer on the water.
DBSC Squib Class Prizegiving Held at National Yacht Club
The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Squib fleet had their annual prizegiving at the National Yacht Club on 25 February 2022.
The two-man keelboat fleet say they expect to increase the number of boats competing in Dublin Bay for 2022 by one or two above the number for 2021.
Prizewinners were as follows:
The Royal St. George Offshore Trophy was originally presented by Billy Mooney in 1963 to the winner of the Royal Ocean Racing Club Irish Sea race. Some time later the RORC declared that Wales was too close to Ireland and that the Irish Sea no longer qualified as an Ocean and that Offshore Ocean races could no longer take part there. The trophy is engraved with famous yacht names as Korsar, Tritch-Tratsch, Finndabar of Howth, Swuzzlebubble and Moonduster.
The trophy was represented to the Squibs in 2006 and is now awarded to the Squib which competes in the most regional events and was won by Dave Stewart and Brian Hare of the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Granat which competed in Howth at the East Coast Championship and at Dromineer in the Inland Championship.
The Lucky Wooden Block is awarded to anybody who has an unlucky incident during the year like falling overboard 50 yards from the finish line. It was awarded to Tonia McAllister who didn't fall overboard!
The Cocktail Shaker was presented by Alf Delany in 2006. He originally won this trophy in 1930 with a powerboat called Hold Everythin’ which was about 3m. long and had a 100 horse-power Johnson engine screwed onto the back. That event was organised by the North Dublin Motor Boat Club (which no longer exists) and racing took place between the Bull Island and the mainland at Dollymount. Today the trophy is awarded to the most successful Squib in the twenty-six Saturday races of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club- Green Fleet and was awarded to Noel Colclough and Rupert Westrup in Periquin.
The Eamon Leahy Memorial trophy was awarded to the most successful Squib in the seven Thursday evening races organised by Dublin Bay Sailing Club in Scotsman's Bay and was awarded to Allsorts which is owned by Avril Mullet and her dad Tony Mullet and steered by Vincent Delany.
Dublin Bay Sailing Club Issues Notice of Race for Summer Season 2022
Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) has launched its 138th summer season with the publication today of the the Notice of Race for the 2022 Summer Season.
Ireland's largest yacht racing club organises racing all year round on Dublin Bay. It completed its six week Turkey Shoot in the run up to Christmas and has its annual Spring Chicken Series scheduled to start this Sunday.
The main Summer racing. with sponsorship from AIB, gets under way on Saturday, 23th April and runs right through to October 1st.
The club provides weekly racing for upwards of 360 yachts, ranging from ocean-going forty footers to small dinghies for juniors.
The 2022 weekly race programme will comprise:
- Tuesdays: Keelboats – From West Pier Hut Tuesdays:
- Dinghies - In the Harbour or the Bay depending on conditions
- Wednesdays: Water Wags – Harbour sailing
- Thursdays: Keelboats – Committee Boat starts Saturdays:
- Keelboats – Committee Boat starts and West Pier Hut starts Saturdays:
- Dinghies – In the Harbour or the Bay depending on conditions.
For full schedule of racing please see AIB DBSC Racing Programme 2022 on www.dbsc.ie
DBSC Membership Renewal and Boat Entry Forms for 2022 are here
Download the NOR below
Looking Back on the 2021 Dublin Bay Sailing Club Season
DBSC Commodore Ann Kirwan addressed members of the country's biggest sailing club at its 2021 online AGM last Friday. It was an opportunity to review the many champagne sailing days of the summer and some great turnouts for the 698 club races held on Dublin Bay
2021 started with great news in early January when it was announced via Afloat that DBSC had been named as the Mitsubishi Sailing Club of the Year. Jonathan Nicholson, Commodore in 2020, and I were presented with the coveted ship’s wheel in August. We are very proud of this achievement and we now include the ‘Sailing Club of the Year’ logo on all our email communications.
I want to pay tribute to two of our long-standing volunteers who sadly passed away in 2021. Our dear friend Carmel Winkelmann, who gave generously, tirelessly and enthusiastically of her time to her beloved sport of sailing for well over 50 years, sadly passed away on June 12th. Carmel was a DBSC volunteer for much of that time, well known for being a regular in the hut, and was still keeping us on the straight and narrow right up until May this year with her wisdom, experience and incredibly sharp mind.
We also lost another valued volunteer, Larry Martin, who sadly passed away on March 22nd this year. Larry was a regular volunteer in the hut over the years, and more recently was a ‘Flagger’ on the Green Fleet team right up until the summer of 2020.
Highlights of the AIB DBSC 2021 Summer Sailing Season
The season started with a 3-week race training series from mid-May and our full racing programme commenced on June 8th some 6 weeks earlier than last season. We enjoyed many champagne sailing days with moderate winds and lots of warm sunshine. We lost just 1 Saturday due to heavy winds, and 2 Thursdays and 1 Wednesday due to light winds. We held 698 races over the season - 483 keelboat races on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 198 dinghy races on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and 17 Water Wag races on Wednesdays.
The iconic DBSC hut returned to its rightful position on the west pier on July 10th and we ran the last 8 Tuesday keelboat races from it. Pier walkers and DBSC members were delighted to see its return after a year’s absence.
It was a great pleasure to welcome 3 of the magnificently restored Dublin Bay 21 Footers, Naneen, Estelle, and Garavogue back to Dun Laoghaire in July. The 21s raced on Tuesdays towards the end of the season, and we expect to see more of them joining the fleet for a full 2022 season.
Entries were roughly the same as 2020 but were still well down on 2019. However, turnout was strong with many of you commenting on how great it was to be back on the water after a long and difficult winter. On average 120 boats raced on Thursdays and Saturdays and we had 31 Wags competing for the Captain’s prize on September 1st.
The summer sailing season came to a close on Saturday, September 25th. The Turkey Shoot commenced its 7-race series on November 7th and all competing have enjoyed great racing so far. A reminder that the Spring Chicken series starts on Sunday, February 5th.
DBSC Volunteers
We are extremely fortunate to have such experienced and skilled personnel running DBSC racing. A team of 50+ volunteers including race officers, committee boat drivers and race management teams, as well a further 50 patrol crews, all worked together to ensure you received the great standard of racing that you expect. Our extensive racing programme would not have been possible without their efforts, and many of them turned out multiple times each week.
This AIB DBSC summer sailing season was run with 18 race officers, eight committee boat drivers, 30 race management personnel (timers, sounds signallers, flaggers, and recorders), as well as rib drivers and mark layers, and many others who worked behind the scenes to deliver our racing programme. Our committee boats MacLir and Freebird were very well looked after by Ian Meldon, Brendan Dalton and Chris Moore.
It was an easy decision to honour our esteemed volunteers with the DBSC Premier award, the Viking Trophy for a notable contribution to sailing, for a second successive season. Well done and thank you to the DBSC volunteers.
Annual Prize-Giving
We presented our AIB DBSC 2020 Summer Sailing Season prizes to the winners in the waterfront clubs in June/July, as we had been unable to hold our prize giving in November 2020.
We held 2021 prize giving in the wonderful setting of the National Maritime Museum on Friday, November 12th.
It was great to see so many of you there and we got some really positive feedback on the location. Photos of the prize-winners can be found on our website.
With Gratitude
We are extremely fortunate to have AIB Private Banking on board as our title sponsors. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to AIB, and to our supporters Gunpowder Gin, Killen Marine, Viking Marine, MGM Boats and Facet Jewellers.
Thanks also to the Commodores and the management and staff of the Dun Laoghaire waterfront clubs, to Irish Sailing, to the Harbour Masters of Dun Laoghaire Harbour Captains Simon Coate and Tim Ryan, and to Dublin Port Harbour Master Captain Michael McKenna for their support throughout the season.
Thanks also to Afloat for great coverage of DBSC racing and events throughout the season.
Thanks to my fellow committee members:
Ed Totterdell – Vice Commodore & PRO, Jacqueline McStay – Rear Commodore, Chris Moore - Hon. Secretary, Peter Fleming – Hon. Treasurer, Philip Ferguson - Marks, Gerry Jones & Suzi Roy - Sponsorship, Louise McKenna - Dinghies, Ian Bowring - Results, Declan Traynor - Bosun & Covid Officer, Sabrina Mahony – Children’s Officer, Debbie Horan – Admin, Brian Matthews - Technical Director
A special thanks to three of our committee members who are stepping down tonight having served DBSC so well for a number of years: Peter Fleming, Debbie Horan, and Brian Mathews. And to Colin McMullan who is retiring from his role as Results Secretary after a number of years making sure our results were available promptly after each race.
Welcome aboard to our new committee members - incoming Treasurer Jonathan Skerritt, and Kevin Byrne who will serve on our sailing sub-committee.
And finally, a very special and heartfelt thanks to my fellow Flag Officers Ed (Vice Commodore) and Jacqueline (Rear Commodore). Ed as PRO has done a huge amount of work on the racing front both throughout last winter and during the summer racing season, as well as being a rock of sense and great support to me. And to Jacqueline who upgraded our website - I hope you will agree that Jacqueline’s efforts have brought big improvements which have enabled us to communicate with you our members more effectively.
Final Comments
Finally, I wish you and your families a very healthy and happy Christmas and the very best for 2022. We look forward to seeing you on the water for the AIB DBSC 2022 Summer Sailing Season.
Thank you,
Ann Kirwan, Commodore
Dublin Bay Sailing Club AIB Prizewinners Saluted at National Maritime Museum Ceremony
The Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) prizegiving highlights the Dun Laoghaire Harbour sailing season with an array of magnificent and ancient yachting silverware.
This year's event was especially so because it marked the close of DBSC's 137th season and the resumption of competitive sailing in its AIB sponsored season while living with COVID-19.
Prizes were awarded in all of DBSC's 22 classes by Commodore Ann Kirwan, but in a break from tradition, at a new venue, in Dun Laoghaire's National Maritime Museum last Friday night.
As well as six premier awards for best performances, Commodore Kirwan congratulated over 100 different winners.
The club – one of the largest yacht racing clubs of its type in Europe – was previously acclaimed by Afloat's WM Nixon, who posed the question: Is Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) The Most Effective Sailing Organisation in the World? It's an even more valid question today, given the club and its weekly racing schedule brought so much stability to the sailing scene at a time of great flux in 2021.
Scroll down for awards photography of the evening by photographer Michael Chester. Click here for an overview of the DBSC Thursday awards winners, and here for the DBSC Saturday winners,
DBSC Premier Award Winners
DBSC Junior Awards
Cruiser Awards
One Design keelboats & Dinghies
DBSC Dinghy Awards
Photography by Michael Chester