With strong wind form the North East 18/20 knots and gusting over 25 and a big lumpy sea the Flying Fifteen fleet started by Jack and his jolly crew from the DBSC flagship "Freebird" with a beat out to Zebra mark in a big sea writes our special correspondent.
First around was "frequent flyer" with Alan Green just back from the Mediterranean flying fifteen regatta with Finn sailor Richard Tait as guest crew. With "Ignis Caput" Dave Mulvin and Ronan Beirne close beside them as the fleet headed off on a screeching reach to Harbour Mark. "Ignis Caput" took the lead with a gybe around the mark an a roaring run off to Bulloch mark. On this mark guest helm ex Mermaid Champion Jonathan O'Rourke with Joe Hickey sailing "flooger" made a few places with some slick spinnaker work on the gybe.
Your scribe heard a fella on the bus the other day saying he had been to Las Vegas and it was just amazing, well I have never been to Vegas but he would want to try a flying fifteen in Dublin Bay in these conditions! On rounding Bulloch mark a beat out to East into the big sea. On this leg Niall Coleman and Mick Quinn in "flyer" were making ground but it was "Ignis Caput" first around and off an another screaming broad reach to Bay Mark where the Dragons were rounding. Choosing to go on to the pier and avoid the Dagon fleet, "Ignis Caput" tacked only to have jib sheets knot backing the jib and stopping the boat. A quick back tack and with lines cleared "Ignis Caput" was able to keep the cover on "flyer" to get the gun with "Floggger" third and John O'Sullivan and Ken Ryan in "Rhubarb" fourth. Regretfully as "frequent flyer" crossed the finish line a stay parted and the mast came down. See photo here. Thanks to the DBSC rib crew for attending to the disabled fifteen and other fiftees who remained in attendance. Jack Roy set a great course and thanks to the "Freebird" crew for their work. "Ignis Caput" now has the first two Thursday guns.

See DBSC Thursday results HERE

The first Dublin Bay SC Thursday Flying Fifteen race (after last week's cancellation) presented an overcast evening with wind form the South East c15 knots. With Jack Roy and the "Mac Lir" crew on station off Scotsman's Bay the spring flood tide presented a challenge for the fleet of 10 boats to getting it right on the line.The fleet saw the first outing for Gerry Ryan's new fifteen.
4008 Coleman & Quinn judged it well and set off in to the shore at the Forty Foot followed by 3665 Neil Colin and 4028 Beirne & Mulvin.
Close tacking along the rocks as the fleet got in close under Bullock and off out into the tide to Bullock Mark and on out to Poldy. With spinnakers set the fleet followed the Yellow Mitsubishi class spinnaker flown by 4008. On rounding Pier mark and another beat back to Island with the fleet again going in to the shore to avoid the tide. Close tacking along the rocks 4008 heading to Bullock while 4028 (Dave Mulvin & Ronan Beirne) made out early to Island mark and so taking the lead. Geraldine and Dermot O'Neill judged it well to gain a few places. Rounding the mark in the lead and on to Pier mark and to the finish. 4008 (Niall Coleman & Mick Quinn) second and 3198 (Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara) third. Class Captain Joe Coughlan commented he was hounded all evening by Frazer Mitchell in his newly acquired boat, no rest for the Captain.

It's that time of year again when the 2015 season is confined to the history books and new dreams, hopes and goals are set for the new season. Those with new boats, new crews, those who have learned from previous mistakes are all positive and gun ho for the new season that started on Saturday in Dublin Bay. The Flying Fifteen fleet turned out in good numbers with 16 boats competing on the new Green course on a surprisingly cold and windy day. Race Officer Eddie Totterdell and his team on Freebird got in two races in a building breeze that cleared any early season blues and rustiness.

Last year’s series winners Mathews & Poole sported the new ‘leaders’ spinnaker but as in the cycling they were tucked away safely in the peloton. This was good news for the breakaway which included Gorman & Doorly, new member to the fleet Neil Colin, Mulvin & Beirne and Green & McNeilly.

Race 1: the tide was coming in and the wind from the west was a good force three, there was a shift in the wind direction just before the start which made the pin end less bias. The boats at the pin headed towards the shore, Gorman didn’t go so far in but it was close with Gorman leading at the mark from Green and Mulvin close behind. The second beat was the defining leg of the race. Gorman was in tune with the shifts and increased his lead, Mathews and Gerry Ryan ( in his beautiful new boat) went right- not the correct thing with the forecast for the wind to shift to the sw! Neil Colin & Margaret in Deranged had done their homework and went hard left to come in to the weather mark in second place behind Gorman.

Gorman stayed ahead to win the race but on the last run there were some changes. The Meaghers came storming through to move up to second, Colin dropped back as did Green but on the final reach to the line after the gate Mulvin managed to pass the Meaghers to take second place with the Meaghers finishing third –  it was all very close-great racing!

For Race 2 the winds had shifted to the sw (as forecasted) and the course had to be re set, there was a strong wind now of over 20knots but it eased slightly just before the start. For the first race of the year Gorman & Doorly showed that they were not so rusty and got a good start on port at the pin crossing the fleet to lead all the way. Behind Green was going well with Mulvin and Mathews in close attendance. The Cahill brothers and Coughlan & Marshall were also going well. There were not so many changes in in this windward leeward course as the left side was always the favoured side with this wind direction. Gorman was first to complete a double for the day, Green was an excellent second followed closely by the Yellow Spinnaker Mathews

Thanks to the PRO and his team. It was the first Saturday on the Green course mixing different size boats, it worked reasonable well but when more numbers are out the triangle outer lap may have to be brought in for better separation. This Thursday the DBSC series continues and Neil Coleman will be sporting the Yellow Spinaker!

The Mitsubishi Motors sponsored Dun Laoghaire Flying Fifteen fleet has introduced a new initiative for the 2016 Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) racing season that starts in two weeks time. With a nod to The Tour De France, the lead boat in the DBSC series will fly the eye catching yellow spinnaker donated by the fleet sponsor.

The use of the trophy spinnaker will be spread among the gold, silver and bronze fleet during the season. Last season's winners Niall Coleman & Michael Quinn (Thursdays) and Ian Mathews & Keith Poole (Saturdays) will start with the new spinnaker in the first race on Thursday, April 28th.

The Flying Fifteen & friends annual dinner and prize giving took place at the National Yacht Club at the weekend. The class mustered over 90 for dinner with piano accompaniment Terry Brown who generously provided his talents for a donation by the class to the Dun Laoghaire Lifeboat.
Class Captain Ronan Beirne welcomed the guest of Honour Winkie Nixon of Afloat.ie, Georgina Nixon, Larry Power Commodore of the host club and Commodore Pat Shannon of Dublin Bay Sailing Club. The Captain thanked the Clubs for their support and Mitsubishi Motors for their sponsorship of the class.

In between courses class members gave a short presentation on the fleets activities in the year. Alan Dooley reviewed a busy year with his “flying fifteen health check” resumé. Chris Doorly presented his “Magic Moments” as crew with David Gorman while winning the Championship of Ireland, The Northern and Southern Championships. Alan Green reported on the Worlds in France where he attained a place on the podium with third place.

Flying fifteen champions David Gorman and Chris Doorly

David Mulvin recounted on “The Road to Rhu” and the British Championships which took place on the Clyde.
The guest of Honour Winkie Nixon of “Afloat” gave a most entertaining and informative talk on the talents and life of flying fifteen designer “Uffa Fox”. In addition to the Fifteen he recalled the many other yachts from the board of Fox including the flying thirty five “flying Fox” formerly of the National Yacht Club.
The prize giving was organised by Frank Burgess where some twenty trophies and thirty class medals and six ISA medals were presented. The top class trophy the Championship of Ireland which winners David Gorman and Chris Doorly presented to Larry Power Commodore of the National Yacht Club for safe keeping. The top Dun Laoghaire class trophy the “Heineken Plate” for the best combined Saturday & Thursday results was presented to David Mulvin.
The evening’s formal proceedings concluded with Ronan Beirne passing on the Class Captains Cap to the new Class Captain Joe Coughlan.

Sixteen Flying Fifteen’s took part in Saturday's racing on Dublin Bay where there was drama on the water when Joe Coughlin’s crew Ed Ruane had to be taken from the boat with a dislocated shoulder. The drama unfolded on the reach in Race 2 when Joe himself fell overboard leaving Ed to fend for himself with the spinaker still up in a force 4! In trying to take control pulling halyards his arm suddenly got pulled causing his shoulder to pop out causing excruciating pain. As this happened the alert rib crew of Mark and Cian had Joe in the rib and put him on the Fifteen, it was only then that they realised Ed was in trouble, with a careful transfer to the rib he was brought ashore where the NYC boatmen looked after him till the ambulance arrived and took him to hospital. The good news is that he is now recovering, we look forward to welcoming him back when we resume sailing in April.

There were three races, all of which were won by guest helm Sean Craig and Alan Green in Frequent Flyer. PRO Ian Mathews and his team provided great racing in fantastic conditions, more akin to a summer’s day than November! Overall David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne had to have three reasonable results to take the 9 race series. This they did with consistant results with a 3, 3 and 4. Sean and Alan didn’t have it all their own way and racing was close. In race one Ken & Ben were going well along with the Meaghers. In race 2 the Meagher’s led the way only for spinnaker troubles to undo their good work. In Race 3  Sean had a more comfortable race as fatigue set in after a tough days sailing, Tom Murphy was second with Ken & Ben third. Others sailing well were Adrian Cooper and the Cronin’s.

Overall it was a close affair for the podium places Alan Dooley with Joe Hickey were second overall and Niall and Nicki Meagher third on equal points with John McAree & Ben Mulligan. Thanks again to Ian Mathews and his team and Michael Campbell for the use of his boat. Its now time to put the boats away for the winter in what was an exciting season, with great turnouts for competitive racing.

Dublin Bay Saturday series was won by Ian Mathews & Keith Poole in the Gruffalo, Thursdays was won by Niall Colman & Mick Quinn. At regional level the Dublin fleet did well also,  the Lough Derg Keelboat Regatta was won David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne, The East Coast championships were won by UK helm Charles Apthorp with Alan Green crewing and in what can only be described as a very successful season. Dave Gorman & Chris Doorly won the South Coast, the Northern Championships along with the  Championships of Ireland.

Meanwhile there will be a second meeting after the formalities of this week's Dublin Bay agm to discuss FF racing for 2016 in the Bay. The class Annual Dinner is on Saturday, 21st November.

The Flying Fifteen Frostbite series continued with a great turnout of 16 boats after the break last week for the Lough Derg Keelboat Regatta. Race officer Ian Mathews and his team got two races completed in a building NW wind that touched on 28–knots at one stage during race 2.

Race 1 got going at first time of asking, the line was reasonably square but those who started at the pin end and went in towards the shore came out best at the weather mark after a nice lift up towards the weather mark, McCambridge with Andrew Marshal crewing led the way from Fraser Mitchel & Peter Murphy with the Meaghers, Dooley and O’Neill just behind. This is how it stayed but on the reach of the second lap a valuable lesson was about to be learned.

The two lead boats were vying with each other in a luffing match as they approached the gybe mark. McCambridge luffed up to protect his position but Mitchel kept at him and up and up they went. Rumour has it they touched but no turns were done- we wonder why? Meanwhile as the fleet saw what was happening and the Meaghers quietly went through to take the lead, a lead they kept to the end.

On the next beat McCambridge got back to second place, downwind on the last run was exciting with the wind now up at 20knots, McCambridge was unfortunate as his gooseneck at the boom broke and his race was over. The Meaghers won, with Fraser second, O’Rourke third and the Cahills fourth.

For Race 2 the wind was really up, some boats headed in so only 10 started. Johnny O’Rourke, guesting instead of David Mulvin, and with Ronan Beirne crewing led most of the way but at the last leeward mark they headed up to do another beat, but the blue flag was on the committee boat signalling the finish line, this allowed Murphy to slip in and finish in first place, with O’Rourke second and Colman & Quinn third with the Meaghers fourth.

There are two more weekends of the series left and David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne lead the way from Niall & Nicki Meagher with Alan Dooley & Joe Hickey third and Ben Mulligan & John McAree fourth.

Ignis Caput sailed by National Yacht Club pairing David Mulvin and Ronan Beirne were overall winners of the Flying Fifteen end of season keelboat regatta sailed at Lough Derg Yacht Club in Tipperary today. Second were Dun Laoghaire club–mates Niall Meagher and Keith Poole with County Antrim's Brian Willis and John McPeake third in the six boat fleet. Full results downloadable below.

Dave Gorman and Chris Doorly of the National Yacht Club are our “Sailors of the Month” for September on the basis of a great half hour or so of sailing in Dublin Bay on the morning of Sunday 13th September.

Anyone who read Chris Doorly’s riveting account on Afloat.ie of the penultimate race of the Mitsubishi Motors Flying Fifteen Championship, and has raced a sailing boat at any level – whether local, regional, national or international – will have identified totally with this dedicated duo as they sailed their hearts out. And they did it all just to secure a third place, in order to put themselves in the happy position of knowing they were champions without having to sail the last race.

It would be quite something in a club race or a major regatta series. But this was the big one, the Irish Championship with visiting superstar Steve Goacher – three times World Champion – expected to sweep the board. And even if he was off form – which he wasn’t - the class in Dun Laoghaire is now in such vibrant condition, and growing, that the lively home fleet was putting up half a dozen crews who were in there with more than a shout.

But Chris and Dave did it. And being proper sportsmen, they stil sailed the last race anyway, but the fact that they were able to discard the fourth place it provided shows the kind of form they’d been in throughout the championship.

It cannot be said too often that winning a series is more a matter of solid consistency than occasional flashes of total brilliance. In the end, though, it can all come down to something so mundane as securing a third place at just the right time. But as Dave and Chris had been lying sixth until they realized the need to up their game, and saw a way of doing so, what they achieved is something we can all identify with, making them ideal “Sailors of the Month”.

It’s for days like this that we sail Flying Fifteens on Dublin Bay, a sunny warm afternoon with a nice force 3/4 from the SE on excellent courses set by Suzanne McGarry and her team on Freebird. There were two races, the first won by Ian Mathews & Keith Poole in Gruffalo and the second won by Chris Doorly & Alan Green in Frequent Flyer.

It was the last Saturday of the DBSC summer series and the thirteen boats that turned out enjoyed great conditions and close racing. Coughlin & Marshal were in great form sailing particularly well having two thirds.

In Race 1 Mathews was out of the blocks quickly and led all the way, Doorly & Green were second close behind and chased Mathews all the way, these two extended their lead, behind it was a closer affair but Coughlin & Marshal managed to pull ahead of the Cahills to take third place. It was not a very shifty day so places tended to stay as they were over the four laps.

In Race 2 the line was square, most boats headed in to the right, Green helming this race, went more left out to sea hoping for more wind, it was close at the weather mark but Mathews coming from the right got the lead, Green was second followed closely by Coughlin and the Meaghers. Green and Mathews pulled ahead and Green got close on the second beat tacked inside Mathews to take advantage of one of the few shifts of the day to close the gap. On the last beat Mathews outhaul came undone, he managed to half fix it but Green took advantage and just nipped it on the line. Behind Coughlin and the Meaghers were having a great ding dong sail but Coughlin got into third.

It was great to see so many boats out racing, the turn outs this season has been fantastic. Thanks must go to Ronan Beirne and his committee for encouraging people to get out even it is isn’t with their usual crew or helm. Next week the NYC Frostbite Series starts and will continue into November.

The class travels to Lough Derg in October for the Western Championships. While other classes fold up their sails the flying fifteen class have two more events!

Results of the final DBSC 2015 race are here