This weekend sees ancient gaff-rigged and other craft of multiple vintages gathering at Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club in Ringsend in the heart of Dublin Port, within sight of some of the most modern ships afloat. It’s the 60th Anniversary of the Old Gaffers Association, and the fact that Dublin is central to the OGA’s Diamond Jubilee Cruise-in-Company speaks volumes for the welcome the port provided for the Golden Jubilee Cruise in 2013, when it became clear that owners of vintage or classical Bermudan-rigged boats were also welcome. It seems that being part of the community is a matter of the right attitude rather than undue fussiness about exactitude of rig.

Yet it’s a curiosity of international sailing history that in 1963 the definitive gaff-rigged One Designs of Dun Laoghaire - the 1902-originating Dublin Bay 21s - were in the process of changing to Bermuda rig. For at the same time, separate meetings in the south and southeast of England were - unbeknownst to each other – laying the foundations for the beginnings of the Old Gaffers Association for the preservation of gaff-rigged sailing skills.

THE MAN FROM THE ELEPHANT BOATYARD

As one of the main movers in the initial south coast meeting in Winchester was Mike Richardson of the renowned and distinctly characterful Elephant Boatyard on the upper reaches of the Hamble River, it’s not surprising that over the years, it was recognised that a contemporary meeting at Maldon in Essex was where the Old Gaffers Association really came into being.

The rapid development of the OGA on England’s East Coast soon meant there was a keen Dutch branch, and they were present in strength in Dublin Bay in 2013, with the steel-built Cinne Mara (based on the design of a Galway hooker) seen here chasing fellow Dutch boat Raven, built to a Lyle Hess design. Photo: W M Nixon

For they could focus on moving things forward in a single-minded way, whereas Mike of the Elephant and his friends – unaware of any developments on the East Coast – had so many boat interests on the go at the same time that the progressing of an idea for a new association had to take its place in the queue. For sure, they did eventually run a couple of races for old gaffers in the Solent. But once they realized that things had been happening in a more clear-cut form on the East Coast, the two groupings became one with the East Coast setting the pace.

INTERNATIONAL LINKS

Soon they were drawing in fellow enthusiasts, both countrywide and with international links. Success was such that by the time the Golden Jubilee came around in 2013, they had the strength and enthusiasm to organise a well-supported Round Britain Rally with many interesting ports visited, and with two stops on Ireland’s East Coast - at Poolbeg in Dublin, and in Belfast Port in Northern Ireland hosted by the NIOGA.

Legends of the sea. Dickie Gomes, first winner in 2013 of the Leinster Plate with the 101-year-old Ringsend-built Ainmara, with Tim Magennis, President at the time of the hosting Dublin Bay Old Gaffers Association, and himself a veteran of a round the world voyage in the gaff-rigged Colin Archer ketch Sandefjord. Photo: W M Nixon

The Irish stopovers were extensively covered on Afloat.ie with special enthusiasm, as your columnist happened to be sailing throughout all the happenings on the Irish coast with Dickie Gomes of Strangford Lough aboard the Ringsend-built 9-ton J B Kearney yawl Ainmara. And our enjoyment was in no way lessened by winning the inaugural race for the Leinster Trophy in Dublin Bay, with the trophy being handed over about 200 yards from where Ainmara had been born 101 years earlier.

Even ten years ago, Bermudan rigged vintage boats were welcomed as OGA members, and here Ainmara is leading the inaugural race for the Leinster Plate in Dublin Bay at the OGA Golden Jubilee in 2013. Photo: Dave Owens

TWO IRISH BRANCHES HAVE BECOME ONE FOR ALL

Since then, the two Irish branches of the OGA have become one, with the DBOGA in effect covering the whole country, as the President is Adrian “Stu” Spence whose 47ft ketch El Paradiso is based in Ringhaddy Sound in Strangford Lough, while the Honorary Secretary Darryl Hughes now lives in Crosshaven, where he bases his 43ft gaff ketch Maybird, designed by Fred Shepherd and built by Jack Tyrrell of Arklow in 1937.

This national spread is further emphasized by former international OGA President Sean Walsh – in 2013, he was Dun Laoghaire-based with his Heard 28 gaff cutter Turn a nOg – now being a Kinsale sailor. He and Darryl Hughes have combined forces to sail Tir na nOg east and north to Ringsend to help co-ordinate the Poolbeg events, which are under the overall direction of Adrian Spence and former PY&BC Commodore Johnny Wedick.

Local boats join the international fleet – Sean Walsh’s Tir na nOg from Dun Laoghaire dicing in Dublin Bay with Paul Holden’s Peapod from Howth. Photo: Dave Owens

The friendly atmosphere in Poolbeg Y & BC lends itself well to mutlti-generational events of this type, an excellent example being the recent launching of marine and civic historian Cormac Lowth’s fascinating book about the Ringsend sailing trawlers. The Ringsend fishery began to be of major significance when the Brixham fishermen from Devon started expanding their operations after the ending of the Napoleonic Wars around 1818. And they succeeded so well in their new Ringsend base that by the 1880s the renowned Murphy family in Ringsend built and very successfully fished the largest Brixham-type fishing boat ever, the legendary St Patrick.

So successful were the Ringsend fishermen in adopting and developing the technology brought to them by their immigrants from Brixham that the largest fishing boat built to the Brixham trawler concept was the famous St Patrick – designed, built and fished by the Murphy family of Ringsend. Photo: Courtesy Cormac Lowth

RAYTOWN

Modern developments on the Ringsend waterfront mean that it is now difficult to imagine this area as a thriving fishery services foreshore, but such was very much the case. And the visit of a group such as the Old Gaffers is a timely occasion to reflect on the period when this was known to Dubliners as Raytown. The local fishing community kept the despised ray for their own consumption while selling the more profitable sought-after species. Consequently it was observed that you could find Ringsend in fog or total darkness relying only on the all-pervading smell of ray being wind-dried on lines for preservation for winter consumption.

THE DUN LAOGHAIRE WAY

Needless to say the arrival of the idea of local Old Gaffers Associations in Ireland was greeted with mixed feelings. It’s doubtful if those such as Cass Smullen, who were arguing to keep the DB21s gaff-rigged, would have been known that at the same time two separate groups in England were thinking in the same general way. Or if he did, then he would have been well aware that support from that quarter might not have helped his cause at all, as Dun Laoghaire has always liked its own way of doing things.

The Dublin Bay 21 Geraldine arrives back in Dun Laoghaire on Wednesday of this week, after being re-born under the skills of Steve Morris of Kilrush Boatyard. Photo: DB21

The restored DB21 Garavogue, setting her new “American gunter” rig, winning the last race of the 2022 season. The Dublin Bay 21s had decided to change to Bermudan rig in 1963 just as the Old Gaffers Association came into being to preserve gaff rig and the skills needed to use it.

For despite the interest in Bermuda rig, the fact is we were up to our tonsils in gaff rigged boats, and still are. But they are mainly used very actively for racing, such that boats like the Dublin Bay Water Wags and the Howth 17s don’t see themselves as Old Gaffers at all - on the contrary, their self-image is of a hot racing class which just happens to be gaff rigged.

ENGLISH CULTURAL IMPERIALISM?

This relaxed acceptance of gaff rig as being very much alive and a natural part of the contemporary Irish sailing scene was brought home to me many years ago when an English gaff-rigged enthusiast called Alan Hidden arrived to work in Northern Ireland, and although a decent enough person, he carried the usual baggage of English cultural imperialism in some maritime matters.

One of the most interesting boats due in Poolbeg is the former Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter Letty of 1905 vintage. But don’t assume that her impressive presence will be a subtle case of English maritime cultural imperialism. Her owner-skipper Steve Cogdell proudly flies the Cornish ensign, which suggests that he and his crew see themselves as being completely independent of just about everyone else on the planet. Photo: Patrick Vyvyan-Robinson

For very soon, we had a letter from him to Afloat Magazine saying that he had discovered a marvellous old clinker-built gunter-rigged 14ft sailing dinghy called Mantis which once upon a time had belonged to a “long extinct” class called the Ballyholme Insects, and his plan was to restore her and use her as the foundation on which to build a Northern Ireland branch of the Old Gaffers Association.

THE PICKLE FORK CLUB

“Mixed feelings” barely begins to describe the reaction in the luxuriously-appointed editorial offices of Afloat Verbiage Industries plc.. For once upon a time, we owned, sailed, raced, cruised and did many others things of a rites-of-passage and highly educational nature with an Insect. Thus the thought that somebody should see them as quaint Old Gaffers was appalling.

Worse still was kitting an Insect with tan sails sporting an OGA number and the Old Gaffer symbol. It’s supposed to be based on a set of classic gaff boom jaws, but a totally Bermuda-rigged shipmate always refers to the OGA as “The Pickle Fork Club”, and on this evidence of English cultural imperialism as applied to a Ballyholme Insect, I was inclined to agree with him.

Sacrilege! The Ballyholme Insect Class Mantis being re-purposed as a propaganda tool for the Old Gaffers Association, showing clearly why sniffy Bermuda-rig enthusiasts refer to the OGA as “The Pickle-Fork Club”. This photo of Mantis was taken at the very tidal inlet of Dundrum on the County Down coast, where Regatta Day is selected so that at low water ponies can conveniently be raced around the same course that sailing craft use at high water.

THE DBOGA ARE OKAY

Until, that is, I found that the Dublin Bay Branch of the Old Gaffers Association included such solidly maritime souls as Tim Magennis and Johnny Wedick and Denis Aylmer and the merry band with Paul Keogh on the Clondalkin-built Galway hooker Naomh Cronan and many others.

So we threw ourselves with enthusiasm into the DBOGA’s prominent role in the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2013, albeit with the Bermudan-rigged Ainmara. But then, her antique Ringsend associations probably gave her more right to be there than any other boat in the fleet.

Solid sailing citizen. DBOGA pioneer Dennis Aylmer of Dun Laoghaire may sail the “plastic fantastic” Mona these days, but back in the 1960s he was one of the key enthusiasts for Galway Hookers in Dublin Bay.

Yet now with the Diamond Jubilee upon us, it’s disconcerting to find how much has changed in just ten years, which you’d think in Old Gaffer terms is just the twinkling of an eye. Ainmara has been sold to Swiss owners, Adrian Spence’s 1873-built Madcap has been sold to France, Joe Pennington’s Master Frank, the pride of the Isle of Man, is very much on the market, and now the Naomh Cronan is based in Galway.

THE GOOD NEWS

Yet the news is not all one way. On the upside, Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra of Dun Laoghaire are more than halfway towards the restoration of the Dublin Bay 21 Class, with the arrival in Dun Laoghaire this week of the newly-restored Geraldine from the skilled hands of Steve Morris and his team in Kilrush.

Current DBOGA President Adrian Spence (right) absorbing wisdom (and much else) with old salts Joe Pennington (left) and Dickie Gomes. Photo: W M Nixon

And in Strangford Lough, the classic Manx nobby White Heather has returned, complete with her authentic widow-maker of a dipping lug rig, brought back to her longtime home by Gary Lyons who apparently more or less did a straight swap with his vintage Bermuda ketch Ocean Dove with previous White Heather owner Mike Clarke of Peel.

And as for this weekend at Poolbeg, the fact that all places were booked out within a few days of bookings becoming available tells us that the OGA – and Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Club with it - are in good health.

Summer’s evening at Poolbeg in Dublin Port during the 2013 visit of the Old Gaffers Association. Photo: W M Nixon

None of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) 22 racing classes managed to race on Saturday, May 21, due to a glassy calm on Dublin Bay.

Race Officers flew N/A at 1300 hours.

Racing continues next week. Overall results are below.

To kick start the 2023 AIB Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Racing Season, UK Sailmakers, in conjunction with the Offshore Racing Academy and INSS, are organising a Pre-Season Race Training day on Saturday, 22nd April.

All keelboats are welcome, and they will pick up tips, tricks, and advice to get the most from their sails in 2023.

The morning starts with a briefing followed by on-the-water training to include:

Windward Leeward course simulations with between three and five starts (depending on numbers)

UK Sailmakers and Irish Offshore Academy crew will be on the water, observing and videoing boats at:

• start line
• beating to the weather mark
• mark rounding
• spinnaker

The afternoon continues with a debrief, discussion, and video footage on mark rounding, start line tactics, and sail trim. The team will look at improving performance based on what they saw on the water.

"DBSC welcomes this great initiative to get boats in the 2023 AIB DBSC sailing season off to a great start", the club's Hon Sec Rosemary Roy told Afloat

Broadcaster, author and activist Emer O’Neill today launched the 16th annual Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk which will take place on St. Patrick’s Day, Friday 17th March from 10.30 am. Over 2,000 enthusiastic walkers are expected to take on the 26km challenge, with the option of starting from Howth Harbour or Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Suitable for most fitness levels, the walk will take participants along the scenic Dublin Bay route with a ‘Halfway Hooley’ hosted at sponsor Dublin Port Company’s historic Pumphouse.

An official event of the St Patrick’s Day One City Festival Programme, the Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk is now open for registration at www.aware.ie/harbour2harbour at a cost of €25 per person.

Ambassador Emer O’Neill commented: “I am delighted to be involved with the Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk. Having experienced depression myself, I know how important it is for us to open up the conversation around mental health. The services provided by organisations like Aware are invaluable to anyone experiencing depression or bipolar disorder and I would encourage anyone struggling with their mental health to reach out for support. We all know how beneficial fresh air and exercise is for both your physical and mental health, so I hope to see lots of people from around Dublin joining us on St Patrick’s Day to raise both awareness and vital funds for Aware.”

Emer O'Neil broadcaster, author and activist pictured at Dublin Port Company at the launch of the 16th annual Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk which takes place on St. Patrick’s Day, Friday 17th March Photo: Andres Poveda

The Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk is a flagship fundraising event for Aware, the national charity supporting people impacted by depression and bipolar disorder. This event will help raise vital funds to ensure the organisation can continue to deliver its free support, education and information services to individuals and communities nationwide.

Stephen Butterly, Head of Fundraising at Aware commented: “The Aware Harbour2Harbour Walk is a lovely way to get friends and family together to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in a fun and healthy way, while demonstrating your support for mental health. Each year Aware directly supports up to 50,000 people via our support and education services. All proceeds from this event will go towards these services, helping to ensure that people across Ireland impacted by depression and bipolar disorder know they are not alone and are provided with the knowledge and tools they need to improve their wellbeing. We are incredibly grateful for the generous sponsorship from Dublin Port Company who have supported this event since 2014.”

All participants will receive a t-shirt when they arrive for the event and are encouraged to wear these as they take part to raise awareness and show their support for mental health. People can also join the conversation online, using the hashtag #WeAreAware when sharing on social media.

Speaking about Dublin Port’s involvement, Barry O’Connell, Chief Executive at Dublin Port Company commented: “Dublin Port is delighted to be partnering with Aware and supporting the annual Harbour2Harbour Walk. It’s a great family day out and the perfect way to see Dublin’s harbours, river and city, all while raising funds for Aware’s vital services. The ‘Halfway Hooley’, which this year is being hosted at our Pumphouse, will provide a welcome and celebratory mid-way break for all those taking part. We look forward to welcoming the thousands of walkers to the Port and showcasing the beauty of Dublin Bay.”

Aware Support Services include Support & Self Care Groups and a Support Line and Support Mail service, both of which operate 365 days a year. Aware also delivers a range of positive mental health programmes to adults and senior cycle students nationwide, designed to build resilience and empower people with the skills and tools to manage their mental health. All Aware services are now available in-person and in virtual environments.

The Martello Tower in Dublin’s Blackrock is to be wrapped with a solar-powered “line of light”, showing possible future sea levels as part of a series around the Irish coast.

The “Línte na Farraige” (Lines of the Sea) project, which was initiated at Galway’s Spanish Arch and in Wexford harbour last year, is designed by Finnish artists, Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho.

The project is financed from the inaugural Creative Climate Action fund, an initiative from the Creative Ireland Programme in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.

The fund “supports creative, cultural and artistic projects that build awareness around climate change and empower citizens to make meaningful behavioural transformations”.

The art installation at the Martello tower in Blackrock Park, which will be lit early next week, consists of a solar-powered horizontal LED line of light.

It shows the future risks of rising seas and storm surges, in the year 2100 and under a high-risk scenario, where ice loss from Antarctica is greater than expected.

The installation is based on future predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report AR6, and historic storm surge data in Dublin Bay.

Project artists Pekka Niittyvirta and Timo Aho said that “art has the potential to convey scientific data, complex ideas and concepts, in a powerful way that words or graphs fall short of”.

“Visualising something that is incomprehensible for a human, even with the factual studies and data available when talking about causality and climate change, is difficult. We seem to be unable to accept things we have not physically experienced,”they said.

Councillor Mary Hanafin, Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said the Línte na Farraige project “ is a unique, yet stark reminder, that our seas are silently rising, and will continue to do so, undetectable to the naked eye”.

“ The Government’s national Climate Action Plan 2023 speaks to ambition that will only work if we all come together in a strengthened ‘social contract’ for climate action, working towards real solutions that are meaningful, inclusive, fair and accessible,”she said.

“ By working together, we can all help ‘lower the line’. I wish to thank the artists, the National Monuments Service, the Creative Climate Action programme and the wider project team for bringing this installation to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council,”she said.

Frank Curran, Chief Executive of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, said he is “delighted that the council is a local authority partner in the Línte na Farraige project”.

“ I believe that as we all work towards our 2030 and 2050 climate action targets, local authorities can be at the heart of this ambition, given our close links with local communities, our role in emergency response planning and our ongoing partnership with various Government departments and agencies,”he said.

The installation will run for a number of months from Wednesday, February 22nd, 2023. The council is also running an associated outdoor, public exhibition on the Línte na Farraige project at Moran Park, dlr LexIcon, Dún Laoghaire.

Minister for Tourism Catherine Martin said she hoped that the installation “will generate a much-needed dialogue about rising sea levels”.

“While it should give us all pause for thought, it must be remembered that the future is still in our hands. By making key changes in our personal behaviour we can mitigate against climate change and sea level rise and build a more sustainable and resilient future for us all,” she said.

Línte na Farraige involves a team including creators and artists, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, scientists based at Trinity College Dublin, Maynooth University and University College Cork.

Also involved is the Dublin Climate Action Regional Office, Wexford County Council, Galway City Council, Fingal County Council, and the Marine Institute.

Read also: Dublin and Cork are sinking

The First 31.7 Avalon was the winner of the second race of the AIB-sponsored DBSC Spring Chicken Series on Dublin Bay on Sunday. 

In a continuation of her good form, the 2022 DBSC Turkey Shoot Series champion is now lying in joint ninth place in the 37-boat fleet.

Second and third places, over a new windward leeward course configuration on Sunday, saw J80s Jay-Z and Derry Girls taking second and third in the light to medium air race.

Overall after two races sailed, John O'Gorman's Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club leads from the J80, George 6.

In third place overall is Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. 

Racing continues this Sunday morning off Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Download results below

Live Dublin Bay webcam 

Yet again we’ve had a journalist in Ireland’s “Paper of Record” ventilating at the weekend about the widely-held belief that not only are world sea levels rising – which we all accept – but that these absolute sea level rises are happening twice as quickly in Dublin and Cork as they are elsewhere, which is hydrographic nonsense.

We also had a noted TV architect musing in print on how sensible it would be to “re-claim” land along Dublin’s secondary Tolka Estuary - presumably on its south side - in order to provide housing of a popular kind instead of the generally-loathed apartment blocks. This would thereby provide highly-desirable yet affordable family living beside the seaside.

In all, both pieces provided a fascinating insight into how words can be used in a secondary way to set the tone of any opinion piece. For instance, there’s the persistent bandying about of “re-claiming land from the sea”. That’s off target. Once upon a time, the world was all sea. So if we create new land, it’s infill, indeed it’s arguably theft against nature. But it’s certainly not “re-claiming”, even if that’s a difficult position to maintain when we’re up against the Biblical imperative of St John the Divine with his anticipatory Book of Revelations assertion that “there would be no more sea”. 

MAINTAINING EXISTING WATERFRONT SUBURBS

Be that as it may, the idea of some infill along the south side of the Tolka Estuary is attractive, as it would be a completely new parcel of land which interferes with no-one else’s established seafront access. As it is, many of the schemes for infill in Dublin Bay have blithely claimed over many years that they would provide people with “new seaside homes”. But the proposed locations of these new homes would mean that some long-established waterfront suburbs are no longer beside the sea at all, which rather negates the good intentions of the basic projects.

A proposed infill for new housing along Dublin’s Tolka Estuary (right) might be acceptable if it were on the south side, thereby avoiding the sea access infringement of established waterfront suburbs in Clontarf. But it has to be remembered that the daily tidal draining of the extensive Clontarf Basin provides a useful scour-dredging effect for the entrance to Dublin Port via the River Liffey Photo: courtesy Dublin Port

But, that said, it has to be borne in mind that the twice daily exit of the tide from the currently extensive “Clontarf Basin” in the Tolka Estuary plays a significant role in the scouring of the entrance of the sea channel into the Liffey – in other words, it’s a freely available dredging process to facilitate the continuing and vital activity of our largest port.

The other point about the relative sea levels in Dublin and Cork has been allowed to pass unchallenged so many times that we wonder if anyone bothers to read these newspaper think pieces with any real attention at all. For sure, the global sea level at the Equator does come in a bit higher than on the rest of the planet, an effect of the world’s daily rotation. So I suppose we should be grateful that it doesn’t spin off the waters of the Pacific Ocean in their entirety into Outer Space. But it does mean that global sea level rising is a much more acute problem in low-lying Polynesian island nations.

SEA LEVEL IS AN ABSOLUTE IN IRELAND

However, within an island the size of Ireland, there is no significant difference between the absolute heights of the sea north and south, east and west. So when it’s recorded that the sea has risen globally by 70ml during the past 20 years, but that in Dublin and Cork tide recorders are showing a 20 year rise of 130ml, then it can only mean that Dublin and Cork have been quietly sinking by 60ml since 2002.

As has been demonstrated in recent years, Cork Harbour flooding is influenced by many factors, but this projection for 2050 is simply based on rising sea level. 

The relative rise and fall of land masses is a geological and hydrographic fact. As the most recent ice age retreated to take away the ice-sheet weight from Ireland, some areas of land popped up almost visibly to gives us raised beaches and suchlike. And it’s reckoned that the geography of Greenland will need significant re-drawing as the weight of its enormous, many-miles-deep ice fields disappears - that is, if there’s anyone still around to take the necessary readings.

But meanwhile, in Ireland, we have to accept the implications of the fact that our Official Capital City and our Real Capital City are quietly going under. Knowing that it was the weight of ice which pushed down many parts of Ireland in times past, perhaps these modern localized tendencies could be blamed on the weight of self-importance in Dublin, and the weight of assumed superiority in Cork.

While admitting the vast civic and human problems which it would bring, rising sea levels in the Dublin area may provide some interesting opportunities – for instance, it might be useful to own the location of a potential fortress/customs station for the re-born Duchy of Howth beside the new watery frontier at Sutton Cross. 

Whatever, it might help the debate and the planning in some way if it could be accepted that almost half of the relative sea level rise in Dublin and Cork is due to area subsidence, while the other half is due to absolute global sea level rises. Thus it really is time that we brought in Dutch experts to advise in Dublin and Cork on how best to deal with the fact that the apparent tide level in these cities is rising twice as quickly as anywhere else.

The Dutch approached the problem of most of their country being increasingly below sea levels by many means, not least in ensuring that they have the tallest population in all Europe. If we’re going to keep our heads above water in Cork and Dublin, a selective breeding programme should be introduced immediately to raise the national height. That said, having been with some of the grandsons at the weekend, I think it may have already been quietly under way for the past sixteen years. There’s evolution for you.

Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte from the Royal Irish Yacht Club produced a corrected time win of over a minute in a fine turnout of eight Cruisers Zero boats in Thursday's AIB DBSC Summer Series.

Racing took place in light southeasterly winds of about six knots and a flood tide on Dublin Bay.

The results put Burke just a single point behind the overall Thursday leader, Rockabill VI skippered by Paul O'Higgins of the RIYC.

O'Higgins did not compete last night with his JPK10.80 now positioned to West Cork for next week's Calves Week Regatta. 

Second in last night's Race 14 of the series was Chris Power-Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club. Third was the late Vincent Farrell's First 40.7 Tsunami from the National Yacht Club. 

In a nine-boat Cruisers One IRC turnout, Timothy Goodbody's RIYC J109, White Mischief, won from clubmate Colin Byrne in the XP33 Bon Exemple. Third was Andrew Craig's Chimaera.

Lindsay J. Casey was the Cruisers Two race winner in the J97 Windjammer. In the Corby 25 Ruthless, Conor Ronan was second in a seven-boat turnout from Ian Bowring's Sigma 33 Springer.

In the one designs, as Afloat reports here, Ian Mathews and  Keith Poole were the Flying Fifteen winners. 

Full DBSC results below

In a fine 11-boat turnout in IRC One, Colin Byrne's Royal Irish XP33 Bon Exemple beat Paul Barrington's J109 Jalapeno from the National Yacht Club in Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series race on July 23rd.

Third was Barrington's clubmate John Hall in the J109 Something Else in the one-and-a-quarter-hour race. 

Winds on Dublin Bay were light and from the southeast. The Race Officer was Con Murphy.

Lindsay J. Casey's J97 Windjammer was the Cruisers II IRC division winner. The Royal St. George yacht, a double winner of the club's premier Waterhouse shield for the best yacht on handicap, took the gun from Conor Ronan's Corby 25 Ruthless. Third in the 7-boat race was Stephanie Bourke's Sigma 33 Boojum.

Kevin Byrne's  Royal St. George Formula 28 Starlet was the IRC 3 winner from Frazer Meredith's Asterix. Third was Freddie Wood's Black Sheep.

In the One Design fleets, Colin Galavan's Carpe Diem was the winner of a three-boat SB20 fleet.

Full results across all DBSC classes below.

Sixteen Flying Fifteens took to the water for the first July Thursday race of DBSC and needed a second attempt at starting to get the race underway. Race Officer John McNeilly set a simple “triangle – sausage course” using Bulloch, Island and Pier, with the “sausage” being between Pier and Island. There was then a short upwind leg from Pier to the finish. Despite John’s warning of the consequences of an ebbing tide a General Recall was signalled for the first start and thereafter the fleet got underway under a “U” Flag. It is only on review of the results for this report that I see that one boat fell foul of the “U” flag.

The wind was not in accordance with the forecast I use, coming from a SE direction, hence the use of Bulloch as the windward mark. With an ebbing tide all evening, the question was, “Where was the better wind”, which wasn’t in huge supply in the first place. The first beat had crews sitting on the windward deck but that was about as good as it got. At the pin end of the start that got away, we had two boats attempting a port-tack start. One was more successful than the other, Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (4028) clearing the entire fleet off the line. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (4081) didn’t quite achieve that and had to wend their way through the starboard tack boats to get clear air. Others at the pin end, coming from the committee boat end included Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara (3896) and Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (3955). These two would dominate the front end of the fleet for the whole night with Adrian & Joe McNamara leading the race around every mark bar the last one, when Ken & Joe took over that mantle.
Having worked their way to the inshore side of the course Colin and Mulligan found that others who had started off inshore were in slightly better shape. In this latter bunch we would find Gerry Ryan & crew (4045) Niall & Susan Coleman (4008), Niall Meagher & Nicki Matthews (3938) and Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey (3774). At the rounding of Bulloch the order was Cooper, Dumpleton, Ryan, Colin & Mulligan with Meagher, Coleman, Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary (3753) and Murphy & Mulvey breathing down Mulligan’s neck.

The long spinnaker leg to Pier saw the fleet spread across the course and initially those who went off to sea fared better, but further down the leg, having transitioned from inshore to offshore, Mulligan looked to have gained places, until breeze came in from the inshore side to see, Meagher, Court, Murphy (P) and Coleman squeeze him wide of the mark. Ahead of this group were Cooper, Dumpleton and Colin.
Mulligan stayed “out of step” from the rest of the fleet and worked the inshore side of the second beat to Island. At times it looked very good, but it didn’t last long enough and with the ebbing tide taking him up to the mark, an easing of sheets marked the final approach to Island. With the fading breeze, the leg to Pier seemed even longer than the first time and the spread of the fleet was even more significant. Cooper and Dumpleton initially took as slightly offshore route which got progressively more offshore as the leg proceeded. At on stage they looked as though they were making a beeline for Clontarf. Between them and Mulligan on the inshore side of the run could be found – Colin, Coleman, Meagher, Murphy (P) with Court marginally further inshore. From this initial position there was a lot of changes with Colin and Coleman gybing to come inshore. Court went offshore and then came back, while Murphy (P) stayed out longer before he too came back inside. Meanwhile Cooper and Dumpleton were still ploughing an offshore furrow. All this in fading breeze.

Colin’s gybe brought him much closer to Mulligan and Coleman followed suit, with both sitting inshore of Mulligan. Slightly later Murphy was in the same position. Mulligan got one or two zephyrs that the others didn’t get and sailed away from them. By this stage we were in the final run in to Pier. Dumpleton had taken Cooper’s place at the head of the fleet and these two arrived at Pier before two Ruffians and two Shipmans that would impact on the rounding of Pier for Mulligan, Coleman, Colin, Murphy (P) and Court. The latter four boats found themselves inside a red-hulled Ruffian who seemed determine to give away the least amount of room possible. Mulligan sailed around the outside of both Ruffians, red-hulled and white-hulled, and a Shipman and holding onto spinnaker till the last possible moment squeezed through a gap that opened up behind the first Shipman. This was enough to get him away from Pier on port tack, in clear air. A subsequent tack to occupy the weather slot relative to Coleman on the starboard tack to the finish, allowed Mulligan to steal third place – an unlikely result give the way the race had gone earlier.

Dumpleton and Copper led the fleet home, in that order and behind Mulligan the finishers, in sequence, were Coleman, Murphy (P), Court and Colin.

Flying Fifteens DBSC, Thursday 7th July.
1. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 3995
2. Adrian Cooper & Joe McNamara 3896
3. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 4081
4. Niall & Susan Coleman 4008
5. Peter Murphy & Ciara Mulvey 3774

Flying Fifteens DBSC Overall.
1. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey (24)
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley (45)
3. Keith Poole & Others (49.5)
4. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (59.5)
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey (60)

In Hayling Island starting today (Friday), the UK Flying Fifteen fleet has their Nationals and there is Irish representation in the form of John Lavery & Alan Green (4083), David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne (4068) and I assume (but am not certain) Shane McCarthy (4085). The latter has just won the Irish GP14 Nationals as a run-up to the GP14 Worlds, scheduled for August in Skerries. We wish them all fair winds.