#rsgyc – Entries close next Thursday (July 3rd) for Dun Laoghaire's Royal St. George Yacht Club regatta sponsored by Frank Keane BMW. The country's biggest yacht club will stage racing for all local classes plus visitors from Howth YC and across the Bay area for the annual event on July 5th.  

Flying fifteens, Squibs and dinghy classes will have two races back to back as will other one design classes such as the SB20, Dragons and Ruffians. Cruisers and keelboats will have a fixed mark course.

Howth visitors, the Howth 17s and Puppeteer classes, will race from a Howth line to a RStGYC committee vessel. 

Online entry is mandatory here.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan of UCD won a very very tight battle with Eimantas Grigalius of Three Castles to take the Division One men’s single sculls at Metropolitan Regatta at Blessington Lakes today. O’Donovan, who is a lightweight, got a good start but in testing headwind conditions Grigalius gained on him and drew level in the closing stages. The fight went right to the line, with O’Donovan taking it by .41 of a second.

Gráinne Mhaol had a convincing win in the men’s coxless four.

The women’s Division One double sculls provided a good platform for Catríona Jennings and Sarah Dolan to show their skills in the run-in to the Ireland women’s lightweight tests. Metropolitan Regatta, Blessington (Selected Results) Men Eight – Division Two – A Final: 1 Skibbereen (club two) 7:15.71, 2 UCD (club two) 7:18.21, 3 Cork (jun 16) 7:29.64. Pair – Division One – A Final: Old Collegians (sen) 7:59.92, 2 Commercial B (sen) 8:03.55, 3 Lady Elizabeth (sen) 8:19.36; 5 St Michael’s (inter) 8:37.20. B Final: 1 NUIG (inter) 8:28.86; 3 Offaly (club two) 8:50.19. Sculling Single – Division One: A Final: 1 UCD (P O’Donovan; sen) 8:29.06, 2 Three Castles (E Grigalius; sen) 8:29.47, 3 Old Collegians (D Neale; sen) 8:59.00; 5 Carlow (A Bolger; inter) 9:27.75. B Final: NUIG (O’Connor; sen) 9:12.96; 2 Shandon (Begley; jun 18) 9:17,95; 6 UCD (A Griffin; club one) 10:09.12. C Final: Garda (D Kelly; inter) 8:59.47. Division Two – A Final: 1 Shandon (R Byrne; jun 18) 9:05.35, 2 Waterford (O’Mahony; jun 18) 9:07.15, 3 Shandon (O’Sullivan; jun 16) 9:18.18. B Final: Fermoy (Morrison; jun 16) 9:34.19. C Final: Col Chiaran (Hogan; jun 18) 9:29.64. Women Four, coxed – Division One – A Final: 1 Commercial (inter) 8:41.76, 2 NUIG (club one) 8:48.16, 3 Skibbereen (inter) 8:56.83. Division Two – Final: 1 Shandon B (jun 18B) 9:19.47, 2 Garda (club two) 9:22.23, 3 Commercial (club two) 9:34.41. Sculling, Quadruple – Division One – A Final: 1 Belfast BC, Cork, Skibbereen (sen) 8:12.09, 2 Skibbereen (jun 18) 8:34.11, 3 Neptune (jun 18) 8:48.59. Division Two – A Final: 1 Carlow (jun 18) 8:50.79, 2 Lee (club two) 9:05.08, 3 Fermoy (jun 16) 9:16.40. B Final: NUIG (novice) 9:58.54. Double – Division One - A Final: 1 Commercial (inter) 9:04.53, 2 Cork (jun 18) 9:08.26, 3 Commmercial (jun 18) 9:09.48; 4 Three Castles (sen) 9:23.29; 5 Cappoquin (club one) 10:54.93. .

The Division One women’s eight winners were, predictably, the composite crew with a strong base of international hopefuls. Behind them, Portora won their battle of the junior 18 eights with Northern rivals Bann.

#riyc – It's that time of year again when the Dun Laoghaire waterfront club regattas begin and In a change to the usual running order, the Top Security Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) Regatta is scheduled for Saturday 24th May next. See regatta poster and entry form available to download below. That's Saturday fortnight so it's time to get yourself organised! This year, the regatta provides real value for money with two races using the ICRA Championship courses. There are courses for DBSC blue fleet keelboats, DBSC Red Fleet one design boats, SB20s, 1720 Ensign Class and for the DBSC Dinghy classes. In an addition this year, we are also having a start for the RS Class and Moths! If you would like to enter the Regatta please do so online now. Anybody interested in racing on the day will be happily accommodated on other Members' boats.

The theme is a Regatta for Everyone. Pop in with your friends for Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Barbecue or join in the fun at our 20 Something's evening event in the Wet Bar. Your friends and family are more than welcome to join in the fun. There will also be a delicious dinner served in the Dining Room. If you would like to book in for any of the social events please contact [email protected]. You can see menus and our social programme here.

We also have a crèche kindly operated by Cocoon Killiney in the RIYC library for children of 1 and up. There is a Sailing Adventure day run by the Irish National Sailing School for 4 year olds and up, at a cost of €30.00. 

Highlights of the Regatta include:

 Two races for all fleets with an early start.

 New ICRA championship courses for the Cruiser fleet.

 Adventure Day and a Crèche for the kids.

 Delicious Barbecue

 Pre ordered packed lunches

 Ladies Lunch

 Live Music

 Children's Entertainment

 Barbecues

 Dinner

 20 Something's Night

ROWING: Queen’s Regatta has been cancelled. The Grand League Regatta was scheduled for May 17th at Castlewellan Forest Park in Co Down but redevelopment work at the venue has forced the abandonment of the event. The board meeting of Rowing Ireland this Saturday will consider whether the Grand League slot now left open could be filled by another regatta.

The Irish University Championships, originally scheduled for Blessington in June, have been switched to the National Rowing Centre in Cork and will be held on April 11th. Skibbereen’s two-day Grand League Regatta will be held on April 12th and 13th at the NRC.

#glandoreclassics – The 2013 CH Marine Glandore Classic concluded last weekend with the final prize-giving on the balcony of the Marine Hotel. The committee was delighted that the new format regatta was so well received by all throughout the week.

There was a fantastic turn out for the Parade of Sail on the opening weekend, the addition of cruise days to Baltimore and the Fastnet was well supported. The town of Baltimore put on a great reception for the Classic visitors and later in the week the trip to Castletownsend was also well supported on the water and at MaryAnne's.

While the stars for many were the appearance of Jolie Brise, "The Boat of the Regatta" award, and the lovely Fife Solway Maid "Concours de Regatta" award, the Commodore Diarmuid O'Donovan emphasized that it takes all the skippers crew and boats to make the regatta so successful and he thanked all participants and volunteers as he presented overall prizes for the nine divisions that participated in the regatta.

The Harbour fleets of Menai Straits Fifes, Dragons, Squibs, Ettes, Dayboats and Clinker classes were keenly raced over the six days with tie break winners in the Dragon and the Squib class.

In the Bay and Workboat classes Mike Walshe's 1979 Holman & Pye "Saidhbhear" won the Bay Class2 in the Gaffers Sean Walsh's "Tir na Nog" was the winner. The other new addition for this regatta was the Oar and Sail programme this got off to a very promising start with three of the Atlantic Challenge Bantry Boats and well as a number of raid type boats on the water and competing on the Saturday and Sunday, the regatta was delighted with their participation and hope to increase the Oar and sail programme for the 2015 Glandore Classic Regatta.

# ROWING METROREGATTA: NUIG/Grainne Mhaol won the big one, the Division One eights A Final, in bright warm sunshine at Metropolitan Regatta in Blessington today. The crew which blended much-medalled Grainne Mhaol oarsmen with outstanding under-23 athletes from NUIG had less than a length at the finish over UCD, but this was a convincing win. UCD also had to give way in the women’s eight, this time to a surprisingly dominant St Michael’s, which featured an even wider age range – from a junior athlete in Hannah McCarthy all the way to former World Champion Sinead Jennings, who is 36.

UCD provided the top men’s coxless four on the day, while NUIG’s Rob O’Callaghan and Richie Bennett were the best pair. Paul O’Donovan was the best single sculler, while Denise Walsh won the women’s Division One single – ahead of Sinead Jennings, who had earlier teamed up with Sheila Clavin the win the women’s double.