Displaying items by tag: DBSC

29th July 2023

Royal St. George's Fischer Leads DBSC's Beneteau 211 Saturday Series on Dublin Bay

Jimmy Fischer's Billy Whizz leads Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Beneteau 211 class in the Scratch, Saturday Overall AIB Summer Series.

The Royal St. George Yacht Club entry holds a three-point lead despite a dismasting at this month's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

Fischer took second place yesterday afternoon with a new mast fitted for the four-boat race in strong westerly winds, which was won by Joe Smyth's Yikes of the Royal Irish.

Overall, Smyth lies second on 19 points, with clubmate Pat Shannon on Beeswing lying third on 42 points.

As Afloat reported previously, the race was the first successful Saturday fixture in July, with an unusually high number of weather cancellations.

Results for all DBSC classes are below

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC

27th July 2023

Royal St. George Yacht Club 'Allig8r' is DBSC IRC Two Thursday Night Winner

Brendan Foley's 'Allig8r' from the Royal St. George Yacht Club, was the winner of Thursday night's AIB-sponsored Dublin Bay Sailing Club IRC Two race on Dublin Bay.

Foley beat clubmate and overall series leader Lindsay Casey's J97, Windjammer. Third was Dave Gould's three-quarter tonner, Scenario Encore.

As Afloat reported previously, renamed 'Allig8r', the First Class 8 is under the new ownership of a Dublin Bay syndicate of six friends Paddy Ryan, Mark Hennessy, Peter Levins, Colm O'Buachalla, Conor Twomey and Foley. Regular Afloat readers will recall her as the black-hulled 2018 Cork Week champion, skippered by Rory Fekkes from Carrickfergus Sailing Club.

Casey continues to lead Cruisers 2 IRC Thursday overall but is now on the same 16 points as Foley. The recent ISORA coastal race winner, Leslie Parnell's First 34.7 Black Velvet, lies third on 30 points.

There was a good turnout in all classes for last night's race in medium-westerly winds.

Results from all DBSC classes are below.

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC

22nd July 2023

DBSC Saturday Racing Cancelled Due to No Wind

DBSC AIB Summer Series racing on Dubin Bay was cancelled today (July 22) due to a lack of wind.

It has been a disappointing July for Saturday Series racers so far in the capital's waters, with July 1st cancelled by a strong northwesterly; July 8 starred due to the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta; July 15 cancelled again by strong westerlies and today's racing scrubbed by no wind. Hopefully, next week's last Saturday in July (29th) will see a change of fortune.

Happily, last Thursday night provided suitable winds for a strong DBSC turnout, as Afloat reported here.

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC

20th July 2023

Goodbody's on Top in Ten Boat DBSC IRC One Turnout on Dublin Bay

Tim and Richard Goodbody's J109 White Mischief was the winner of a fine turnout of ten boats in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's IRC One Thursday night AIB Summer Series.

Light southerly winds with occasional bursts of fresh energy from numerous rain clouds over Dublin Bay permitted a full programme of races for the club.

Finishing one minute behind White Mischief on corrected time in the strong fleet was Fintan Cairns's Mills 31 Raptor. Third was Colin Byrne's XP33 Bon Exemple.

As the top DBSC performer in IRC One at this month's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Goodbody's top form continues as last night's result puts the Royal Irish Yacht Club boat top of the overall Thursday series.

Full results in all DBSC classes are below.

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

15th July 2023

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Saturday Racing Cancelled Due to Strong Winds

Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) Saturday racing was cancelled today due to a high wind forecast.

Despite the flat sea state, westerly winds were gusting to over 35 mph at Dun Laoghaire

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

5th July 2023

Annalise Murphy Wins Water Wag Race as Class Captain Capsizes

Olympian Annalise Murphy and her crew were the winners of a breezy Water Wag race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour this evening.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club race officer Tadhg Donnelly set a three-round windward/leeward course for the Water Wags in a westerly 14-22 knot breeze.

Due to the squally conditions, the Wags all carried one reef.

The race officer abandoned the first race after the first lap when the majority of boats rounded the leeward to starboard instead of to port.

The race was restarted 20 minutes later, and all bar 2 of the 20 boats had a clear start.

There was an individual recall, but the two OCS boats failed to return.

Wag Class Captain David Williams, sailing Dipper no. 48, capsized at the windward mark on the final round. (See photo sequence of the righting of Dipper below by Brendan Briscoe)

Water Wag Class Captain David Williams, sailing Dipper no. 48, capsized at the windward mark

Results:
1. No. 41 Mollie, Annalise Murphy
2. No. 38 Swift, Guy & Jackie Kilroy
3. No. 52 Puffin, Seán & Heather Craig

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

1st July 2023

Strong Northwesterlies Cancel DBSC Racing on Dublin Bay

The strong northwesterly winds that caused the cancellation of both the 2.4mR and the 29er National Championships at Dun Laoghaire this morning have also led to the scrubbing of racing in all classes of this afternoon's Dublin Bay Sailing Club programme.

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

29th June 2023

National Yacht Club's J112e 'ValenTina' Debuts On Dublin Bay With DBSC Cruisers Zero Win

John Treanor's new J112e "ValenTina" from the National Yacht Club debuted on the Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) race track last night and won her Cruisers Zero IRC division.

Four boats raced in the light air Thursday night fixture – the last before next week's 375-boat Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta – with Sean Lemass's First 40 Prima Forte second and Michelle Farrell's First 40.7, Tsunami third.

The DBSC victory adds to an auspicious start to the 2023 season for Treanor and his new 36-footer, that has already seen a win in Key Yachting’s J Cup at Hamble in the UK and a second at last week's Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale. Valentia will compete in an exciting 11-boat VDLR Cruisers Zero class in next Thursday's regatta, where five of the fleet will be visitors to the Bay.

All DBSC results are below

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC
J112E

29th June 2023

Pearson's 'Little Tern' is Water Wag Handicap Race Winner

Tim Pearson's Little Tern was Wednesday evening's Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) Water Wag race winner at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The fixture was a handicap race with seven staggered starts run by Race Officer Brian Mathews.

The wind was variable, with an average of force two.

The results were

1. No. 36, Little Tern, Tim Pearson
2. No. 19, Shindilla, Judy O’Beirne
3. No. 15, Moosmie, John O’Driscoll

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC

24th June 2023

Royal St. George's 'Billy Whizz' is DBSC Beneteau 211 Saturday Race Winner

Royal St. George's Jimmy Fischer's Billy Whizz was the winner of Saturday's scratch Race 17 in the Beneteau 211 class of the AIB DBSC Summer Series on Dublin Bay.

Joe Smyth's Yikes from the Royal Irish took second, with Pat Shannon's Beeswing in third place in medium southerly winds on the Bay.

Overall, Fischer continues to lead the ten-boat DBSC fleet on 12 points from Smyth, with Andrew Bradley's Chinook, also from the RIYC, in third place.

Results from all DBSC classes are below.

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

DBSC

Start
Prev
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Next
End

Page 7 of 133

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.