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28th February 2016

UCD Win Varsity Championships at Kilrush Marina

Firefly racing for Irish varsity honours at Kilrush in County Clare

UCD reigned at the Varsity Team Racing Championships at Kilrush Marina in County Clare, the last national event of the year in the college sailing calendar. The event was organised by Trinity sailing and DIT Sailing Club. 

Teams from around Ireland were on the Shannon Estuary from 24th-28th of February for the IUSA Inter-Varsity champions 2016.

The sheltered Kilrush Creek provided an ideal racing area for both competitors and spectators.

The event kicked off on Thursday with 27 teams from 11 different universities from Ireland and the UK competing in 4 different round robin flights. UCC1, Loughborough University, CIT and UCD1 came out on top of each flight after the first day. The teams were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze for a second round robin on Friday before entering the knockout stages on Saturday. The quarter finals saw some intense racing with Trinity winning over the undefeated reigning champions, UCC1. UCD1 raced UCD2 in the semi finals and Trinity came up against Loughborough University.

The best of 5 final came down to colours rivals, UCD and Trinity in light, challenging conditions. While Trinity won the first race, UCD came back with 3 consecutive wins, taking the varsities title. UCD2 were the third placed team.

Full Results:

Gold Fleet
1. UCD1
2. TCD1
3. UCD2
4. Loughborough University

Silver Fleet
1. UCD3
2. CIT
3. TCD6/DIT

Bronze Fleet
1. Queens University Belfast
2. UCD4

IUSA Awards 

•    Sailor of the year: Scott Flanigan, TCD

•    Crew of the year: Cliodhna Connolly, UCD

•    Fresher of the year: Mark Bolger, TCD

•    Club of the year: CIT

•    Event of the Year: IUSA intervarsities hosted by TCD & DIT 

Published in Team Racing
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2nd March 2015

UCC Reign as Intervarsity Irish Champions

UCC Reign as Intervarsity Irish Champions

#teamrace – A very exciting and eventful finals series on Saturday, produced an all UCC final, with UCC1 facing off against UCC2. UCC1 won the first three races of the five race final which saw them being crowned Intervarsity Champions for 2014/2015. From the 26th to the 28th of February UCC Sailing Club hosted the IUSA Intervarsity Championships in the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre, Schull, Co. Cork. The event consisted of three days of highly competitive racing, despite the extremely heavy conditions. Days one and two saw 28 teams racing in three fleets (Gold, Silver and Bronze), which were selected according to team rankings based on the results of the regional events this season.

On day three, the top 16 teams were selected for the finals series, with the winners of each respective race going on to quarter finals, namely University College Cork 1, University College Cork 2, University College Dublin 1, University College Dublin 4, Trinity College Dublin 1, Scottish University Sailing Association, Loughborough University and Cork Institute of Technology 1.
Sadly, due to the increasingly adverse conditions, the race committee were forced to cancel the Silver and Bronze fleet finals and therefore their prizes were awarded based on the standings from the first two days of racing.

The semi-finals saw defending champions UCD1 narrowly lose out to UCC2 and UCC1 overcome SUSA. As a result, the host club found themselves in an all-UCC final, with UCC1 coming out on top, securing victory over their fellow club members by winning the first three of the best-of-five final.

The awards ceremony took place on Saturday night, with the National University of Ireland Galway being awarded Best Club of the Year for their tremendous efforts in promoting and enhancing their club over the past year, and for being incredibly compliant and helpful to any club who hosted events during the season. Event of the Year was awarded to UCD who hosted the Eastern Championships in Blessington earlier in the year. First Year Sailor of the Year was awarded to newly crowned Intervarsity champion, Fionn Lyden of UCC1. Sailor of the year went to the very deserving Philip Doran of UCD1.
On behalf of UCC Sailing Club I would like to thank everybody who partook in the organisation and running of this event, in particular the Irish University Sailing Association committee, the volunteers (including many UCCSC alumni), the race committee – lead by Denis Quinlan, the umpires, everyone in the Fastnet Marine Outdoor Education Centre, the community of Schull, and our fellow university clubs.

Gold Fleet prize winning teams:
UCC1: Cian O' Regan, Fionn Lyden, Aidan McLaverty, Eimear O' Leary, Dave Healy, Niamh Ní Chonghaile
UCC2: Ross Murray, Brendan Lyden, Conor Lyden, Liam Manning, Chloe Crosbie, Emma Geary
UCD1: Philip Doran, Conor Murphy, Rory Lynch, Tara Flood, Clíodhna Connolly, Ally Morehead

Published in Team Racing
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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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

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

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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

©Afloat 2020

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