20-knot south-easterlies and low visibility led to the cancellation of some classes and a much reduced Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) fleet for Saturday racing on September 3rd.

Recently crowned national champion Chris Johnston won the Beneteau 31.7 race, a class with the biggest turnout of seven boats competing.

The Ruffian 23, with a turnout of five, was won by DBSC Commodore Ann Kirwan on Bandit. 

There was no DBSC racing for the Flying Fifteens or Dragons as both classes are holding National Championships on the Bay this weekend, as Afloat reports here and here.

The 'pre-worlds' race for the SB20s only drew three boats, with Colin Galavan's Carpe Diem the only finisher. The SB20 Worlds begins on Monday at the Royal Irish Yacht Club as Afloat previews here. 

In the Cruiser classes, the three-boat IRC Zero class was won by Patrick Burke's First 40 Prima Forte in a nearly two-hour race from Chris Power-Smith's J122 Aurelia. Third was Tim Kane's Extreme 37 Wow. 

In a three-boat IRC One race, Tom Shanahan's J109 Ruth beat NYC clubmate Paul Barrington in the sistership Jalapeno. Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief retired.

There was a bumper turnout of 32 Water Wags for Wednesday night's DBSC Captain’s Prize race at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

After a general recall, Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly lengthened the start line for one of the biggest turnouts of the season.

After a second general recall, Donnelly resorted to the Black flag penalty rule and the race got away with all boats clear.

In a race of three rounds (four beats) and a wind of eight knots, from 090 degrees, the winner was Vincent Delany in Number 3 Pansy, second was Martin Byrne in Number 49, Hilda and third was William Prentice in Number 42, Tortoise.

Martin Byrne in Water Wag Number 49, Hilda Photo: Ann Kirwan

The Murphy family from the National Yacht Club were out in force with Claudine helming no. 41, and Annalise no. 19, and Cathy and Con in no. 45.

The National Yacht Club's John O'Gorman's Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie won the final Thursday night's IRC Race 18 in the 2022 AIB DBSC Summer Series for Cruisers Zero.

The regular ISORA offshore campaigner took the inshore win from a fleet of seven beating the newly arrived Cape 31, Blast (Barry Cunningham) from the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

Third was another NYC entry, the First 40.7 Tsunami.

Winds were southeasterly and up to 12 knots. The Race Officer was Mairead Ni Cheallachain.

Full results for all DBSC classes are below

A strong turnout of Water Wags on Wednesday night in Dun Laoghaire Harbour counted for the National Yacht Club's Women at the Helm regatta as well as regular Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) points. 

19 Wag dinghies entered 'WATH', all helmed by women.

Race Officer Harry Gallagher of Sutton Dinghy Club set a course of three rounds and four beats in the sub-10-knot breeze.

Rio Olympic silver medalist Annalise Murphy crewed for her sister Claudine in Mollie and the sister's parents Con and Cathy came up from Domineer in County Tipperary taking advantage of yesterday’s lay day in the Fireball Worlds on Lough Derg where Con is Race Officer and also competed as regular Wag racers. Cathy helmed Mariposa with Con crewing as usual.

Number 49 Hilda sailed by Heather King was the winner, Number 45 Mariposa sailed by Cathy MacAleavey second and Number 15 Moosmie third. Third, in the WATH race was Nicky Gray.

It was a testing day for the DBSC Flying Fifteen fleet on Saturday with a strong and gusty southwest wind but PRO Brian Mathews and his team got two races completed. As well as the regulars there were a few new crews including Sean Craig & Eoin Laverty and Dave Gorman & Chris Doorly presumably getting together for the upcoming Championships of Ireland hosted by the NYC in September.

As with the keelboats, some decided to stay ashore, others went out for a look and didn’t race and some retired. Those who stayed were tested physically and mentally but it was exciting sailing.

It was a short start line but the fleet got away at the first time of asking, Gorman started to weather at the committee boat end and held his line to take advantage of the small shifts particularly as they got closer to the weather mark which was close to the harbour entrance. It was close at the weather mark with Mathews and Craig and Mulvin all rounding close together.

With the strong gusts and with the SB3s broaching on the downwind there was reluctance for the Fifteens to fly the spinnakers. Gorman pulled out a good lead downwind and led all the way for the three laps to take the gun with Mathews second and Craig third.

The second race followed the same pattern again with Gorman starting at the committee boat and working hard to get the lead by the weather mark. Mathews was second with Mulligan third and Craig fourth.

Despite strong and gusty southwest winds, racing was completed for all three keelboat fleets in Saturday's AIB DBSC Summer Series on Dublin Bay.

The Green fleet sailed two races. 

Race Officers were Blue fleet Barry MacNeaney, Red (hut) Henry Irvine, and Green fleet Brian Mathews.

There was great racing in lots of wind, but turnouts were low - some boats decided to stay ashore, others went out for a look but decided not to race, and some retired. 

Dinghies had been cancelled in advance due to the National Champs for Fireballs, Lasers and IDRA 14s.

A technical issue delayed the publication of yesterday's results but these are now published below.

In an eight-boat turnout in IRC One, Tim Goodbody's White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club repeated last Saturday's win in the AIB DBSC Summer Series by taking the gun again in race 13.

Breaking into the pack of J109s that occupied all but one of the top seven places was Fintan Cairn's Mills 31 Raptor in second place in the one-hour and ten-minute race.

A northeasterly sea breeze for the cruiser courses on Dublin Bay was eight knots in strength. 

Overall series leader Lindsay J. Casey's J97 Windjammer was the Cruisers Two IRC division winner. The Royal St. George yacht took the gun from Jim McCann's Peridot.Third, in the four-boat race was Dick Lovegrove's Sigma 33, Rupert. 

Aurelia was the winner of the three-boat Cruisers Zero race finishing ahead of Tim Kane's WOW. 

In a three-boat turnout, Kevin Byrne's Royal St. George Formula 28 Starlet was the IRC 3 winner from Frazer Meredith's Asterix. Third was Edward Melvin's Ceol an Mara.

In the One Design keelboat fleets, James Gorman's Black was the winner of race 25 in a six-boat SB20 fleet. Winds on the one design course were north-easterly five or six knots. 

The 31.7 fleet were competing for national honours in the RIYC-hosted championships on the Bay, and the Flying Fifteens were racing for the class south coast title at Dunmore East.

Full results across all DBSC classes are below.

The weekly yacht racing highlight on the capital's waters at Dun Laoghaire Harbour was cancelled due to light winds on Dublin Bay tonight.

All Dublin Bay Sailing Club Thursday night racing was cancelled due to less than five knots of breeze on both of the club's race course areas.

Overall Sportboat division leader Jonathan Craig's J80 George 7 won last Tuesday night's DBSC AIB race on Dublin Bay. 

Winds were six knots from the southeast, giving a spinnaker start for the mixed cruiser fleet from the DBSC Hut on the West Pier. 

The Race Officer was Jim Dolan. 

Second in race 13 of the series was Sam Webb's Jay-Z.

Dinghy racing was held on Scotsman's Bay where there was a five-boat turnout of Fireballs ahead of this month's World Championships on Lough Derg.

Leading Fireballer Neil Colin of the DMYC won the first of two races with Owen Sinnott taking the second.

Full DBSC results across all divisions are below.

Race Officer Neil Murphy and the Green Fleet had a difficult day on the water for Saturday’s DBSC racing.

Initially, the Race Officer took the fleet well to the west of the bay with the bigger boats and a WAZP regatta dictating the availability of the course area. From an early stage, it was apparent that the wind was not going to play ball as it fluctuated either side of 270°. With the WASZPs finishing their racing, the committee boat moved to their location but Neil’s struggles were not over, and the sight of the big boat fleet beating southwards and eastwards and the leaders running back westwards under spinnaker up the bay must have left him thinking he was operating in a parallel universe. That breeze never materialised for the Green Fleet – SB20s, Dragons, Sportsboats, Flying Fifteens, Mermaids, Ruffians and Beneteau's.

A two-lap Windward-Leeward race was commenced with a breeze that changed so regularly that deciding which end of the line was best to start was also a matter of chance. A committee boat start did not look too bright for 4081 (Mulligan & Bradley) relative to 3955 (Dumpleton & Hickey) and 4057 (Tom Murphy & Matt) who tacked onto port almost immediately and shot ahead of the fleet. I am going to assume that 4099 (Gorman & Casey), 4083 (Lavery & Green) and 4093 (Galvin & Poole) were at the other end of the line because these three boats and the previous two formed the core of the head of the fleet. By the latter half of the first beat, Gorman and Lavery were at the head of the fleet with Dumpleton and Murphy thereabouts. Mulligan had a better 2nd half of the beat to close the gap somewhat but the racing was tight down the spinnaker leg.

Dumpleton’s manoeuvres towards the end of the run were unsuccessful as he got dropped by Messrs Gorman and Lavery, having been in a position to challenge them both. The lead group went left but soon found themselves wallowing in no wind. Mulligan, 3753 (Court & O’Leary [with hat intact]) and 4068 (Mulvin & Beirne) having rounded together with 3896 (Cooper & McNamara) then worked the middle and right of the course. Court & O’Leary could have sailed to Clontarf and turned left when they ran out of water, they were so far removed from the rest of us. Cooper also went right but not to the extremes of Court. Mulligan and Mulvin were the most conservative operating in a tight corridor that never completely ran out of breeze, but never had a huge amount either. After one tack, Mulligan was able to lay the weather mark on a huge starboard lift. But that too evaporated!

Court eventually steamed in on starboard tack, reaching in from afar. However, he rounded the mark behind Cooper and with Mulligan on his transom. Court & Mulligan gybed immediately, Mulligan following Court’s lead and these two stayed within a boat-length of each other down the spinnaker leg. Mulvin & Beirne initially gave chase to Mulligan but the latter managed to squeeze out from the wind shadow Mulvin was trying to create.

The “left wingers” managed to get back in the frame by the weather mark as the breeze started to fill a bit more fruitfully across the course. Thus, we had Court, Mulligan and Mulvin working the left-hand side of the run, utilising the breeze that Court had brought in from the Clontarf side. Gorman, Lavery, Dumpleton, Cooper, the Colemans, Niall & Susan (4008) were on the shore side of the first three.
The lead two finished marginally overlapped, with Court & O’Leary taking the gun. Mulvin & Beirne were rewarded with 3rd place ahead of Gorman & Casey, Dumpleton & Hickey, the Colemans, Lavery & Green and Cooper.

It was a day of multiple wind changes and Neil Murphy, visiting the southern portion of the Bay from Howth, had multiple decisions to make to get a race in. A decision to wait until 16:15 to even contemplate a second race was the considered approach and by this deadline there was still no solidity to the wind conditions. The breeze that the big boats enjoyed never materialised on the Green course even though they used a weather mark that was only about one hundred metres away from our start area. The Green Fleet sailed homewards under spinnakers with a breeze that still had a westerly element to it. Inside the harbour the dinghy fleet abandoned their racing.

DBSC Saturday 6th August 2022

Flying Fifteens
1. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne
4. David Gorman & Margaret Casey
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey

Saturdays Series B
1. David Gorman & Others 9pts
2. John Lavery & Alan Green 10pts
3. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 15pts
4. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 19pts
5. Ken Dumpleton & Joe Hickey 21pts

Saturdays Overall
1. David Gorman & Others 31pts
2. Ben Mulligan & Cormac Bradley 49pts
3. David Mulvin & Ronan Beirne 72pts
4. Neil Colin & Margaret Casey 83pts
5. Alistair Court & Conor O’Leary 96pts