Beneteau 21s Have Been a Real Racing Success Story on Dublin Bay

8th October 2020

The Royal Irish Yacht Club entry Ventunowas fourth in this year's Beneteau 21 championships on Dublin Bay Credit: Afloat

The Beneteau 21 Class Championships 2020 sailed on Dublin Bay despite the odds over two Saturdays in September writes the class Honorary Treasurer, Jimmy Fischer

21ft boats are no stranger to Dublin Bay, indeed we are seeing a rise of the original under the expert eye of Hal Sisk, but it is another 21ft racing class that has made its mark on the bay. The Dublin Bay fleet of Beneteau 21s has been one of the real racing success stories of the past few years.

These 21ft racer cruisers were the smallest sailing boats made by Beneteau at the time of their launch in the early 1990s. A few model upgrades later and the boats started making a regular appearance on DBSC start lines in 2006/2007, getting their own DBSC start in 2012 and recognition as a one design class at Dun Laoghaire week since 2013.

Nip and tuck in Beneteau 21 class racing on Dublin Bay

Beneteau 211 racing on Dublin Bay where there is a 12-strong racing fleet based out of Dun Laoghaire Marina Photo: Afloat

Today, they have a 12 strong racing fleet, many of whom are originals from the 2006/2007 start line. These are supplemented by entries from Malahide and Greystones for Regattas, Regional and National events. It really shows the commitment of this fleet that 10 of them were regularly racing even in summer 2020.

And that commitment did not waiver when it came to fighting it out for their National Championships, which the fleet managed to fit in despite the ever-changing sailing calendar and restrictions.

A Beneteau 21 with a racing crew of four Photo: Afloat

10 boats fought it out in a National Championships which they combined with the National Yacht Clubs 150th Anniversary Regatta. 4 races split over 2 Saturdays (one of which all bar one boat had to retire from due to a course mix up!) and the B21's had their 2020 national Champions.

Small Wonder on 7 points
Billy whizz on 8 points
Chinook on 9 points
Ventuno on 10 points.

As always in this class, it was tight at the top. Few fleets push each other quite as hard as the B21s where it is not uncommon for the series to end with just a point in it.

Racing under spinnaker in a B21

Hopefully, 2021 will bring back a more conventional racing calendar and apres sail for these small but fierce boats, along with recognition as a class by the ISA, which is currently pending.

Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Published in DBSC

Tagged under

Beneteau 21

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.