05/01/2023
2022 Sailing Review
Dear Member
I’m not sure about you, but I certainly started 2022 with a degree of apprehension mixed with some optimism. Covid 19 had severely disrupted the previous two seasons, even resulting in the cancellation of the 2021 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. All club activities had been curtailed; however, we had worked hard at keeping the club open as much as possible.
2022 looked like it would be better, with a return to a more normal sailing season, and so it proved. DBSC was running a full programme and many of the events that are the mainstay of the sailing calendar returned.
We had been working on replacing the club’s crane for over eighteen months and this came to fruition in May with the arrival of the new Liebherr crane for Germany. The old crane was twenty-five years old and had had a hard first eight years to its life when we acquired it 17 years ago. Miquel and his team had done a great job in nursing it through a number of crises and the relief at the arrival of the new crane was visible on his face! It is anticipated that the new crane will have a useful life of 30 years and will pay us back many times not just financially, but also in the flexibility of the service we can offer our members and in the events we can attract to the club.
We had a busy year running events in the club. The Dun Laoghaire Cup for sports boats kicked off the season on May 21st and 22nd and it was great to see the club come back to life so emphatically. The event was a great success with over 50 entries and will become a biennial event. Peter Carroll’s Yikes! won the Beneteau 21 class, Vince Lattimore’s J/80 Jambiya was second in the J/80 class and Ger Dempsey was third in the SB20 class.
The following weekend we hosted the Dragon East Coast championships with a very healthy 14 boats entered. Racing was in idyllic conditions and again the event was deemed a great success.
In June we provided assistance to Wicklow Sailing Club in hosting the larger boats entered in the Round Ireland Race. Later that month, unfortunately, the weather gods did not smile on us and our regatta had to be cancelled due to high winds.
The following weekend (July 1st to 3rd) saw us hosting the Feva Nationals and this gave some of our up-and-coming young sailors a chance to test their abilities against a wider fleet. In total 25 boats competed.
Mid-August saw the Beneteau 31.7s compete for their national championships. Ten boats came to the start line and after a lively weekend of racing Chris Johnson’s “Prospect” brought the silverware back to the Irish!
Early in the year we were given the opportunity of submitting a proposal for the SB20 World Championships. We were successful in getting this event and used the East Coast Championships as a warmup event. This was held on August 27th and 28th and gave 28 of the competing boats a chance to acclimatise to Dublin Bay. Ger Dempsey’s Venuesworld.com took third place in a very competitive fleet.
The Provident CRM SB20 World Championships ran from September 2nd to 10th. The great sailing conditions that had prevailed through the summer deserted us and we lost the first day to high winds. The forecast for the following two days was not looking good, however the race committee managed to get races completed each day and, in the end, a full programme was run. We had 57 competitors in all and the feedback after the event from the competitors was overwhelmingly positive. The race committee led by David Lovegrove ran a great event on the water and our boathouse team were a joy to watch as they lifted 57 boats onto trailers in a matter of a few hours after the event finished.
Whilst this event was a great success for the club it was overshadowed by the sad loss of Jack Roy. Jack had agreed to act as a race officer. Sadly, he succumbed to his illness early in the year and he was never far from our minds. His excellence as a race officer, his sage advice, and his good humour will be greatly missed by those who knew him.
As well as investing in the new crane we also were able to purchase six new RS teras. These are single handed beginner boats and replaced a number of our older Optimist dinghies which were showing signs of wear and tear. We also purchased a very lightly used rib and a second hand Feva to bring our fleet up to six.
Junior section, under the overall direction of Stephen Breen and with Hannah Leonard as our head A, went from strength to strength with great feedback from all participants.
On a racing front, the club was well represented by its members travelling to events.
The Wave Regatta in Howth in early June was sailed in challenging conditions. Pat Burke’s Prima Forte took 3rd place in class 0 IRC and Andrew Craig’s Chimaera was 1st in Class 1 Echo and 3rd on IRC.
In the Sigma Class David Townend took third place on Razzamatazz. This was quite impressive as he sailed two handed for the whole regatta.
It was great to see Cork Week back again after its covid imposed absence. It was also the ICRA National Championships. Barry Cunningham’s new Cape 31 didn’t arrive in time so he skippered Chimaera and took 3rd place in class 2. The performance of the week was John Maybury’s Joker 2. John took his boat to four wins and five top three places in 10 races to become ICRA national champion and to be top boat of the regatta. A truly impressive performance in a very competitive fleet.
Calves Week ran from August 2nd to 5th and saw a small number of RIYC boats venture south for the popular regatta. Paul Higgin’s Rockabill VI took class 0 on IRC, taking two firsts and a third. Prima Forte was second in class 0 Echo.
Traditionally we have been well represented in offshore racing. ISORA continues to grow in popularity since it was revived some years back. In what was a very competitive year the overall trophy was won by Mojito from Pwllheli. Rockabill VI took fourth overall, winning three races in the process.
Rockabill VI dominated the ISORA coastal series winning class 0 and overall. Joe Conway’s Sigma 33 Elandra took 9th overall and won class 2, also in the coastal series.
The Round Ireland race was back again in 2022 and whilst there was not a large number of boats from the Club we more than made up for it with the quality of the entrants. Darkwood, skippered by Michal Boyd, took fourth overall and won Class 1. Rockabill VI finished 9th overall and took second place in class 2.
Within the Bay, DBSC ran a full season of racing and for the most part the weather obliged. A full list of winners is available on the DBSC website, however there were a number of standout performances which deserve mention. You can be assured that the world has returned to normal when Tim Goodbody is again dominating whichever class he is sailing in. White Mischief, sailed by Tim and his son Richard won Class 1 series A and B on both Saturdays and Thursdays and the overall trophy.
Class 0 was dominated by RIYC boats with Rockabill V1 taking the Thursday overall trophy and Prima Forte taking the Saturday honours.
In Class 2 Jim Mc Cann’s Peridot won Saturdays and was second on Thursdays. The SB20 class Saturday series was won by Colin Gallavan’s Carpe Diem and Thursdays was won by Ger Dempsey’s and Christine Nolan’s Venuesworld. The series A and B spoils were also shared by these two boats.
In the Beneteau 21 class, which has now grown to 14 boats, Jimmy Fishers’ Billy Whizz won Thursday and Saturday overall as well as the combined Thursday and Saturday series. In the Sportsboat class Vince Lattimore’s Jambiya won the Saturday series.
The Water Wag class, the oldest and largest class in the bay continues to go from strength to strength. A total of 41 boats entered for their three series, sailed on Wednesday evenings. In a class renowned for its competitiveness Guy Kilroy won series B and C and also took the overall prize, in his aptly named “Swift”. Traditionally the Wag class sails its Regatta race on the Wednesday before the regatta and because we lost the Saturday to the weather it was the only class to have an RIYC regatta this year. The regatta was won by Bairbre Stewart sailing “Freddie” – a very popular win.
Racing cannot take place without a large team on volunteers who provide crew for committee boats, mark laying ribs and all of the other tasks that allow the rest of us to go out and race. These selfless people deserve our thanks. During the year Michael Tyrrell successfully completed the International Race Office exams. He will now work towards completing the three events necessary to become a fully fledged International Race officer. With our aspirations to run the highest level international events, having our own international race office I very important.
Before the new crane arrived Eric, one of our boatmen, successfully completed his crane operator certificate. This takes some of the pressure off Miguel, and enhances the services we can provide to you, our members.
I would like to thank our boathouse team of Miguel, John, Gerry and Eric and of course our Sailing Manager, Mark. They make everything run like clockwork.
We are now planning for 2023 and are working on some exciting initiatives that I will write about early in the new year.
As 2022 draws to a close I would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and some great sailing in 2023.
Regards
Joe Conway
Rear Commodore Sailing