The Royal Alfred Yacht Club will provide a full weekend of racing in Dublin Bay on May 15 – 16, run from the National Yacht Club.

Three races on Saturday and two on Sunday will see the SB3 fleet sharing the windward-leeward course with the Dragons.  First gun at 1100 hours.

Download the Notice of Race and Entry Form HERE

The Royal St George Laser SB3 fleet of 18 boats has enjoyed a hectic season on Dublin Bay.  We had 33 boats entered for DBSC racing and a great variety of events to augment the weekly stuff.  This was the second season of Sunday racing under the burgee of DBSC (after the George provided the racing in the pioneering year of 2007) and the format of two windward-leeward races once again proved very popular. This year, we went for three series rather than two to keep things on the boil. The Sunday turnout averaged around 20 boats, with a season’s best of 25.  Thursdays were good too with an average of about 15 boats out each week.  The George boats were well to the fore throughout, especially “SinBin” (Barry O’Neill) and “Mephisto” (Tim Bourke).  Another new development on the Bay this year was an extra few weeks racing in October, courtesy of the NYC Autumn series…more bang for your hard-earned € !!

The social element is always a bit tricky with Sunday as our main race-day but this was helped by monthly “Super Sundays”, with big BBQs after sailing and class-provided race day prizes.  We also had the first ever SB3 Ladies Race in June, a well-supported race using normal DBSC Tuesday night racing. Fortunately we had a superb evening of glorious sunshine for a testing course set by Carmel and co. in the hut.  George ladies Steph Bourke and Judy O’Beirne took 2nd and 3rd places.  On the Friday of the same week, eight Dun Laoghaire SB3s went up the River Liffey straight after the Thursday night race for an extremely enjoyable Royal Alfred Liffey Challenge, sponsored by Dublin Port Co. George boats took 1st and 3rd with Sean Craig’s “Squalo Bianco” just about sneaking a win and Graham Elmes/Aidan O’Connell 3rd in “Trade Credit Brokers”.

Read More nicely illustrated pdf file.

Ben Duncan and his crew have won yet again in 2009, sailing superbly throughout and finishing on 20 points overall, including two firsts and two seconds.  Sean Craig’s “Squalo Bianco” (meaning “Great White Shark”) really lived up to her name and also finished on 20 points, having hunted down “Sharkbait” all day on Sunday, only to lose on countback.  Duncan and co. also won the One Design Keelboat award, which was probably never in doubt with 43 entries. Brian Reilly’s “Boomsticks” finished like a train with two firsts on the last day.

This was a superb regatta, with well-run racing in a variety of conditions.  Social was unrelenting, topped off with an SB3I Reception on Saturday night when 3 free barrels (270 pints) were wolfed down in under two hours.  Our 43 boat turnout from 12 clubs from the four corners was the envy of every other class and division.  DL Regatta and Cork Week are the ultimate Recruitment Fairs for our class.

Full results

Tim Wilkes photos
Action moves on to RCYC for the Nationals in September after bit of a summer lull.

June  9 th , Wind SE , 3-5 knots rising to 12-15 kn in the afternoon, 7 races held.

A fleet of 8 SB3s, about the right size for the confined space, sailed up through the lifted Toll Bridge at 1030 to do battle in some epic racing for the 2009 Liffey Challenge.  Weather conditions were initially poor with drizzle which was unfortunate for spectator appeal and photo opportunity but at least by lunchtime the skies had cleared.  The lunchtime hordes from the Accountancy firms, Law firms and IFSC companies by the River gathered in good numbers to watch, armed with their paninis and cappucinos.

An early afternoon hazard for the fleet for a number of races was a large number of divers and 2 large ribs, complete with camera crew up above on the quayside.  This turned out to be the filming of a “suicide jump” episode of RTE’s “Fair City” , rather spoiling the element of surprise for any SB3 sailing soap followers, not to mention the disruption for the TV director caused by loud, exhuberant SB3 crews hailing for room at an obstruction!

Anyway, the action started off fast and furious with very patchy morning winds and incredibly close racing, especially for the first tack after the start in by the wall and later as all eight boats tended to round the windward mark together. Extremely fast out of the blocks was “Trade Credit Brokers” , sailed by Aidan O’Connell with Graham Elmes in the middle, who won the first three races.

Race Officer Ailbe Millerick called for a brief halt for lunch then racing resumed.  The wind increased at this stage, ironing out a few of the treacherous light spots. The lads on “TCB” lost some momentum and Cathy MacAleavey on “Bluebird”, racing with Laser Radial star daughter Analise and ex 49-er campaigner Russell MacGovern, really came into it with two race wins on the trot.  However, “Squalo Bianco” raced by Sean craig, Alan Green and wife Heather Craig had been chipping away and ended up winning the last two races to take the trophy by the narrowest of margins.  Many others in the fleet, such as young Ben Shanahan, Jerry Dowling and Marco Sorgassi had strong individual races.  The stronger wind produced some good planing down by the favoured north wall and some really tight racing.  A couple of boats spun out for nasty little brushes with the quayside wall.  Thankfully no damage or injuries resulted.

The SB3 class are very grateful to the RAYC for organising, the Poolbeg Yacht and Boat Club for their facilities and of course Dublin Port Co. for their generous sponsorship.

Final results (Top 3) :
1st  3281 “Squalo Bianco”, RStGYC, Sean Craig, Alan Green and Heather Craig, 13 points ; results ; 1,1,2,2,3,4 ( 5)
2nd  3033 “Bluebird”, NYC, Cathy MacAleavey, Russell MacGovern and Analise Murphy, 14 points ; 1,1,2,3,3,4 (8)

3rd  3279 “Trade Credit Brokers”, RStGYC, Aidan O’Connell, Graham Elmes and Carol O’Kelly, 16 points ; 1,1,1,4,4,5 (8).

(click to enlarge)

Little video of Rory Byrne and crew aboard Mandarin last Thursday during the first Dublin Bay Sailing Club Thursday night race of the season.

Racing around the cans, the video shows part of the leg from Forty Foot due north to South Bar, a distance of 2.68 nautical miles.  It was fabulous beginning to the summer season.