10/08/2023
Sailing Newsletter 2023 - Summer Update
Nathan van Steenberge wins the 29er World Championships
RIYC Cadet Member Nathan van Steenberge, crewing for his sister Clementine, won the 29er World Championships in Weymouth last weekend. The 29er is looked upon as the ‘junior’ 49er which is an Olympic class. We send our congratulations to Clementine and Nathan.
Fastnet Race 2023
The 2023 Fastnet race was generally agreed to have been one of the toughest in recent years. In the first 24 hours over 100 boats retired with many others taking shelter before resuming racing the following day. Force 9 gusts were recorded over that first night.
Michael O’Donnell’s Darkwood completed the race in 4 days 9 hours and 42 minutes to take 10th place in IRC 1. In IRC 4 Kevin Buckley and Michael Murphy’s State O’Chassis completed the course in 6 days 10 hours and 47 minutes. Ronan O’Siochru’s Desert Star retired close to the Isles of Scilly on the outward leg.
Well done to all our Members who competed in this gruelling event.
Melges 15
The Melges 15 is an exciting two-handed large dinghy that is gaining in popularity in Europe and Ireland in particular. A fleet of nine boats is now established in Dun Laoghaire and this is expected to grow.
We have a boat on loan for the next two weeks and it is available for competent sailors to take out for a sail to try out. If you would like to take it for a sail, please contact Colin Galavan (086 8158623) or Joe Conway (087 1228665).
Here are a few videos that will show you some of the techniques involved in sailing the Melges 15
How to set spinnaker
https://youtu.be/9uQExVy0TQo
How to gybe
https://youtu.be/ffd8wRUDPlg
How to drop spinnaker
https://youtu.be/mxE82-F3efk
Video of US midwinters
https://youtu.be/gO-DihKJbY8
Tuning guide (sail trim tips)
https://www.quantumsails.com/getattachment/Sails/One-Design/Inshore/Melges-15/Melges15_TuningGuide.pdf.aspx#:~:text=The%20angle%20of%20heel%20is,in%20and%20adjust%20controls%20accordingly.
Dublin Bay 21's
Weather permitting there will be a Dublin Bay 21 alongside the Club on Saturday for Members to see these beautifully restored boats up close. All seven of these boats are being restored, with four now completed. They are being run by the Dublin Bay 21 Association and it is possible for Members to sail on these boats by joining the Association.
More details are available here
https://www.riyc.ie/Sailing_News/SAILORS_OF_DUBLIN_BAY_TWENTYONES
Cruising Association of Ireland - Three Bridges Rally
Ever fancy spending a night on a boat in the heart of Dublin City? The CAI Three Bridges Rally on September 2nd and 3rd affords you such an opportunity!
On the 2nd all three bridges on the Liffey will be open allowing a parade of sail up-river almost as far as Butt Bridge. Boats then moor on the pontoon at the Point for an evening of food and festivities. Security is provided at the pontoon and food can be ordered to be delivered to your boat.
The following day the East Link is opened to allow the fleet to depart, sailing in line as far as the Poolbeg lighthouse before dispersing.
More details are on the Cruising Association of Ireland’s website –
www.cruising.ie - and you can contact the association by emailing
[email protected]
2022 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
18th June - Round Ireland Race,
see here
25th June - RIYC Regatta,
see here
1st to 3rd July - Feva National Championships 2022,
see here
July 20th - RIYC Junior Regatta
11th to 13th August - 31.7 National Championships
27th to 28th August SB20 East Coast Championships
2nd September - Annual Pursuit Race
5th to 10th September SB20 World Championships,
see full details
Updates, Entry, NOR etc.for the above events will be available as soon as we get them
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!
Our Club is having a very successful year in hosting sailing events. This brings great vibrancy to the Club at weekends; however, it stretches our current team of volunteers, who are essential to the successful running of events.
We are looking to increase the pool of volunteers who assist in running events, both ashore and on the water. Committee boats require people to help, and we need RIB drivers and assistants to lay marks and do the other functions required on the water.
If you would like to assist your Club in running events, please email
[email protected].
Full training will be provided.
2021 SAILING NEWS
Pictured above is Commodore Pat Shannon helming Naneen one of three recently restored Dublin Bay 21s with crew; Brian Mathews, Oonagh Walsh and Kylie McMillan.
RIYC Member, Mathew Kennedy aboard Hallowe’en sailing under the RIYC burgee at the Regatta Royales in Cannes last week.
22nd September, 2021
J/109 National Championships.
The J/109 National Championships were hosted by us this past weekend.
Sailed in warm sunny conditions throughout the two days, all six races were completed.
John Maybury’s Joker II started very well in the light conditions on Saturday and won all three races giving them a five point lead overnight from Outrajeous (Richard Colwell/ John Murphy Howth Yacht Club) and Chimeara (Andrew Craig - RIYC) four points further back (12) in third.
Sunday provided a little more wind, and Joker II with a fifth, which was discarded, and a second and Fourth held on to win by four points from Chimaera and Outrajeous , both on fourteen points, but Chimaera took second by winning the last race. So first and second were taken by RIYC boats!
Congratulations to John Maybury and his crew on making it five J/109 National titles. They previously won it in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2019.
Full results are here
https://www.sailwave.com/results/RIYC/J109IrishNationals21.htm
SB20 National Championships
The SB20 Nationals were hosted by Lough Ree Yacht Club on Friday, Saturday and Sunday last. In all nine races were sailed and Ted, Michael O Connor - RSGYC took the title. Two RIYC boats Venuesworld.com, Ger Dempsey and Chris Nolan along with newly elected RIYC Cadet Members Tim Norwood and Nathan Van Steenberge in crew; and Carpe Diem, Colin Galavan, finished second and third.
Irish Sailing Junior All Ireland Championships
The Irish Sailing Junior All Ireland Championships take place this coming weekend at the Fastnet Marine and Outdoor Education Centre in Schull.
Our Club will be represented by Max Goodbody and we wish him well in the event. See full details here
https://www.sailing.ie/Racing/All-Ireland-Sailing-Championships
13th September, 2021
RIYC 190th Anniversary Race
On Friday September 10th we celebrated our 190th year as a Club with our Annual Pursuit Race. We were joined by the fleet of newly restored Dublin Bay 21s, helmed by three of our four Flag Officers.
The race was won by Jim Mc Cann’s Peridot in a close finish.
The Flag Officer’s race saw Rear Commodore Sailing take first place, with the Commodore in second place and the Vice Commodore third.
We would like to thank Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra and the Dublin Bay 21 Class Association for allowing us to use these magnificent vessels for the event.
Cruising Association of Ireland Three Bridges Cruise
The Cruising Association of Ireland (CAI) held their annual Three Bridges Cruise last weekend. Three boats from the RIYC took part, Spiral Moon, Katanca and Elandra.
On Saturday September 11th almost 40 boats gathered at the East Link for a 15:00 bridge lift. We made our way through quickly and proceeded through the open Samuel Beckett and Sean O Casey bridges as far as the Matt Talbot bridge just below the Customs House.
The larger boats then came back down river to tie up at the pontoon just west of the East Link bridge. The smaller boats did a second circuit and then rafted up outside the first line of boats followed by a third line on the outside.
By 16:30 we were all tied up and the festivities could begin! The weather gods were looking favorably upon us, and evening was dry and mild. Barbecue catering was provided, and food was delivered to each boat.
Later, some people stayed on board and others took the opportunity of visiting some of the many local hostelries! The following morning a bridge lift was organised at 11:00 to coincide with the departure of the Dublin Bay Cruise vessel, the St. Bridget, and we all returned to our home ports.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable event, and the CAI are to be commended for being able to twist arms and call-in favours to have all three bridges opened for us. It was certainly an unusual experience to be able to motor up the Liffey, hoist a spinnaker to come back down, and then to spend the night in the centre of the city.
We hope to work more closely with the CAI in the future to encourage more of our members to join in the many short cruises they organise every year.
DMYC Annual Kish Race
The DMYC are running their annual Kish Race this Sunday September 19th. Warning signal at 10:55.
This is always a fun end of season event.
The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Annual Championships
The Annual ICRA Championships were held in Dun Laoghaire, hosted by the NYC, between Friday September 3rd and Sunday September 5th.
Racing was for classes 0, 1, 2, 3, and Non spinnaker boats and results were provided for both IRC and ECHO handicap systems.
Kaya, Frank Whelan’s J/122 was crowned overall champion, winning class 0 IRC with four first places. Forty Licks from the RUYC in second and Jump Juice from the RCYC in third place, completed a clean sweep for visiting boats in Class 0.
First RIYC boat, in sixth place overall, in class 0 IRC was Prima Forte (sailing under an NYC burgee in this case) and Paul O Higgin’s Rockabill, last year’s overall champion, was seventh.
First on ECHO was El Pocko with Prima Forte second and Rockabill fourth.
Class 1 was a very competitive class with the J/109 fleet included. Storm, the J/109 from Rush took the class on IRC with our own Tim and Richard Goodbody’s White Mischief taking second place. Bon Example was fifth and Joker 2 sixth.
On Echo, Jellybaby, a J/109 from the RCYC won with Black Velvet the first RIYC boat in 11th.
We were not represented in class 2 where the IRC spoils were dominated by half tonners from Howth Yacht Club. Checkmate XV111, King One and Mata filled the first three spots. In a similar manner, Class 2 Echo was dominated by X-302s from Howth with Maximus and Xebec taking the first two places with King One third.
Moving to class 3 IRC, Snoopy from Courtown won, with Hard on Port from Bray in second place and Paul Colton’s Cri-Cri in third.
Flash from Greystones took first in Echo. Henry Leonard’s Sigma 33 Leeuwin was first RIYC boat on echo, in fourth place, with Cri-Cri one place behind.
In the Non-Spinnaker class, we dominated! Grainne and Sean O Shea’s Gung-Ho took both IRC and ECHO wins. In IRC they were followed by Persistence, Act 2, Prima Luce and Conquestador, all from our Club.
On Echo the next four places were filled by Persistence, Prima Luce, Just Jasmin and Act 2.
Keep up the results from
DBSC here. Enter the Summer series
here
Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2021
The first major offshore race, hosted by the NYC, started from Dun Laoghaire at 14:00 on Wednesday June 9th. With covid restrictions preventing entries from Britain a very respectable fleet of 37 crossed the line at the second attempt and faced a stiff Southerly breeze in a race to beat the tidal gate at Wicklow head which would close around four hours later.
Most of the fleet short tacked along the shore and the lead boats made the gate just before the tide turned. Just after passing Brittas Bay leader on the water, Freya (Conor Doyle, Kinsale YC) went to the aid of a kitesurfer in difficulties and turned back to rendezvous with the RNLI Lifeboat before resuming racing. This briefly handed the lead to Nieulargo (Denis Murphy (RCYC).
The tide had turned again by midnight and the leaders rounded the Tuskar just after 2:00 by which time Freya had regained her position at the head of the fleet. Second round was Searcher (Pete Smith, NYC). Rockabill VI (Paul O Higgins) was the first RIYC boat around in fifth with WOW (George Sisk) eighth. A number of boats fell foul of the TSS at the Tuskar and received 20% time penalties as a result of entering the restricted area.
The wind had veered to the southwest and the fleet now faced a long beat to the Fastnet. Sea conditions were rough, and a number of smaller boats retired at this stage. Most boats make it to Cork Harbour on port tack before tacking out to clear the Old Head and the Fastnet. Freya was first around the Fastnet at 21:45 on Thursday. WOW had worked her way up to third at this stage and rounded at 23:30 just behind Aurelia (Chris Power-Smith, RStGYC). Rockabill VI rounded in seventh in close company with Searcher and Nieulargo.
Further back Juggerknot II (Andrew Algeo, RIYC) was putting in a good performance as one of the smaller boats in the fleet, at 9.9 metres, in what were not good conditions for smaller boats.
Once round the Fastnet the leading boats fetched the Skelligs before being able to hoist kites for the run to the finish line in Dingle. However, by the time the smaller boats reached this part of the course the wind had veered further to force them to take a number of tacks to clear the Skelligs.
Line honours went to Freya, in 1 day 14 hours 1 minute and 50 seconds. Second was Samatom (Robert Rendell HYC) almost 4 and a half hours later, closely followed by Aurelia, just over 2 minutes further back. WOW was the first RIYC boat home, eight and a half minutes behind Aurelia with Rockabill fifth, twenty-five minutes later.
Nieulargo took the IRC overall with Rockabill joint second with Freya, after she received redress for rescuing the kitesurfer. Juggerknot II came in sixth, with WOW 10th. Juggerknot II’s performance saw her win IRC class 2.
Barry Cunningham won the cruiser class in his new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 49, Conquestador.
Niall Dowling is Third at The Quarter Ton Cup - Huge congratulations to Niall Dowling and his crew,
see the full story here
1720 Charter
Our fleet of 1720 has been refurbished over the winter and is now ready to go for the season. These are available for use by suitably qualified members. This is a great way to get out on the water either to race or for a leisurely Sunday afternoon sail. Contact
Mark Mc Gibney, our sailing manager, for more details.
Joint Ownership
For many, the cost of owning a boat can be prohibitive. An excellent way to have the benefits of boat ownership, but reduce the cost is to enter into a partnership with other like-minded individuals and purchase the boat together and share the running costs. The club is examining ways in which we can facilitate the growth of such partnerships.
If you would like to be part of this initiative and feel that joint ownership might be of interest to you, please email
[email protected] and we will get back to you with more information.
Upcoming dates for your diary
May 29th
ISORA Offshore training race – ideal training for anyone entering the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race. More details at
www.isora.orgJune 7th Start of DBSC Summer season
June 9th Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race start
July 2nd-4th B21 Irish Championships – RIYC
SB20 East Coast Championships – RIYC
Dragon National Championships - RStGYC
Beneteau 31.7 National Championships - NYC
August 13-15 IRC Welsh Championship – Abersoch
September 3-5 ICRA National Championships - NYC Dun Laoghaire
September 18/19 J/109 Natonal Championships - RIYC Dun Laoghaire
These are all set up on
Mysail.team to help you get your crew organized or to help you find a boat.
After what seems like an age of not being able to sail we appear to be about to restart. DBSC has finalised its Summer programme and ISORA is ready to go on the offshore scene.
In line with government restrictions DBSC will start a short series of training races on Saturday May 15th. Details are available in the DBSC website,
here.
Please note that RIYC changing rooms will not be available until mid June.
Similarly ISORA is running a coastal training race that day also. It is one of two training races to allow crews and boats to gain experience before the biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race on June 9th. More details on ISORA are available
here
Staying with the offshore theme, with the cancellation of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta this year, boats might consider entering the Liverpool Yacht Club’s Lyver race. This is a RORC race and counts as qualification towards the Fastnet race. It starts on July 2nd in Liverpool and finishes in Dun Laoghaire. If you have never raced from Liverpool now is the chance. The start line is in the Mersey close to the famous Lyver building and the race out of the Mersey to open sea alone is a great experience! Being a RORC race there are RORC gold medals up for grabs! More
details here
Our Junior section is putting the finishing touches to the Junior Sailing Program for 2021,
BOOK HERE
Last week we launched the RIYC version of the Mysail.team app. This is an excellent way for owner/skippers to manage all aspect of their crew schedules and to connect with potential new crew members. For sailors wishing to find places on boats, either for the season or for a single event it is the way to go. You can register here
https://mysail.team/
Our fleet of 1720 has been refurbished over the Winter and is now ready to go for the season. These are available for use by suitably qualified members. This is a great way to get out on the water either to race or for a leisurely Sunday afternoon sail. Contact
Mark McGibney, our sailing manager, for more details.
Upcoming dates for your diary
May 15th Start of DBSC training races
May 15th ISORA coastal training race
June 7th Start of DBSC Summer season
June 9th Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race start
July 2nd Lyver Race – Liverpool to Dun Laoghaire - LYC
August 13-15th IRC Welsh Championship – Abersoch.
September 3-5th ICRA National Championships - NYC, Dun Laoghaire
September 18/19th J/109 Natonal Championships - RIYC, Dun Laoghaire
These are all set up on
Mysail.team to help you get your crew organized or to help you find a boat.