Laser Leinsters - Saturday results.

Several boats from Dun Laoghaire headed off to the Laser Leinsters in Wexford this weekend. They're doing really well, with 4 of the top 10 places currently held by Dun Laoghaire boats. O'Dowd, Byrne, Craig and O'Leary are in there fighting. 

We look forward to hearing of more great sailing tomorrow!!

Series Place	Sail No	Type of Boat	Class	Helm	Club	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3
1	201566	S		Chris Penney	East Antrim BC	5	3	1	1
2	181999	S		Matthew O'Dowd	Royal St. George YC	5	1	2	2
3	185104	S		Conor Simms	Royal Ulster YC	13	2	3	8
4	198554	S		Conor Byrne	Royal St. George YC	13	6	4	3
5	197364	S		Sean Murphy	Kinsale YC	19	8	7	4
6	178335	S	M	Sean Craig	Royal St. George YC	21	4	5	12
7	155068	S	M	Ross o'Leary	Royal St. George YC	21	5	6	10
8	198560	S		Henry McLaughlin	Carlingford Lough YC	25	7	9	9
9	201365	S	M	Stephen Penney	East Antrim BC	26	9	12	5
10	185043	S		Peter Cameron	East Antrim BC	28	11	10	7
11	191670	S	M	Colin Galavan	Royal Irish YC	29	12	11	6
12	193562	S		Oisin McClelland	Ballyholme YC	29	10	8	11
13	181674	S	M	Troy Hopkins	Howth YC	41	13	13	15
14	178689	S	M	Tommy Fallon	Wexford Harb. B&TC	43	14	16	13
15	173164	S	M	Timmy Washington	Wexford Harb. B&TC	43	15	14	14
16	180237	S	M	Paul Ebrill	Wexford Harb. B&TC	47	16	15	16

Little and Large

Many photographers were out taking pics of the MOD70s last weekend and their pics featured on various world press.

One local amateur photographer took quite a big set of photos, plus he took some pictures of the Dun Laoghaire dinghy sailors who went out for a blast that day too. It gives some scale to the proceedings when you see a Laser in the foreground and an MOD70 behind.

The photographer, ColinMac, has given permission to use his photos on this site.  The full set is also worth a look and his gallery is here.  
(note, he reserves all rights on the photos!)

Read the whole article to see more than the first few, or visit the gallery to see them all.

Spindrift returns home

O'Dowd, Keane, Sheehy, with MOD70s behind

Nothing outstanding in small field

Not a great night on the bay, fairly fickle winds, a river of tide and latecomers meant that there was a hugely depleted PY Fleet and only 3 Lasers (all from the RIYC..) on the line at the starting gun.

O'Toolivic, Keane and Walsh did ask the Committee to delay the start but it went ahead on time and they duked it out up the first beat playing the right to try to stay in less tide. Keane eventually popped out with the smallest of leads at the first windward with O'Toolivic hot on his heels.

The pecking order remained the same at the leeward mark on the triangular course as the three starters headed right again.

Meanwhile back at the ranch CinC Dwyer who had started about 6 minutes late played follow the leader until the leeward. He then took out his scratchcards and headed left looking for the other big lotto win of the evening.

Left should not have paid, as the tide was monstrous out there, but he found more wind and speed. It was just not enough to get ahead of Keane who led again at the windward and was crucially first to point his bow down tide for the finish line on the by now shortened course.

Dwyer had done enough to get just ahead of O'Toolivic and a mighty battle ensued all the way down the run. This was swiftly followed by a match race to the finish where Dwyer just pipped the plucky Croat.  

Still 2 weeks to the http://dlregatta.org - ladies and gentlemen time please, lets have your entries in.

Normal racing resumes (weather permitting!) this Saturday 

All racing cancelled - eventually

The DBSC had cancelled all dinghy racing before most people got to the clubs today, citing the strong winds. There were indeed gusts of 30+ knots.

However, with Paul Keane's intrepid leadership a hardy trio went out for a blast anyway. Keane, Sheehy and Mattie O'Dowd headed out with single handers to find themselves joined by the even more intrepid John Chambers - braving the conditions in a foiling moth!

John stayed inside the walls but the other three went out to watch the MOD70s.

Photo: Aidan Tarbett
All rights his.
See full gallery at http://goo.gl/MfNIv

The sight of the capsized Spindrift sent the three single handers off upwind for a bit of a blast before re-entering the harbor to find John Chambers still practicing in the Moth.

Later, Theo Lyttle and Sean Craig went out for a blast too.  According to the wind graph there were 35+ knot gusts out there.....

But nothing stops Dun Laoghaire dinghy sailors.

Joined at the hip

It wasn't clear on Tuesday that there'd be racing at all. A beautiful day but the DL Harbor webcam often showed long periods of flat calm. The committee decided to keep racing inside rather than on Scotsman's Bay. Probably a good call and we had a glorious evening with mostly 7-9 knot breezes.

A good fleet turned up too. Several RS's, several new Lasers and the usual OK Dinghies and Finns making up a good fleet. Everyone launched early expecting a start in Scotsman's Bay, and had plenty of time to set their tune and trim set for the evening. The committee set a course of 4 triangles and a very short and moderately pin biased line.

In the non-Laser start the OK Dinghy timed a nice starboard run for the pin end but found an IDRA14 trying an ill-judged pin end flyer.  Fortunately Sheehy was able to tack and clear the onrushing starboard boats behind him while the IDRA went to do turns.  Tate's RS400 recovered from a poor start and led the OK Dinghy at the windward mark, with the Finn and RS200 not far behind.  Onto the reaches and the speed of the 400 showed. Tate and Foley were - as they say - "Outta here". 

The Laser start 6 minutes later saw about 5 Lasers all mid-line at full speed.  O'Leary and Keane were first to the windward mark, starting a ding-dong battle that continued around the whole course.  Regular winners Craig and O'Toole were further back in the shifty conditions. 

The final results were very tight. The OK Dinghy pipped Keane by about 30 seconds on the water, with Tate's RS400 and O'Leary's Laser a few seconds further back in a dead-heat for 3rd place.  Three boats in 21 seconds.  However, the results only tell part of the story and we have GPS tracks to tell the rest.  The OK Dinghy, Keane and Tate have all been using GPS phones for self-coaching and these boats made up the top 3. Coincidence?  Maybe.

It's interesting to watch the race with the 6-minute starting gap removed and all boats starting on the same virtual line. You have to imagine the marks (easy after the first lap) but Tate basically buggers off into the distance, with recent training paying off. Meantime Keane's Laser and Sheehy's OK played snakes and ladders throughout the race, with O'Leary and Keane playing the same game in the Laser duel. The lead changed over and back between these three several times and the OK Dinghy only ultimately re-took the lead from Keane about 50m from the finishing line.  Tight stuff!  

Everyone a Winner?

It sounds cheesy but that was the feeling as the dinghy fleet fast reached in off the Seapoint Race Course this afternoon after two close, tough and exhilarating races.

Starting boats don't get more swanky than the Molly Bawn. This is one Committee Boat you do not want to hit! The first start was a little muddled with some empty sequences and a few (McStay, O'Dowd) sailors eager to pull the trigger 5 minutes early. When the fleet did get away the majority headed left looking for the expected shift only to find themselves out of phase. Mattie O'Dowd from the RStG did well to hold off the challenge from Richard Tate to round in the lead at the top mark. Mattie then lit the afterburners and the next time he was seen was at the finish.

Lasers nearing the mark.
[Image Copyright Aidan Tarbett]
http://goo.gl/s9HQy

Meanwhile back at the ranch.. Tate, Keane, Craig, Dwyer, Harding and Nesbitt battled it out in the Standard Fleet ocassionally getting buzzed by the omnipresent Conor O'Beirne in his 4.7 rig. After 3 rounds of a long W/L course 1st home was O'Dowd, followed by McStay in a Radial and then Keane. Everyone was glad to finish and take a quick break.

Slow Grand National

The going was soft as the fleets tried to get out for the start on Tuesday night and the start was postponed to let the riders gather at the course.

With the split starts still in place (6 mins between the PY and Laser starts) the PY fleet set off while the wind was having an early evening time out.  Sheehy was standing in the saddle as he led the PY fleet off the line and the PY horses advanced very slowly up the first beat in the light airs and heavy chop.

Meanwhile back on the start O'Toolivic and local lad Craig turned circles on the line while steward for the day O'Hare masterfully kept the countdown going for another six minutes until the Laser fleet started in pursuit of the still stalled PY fleet.

Finally all the boats were away with 100/1 shot Dan O'Connell making the best start and the early running. Craig was working hard to stay in touch. The wind came up across the whole of the course only a few minutes after the Laser start and quickly shifted towards the right. Those who had opted for the left side of the beat suffered badly.  The non-Laser boats were totally out of it on handicap too because of the rising breeze.

Downhill it seemed the left benefited from better gusts while the right had marginally more tide. Once the wind shift was locked in the course became one sided. But who would have believed there would have even been a race? We were all sitting in a windless hole just three minutes before the off.

Podium honours on the evening go to Sheehy in the OK Dinghy for leading home in PY, Craig in the Laser for holding off a charging O'Connell and O'Hare and his team on the Freebird for holding their nerve and getting a race in at all.

Next up is the RAYC regatta on Saturday
http://prep2.com/rayc/Registration.asp?Menu=Events&EventID=460

For SI's go here
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7O4tP04m22sc2I0TzVEM0VnZ3M/edit?usp=sharing

Boatspeed and windshifts

Glorious sun and a warm Force 2-3 greeted the fleets on Saturday.

Multiple Lasers, one RS400 and one OK Dinghy gathered for the start of race 1. With Windward-Leeward courses it was likely that the singlehanders would come out best. The RS400 prefers triangles and despite solid sailing from the Foleys they could never get clear of the singlehanders on the runs. In the end Sheehy's OK Dinghy came out top in both races. In Race 1 it beat all the Lasers not only on handicap but also head-to-head on the water. In Race 2 Richard Harding led the singlehanders home in his Laser with the OK Dinghy behind by about 20 seconds, but leaving the OK dinghy 18 seconds ahead on corrected time.

[photo Brian Murphy]

Race 1 was primarily a battle of boatspeed. With waves of pressure but little change in wind direction the battle was to exploit every puff and to keep the boat moving through every lull. The fleet got an even start and Keane led up the first beat with Sheehy's OK Dinghy close behind. Dwyer caught up on the run before a slow Fifteen provided some interesting moments at the leeward mark, mixing itself in with the leading groups of several races, including ours and the Mermaids.  

With Foley's RS400 far ahead on the water, the next 3 PY boats escaped the enthusiastic Fifteen and the Mermaids and rounded nose-to-tail. Keane led, Dwyer next and Sheehy's OK Dinghy forced to tack away for clear air.

Time for a beer

Dublin Bay is a complex meteorological area. Its winds can be a mystery to even the most astute sailor.

Not this Tuesday. There was no mystery tonight.

It was flat calm. FLAT calm. Racing was abandoned before most boats had rigged, although a few had already gone out to enjoy the lovely weather.

The calm before the calm

The non-sailing evening came to a close when the sun finally set behind the ferry terminal

Blue sky sunset

Generally recalled

It was a long day on the bay today. Conditions were fairly benign with a prevailing westerly breeze under grey skies blowing over a flood tide. It led to few tactical choices on the race course.

The Flying Fifteens were in exuberant form for their first start which lead to a general recall. Interestingly they were not pushed to the back of the start queue, instead the whole sequence was reset. They got away on the second ask and the PY fleet duly lined up.

Right on the beat and left on the run paid every time and in the first race Keane (in a Laser) led home O'Leary (in another Laser) after two rounds of the W/L course. Tate completed the podium (doing the honours for Fortune) in the Finn.

In the second the Fifteens were even more eager to pull their triggers and there were 2 general recalls which led to a fairly long and cold delay for the other fleets. Finally the PY fleet got away. Keane made the running to lead again at the weather mark closely followed by Jill (a mermaid), then O'Leary, Tate and Deladienne (Laser). The wind was getting streaky at this stage.

Keane while still leading went left on the second beat in search of wind. This move allowed O'Leary to try the right for the first time and get back in the race. By the end of the second round O'Leary had closed the gap on Keane and was able to challenge for and take  the lead in the sprint to the line. Deladienne completed the podium line up.

Full results here:
http://www.dbsc.org/index.php?/results/Category=Club&ClassList=PY%20CLASS&RaceId=D45P6011

Please take our 30 second survey here:
http://dldinghies.blogspot.ie/2013/05/your-opinions-shape-ours-please-give-us.html

Next race:
Scotsmans Bay, Tuesday 4th June, first gun 7pm