All of a sudden one of them spots a funny looking bottle bobbing in the water and pulls it out. He sees something written on the bottle but can't quite read it so he gives it a bit of a rub.. SHAZAM..... out pops a genie!
"For releasing me from the bottle I will grant you one wish" the genie says.
The guy glances at his mate, smiles and without further hesitation says, "I wish the whole ocean was beer!"
The genie claps his hands together and BOOM, there's a blinding light and the genie is gone. The guy quickly leans over the side of the boat and takes a big swig of "water".
"You're not gonna believe this mate, but it's really beer!"
His mate screws up his face and says "That's just bloody brilliant mate! Now we're going to have to piss in the boat!!"
There was no genie required for an Australian sailor visiting Dublin Bay this weekend. In town for the European Championships and taking up the DL Dinghies invite to join in the local racing, he conjured up two incredible displays of what it's like to be at the top of the Laser game. Even a call of nature while ahead at the leeward mark of the first race didn't dent his lead. Between races, gentleman that Jared West is, he imparted details of the latest techniques for downwind sailing in Lasers. It's a shame us mere local mortals are still trying to master basic s-turns!
On the race course it was a day as tricky as any we have seen over the whole summer. Oscillating shifts were probably the easiest pattern to spot, getting in phase with the oscillations whilst avoiding the car parking lot sized holes was another matter entirely.
In both starts the pin was favoured and it seemed the middle left of the beats, while downwind in the first the left out in more tide seemed to pay. The second had Euromillions written all over it, very light breeze from the off, 3 (ambitious) rounds, a big left shift, dark menacing clouds and a very big wind hole called for massive amounts of patience. Jared, this was not normal. Our very best wishes for your Europeans Bid.
Results as always here http://www.dbsc.org/index.php/results
For more on this story visit the Irish OK Dinghy Association Website
Dún Laoghaire Dinghies. The home of dinghy sailing in Dun Laoghaire.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
CRO
Each week over this glorious summer either Hugh Sheehy or Paul Keane have written a report after racing on Tuesday or Saturday. They would dearly love for others to get involved and put across their point of view. In fact it was an early idea of the current PY Committee that the 4th placed finisher would always be the one to write the report. Maybe that's another initiative we can roll out for next year.
We have finally been rewarded with a race report by the man seen in the video below. This wobbly footage (the cameraman was supposed to be doing flags or hooter or something..) is CRO winning last Saturdays windy race. He clearly thought he was sailing in the Caribbean and may still have some water in his head. He apologises in advance for lack of PY'ness.
No point
So Tuesday evening in Scotsmans bay, fleet exit the harbour with a nice 15-18knot SW wind promising interesting racing with commitee obviously expecting the forecast to hold true and the wind to stay... Setting a lengthy course in contrast to recent weeks.
But in true Dublin bay fashion, as the start approached the wind buggered off. The fireballs, PY, IDRA's & mermaids had some breeze, but lasers had Zero, it took several attempts for half the fleet to make it over the start. As the lack of wind finally affected the whole fleet, they all bunched up somewhat at the first windward, with some heading left for wind, some staying up the middle on the small gusts and shifts and1 or 2 heading to teddys for 99's.....
By the top mark in the lasers, Sean Craig led the way and got around in lucky wind against a strong tide while a close nit bunch including some tall skinny young fair haired pro lookin bloke led by the a Croatian and followed by Ross OLeary & ex "Hottest Irish Male Olympian 2008" (as voted by U-magazine) Phil Lawton - with Keaner unashamedly holding up the rear for now.
In patchy breeze, some took the wise option and called it a day at the leeward mark, having proven their points, Craiger and Matty ODowd headed to McDonalds for dinner.
Tide now flooding hard and wind clearly on its way home from Copper face jacks..... Lead to a frustrating and challenging beat. Benefitting the stealthy Colin Galavan, Dwyer and Keane, fighting his way back to pass the Croatian from almost a leg down... The Croatian admitting later, he almost "lost his point"...
After about 30 mins of snakes and ladders... Galavan took the horn, O'Toolavic nabbed 2nd off a valiant Dave Dwyer, Ross in 4th with Keaner battling back to 5th (I think, my mind was on the awesome RIYC €6 dinner surprise awaiting me on shore!!) go look at the results yourselves!!!!..... Mmmm pasta bolonaise."
Cheers,
CRO
We have finally been rewarded with a race report by the man seen in the video below. This wobbly footage (the cameraman was supposed to be doing flags or hooter or something..) is CRO winning last Saturdays windy race. He clearly thought he was sailing in the Caribbean and may still have some water in his head. He apologises in advance for lack of PY'ness.
No point
So Tuesday evening in Scotsmans bay, fleet exit the harbour with a nice 15-18knot SW wind promising interesting racing with commitee obviously expecting the forecast to hold true and the wind to stay... Setting a lengthy course in contrast to recent weeks.
But in true Dublin bay fashion, as the start approached the wind buggered off. The fireballs, PY, IDRA's & mermaids had some breeze, but lasers had Zero, it took several attempts for half the fleet to make it over the start. As the lack of wind finally affected the whole fleet, they all bunched up somewhat at the first windward, with some heading left for wind, some staying up the middle on the small gusts and shifts and1 or 2 heading to teddys for 99's.....
By the top mark in the lasers, Sean Craig led the way and got around in lucky wind against a strong tide while a close nit bunch including some tall skinny young fair haired pro lookin bloke led by the a Croatian and followed by Ross OLeary & ex "Hottest Irish Male Olympian 2008" (as voted by U-magazine) Phil Lawton - with Keaner unashamedly holding up the rear for now.
In patchy breeze, some took the wise option and called it a day at the leeward mark, having proven their points, Craiger and Matty ODowd headed to McDonalds for dinner.
Tide now flooding hard and wind clearly on its way home from Copper face jacks..... Lead to a frustrating and challenging beat. Benefitting the stealthy Colin Galavan, Dwyer and Keane, fighting his way back to pass the Croatian from almost a leg down... The Croatian admitting later, he almost "lost his point"...
After about 30 mins of snakes and ladders... Galavan took the horn, O'Toolavic nabbed 2nd off a valiant Dave Dwyer, Ross in 4th with Keaner battling back to 5th (I think, my mind was on the awesome RIYC €6 dinner surprise awaiting me on shore!!) go look at the results yourselves!!!!..... Mmmm pasta bolonaise."
Cheers,
CRO
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Drafty Duties
Every fleet has an obligation to provide some helping hands on the Committee Boat at various specifiied dates throughout the sailing season and Saturday 17th August was one of the PY days. Paul Keane and David Dwyer stepped up and spent a day onboard.
The Freebird Committee Boat is amazingly well organised and it is very interesting and good fun to watch the racing from a different angle. Jobs we're allocated after docking out, tying up ropes and hauling fenders inboard. Paul was put on flags. David was on the hooter. Brian Matthews was PRO with Barbara calling the time and Noelle keeping records.
On 3 minute rolling starts there are a lot of flags going up and down in conjunction with the various sound signals. Luckily there is a laminated sheet showing what happens each minute and once the sequences start it's fairly easy to just keep the flags rolling. In addition to the start sequences there are interruptions like OCS boats which must be dealt with.
It was a fairly windy day and with the Optimists taking up the Western Part of the bay for their Nationals PRO Brian Matthews decided to set a course in Scotsmans Bay. A call was made to station a RIB at the harbour mouth which could convey the change of course area to any boats that looked like they were heading to Seapoint.
A windward/leeward course was opted for and shortly after the first start sequence started we realised the Freebird was drifting. 2 hooters from Dave, Paul raised the AP and Brian quickly restarted the engines and lifted the anchor (all done remotely from the cockpit) and then motored back onto station. Probably less than five minutes lost before we restarted the sequence.
After the second round a line squall could be seen coming down the course so a decision was made to shorten the courses and get the boats finished. In the video below Matthew O'Dowd from the RSG is seen tearing down the course in his laser, it gives an idea of the wind on the day. Shortly after this a friend of Matthew's lost his rig in another Laser. At this point N over A was raised and all of the fleets were sent in.
Next year the PY Fleet will be trialling a Committee Boat duty rota whereby everyone in the fleet will at some point have to share in our collective responsibility to provide help.
See you all on Tuesday.
The Freebird Committee Boat is amazingly well organised and it is very interesting and good fun to watch the racing from a different angle. Jobs we're allocated after docking out, tying up ropes and hauling fenders inboard. Paul was put on flags. David was on the hooter. Brian Matthews was PRO with Barbara calling the time and Noelle keeping records.
On 3 minute rolling starts there are a lot of flags going up and down in conjunction with the various sound signals. Luckily there is a laminated sheet showing what happens each minute and once the sequences start it's fairly easy to just keep the flags rolling. In addition to the start sequences there are interruptions like OCS boats which must be dealt with.
It was a fairly windy day and with the Optimists taking up the Western Part of the bay for their Nationals PRO Brian Matthews decided to set a course in Scotsmans Bay. A call was made to station a RIB at the harbour mouth which could convey the change of course area to any boats that looked like they were heading to Seapoint.
A windward/leeward course was opted for and shortly after the first start sequence started we realised the Freebird was drifting. 2 hooters from Dave, Paul raised the AP and Brian quickly restarted the engines and lifted the anchor (all done remotely from the cockpit) and then motored back onto station. Probably less than five minutes lost before we restarted the sequence.
After the second round a line squall could be seen coming down the course so a decision was made to shorten the courses and get the boats finished. In the video below Matthew O'Dowd from the RSG is seen tearing down the course in his laser, it gives an idea of the wind on the day. Shortly after this a friend of Matthew's lost his rig in another Laser. At this point N over A was raised and all of the fleets were sent in.
Next year the PY Fleet will be trialling a Committee Boat duty rota whereby everyone in the fleet will at some point have to share in our collective responsibility to provide help.
See you all on Tuesday.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Tide tactics
Tuesday saw the committee and the racers confronted by a delicate combination; a tide absolutely whooshing up towards the "windward" mark and a breeze that was playing hide and seek rather expertly.
Mind you, it was warm and dry and really a rather pleasant evening so everyone took on the challenges in good humor. Several boats stayed out after the racing until it was getting dark.
But - before all that the racing was the main priority.
After a short postponement the committee sent the Fireballs off first. Even though the line had only been dropped minutes beforehand, there was already a huge boat bias and the mark was almost a fetch on starboard.
The PY start lined up and Sheehy's OK Dinghy won the start, hitting the boat end with speed (ehem) and almost hitting a port-tacking IDRA14 that was - and stayed - over the line. Des Fortune's Finn and Tom Murphy's K1 footed fast out to the left looking for stronger tide while the OK Dinghy pointed high and stuck to the inside of the course, hoping for more right shifts. The rightie came just as the OK Dinghy approached the mark, turning the beat into a fetch and leaving Fortune and Murphy downtide of the mark AND on the wrong side of the shift. Argh.
Meantime, the Lasers were coming in pursuit.
Mind you, it was warm and dry and really a rather pleasant evening so everyone took on the challenges in good humor. Several boats stayed out after the racing until it was getting dark.
 |
| Drifting home as the sun sets. A good evening. |
After a short postponement the committee sent the Fireballs off first. Even though the line had only been dropped minutes beforehand, there was already a huge boat bias and the mark was almost a fetch on starboard.
The PY start lined up and Sheehy's OK Dinghy won the start, hitting the boat end with speed (ehem) and almost hitting a port-tacking IDRA14 that was - and stayed - over the line. Des Fortune's Finn and Tom Murphy's K1 footed fast out to the left looking for stronger tide while the OK Dinghy pointed high and stuck to the inside of the course, hoping for more right shifts. The rightie came just as the OK Dinghy approached the mark, turning the beat into a fetch and leaving Fortune and Murphy downtide of the mark AND on the wrong side of the shift. Argh.
Meantime, the Lasers were coming in pursuit.
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Sunday, August 11, 2013
Amazing breeze - speedy K1
Another beautiful day in a glorious summer that we'll long remember. And Seapoint threw up a tactically challenging day for the dinghy sailors that they'll remember too.
Francis Barry's Laser and Tom Murphy's elegant K1 joined the racing so there were enough boats to make up for the absence of some regulars and the short postponement allowed everyone to get to the start on time after a slow sail out. Sadly the K1's outhaul broke just before the start of Race 1, with insufficient time to make a repair before the guns.
Race 1 saw Sheehy's OK Dinghy and Keane's Laser dominate from the beginning. Both hit the favoured pin end with clear air and good speed and both quickly tacked onto a long port fetch towards the windward mark, leaving the rest of the boats far behind almost immediately.
With bizarre bands of breeze across the course Sheehy first climbed way above Keane, only for Keane to climb back at the end of the beat. Dwyer and Barry got caught on the wrong side of shifts so they were well behind by the first mark and the race became a private match race between the top 2.
Sheehy seemed to have an edge upwind, with Keane faster downwind. After sailing in close company for the whole race Sheehy finally took the gun by a few seconds, and with it the race win. (result here)
Race 2 was much more interesting!
(Aidan Tarbett was on the water and got some lovely pictures too. He'll be on the water again this coming Tuesday.)
Francis Barry's Laser and Tom Murphy's elegant K1 joined the racing so there were enough boats to make up for the absence of some regulars and the short postponement allowed everyone to get to the start on time after a slow sail out. Sadly the K1's outhaul broke just before the start of Race 1, with insufficient time to make a repair before the guns.
Race 1 saw Sheehy's OK Dinghy and Keane's Laser dominate from the beginning. Both hit the favoured pin end with clear air and good speed and both quickly tacked onto a long port fetch towards the windward mark, leaving the rest of the boats far behind almost immediately.
With bizarre bands of breeze across the course Sheehy first climbed way above Keane, only for Keane to climb back at the end of the beat. Dwyer and Barry got caught on the wrong side of shifts so they were well behind by the first mark and the race became a private match race between the top 2.
Race 2 was much more interesting!
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Wednesday, August 7, 2013
No Tuesday Racing = Island Trial instead
With Tuesday evening racing cancelled - apparently due to a tradition - ten boats went out to find other amusement. Lasers, K1s, Finns and Flying Fifteens hit the water to sail the Island Trial. This was the largest mass attempt on the route since the event started. The Mermaids annual "Meg Cup" was previously the biggest, albeit not on the formal trial course.
On this night the wind wasn't set for a fast time but it's always an adventure in a small boat. See the full report on the Island Trial site here.
On this night the wind wasn't set for a fast time but it's always an adventure in a small boat. See the full report on the Island Trial site here.
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Monday, August 5, 2013
Foiling for everyone
As seen on Sailing Anarchy
Updated 8 Aug - more details about the foils are emerging
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