With the sailing season in full
swing, there has been lots of activity
in the club, with racing (both dinghy and keelboat), day sailing,
cruising and trips abroad...
Racing
Our dinghies continue to compete in the DBSC
dinghy racing series,
on Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. We have currently have
one boat in fifth place and the other two in joint sixth, out of a
total entry of 22 (to put the most positive spin on the results ...)
Regular dinghy sailing also takes place during the week. Thanks to
Jo, no fewer than six new dinghy session captains have now been
trained; David, Jane, Pat, Tony, Bill, and Chiara.
Ruff Diamond races on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays ,
also in the
DBSC series and is currently in nineteenth place in a field of 23.
A mid-series assessment from Damien:
It hard to believe that DBSC summer series started
over 104 days ago.
Since the start Ruff Diamond has been taking part in the series. The boat
is
certainly speedier than Ruffin'it
but there is lots of room for
improvement! Race crew on other Ruffians are generally the same
consistent crew; however with 28 SIDers currently signed up the crews
are always changing. For this reason it is even more important that
everyone taking part in a session works as a team and understands all
the various roles.
If you want to do better, then;
Know what is expected in the different crew positions and
learn the
rules.
"The Rules in Practice" and "The
Racing Rules Companion", both
by Bryan Willis are excellent references. It's also worth looking at
"Sailboat Racing" by
Take a racing course course with Glenans
or other sailing school.
Practice - the Ruffian is only racing 3 days a week. Generate
interest amongst your crew and go out to practice your maneuvers
on other days!
There are still plenty of crew places
available for the remaining
races (especially on Saturdays), so sign up
now.
The regatta took place over four days from the
9th to the 12th of
July. Ruff Diamond took part in the racing, with crew members having
the run of the sailing clubs over the weekend and finding out how the
other half live.
It's probably best to draw a veil over our results, but the racing was
not without its points of interest. Thursday was a blustery day, but Ruff
Diamond was doing well until Marco's not inconsiderable weight
detached the boom from the mast on the downwind leg. Marco redeemed
himself by helping David to make emergency repairs while we sailed on
under spinnaker alone, and actually managed to finish
the race.
I seem to remember something like this happening to Green Dragon
in the early stages of the Volvo Ocean Race, so we were in good
company.
Friday's race was distinguished by a "spinnaker overboard" incident,
which allowed us to practise our man overboard
technique, but sadly
put us out of the running in the actual race.
On Sunday, Green Dragon visited
world. Several SIDers visited, eager to get their pictures taken...
She is now in her new home
at the Galway Atlantaquaria and can be
visited until the end of August.
Lambay Race
Ruff Diamond competed in the annual race around
organised by Howth Yacht
Club on Saturday June 20th. She set off on
Friday with a skeleton crew for the preliminary race from
Laoghaire
The Lambay Races
got off to a shaky start on Friday 19th. Two of our
crew could not make it for the race across to Howth
leaving just Donal,
Marco and David cruising around the harbour
at 6pm in a force 6
under a two-reefed main and storm-jib.
With not a single other boat in sight, we were beginning to think the
whole event would be called off, but eventually a handful of other
ruffians appeared hoisting up their large genoas and spinnakers! We
eventually found them on VHF and discovered that the start had been
delayed by half an hour.
We screamed out of the harbour at 6:30 having shaken
out one of our
reefs but quickly found that we were being left behind. Out went
the last reef and a bigger headsail fitted and we started to re-gain
our ground. We had two boats within an arms length of us by the
time we reached the Bailey and still more when we all got becalmed
on the nose of Howth.
Once we got around the corner, acceleration kicked in and our choice
of a long tack seemed to have been a bad one. Nevertheless we were
second-last across the line (out of around 6 boats) and although the
boat that came first was way ahead of the field, coming in second did
not seem like complete pie-in-the-sky.
We joined the other Ruffian sailors in Casa Pasta for dinner where we
got lots of helpful racing tips - including "put up bigger
sails".
Ann sends in this account of the Lambay race
itself:
The Ruffian competed in the Lambay race on Saturday June 20th.
Skipper for the day was Peter. Crew were Marco,
Ann, Sinead and Bryan.
Winds were good at 4/5 knots but not suitable for a spinnaker. After
much confusion we started the race with no other ruffians in sight.
The race was an uphill battle from then on. Had fun with the engine
while trying to park the boat in Howth as well.
It was a nice sunny
day and Sinead decided to cool down with a swim in Howth
marina
afterwards.
OK, so needless to say we didn't live up to the high expectations set
by lasts years crew but a good day had by all and we can only get
better for next years race.
Following the abortive May attempt by Donal and a small band of
SIDers to reach Carlingford,
Simon led a second attempt in June,
this time to the Isle of Man. Here is David's account of the trip:
Fresh from our Yachtmaster Coastal theory course,
Jo, Nicola, Juliane
and I went on a weekend's cruise on Obsession to practice our
navigation, under Simon's watchful eye (well, it was watchful when he
was awake!).
We departed on a Friday evening and sailed through the night, using a
3 hours on, 3 hours off watch system. We sailed half-way to the Isle
of Man before heading for the fishing
sailing was a great experience, and it was good to try navigating and
plotting our position without GPS, out of sight of land.
Once back in sight of land we plotted our position more
accurately using 3 point fixes. During our theory course we had
learned about the different lights that different types of shipping
use and this was very useful when determining if ships were heading
towards or away from us and if they were fishing or trawling.
We arrived in Clogher Head on Saturday morning, tied
up to a harbour
wall on a rising tide, had breakfast and a well deserved snooze, then
departed for Skerries, where we took up a mooring, made
dinner and
relaxed for the evening.
On Sunday morning we sailed south in a force 5-6, heading into the
wind and tide, with the need for a few sail changes and some reefing.
We sailed past
way!) and then anchored in the lee of
and to make lunch, then we made our way home to
T'was a great cruise and many thanks to Simon for
sharing his
experience and giving us to chance to practice navigating, helming,
sail changes, reefing, man overboard, tying up to a harbour,
mooring,
anchoring and sailing in forces 1-6.
There is still the opportunity for further
cruises this summer, if
there is sufficient interest, so sign up
soon.
Membership
We currently have around 70 members, while many guests
coming out on Obsession also having expressed interest in
joining the club.
The membership
for the remainder of the season (from August to
December) has been reduced.
Safety:
The new SID safety web page has been launched. Thanks to
David for the work he has put into this.
There is a lot of very useful information and excellent weblinks
for
both dinghy and keelboat sailors on the site.
Keelboat Maintenance Day
This took place on Saturday July 18. A report
from
Work crews assembled at the Container at
around 10.00am in order to
tackle the long list of maintenance tasks in need of completion on ‘Ruff
diamond’ and Obsession. In order to ensure that resources could be
shared and applied to each boat as needed, Ruff
Diamond was brought
over to the marina and tied up close to Obsession.
Included in the tasks completed were:
Overhaul of jib winches
Washing and painting of woodwork-grip rails, washboards,
tiller, miscellaneous
Scrubbing and painting of deck floor boards (Bronagh
and assistant)
Batten replacement
Mainsail repair
Repair of upholstery
Refilling of stern gland
De-rusting of tools
Removal of weed from hulls
General tidy up of interiors
Electrics
Thanks to Bronagh,
Bryan, Donal, Marco, Simon,
Susan, Wyn
and anyone else who turned up and worked so hard on their day off.
SID Abroad
In early June
and Anne set off for sun, sea, sangria and sailing at Porto Heli in
some lovely ice-cream parlours and bars. We were
joined by a group
from Glenwalk and also by ex-member Annette, now
living in
We arrived in
to Porto Heli. A typical day (for the more energetic)
commenced with a
cycle at 7.30 A.M. in the morning. We explored vineyards,lemon and
olive groves and had the occasional break in Kosta.
After breakfast, it was sailing and diving time. RYA level courses
were undertaken along with classes on performance sailing, seamanship
skills and racing skills. A wide range of boats
was available.
Outside of sailing, holidaymakers indulged in a little windsurfing, and
the odd scuba dive, canoe trip and evening trip to neighbouring
Spetses.
Apart from classes, a daysail was arranged midweek
to a coastal
taverna for lunch, which turned into a race for some
competitive
SIDers; in fact "leave 'em
for dead" O'Reilly stormed home, tearing
shreds off those Dart catamarans
Blind Pico sailing was undertaken by Ann-Marie and Vera, though
mercifully not in the same boat. Staged for fun and charity, the
course and tactics were unorthodox and somehow involved getting caught
in Neilson's yachts and sabotage by underwater pirates.
The regatta involved a long race around the "Rock"
, about 3 miles out
from Port Heli and saw
attack" helmsman fly a spinnaker in the hope of getting to base before
nightfall. Given the handicap system, they even failed at coming last,
but still bought a round of drinks. Bryan and Carlos
actually did come
last, but were saved by the handicap system, even ending up ahead of
one of the Darts. It should be noted that Bryan did even better
during the earlier races in the week, when unencumbered by his crew,
coming second after a ten year old boy from Belfast...
SIDers and friends featured strongly in the prize
giving ceremony at
week's end, with Chris winning the prize for best all round improver
and Martha from Glenwalk winning prizes for
"best swearer" and "best
bicycle repairer" (don't ask).
Catherine won the prize for most persistent windsurfer, turning up for
every session, every day, but mysteriously did not complete her
certificate in windsurfing - what is known for certain is that she was
only ever observed lying on her winsurfer taking the
sun and chatting
to the handsome windsurfing instructors.
Squeezing in as much watertime as possible on the day
of departure and
the instructors day off,
Captain Bryan O'Grady. It started with detailed instruction on how to
choose the correct sail and board size and assemble the apparatus.
Once on the water, the instruction was reduced to "Stand up!"
When
this was achieved, sail in hand, followed shortly by sail and body in
water all drifting towards rocks, the distraught student looked around
for guidance. Captain O'Grady had had left the beach and indeed the
resort.
A group of us decided to take the catamaran back to
than the bus; this gave us time to visit the Acropolis, so we did see a
little bit of
The great thing about sailing in the
not have to wear a wet suit. The water temperature was just nice if
you capsized. In our hotel complex, there was a pool with a bar
located conveniently near by. The temperature was just nice, so going
in early June is a good idea. And of course, there were blue skies.
Thanks to
task ok keeping the thirteen of us in order.
As they say in the New York Times,
material to this report.
Menorca Trip
Another group of SIDers headed to
Apologies in advance for the slightly disturbing images evoked
by the last paragraph of her report....
Fourteen of us headed off to the Spanish
sailing/windsurfing holiday;
Clare, Colin, Cyril, David, Derek, Jo,
Johanne, John, Marco, Muireann, me, Pat,
Piero, Stuart, a mixture
of both SID and GISC folk. The sailing centre is based in Fornells bay
and has a huge range of boats all in excellent condition, ready rigged
each morning with lots of highly qualified cute instructors, superb
views and warm waters!!
We had three villas to ourselves and well ...nearly our own pool!
only minutes walk from the beach, shop and local
pub/restaurant.
Our day began with a quick stroll to the mini shop for some fresh
croissants, followed by breakfast!! A two minute run to the beach (we
were usually late!!) where we joined the other trainees for the
introductory talk and were told the plan for the day. We then split
into various groups; all the SIDers sailed in the Intermediate
Asymmetric group where Phil our very patient instructor took us
through his "top tips" of the day, he had a lot to contend with 10.5
Irish
and 1.5 Italians...
Daily lessons were from 10am - 12.30pm and 2.15pm to 4.30pm, and a free
sail between 4.30-6.30pm (take any boat you want with the option of an
instructor, or not!).
We got plenty of experience sailing high powered boats, which usually
followed with plenty of high powered capsizes. The afternoon sessions
finished up with a couple of races which whet our appetites for the
real competition later that evening ... football, air hockey and
killer pool.
Evening time we had the option of staying locally or heading into the
food; we enjoyed them both. Pat organised a
fantastic BBQ, and is
quite the chief, when he wasn't busy throwing ice cubes down peoples
back ... payback was worth it. And Cyril ...
keeping our street cred
going by seeking and finding any party that was going on the island.
Not forgetting Clare and Muireann who managed to
coax the locals into
partaking in the traditional Collanmore dance...
The instruction as well as the boats were very
impressive, we mostly
sailed RS 500 and tried out amongst others the RS 800 and 29er
and 49er .
Lots of smiling faces left the
bruises than tan. It was a fantastic holiday and I'm sure the 14
will be heading back again next year, although it might only be 13 as
one who shall remain nameless "hates us all, and is going on his
holidays on his OWN next year", painted toe nails and all.
Oh and did I mention the romance ... the flashing of bare bums, the
extended Italian bums, disturbing display of male green g strings,
lack of toe nails, attempt at skinny dipping and more romance...
SID in the Media
Jessica arranged for Tom MacSweeney,
Marine Correspondent of RTE to do
a feature on SID. The RTE crew film
people arriving at the container,
preparing to sail and then sailing, both from
the
marina. Several members of the club were also
interviewed.
The idea was to capture the atmosphere of the
club, sailing
opportunities without having to own a boat, how
people can
sail after work, the sociability, volunteerism of the club and so on.
The session resulted in an item on RTE News and on the Seascapes radio programme .
Thanks to Jessica for arranging this
fantastic opportunity to promote the club.
And Finally
Some tips about Obsession sailing from
Cancellations
From time to time people having already committed to sail find
themselves having to cancel at short notice. This is unfortunate as it
means that others who would have been available to sail lose out on
the opportunity to do so. So, if you do have to cancel, please, before
contacting the 'Organiser' make
every effort to find a substitute to
take your place. Once you find a substitute, then
contact the
'Organiser' with the details. If this fails then inform
the
'Organiser' of your own situation.
The Captain does need to know what crew to expect in advance of the sail!."
Parking
Members arriving by car for weekend sailing can avoid having to pay
parking charges if they are prepared to take a short walk from a
public street parking location to the Container/Marina.
There are two charging periods that apply in the Dunlaoire
area near
the seafront but outside the area covered by the Harbour
authority:
Monday to Friday - up to 19.00 (in effect, free on Saturday
and Sunday)
Monday to Saturday - up to 19.00.(free on Sunday)
Free Saturday/Sunday parking is available along the main road into
Dunlaoire eg where the
Community College is located but otherwise hard
to find.
Free Sunday parking is generally available.
During the week, evening parking is free after 19.00 but it may be
"safe" to park after 17.30hrs unless the traffic wardens are on
overtime!
Just be careful that you choose a location that has a charging regime
that suits you.
If you discover a location that is secure and totally free then spread
the word!.
Sacrificial Zinc
Obsession sailors will have noticed that while the boat is moored at
the finger, a blue wire that has a ball of
zinc attached to it is
suspended over the starboard side.
This arrangement is in place in order to prevent galvanic corrosion of
the propeller and other metallic underwater parts. It is essential
that this arrangement is in place at all times while the boat is at
the finger or in port - if it not then corrosion will take place. The
zinc should be checked every few weeks to check that it is working
(corroding!).
Happy Sailing