SID Newsletter April - May 2011
Welcome to the spring edition of the Sailing in Dublin newsletter.
All of our usual sailing activities are now in action with regular dinghy and keelboat sessions on offer several times each week. We are also participating as always in the DBSC dinghy and Ruffian racing series, while Obsession is participating in the ISORA offshore series.
A new departure this year is the planned series of mini cruises on Obsession of which one (and a half) have already taken place.
There are also opportunities for members to improve their skills with "themed" dinghy sessions and vice captain training sessions on Obsession.
Dinghies
DBSC Racing
Around 12 people are competing regularly in the DBSC dinghy racing series. Our three Vagos are currently occupying 7th and joint 12th places in a field of 30; a result only slightly marred by the fact that there are 19 boats in joint 12th place...
Dinghy Maintenance Day
A dinghy maintenance day to prepare the boats for the 2011 season took place on Sunday May 15th. Thanks to Barry for organising.
Dinghy Sessions
In addition to racing, regular dinghy sailing sessions take place on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons. The Wednesday sessions are "themed" sessions, focusing on different aspects of dinghy sailing each week, to enable less experienced sailors to develop their skills. Both the Wednesday and the Sunday sessions also offer an opportunity for people to get powerboat experience on the safety boat. Lilja is the organiser for Wednesday sessions and Regina for the Sunday sessions.
Obsession
Vice-Captain Training
Marco and David are running vice-captain training sessions on Obsession each Wednesday evening. These sessions are intended to ensure that potential vice-captains have the skills required by the club and will result in more vice-captains (and eventually more skippers) being available to captain Obsession and Ruff Diamond for cruising, racing and day sails.
Anyone interested in taking part in these sessions in the future should have (or be planning to take) a Day Skipper qualification, as well as first aid, powerboat and VHF certs.
ISORA Racing
Following last year's inaugural entry into the ISORA offshore racing series, Obsession has been taking part again in the 2011 series. The first race we were scheduled to enter was to Holyhead, on April 30th. Due to an adverse weather forecast, however, it was decided to scratch Obsession from the race. This proved to be a good call, with northeasterly winds of F6/F7 forcing 9 boats out of 21 starters to retire, with the rest having a hard slog back from Holyhead the following day.
The second race, to the North Arklow Buoy, was scheduled for the following weekend. In view of the wind and tide conditions, the course was changed to Rockabill. Following the travails of the Holyhead race, the week before, only 15 boats started this race. Obsession, skippered by Bryan was at the start line this time. Unfortunately, after completing the leg to Rockabill and back around the Kish, she became becalmed just outside Dun Laoghaire and failed to finish - hard luck, after a long race.
Mini Cruises
A new initiative this year has been the institution of a series of short (weekend) cruises, to allow Obsession to venture further afield and to give more club members a taste of cruising.
Malahide
The first Obsession mini cruise took place on Sat May 14 and Sunday May 15. Marco (skipper), Jo, Carlos, Pat, Chris and Muireann met up on Obsession on Saturday afternoon. After some passage planning and a speculative look at the weather, we decided to make a start with reefed sails, and make a final decision whether to proceed when we reached Howth Head. Conditions were fresh, F4/5 , gusting F6, but manageable and we continued on to Malahide, beating up against a northwesterly. Thanks to masterly navigation by Marco and Jo we arrived precisely at the entrance to the narrow channel leading to Malahide marina. The "safe water" buoy outside the channel appears to be non-existent, so we approached with caution from the seaward side and threaded our way through the buoys in the channel into the marina.
Malahide marina is unprotected to the north, and the stiff northwesterly wind meant that we made an unorthodox but effective landing on the guest pontoon. The whole journey took around four and a half hours.
Pat left to get the Dart back to Dublin and we were joined for the return leg by Derek. We then adjourned to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner followed by a pint in a local hostelry, after which we adjourned to our luxurious sleeping quarters aboard Obsession.
Next morning we found that the wind had shifted round to WSW just in time for our return to Dublin. Our departure from the pontoon was considerably more dignified than our arrival. The wind was still strong, but we had a pleasant beam reach with reefed main as far as Howth Head, after which we had to beat up Dublin Bay to get back to Dun Laoghaire, arriving back at around teatime.
A great inaugural mini-cruise and thanks to Marco for organising and skippering.
Wicklow
The second cruise, to Wicklow on May 28th and 29th was curtailed, due to adverse weather conditions, with Obsession returning to Dun Laoghaire without entering Wicklow Harbour. A further cruise to Wicklow/Arklow is planned for 18th and 19th June and a longer cruise to the Scilly Isles at the end of Novemeber.
Look out for more cruise announcements over the summer.
Singhy Sailing in Minorca
Seven SID members (Stuart, Colin, Pat O'Dowd, Regina, Heather, Marco and Carlos) and three friends (Johanna, Clare and Laura) headed off to Minorca at the end of May for a week of sun, sea and dinghy sailing with Minorca Sailing. The company provides a wide variety of dinghies ranging from Picos and Lasers, through to Laser2000s and Vagos and, at the more adventurous end, RS800s and Musto Skiffs. There is also a wide selection of options for those more interested in windsurfing.
Instruction is provided at all levels, from beginner to advanced and one-to-one sessions with an instructor are available in the evenings after the regular sailing sessions (for those with the energy...).
Between the ten of us we managed to take advantage of most of the options, both dinghy and windsurfing, with Colin, Stuart and Pat taking the opportunity to practise their skills on on the RS800 for use on their own boat back home and Marco attempting to master the Musto.
At the other end of the spectrum, Carlos and Laura took the opportunity to brush up on their basic dinghy sailing skills.
We announced our presence in style on the first day, by narrowly avoiding colliding two RS800s at high speed. Nevertheless, the mast of one ripped the sail of the other. The instructor's response was simply:"Would you like us to rig another RS800 for you?".
In fact all boats were rigged for us in the morning so we just had to swan down to the beach (about 100m away) and climb in... this is the way to do it...
We had a variety of weather conditions, ranging from dead calm to F4/5, but pretty consistent sunshine all the way through, except for the last day.
Accommodation was self-catering, in two villas, side by side, with a swimming pool just outside the front door. The village of Fornells is about a half hour walk away (long enough after a hard days dinghy sailing), with restaurants that are great value for money. There is also a restaurant and bar on site.
Extracurricular activities included teaching the other sailors how to drink, inspecting each other's bruises and discussing the potential dangers of an excessive intake of bananas.
Thanks to Laura and Pat for organising the barbecue on the penultimate day of our trip and to Marco for organising the whole trip.
Social and Promotional
All members (especially new members are encouraged to participate in club activities other than sailing. These include helping out with administration, boat maintenance and club promotion and taking part in social activities and training courses.
Remember that SID is a co-operative club and it only works because of the contributions of its members.
It's also important to let other members know about any activities that you are involved in, so that everyone has an overview of everything that is going on in SID.
There are several channels of communication available within the club:
Emails about sailing sessions and other events are sent to the SID mailing list. If you know of any members who are not subscribed to this list, make sure they sign up.
News items and trip reports relating to racing, cruising, sailing holidays, training courses undertaken and social activities should be sent to the newsletter editor. Remember only six people may have been on that epic cruise, but everyone in the club would like to hear about it. A club newsletter is sent out by email to all members at regular intervals.
Everyday items of interest and pictures can be posted on our Facebook page. Don't be afraid to use it, and get your friends and relations to "like" it.
High quality pictures and videos should be sent to Regina to be used for promotional purposes.
There is lots of club information available on the club's website.
Upcoming events are listed in the event calendar.
Cruises and mini cruises are listed in the cruising calendar
Racing tips and discussions for Ruffian racers should be uploaded to the Ruffian racing discussion page
Finally, if you do not yet have any defined role in the club, (or even if you do) please respond to the following request from Regina:
The SID committee are looking for one or two members to help out in the SID publicity and promotions group.
You can volunteer for just one project or activity or to help out generally. The type of activities that the group are involved in are listed below. However, if someone is particularly interested and skilled in graphics/design of promotional material that would be of enormous benefit to the club just at the moment.
Create promotional materials, posters,
Help develop SID Facebook page
Look into the possiblity of setting up a SID blog page
Review and contribute to website content
Write short articles for ISA newsletter and Afloat
Write short articles for local newspapers
Organise the purchase and distribution of SID poloshirts, hats etc (later in the year)
Work with other watersports groups to promote club
Look for marketing opportunities advertising, web sites, ISA
Please get in touch to help - you'll be given support and information on the project.
Remember that club promotion is important to increase our membership which in turn allows us to buy/upgrade our fleet and partake in more sailing activities.
Happy Sailing
