Summer Update 2023

Summer Update!! -
what have our members been up to ?

Trinity Sailing extends our warmest wishes to all our followers, we hope that everyone is continuing to enjoy the last few weeks of summer and have taken a well deserved break from the books.

As for our sailors, summer came as just the beginning for their sporting season…

Sailing for @trinitycollegedublin has opened doors to jobs and amazing sporting opportunities for many of our members this summer.

The summer holidays often act as a necessary time to work for that bit of cash so desperately needed to fund our @butlerschocolate through the academic year.

This year our members have travelled far and wide from working as Skippers and Hosts @armada_week in Croatia and Greece, availing of the @usittravel J1 visa and working in some of the worlds best yacht clubs in the USA- @sailmarthasvineyard @sailnewportri@portwashingtonyachtclub to name a few. Even organising team racing events for the instructors to keep their skills polished!!

While others kept it closer to home coaching at @rsgyc@baltimoresailingclub and many more here on our own beautiful island.

We are so proud to be able to showcase the opportunities our members can receive through their dedication, talent and love of @tcdsport sailing.

DUSC are excited to get back to competing amongst @iusa_sail in the 2023/24 academic year but we cannot deny that this summer has been one to remember.

See you in September!
DUSC

Wrapping up the year 2022/23

With the close of the 2022/23 academic year at Trinity College Dublin we wave farewell to an outstanding year of sailing for DUSC. The activities boasted by our full social and sailing calendars are a testament to the wonderful committee. To them all members of DUSC express our gratitude! 

The year began on a high note with a collaboration between DUBES and Trinity Sailing  for the first annual Boat Party since the pandemic. It was an excellent event and an opportunity to create intersocietal relations within Trinity College.

It was next that we gathered for a long journey to Bundoran Co.Donegal for the first IUSA event of the year hosted by TU Dublin and DCU. Bundoran proved to be an exceptional weekend of thrilling team racing and an exciting start to the year. As Ireland goes the weather was not on our side but in an impressive feat all races and finals were completed  on a singular day! In continuation our results were just as noteworthy with TCD 2 claiming second place. 

This year our Captain and Committee aimed to place special emphasis on getting beginners out on the water and into sailing. This was executed through a series of beginners and freshers sailing sessions run at the start of the academic year through the Royal St. George and Irish Yacht Clubs. We can all unanimously agree that they were a huge success with a large number of students out on the water and a plethora of positive feedback. This was concluded with an action packed Freshers Supercup day of racing that came as a success for all.  It was the attitude of our committee and the generous help of all our members that are responsible for deconstructing some of the barriers to college sailing that would have been prevailed previously. 

In November it was time for one of the most rewarding events of the year, Trinity Alumni and this year we celebrated a historic 91 years of Trinity Sailing. We stayed close to home with the Royal St.George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire hosting a fabulous day of team racing and formal dinner. It was a night of celebration and fun, incorporating new and old members of the club, with the music lasting long into the night.  This event is an integral part of the year for DUSC, between fundraising and giving back to the Alumni that made this club what it is today. We would like to extend our gratitude to all that donated, collectively raising 500 euro . These donations will be used to aid in the purchasing of much needed trailers for our boats !!

The next event of the IUSA calendar hosted by UCD was set to be held in Killaloe Co.Clare and we excitedly set out west. This was a weekend to remember of fun, friends but not to mention fierce competition. Impressive organisation allowed us to breeze through a serious amount of races on the Saturday. We were delighted with the performance by Trinity, especially TCD 1 finishing second in the round robin and third overall and TCD 2 finishing joint third overall. 

After the long Christmas holidays we were eager to return to the water. In Januray a women's team crossed the pond to the home of team racing, Rutland Sailing Club in the East Midlands. They competed alongside some of the most familiar faces in the team racing world in their home ground. After a successful first day of fierce competition the women found themselves in the Gold fleet. Unfortunately the second day of racing proved more challenging, however the sailors returned proud and delighted with the team racing experience acquired. 

It was then time for the uncontested  event of the year, IUSA Inter- Varsities hosted by our very own Trinity College in Carlingford Co.Louth. The wind was not on our side as we were confronted with very light conditions, but our spirits did not waiver. We had some impressive results  as TCD 4 became victorious in Silver Fleet and TCD 5 in Bronze, TCD  2 third in Gold Fleet and TCD 1, fourth. This means that Trinity has three of the top six teams in IUSA. Impressive results that left a taste in our mouth for more wins in the next year of IUSA events and securing four teams for Trinity in the Gold Fleet next year.  Four days of competitive racing between seven universities came to an ultimate showdown where UCC ultimately took the gold in Gold Fleet. 

It was a quick turnaround for a fan favourite, in April Colours was hosted by UCD in the heart of Dublin City on the Liffey. The rain and clouds could not dull our morale as we battled our long time rivals for the Gold. The racing was close with many crucial judgements given by the umpires. Ultimately it was the womens team that made the difference as colours came home and Trinity were victorious winning not only the Gold but winning seven out of nine teams. The first time DUSC has won Colours since 2015  this set the tone for a night of celebrations. 

Many of our sailors took to Howth Yacht Club to compete in the Student Yachting Nationals. The conditions were immaculate, the competition fierce and all came off the water praising the experience they had gained!

Women on the water is an initiative that played an up and coming role in DUSC this year, it involved encouraging as many women as possible to sign up to helm. It is about understanding the gender imbalance that has and still exists in sports and doing our best every day to breach the gap one sailor at a time. We organised a special Women on the water training session and will continue to incorporate it as a top priority in the 2023/24 academic year. 

Even after the academic year had concluded, DUSC rallied for one final parting weekend as they sent a team North to the Queen's University Belfast Alumni Event. Trinity sailed skillfully and a series of protests, umpire calls and unabashed team racing left us unbeaten. Ending on a 1,2,3 in the final Trinity took the gold and concluded a year of fabulous racing and sportsmanship.

WRAPPING UP THE YEAR

As the academic year comes to a close, so too does the college sailing year. DUSC has had a jam-packed calendar all year round. Kicking things off to a spectacular start by organising the first IUSA event back after the pandemic. Completing 107 races across the weekend with 144 sailors taking part, it was a successful return to team racing. With events such as, the 8th Seed TCD3 knocked out 1st seed UCC1. However, they in turn were knocked out by UCD1 in their semi-final, who went on to beat TCD1 in a best of 5 final 3-1.

Yet this did not stamp on spirits as the TCD 1sts took home 3rd place in the Irish Team Racing Nationals down in Royal Cork Yacht Club in November.

We kicked of 2022 with a trip across the pond to Southampton to compete in the Wessex Winter Warmer; A fantastic weekend where our sailors' team racing tactics were put to the test. Narrowly missing out on the qualifiers, our firsts came home having learnt a lot from the high level of racing at the event.

Next up was the long awaited return to Carrick-on-Shannon for the Third IUSA event of the calendar year Hosted by NUIG and Queens University. Our firsts went through the Saturday of racing undefeated to meet a disappointing end, with the wind not filling in on the Sunday to complete the event. The 2nd's and 3rd's also performed very well on the Saturday only conceding a few loses between them.

This rolled quite swiftly over into the Alumni Event; an event usually held in November of each year, and another day in which the wind was not on our side, but this most certainly did not stop the fun. The usual day of Team Racing was replaced by a 5-a-side football tournament, followed by one of our most successful Alumni dinners yet. Hosted by the Royal St. George Yacht Club, it brought members old and new together for a night of Coole Swan, chicken supreme and music. We want to thank all of our Alumni who came back to support the Club for this fantastic evening, in which we raised over 2,000 Euro for the club. This will go towards fixing and maintaining our boats and supporting club members. Finally we want to cordially ask you to save the date of the 5th of November 2022, for the next Alumni Event.

With no time to spare, we were on the long road down to Dingle on the Wednesday after the Alumni Dinner for the IUSA Inter-Varsities hosted by Dingle Sailing Club and Organised by UCC and MTU. Dingle Sailing Club joint with the IUSA Committee, and some fantastic weather allowed us to have an unforgettable few days racing followed by a fantastic Varsities Ball on the Saturday night. Although we didn’t take home the Varsities Trophy, we did come home with Club Captain of the year and we couldn’t have been prouder of our Captain, Kate Lyttle, for all her hard work for the club this year.

The Final event of the year, a family favourite, as we all know is Colours. This year it was hosted by UCD and took place on the Liffey. It was an absolutely spectacular day of racing, right outside the 3 Arena, that came down to the very last race. The final stood with the 3rds and the TCD girls having put points on the board which left the event at a tie, then matched with the 1sts drawn 2-2, and bringing the whole day down to the very last race between UCD and DUSC 1sts. DUSC narrowly lost out in the last leg of the race, a disappointing loss but a great day none the less. This certainly did not take away from the success of our club this year. We welcomed 20 new freshers to the club and came back together better than ever after a full year off the water. It has been an absolute privilege to be a member of the club this year and too see the enthusiasm for the sport coming up through the year groups.

Kate wants to thank her outgoing committee for all their hard work this year and we wish the new committee headed by Helen O’Beirne every success for the forthcoming season.

Movember 2020 Comes to a Close

After 30 days of intense sea-swimming, growing, moving and donating, a November like no other has finally come to a close. A massive word of thanks to all who have gotten involved in any way during the past month.

Your donations are needed now more than ever, and what we have raised will be used to fund over 1250 men’s health projects worldwide. The Movember Foundation are battling mental health, suicide prevention, prostate and testicular cancer head on, and we’re incredibly proud to be able to support them in doing this.

While the month of November may be over, the Movember mindset is not. We will continue to support all of the friends, brothers, dads, husbands, partners and other men in our lives, and we hope you will do the same.

Our donation link is still open if you’d like to support The Movember Foundation, but most importantly, take this as a reminder to check in on someone today.

Movember 2020

Throughout the month of November, Trinity Sailing will be raising money for the Movember foundation, to stop men dying young. Every minute one man takes his life and this needs to change. Everybody will struggle or know someone struggling with their mental health throughout their lifetime, it is important that everybody knows that they have people who will support them through thick and thin.

This November as a club we are coming together (while staying apart) to raise money and awareness for Movember a truly incredible foundation. The foundation supports over 1250 men’s health projects worldwide, in supports for mental health, suicide prevention and prostate and testicular cancer research.

Given the evident lack of moustache growing abilities within the club we have decided to raise money primarily by swimming (although horrific facial hair is encouraged). Everyday for the month of November our hardy sailors will be (and have been) swimming in the freezing Irish waters (without wetsuits). We hope you can make a small donation to this fantastic cause, and maybe take a plunge this month!

Any and all donations are greatly appreciated here.

Follow us on instagram for regular updates @trinitysailing.

******We would like to stress that this is an individual challenge and all who partake must comply with the current COVID-19 guidelines.*******

Join Trinity Sailing!

With the start of a new college year comes the start of a new college sailing season, and there is no better time to join Trinity Sailing.

Trinity Sailing is Ireland’s largest student sailing club, and we are proud to cater to all levels of sailing experience through different events. Whether you have years of experience or are yet to find your sea legs, come sail with us!

New members to the club should join our Freshers Facebook Page here for exciting updates and information about upcoming training sessions, keelboat days, beginner events and more. While this year might look a little different to our usual schedule as we comply with ever-changing government and college restrictions for suppressing the spread of COVID19 in Ireland, we have no doubt that it’s going to be another great year for Trinity Sailing, and we’d love you to be a part of it.

Any questions should be direct to our Communications and Freshers Officer, Issy Larkin, at info@trinitysailing.com.

We can’t wait to have you onboard!

Trinity Sailing's IUSA Round Ireland Run 2020: Success!

From the 23rd to the 24th of May 2020, sailors and alumni swapped lifejackets for lycra, and were joined by sailors from UCD, TUD, DCU, UCC, CIT, UL, NUIG, QUB and RCSI, as well as family and friends, in attempting the IUSA Round Ireland Run.

Our challenge was to beat the current Round Ireland Race record, which was sailed by a Mod70, by collectively running/walking 704 nautical miles (1303.81km) within 38 hours of our start time. The challenge started at 10:00 on Saturday morning, and by 17:37 on Sunday evening we had beaten the record held by the Mod70 by 6 hours and 30 minutes. But we didn’t stop there! By 10pm on Sunday evening, the official challenge end time, we had collectively clocked over 1600km. The distance was covered by 158 sailors from universities all over the island of Ireland, as well as their friends and families. We even had participants in the UK, Gibraltar and Barbados!

The average distance covered by participants from UL, DCU, UCD, RCSI, TUDublin, UCC, CIT, NUIG, Queens and Trinity Sailing Clubs were counted, logged and entered into an inter-college competition. The winning college of this competition was UL, followed closely by NUIG and UCC Sailing Clubs. Congratulations to UL on this achievement and thank you for your huge support!

We had set an original fundraising target of €2000 for the RNLI and Jigsaw Youth Mental Health Services. Just nine hours in to the challenge on Saturday evening, we had surpassed this target and have currently raised over €4000 for these two charities.

We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved as a club, and as a community, in such difficult times. We truly could not have completed this challenge without the help and support of the entire Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA), as well as our friends and families.

Thank you to everyone who got involved and supported the challenge in any way. We look forward to hopefully seeing you on the water very soon.

Yours in Sailing,

Caoilainn, Hannah, Colin, Sean, Toby, Helen, Tom, Andrew, Issy, Greg, Kate, Emily and Edie.

Committee 2020/21

IUSA Round Ireland Run 2020

In an effort to bring not only our club members, but the larger Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) community together while staying apart, Trinity Sailing are hosting a fundraiser in aid of the RNLI and Jigsaw Youth Mental Health Services.

We see these as two causes very close to our hearts, not only as sailors with a deep appreciation for the work of the RNLI year-round to keep us safe while we do what we love, but as young people who recognise the mental toll that the Covid19 pandemic is having on people, and who want to break the all-too-common stigma that exists in the conversation surrounding mental health.

The fastest time to complete the Round Ireland Race currently stands at 38 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds, achieved by Musandam-Oman Sail. Our goal is simple; as a collective, we beat the Mod70 in running the 704 nautical mile (1303.81kilometre) distance in less than this time. Working within a 38 hour window beginning on on Saturday the 23rd of May, the distances and times ran by individual participants will be combined, until this distance is ran as a concerted effort, (hopefully) before the trimaran would have made it back to Wicklow Harbour.

This challenge hopes to see not only current students, but also alumni and friends of all of the student sailing clubs in Ireland take part, with sailors from UCD, TUD, DCU, UCC, CIT, NUIG, QUB, UL and RCSI joining the effort. We obviously hope to raise vital funds for these two worthy causes, but at the very least, to get our community up, out and moving, together, until we can see each other on the water again soon.

All welcome, and all support is greatly appreciated!

If you’d like to sign up to join the effort, please sign up here.

To support the cause, online donations can be made here.

For exciting updates, please follow our Facebook event.

AGM 2020 - Virtual Edition

Club captain Conor O’Beirne hosted the 2020 AGM on the 23rd of March, but not in it’s usual format. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the AGM was held online.

Conor began the meeting with his own report on the year, in which he reflected on the many events, training sessions, and other successes that D.U.S.C. enjoyed throughout the season.

He then addressed the club on behalf of Sorcha Donnelly, secretary of the club, with her reflections, and ranthrough the club’s financial standpoint, at present and heading into the new season, on behalf of Ciaran Finnegan, club treasurer. Finally, Conor thanked the committee of 2019/2020 for all of the work, and accredited many of the successes of the club to their efforts.

The next order of business was the election of a new committee to serve for the 2020/2021 season. This began with the appointment of the three executive positions, captain, secretary and treasurer, who were each given 3 minutes to speak and 1 minute to answer questions from club members. Next, prospective sailing captains were also given 3 minutes to speak, and all other candidates 2 minutes. Voting took place through google docs, to ensure a quick and fair count could be executed remotely.

With a new committee elected, all that was left was a look to the future. While the situation with the coronavirus is ever-changing, it can be difficult to plan ahead. The annual colours match has been postponed, and we cannot get out on the water as we would like to. However, we know that as soon as we can be back afloat we will be, and are looking forward to another great year.

Committee 2020/2021:

Captain: Caoilainn O’Regan

Secretary: Hannah Collins

Treasurer: Colin O’Sullivan

Sailing Captain: Séan Donnelly

Sailing Officer: Toby Hudson-Fowler

Sailing Officer: Helen O’Beirne

Keelboat Officer: Tom Shanahan

Sponsorship/Junior Treasurer: Andrew Tobin

Communications and Freshers Officer: Issy Larkin

International Officer: Kate Lyttle

IUSA Easterns Officer: Greg Arrowsmith

Alumni Officer: Emily Cullen

Ents Officer: Edie Thorup

College Classics: Trinity’s Female Sailors Star as Ireland Beat the British

Many thanks to The University Times for their article reflecting on the trinity sailors who achieved notable success competing as part of an Irish Universities Team back in 1981.

Check out the article here:

College Classics: Trinity’s Female Sailors Star as Ireland Beat the British

IUSA Intervarsities 2020

The Irish University Sailing Association intervarsities were this year hosted by UCD Sailing Club, from the 4th to the 8th of March in Killaloe. Five trinity teams competed across four fleets, against teams from UCD, TUD, UCC, CIT, NUIG, QUB and RCSI. There were some excellent performances across the board in hugely varying conditions on Lough Derg.

After two competitive days of racing, TCD 1,2 and 3 earned themselves quarter final positions. It was an early start on Saturday morning with first gun at 9am to ensure all of the finals were sailed before the wind picked up too much. In the end, Trinity 1 and 2 finished in third and fourth in gold fleet respectively, while Trinity 3 lost a devastatingly close final, to take second in the silver fleet. While we didn’t manage to reclaim our varsity title as we had hoped, the depth of talent within the club at the moment is strong, exemplified by the performances of all teams on the water. We hope that with a combination of hard work and a steady influx of new sailors , DUSC will be back and ready to go for gold at next years varsities.

A huge thank you to UCD for organising such a great event, and to UL for the use of their watersports centre on Lough Derg.

BUSA Women's RYA National Championship 2020

 This year the Royal Yachting Association Ladies National Championships took place from the 21st to the 23rd of February at West Kirby Sailing Club, in the United Kingdom. We are extremely proud of our D.U.S.C Ladies team who competed at the event.

Unfortunately, foul weather prevented much of the racing taking place. Nevertheless, the BUSA Women’s event constitutes an integral part of the Women in Sport 20x20 campaign. While there is much to celebrate in women’s sport already, there isn’t enough noise made about it. Trinity Sport, and indeed D.U.S.C., is trying to increase participation, media coverage and attendance of women’s sporting events. This event has been one small step we have taken in supporting our fantastic sporting women here at D.U.S.C. and the whole 20x20 campaign.

We would like to extend a particular word of thanks to Trinity College Trust, who generously covered the travel costs of the competitors, and for their ongoing support of Trinity Sailing.  
The TCD Association & Trust provides grant support for a wide variety of College projects where funding is not available from mainstream resources. If you would like to learn more about the TCD trust card opportunities please follow the link https://www.tcd.ie/alumni/services/affinity-credit-card/

Alumni Regatta 2019

On November 9th 2019, Trinity Sailing hosted its seventh Alumni Event in the Royal St George Yacht Club. It was our biggest alumni event yet with 108 sailors and 120 for the black-tie dinner and ball. Unfortunately, due to adverse weather conditions we could only sail seven races but it made for some interesting capsizes endured by those who braved the windy conditions! 

Photo: Conor Byrne

We hosted a drinks reception provided by Coole Swan in the Royal St George Yacht Club dining room followed by a dinner, raffle, slideshow and speeches. We raised funds for DUSC through our raffle with prizes generously donated by Viking Marine and Coole Swan. 

We would like to thank Itsa Bagel for sponsoring our sailors’ lunches, Coole Swan for the drinks reception and Viking Marine for helping us with prizes for the raffle. We would love to see even more alumni at our event next year which is booked for 7th November 2020 in the Royal St George Yacht Club. 

Autumn Update

'IUSA Easterns,' took place on the weekend of the 14th of October in Wexford. DUSC won the trio achieving the winning title in all three fleets- gold, silver and bronze. 

'IUSA Northerns,' took place on the weekend of the 11th of November in Enniskillen. DUSC Freshers team won the winning title at this event, despite poor wind conditions which hindered racing. 

The annual ITRA's competition took place in Baltimore, West Cork, on the weekend of the 18th of November. Two DUSC teams competed, with one making it into the final. Congratulations to reigning champs from UCC who have won the title for the fourth year in a row. 

The Alumni Event took place on Saturday the 25th of November. This was a great event with a huge participation by both current students and alumni. 

As we head into the Christmas period, our main focus is securing funding to invest in a brand new set of boats. We have many upcoming events in the New Year including our own event in Blessington, Varsities, Colours, as well as International events such as the BUSA Ladies Championships. 

DUSC Win IUSA Varsities for the First Time in Eleven Years

DUSC competed in the IUSA intervarsities from 10th to 12th March, hosted by UCDSC out of Clifden Boat Club. Varsities is the penultimate team racing event for DUSC, ahead of the Colours event on April 1, to be held in Grand Canal Dock. This year’s varsities was attended by over 160 sailors representing 26 teams from Trinity, UCD, DIT, DCU, UCC, CIT, NUI Galway, Queens, Loughborough, Edinburgh and SUSA.

Photo: Meg Tyrrell

The event began well for Trinity, with the firsts winning all seven of their races to carry a one hundred percent record into the second day of racing. The seconds won 75 percent of their races and in total we had five of our six teams ranked in the top half of the round robin. After finishing day two with eleven wins from twelve races, the firsts were drawn against UCC 1 for the Gold Fleet semi-final, to be sailed on Saturday. The other Gold Fleet semi-final was contested by UCC 2 and UCC 3.

Photo: Guy Boggan

The third and final day of sailing saw the conclusion of the round robin and the division of teams into the Gold, Silver and Bronze fleets for the knock out stages. In addition to the firsts making it to the Gold Fleet final, the thirds reached the Silver Fleet final where they were ultimately beaten by UCC 5. In the best-of-five Gold Fleet final the firsts took a 2-1 lead before a black flag offence by a UCC boat on the finish line of the fourth race meant Trinity finished as 2017 Varsities Champions, winning the final 3-1, the first time Trinity has won varsities in 11 years. Congratulations to the team of Scott Flanigan and Cara McDowell, Dan Gill and Kate O’Reilly, and Rich Roberts and Laragh Lee. This victory follows last year’s second place final in varsities held in Kilrush.

Phot: Guy Boggan

Congratulations is also due to Trinity fresher Cara McDowell who was awarded Crew of the Year at the awards ball, and to Chris Phelan who has been elected the incoming IUSA President for next year.

A special thanks must go to our sponsors, Dubarry of Ireland and BMW Martin Reilly, for their continued support of the club.

Colours will take place on April 1 in Grand Canal Dock before the Student Yachting Nationals and SYWoC qualifiers take place in Howth Yacht Club on the last weekend of April.

Trinity Sailors Compete in International Regattas

USA Etchell Nationals, Miami

March 16th – 20th 2016

DUSC member and DUCAC Club Rep Jenny Andreasson received a last minute opportunity to be flown out to Miami and compete in the 2016 U.S. Etchell Nationals last month. The team was composed of 4 sailors, Jenny being the youngest and only girl replacing their usual 4th, an Argentinian Olympic Medallist who could not attend the event.

Day 1 began with an average first race while everyone found their feet. As the day went on the following two results were in the top 10, seeing them finish the first day in 9th place.

Day 2 saw tricky conditions with high wind speeds, but the team continued to climb the overall rankings to sit in 7th place going into the final day.

The final day had only one race, in significantly lighter and shiftier winds. The team played the shifts well, leading around the windward mark. Despite moments of nerves with 15 degree shifts, they led the race the whole way to the finish line, ending the series with a convincing win. They hoped that result would pull them up to 4th overall, however the points remained tight with the other leaders posting strong results to finish close behind them. Those other results meant they team ended the regatta 6th overall.

The team will go on to compete in the Etchell Worlds at the end of the summer and Jenny will continue to slot in as their 4th when needed.

Words: Jenny Andreasson

GP 14 World Championships, Barbados

March 26th - April 4th 2016

Strong Showing From Trinity Sailors

Barbados' Carlisle Bay, the venue for the 2016 GP14 World Championships, saw 106 boats representing 9 different nations in 6 days of near-perfect sailing conditions of blue skies and 20 knot winds.

The quality of the fleet was displayed throughout the regatta, with 10 closely fought races resulting in Irish sailor Shane McCarthy, a past student of Trinity College, being crowned eventual winner on the final day.

Current DUSC member Kevin Martyn was among the Irish competing at the event. Crewing for Norman Lee, the pair started the competition well, taking 10th in race 1 and following this up with a 6th in race 2 and a 30th in race 3. This left them in 9th overall going into the first layday on Wednesday.

Race 4 saw them return to form, picking up a 14th and helping them maintain their impressive position and move up to 2nd in the Silver Fleet. Rig trouble for Friday's racing left the pair in the 30s for the two races of the day, dropping them to 20th overall and 2nd in the silver fleet by Saturday's layday. Sunday saw another two disappointing finished in the 30s. Extremely shifty winds caught the majority of the fleet out, meaning the lake sailors thrived, while others were left stumped as their boats seemed to tack by themselves on the beats.

Going into the final day, Kevin and Norman sat in 24th overall and 3rd in the silver. A 26th and a 47th wasn't enough to hold onto a prize in the silver fleet unfortunately, getting pipped at the post and finishing up the event 26th overall, 5th out of the Irish and 4th in the Silver. It was a bitter finish to what was an exceptional start to the event, but having had the original goal of finishing in the top 30 and considering the relative lack of experience the pair had sailing together, and the quality of sailors they were competing with, the crew couldn't help but be more than content.

Words: Kevin Martyn

Irish Match Racing Nationals

Following on from their successful Team Racing varsities, Dublin University Sailing Club recently competed at the Irish Match Racing National Championships, taking place on the weekend of the 19th and 20th of March. The event, the rescheduled 2015 nationals, was run in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with the Royal Irish Yacht Club hosting.

Trinity’s team of Gleb Romantchik, Conor Totterdell, Jack Kennedy, Charlotte Bowen and Chris Phelan, joined CIT and UCD in representing college sailing, racing against some long-established match racing crews. The newly formed team, unfamiliar with the boats, trained intensely for the week preceding the event. Lacking competitive match racing experience, the team went into the event with a ‘nothing to lose’ attitude facing international racers such as Diana Kissane and Philip Bendon. The team gave Kissane and eventual winner Ryan Scott’s team a run for their money in their first two races. With confidence growing throughout the day the team faced Ireland’s #1 ranked match racer, Philip Bendon. Winning the pre-start, the team fell behind but made Bendon fight hard to protect his marginal lead.

Trinity then faced their Dublin rivals UCD, skippered by Philip Doran. Overcoming a technical difficulty in the pre-start the team established a commanding lead over UCD, eventually being overtaken at 50m to the finish line in a neck-on-neck downwind battle. Due to very light wind the next day the event went straight to semi-finals, with Howth’s Ryan Scott and his K25 team coming out on top to win the overall event.

At a competitors’ meeting after the event, the future of match racing in Ireland was discussed with plans drawn up for regional events in Dun Laoghaire, Cork, Sligo and Howth as well as the introduction of match racing clinics. An IUSA event is planned to take place in September/October, around the same time when the 2016 Nationals will be held.

This event was the first of DUSC’s recently relaunched keelboat section, something that the club will look to build on and improve for the coming season, with plans for regular keelboat training and events well underway.

Words: Gleb Romantchik

IUSA Intervarsities 2016

The IUSA Intervasities 2016, organised by Trinity sailing and DIT sailing club took place in Kilrush, Co Clare from the 25th-27thof February. The sheltered Kilrush Creek provided an ideal racing area for both competitors and spectators. 

The event kicked off on Thursday with 27  teams from 11 different universities from Ireland and the UK competing in 4 different round robin flights. UCC1, Loughborough University, CIT and UCD1 came out on top of each flight after the first day. The teams were split into Gold, Silver and Bronze for a second round robin on Friday before entering the knockout stages on Saturday. The quarter finals saw some intense racing with Trinity winning over the undefeated reigning champions, UCC1. UCD1 raced UCD2 in the semi finals and Trinity came up against Loughborough University. 

The best of 5 final came down to colours rivals, UCD and Trinity in light, challenging conditions. While Trinity won the first race, UCD came back with 3 consecutive wins, taking the varsities title. UCD2 were the third placed team. 

Full Results: 

Gold Fleet

1.    UCD1

2.    TCD1

3.    UCD2

4.    Loughborough University 

Silver Fleet 

1.    UCD3

2.    CIT

3.    TCD6/DIT 

Bronze Fleet

1.    Queens University Belfast 

2.    UCD4

IUSA Awards 

•    Sailor of the year: Scott Flanigan, TCD

•    Crew of the year: Cliodhna Connolly, UCD

•    Fresher of the year: Mark Bolger, TCD

•    Club of the year: CIT

•    Event of the Year: IUSA intervarsities hosted by TCD & DIT 

This excellent event could not have gone ahead without all of the people who helped facilitate the large group of sailors; the staff at Kilrush marina, Adrian O’Connell of the Royal Western Yacht club, Relax Ireland for organising the accomodation and all the jury and race committee who kindly gave up their time over the 3 days. We would also like to thank our sponsors Hunky Dory, Jump Juice bars,  Dubarry and Red Bull.

Words: Lucy Bolger 

Photos: Eoin Cambay & Michael Dunne 

DUSC holds Third Annual Alumni Regatta

At 8am on Saturday the 12th of December, a bunch of DUSC’s finest showed up in the Royal St George Yacht Club to kick off the Third Annual Alumni Regatta. Boats were rigged, registration was taken and after a few minutes with a non-compliant printer the flight sheets were handed out. The weather was described by some as “treacherous”, while this may be a slight over-exaggeration it was typical of an Alumni Event. It was raining heavily all day and lots of encouragement was need to get the sailors out from the safety of indoors. Despite the awful rainy conditions, the wind in the morning was perfect. The two flights of boats were launched and the other teams were brought out to the Spirit of the Irish which was acting as mother ship for the day. We had eight teams competing on the day: four DUSC alumni teams, including the reigning champions of the Alumni Event, the DUCATIS. Two current DUSC teams tried their hand at showing the Alumni how the new kids do it, but unfortunately their youth and eagerness to impress could not quite match the experience of the Alumni. Two UCD Alumni teams decided to join in the fun, but a mishap with one of their alarm clocks resulted in a last minute shake up of the helms. 

Sailing started off well, despite the rain. Shifty wind conditions meant that the course had to keep being adjusted slightly, but the races kept going. The teams were all closely matched making for exciting races. From 12 o’clock the wind kept building, but was still manageable. There were a few close shaves and boats almost capsizing. At half past 1 the wind shifted again, now coming directly in through the harbour mouth. This caused the waves to become quite big inside the harbour and coupled with the increase in wind it was decided that sailing would be cancelled before boats started to break. Much to everyone’s relief they were able to go in and enjoy their lunch and post sailing pints in peace from the rain and the wind.

With the afternoon off people had time to go home and get ready to look their best for the dinner that was taking place in the George at 8pm that evening. Suits were dusted off and shoes were polished. A drinks reception took place at 7pm and all the teams gathered together to congratulate each other on not getting lost at sea. The George kindly organised for the dinner to be downstairs so the event had the whole area to themselves. After the main course “prize giving” took place. Unfortunately, as racing had to be cancelled there could be no winner, but our ever modest Captain, Richard Roberts, figured that his team won the first flight and DUCATI took the second flight. The curse of the Alumni Event continues as the trophy has not been awarded since 2012, when DUCATI took the trophy. To soften the blow of another year without a winner, DUSC were able to unveil the new Colours trophy: “The Graham Elmes Memorial Trophy” which the club commissioned jointly with UCDSC in honour of our old coach Graham Elmes. 

After the “prize giving” the microphone was passed along and people were encouraged to reminisce about their days in DUSC. Stories were shared, mostly about the biggest event in the IUSA calendar, the Varsities Ball. Glasses were raised to DUSC, as for many it was the biggest part of people’s college life. The big turn out of Alumni is a testament to the club and its committee and the success of the event has set precedent for the event getting even bigger in the future. 

DUSC would like to say a special thanks to everyone that took part in the event, the Royal St George Yacht Club for accommodating us and supplying a flight of boats, the Royal Irish Yacht Club for supplying our mother ship and most importantly the Umpires, without whom we could not have held the event. 

Words: Alva McDermott                                                                           

Photos: Eoin Cambay

DUSC compete for Loughborough Lemming 2015 - Dan O'Beirne

It was an early start for the 12 Trinity sailors who travelled across the Irish Sea via an 8am flight on Friday morning. Two teams of six athletes from the Dublin University Sailing Club travelled to East Midlands UK for a two-day team-racing regatta hosted by Loughborough University. Expectations were high following excellent results in previous years and the teams were excited to get their hands dirty (and their feet stuck in to the muddy shores of Loughborough reservoir).

Things got off to a slow start on Saturday morning when sailing was abandoned for the day due to stormy weather. Unfortunately there is not much anyone can do when 60 KPH winds begin blowing other than deem conditions unsafe for sailing and keep the tension building until Sunday. 

Eager to get as much racing in as possible organisers set the first gun for 9 am on Sunday morning with Trinity 2 sailing in the 3rd race of the day. Things got off to a promising in Trinity’s first race when TCD 2 took a commanding 1st 2nd 3rd lead, and went on to win the race. Next it was TCD 1’s turn in the driver’s seat, they too won their first race of the day. A positive morning was rounded off by another victory for TCD 2 who won their 2nd race as well, albeit by a much closer margin than the first. Good boat speed and smart tactics by Trinity meant both teams they were looking forward to the afternoon’s racing. 

The afternoon proved to be more challenging for DUSC. The wind died down consistently throughout the day and got shiftier as the afternoon went on. Miscommunication off the start line combined with poor use of the tricky wind conditions hampered TCD 2’s efforts, they lost their final 3 races. TCD 1 had more success, savvy boat handling and a brilliantly executed leeward mark trap allowed them to see off Durham with a satisfying 1st 2nd across the finish line in their final race of the day. Both teams finished in the Silver Fleet.

A slightly disappointing result for Trinity means all sailors have come home with plenty to work on. The event was a fantastic learning experience and great fun all around, you would have been hard pressed to find a sailor without a smile on their face as they made there way back to Dublin. A huge thanks to Loughborough University Sailing Team for organising the event, DUCAC and DUSC’s sponsor, Hunky Dory. Looking forward to seeing everyone again at next year’s Loughborough-Lemming.