Ireland is hosting two of the most prestigious events in the Dragon calendar:

The Irish Grand Slam 2012, sponsored by [...]]]> 2012 is the Year of the Dragon in Ireland

Ireland is hosting two of the most prestigious events in the Dragon calendar:

• The Gold Cup – at Kinsale Yacht Club, Kinsale, Co Cork,
• The Edinburg Cup – at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Cultra, Co Down, NI.

The Irish Grand Slam 2012, sponsored by Brewin Dolphin, will be won by the boat with the best overall results in a series comprising the Brewin Dolphin Gold Cup, the Edinburg Cup, and one other event in the Grand Slam series.

The complete Grand Slam Rules will be published at the same time as the Notice of Race (NOR) for the first event,

the UK Northern Area Championships.

Events and dates

UK Northern Area Championships

1-3 July, Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Cultra, Northern Ireland.

Edinburg Cup

4-7 July, Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Cultra, Northern Ireland.

Irish Championships
D26-29 July, Royal St. George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Irish South Coast Championships

1-2 September, Kinsale Yacht Club, Kinsale, Co Cork.

Gold Cup

8-14 September, Kinsale Yacht Club, Kinsale, Co Cork.

Why not make a year of it in Ireland?

• Enjoy superb racing at Belfast Lough, Dublin Bay and Kinsale.
• Enjoy the legendary social programme and hospitality at all of the events.
• Enjoy the magnificent scenery, the length and breadth of Ireland.

Contact the following people for more information:

Tim Pearson

Simon Brien

Cameron Good

This year we were joined by the Squibs and the ISA J80s (or maybe we joined them!).

An opportunity to rinse the boats out with fresh lake water and compete for the Jack Craig Memorial Bell.

With mixed [...]]]> So the final event of the Irish domestic season – the Lough Derg Freshwater Keelboat  Regatta.

This year we were joined by the Squibs and the ISA J80s (or maybe we joined them!).

An opportunity to rinse the boats out with fresh lake water and compete for the Jack Craig Memorial Bell.

With mixed teams, guest helms and short race courses in shifty lake breezes the event was going to more about fun than out and out long course championship racing.

However it still proved to be hard fought throughout the fleet with the potential for anything to happen at any moment.

Friday and Saturday were light days with the odd moderate breeze. Sunday was going to be more moderate winds.

On Friday night Denis Bergin on sir Ossis of the River with Con Murphy and Paul Burke were leading. Going into the final day Martin Byrne on Diva were leading by three points against Donal Small on Tenacious with Dave Dwyer and Eoghan O’Neill. A number of boats could have taken third place on the final  2 race day. After the first race Martin’s lead was cut to one point. So the final race was the decider. Donal got his nose ahead at the pin end in traffic and covered Diva aggressively up the first beat. Despite throwing everything at Tenacious including tacking duels and “peeling” off spectator boats, Donal Small persevered and won the Jack Craig Memorial Bell with Martin Byrne, Rick Johnson and Rob Johnson on Diva in second place. Peter Bowring, David Williams and Laura and Arthur Meaghan on Phantom came in third with two good races on the final day.

So once again a big thank you to Lough Derg Yacht Club for a very enjoyable event on and off the water. A special thank you also to their reserve race officer Claire who stood in (apparently for her first time!) and performed cooly and calmly like she had been doing it for years!

Now what was the number of that guy with the winter storage warehouse……!

You can also download them here Minutes IrDA AGM 12 August 2011 (MS Word document).

Irish Dragon Association

The 2011 AGM of the Irish Dragon Association took place

in Kinsale Yacht Club [...]]]> These are the minutes from the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the Irish Dragon Association.

You can also download them here Minutes IrDA AGM 12 August 2011 (MS Word document).

Irish Dragon Association

The 2011 AGM of the Irish Dragon Association took place

in Kinsale Yacht Club (by kind permission)

on Saturday 13 August 2011

Minutes

Attendance:

Andrew Craig (Chairman)

Tim Pearson (Secretary/Treasurer)

David Good, Peter Bowring, Martin Byrne, Sean Kingston, Donal Small, Owen O’Neill, Don O’Dowd, Cameron Good, Olaf Sorensen, Anthony O’Neill, Neil Hegarty, Frances Rhatigan, Peter O’Reilly, Simon Brien, Henry Kingston.

Apologies were received from Mick Cotter, Iain Finnegan, Paul Maguire, Rick Johnson, Richard Goodbody, David Clarke, Michael & Susan Halpenny, Frances Lynch, Paddy Bishop and Kathy Gillan.

1.   Accounts for 2010 are to be circulated to the members by email. The Secretary explained that because expenses had been successfully reduced in recent years it was now possible to reduce the annual subscription for 2012 by €20. This was proposed by the Secretary, seconded by the Chairman, and passed by the meeting.

The subscriptions for 2012 will therefore be:

·         Dublin Bay Dragon Fleet €200

·         Kinsale, Belfast Lough €130

·         Glandore, Ree, Derg €90

Members are reminded that it is compulsory for any Dragon and its owner(s)/helm to be registered with their national association before that boat can enter a Dragon class race.

By paying the fee the named Dragon and its owner or owners and crew become registered with their national association (the Irish Dragon Association) and the International Dragon Association. The fee also includes membership of the British Dragon Association (and in the case of Dublin Bay Dragons it includes membership of the Dublin Bay Dragon Fleet).

2.  The following officers of the Irish Dragon Association were re-elected (Proposed Peter Bowring, seconded Cameron Good):

§   Chairman – Andrew Craig

§   Secretary/Treasurer – Tim Pearson

3.   Dates for 2012 were discussed and agreed as follows:

4.   Edinburgh Cup / Gold Cup updates. Simon Brien proposed a once off Grand Slam Trophy and prizes for 2012 in order to capitalize on the fantastic line up of events for next year and this was accepted unanimously. A committee of A Craig, S Brien, H Kingston and T Pearson to draft a format to include promotion, rules, prizes and sponsors and circulate to the membership. Simon Brien to have finalised a ferry deal in September, based on entering Ireland via Belfast in June and leaving via Cork/Rosslare in September 2012.

The Gold Cup is still seeking a title sponsor. Any help, connections, etc to Cameron Good.

5.   AOB. A lengthy discussion about promoting the class took place, both to bring in younger members as crew, and to find prospective new owners. Many familiar topics and some novel and unusual suggestions were brought forward, including: Under 25 prizes, Corinthian prizes, trying to find ways to dispel the High Cost of Entry myth, the high cost of sails, the weight limit for crew (the IDA have a moratorium on discussing this at their agm for 3 years), developing a Presidential role that could better promote the class, and not sailing on Sundays so we can have a bigger party on Saturday.

The meeting ended with agreement that the class should continue to pin its hope on the early discovery of the Elixir of Eternal Youth.

Give Will a call if you need new crew – he needs no further introduction to how to make the Dragon go fast.

The message from Diarmuid O’Donovan’s, Glandore Dragon Class Captain and head of the organising committee of this year’s South Coast Championship, is loud and clear.  After a good turnout at the 2011 National Championships in Kinsale and some great sailing, [...]]]> “Come on down to Glandore and sail with us in the South Coast Championship 2011!”

The message from Diarmuid O’Donovan’s, Glandore Dragon Class Captain and head of the organising committee of this year’s South Coast Championship, is loud and clear.  After a good turnout at the 2011 National Championships in Kinsale and some great sailing, the Glandore Dragon crowd are looking forward to a good weekend.

You can download the NOR Dragon South Coast 2011 here.

For more information on Glandore, visit  www.glandorevillage.ie

The Glandore Inn  Rosebowl will be held the weekend before the South Coast August 26th-27th, which would be a nice warm up.

So, note these dates in your diary:

•             Glandore Inn Rosebowl: 26-27 August

•             Dragon South coast championship: 2-4 September

For further information, contact

Diarmuid O’Donovan, Dragon Class Captain

Tel : (+353) 28 33818

Fax : (+353) 28 33099

Mobile : (+353) 872573301

Skype : prawnsking

Web : www.irishprawns.com

The young helms adapted very quickly to the Dragon’s way and the upwind pace was increasing all the time.

Honours went [...]]]> A total on 9 boats took part in the Young Persons race in Dublin Bay on 28 July. In a good northerly breeze, the racing was extremely close and no quarter was being given.

The young helms adapted very quickly to the Dragon’s way and the upwind pace was increasing all the time.

Honours went to Max Van Der Lee on Diva, closely followed by Guy Aplin on Phantom, then Ronan Murphy on Sir Ossis of the River and Caroline McKeon on Aphrodite.

Ronan very graciously bowed out of the prizes as he was a stand in helm.

Definitely one to be repeated next year and many thanks to Ronan as it was all his idea!

The other Irish boats also did well, good proof that Irish Dragon sailing [...]]]> Martin Byrne in IRL 201 Jaguar, with Adam Winklemann and Pedro Andrade, won the Edinburgh Cup in Abersoch by “a country mile” over the weekend 15-17 July, beating a 43 team strong fleet with boats from Japan, Australia, Russia, Ireland and the UK.

Adam Winklemann, Martin Byrne, Pedro Andrade. Also in the picture is Laura Schenken from Aberdeen Asset Management. Photo: Fiona Brown.

The other Irish boats also did well, good proof that Irish Dragon sailing is still strong.

- Simon O’Brien in IRL 212 KIN was 4th,

- Richard Goodbody in IRL201 Diva was 7th,

- Nigel Biggs in IRL162 Puca was 10th, and

- Olaf Sorensen in IRl207 Christiana was 12th.

- Claire Hogan helmed IRL 176 Phantom into 19th place,

- Michael Cotter in IRL213 Whisper managed a 24th place and

- The final Irish team at the races was Anthony O’Neill in IRL 157 Tenacious in 36th place.

Ronan Murphy has come up with an idea to get younger people involved in the Dragon Class. 

- From his point of view it is for them to appreciate more “tactical” racing rather than dinghies.

- From the Class point of view it is an opportunity to get younger people [...]]]> Young Persons Race 2011

Ronan Murphy has come up with an idea to get younger people involved in the Dragon Class. 

- From his point of view it is for them to appreciate more “tactical” racing rather than dinghies.

- From the Class point of view it is an opportunity to get younger people involved initially as crew and maybe later full time Dragon sailors.

Ronan will hand pick the senior individuals from the Junior sections and the race will follow the same format as the Ladies Race.

The date for this race has been set for Thursday 28^th July. We need as many boats on the water that night so please support the evening.

There will be a sailing supper afterwards – contact Rick Johnsson for more details on richjonsson@gmail.com.

This will take the normal format so please get your ladies trained up and ready for the evening. If you have any questions regarding this race, contact Rick Johnson on email: rickccjohnson@gmail.com.

Saskia Tidey, the reigning champion, who is [...]]]> We will run the Ladies Race on Thursday 4 August 2011, followed by a sailing supper in the RIYC.

This will take the normal format so please get your ladies trained up and ready for the evening. If you have any questions regarding this race, contact Rick Johnson on email: rickccjohnson@gmail.com.

Saskia Tidey, the reigning champion, who is doing her leaving cert. currently, said she really enjoyed sailing on the Dragon from a teamwork point of view and also for good close tactical racing!

She was highly enthusiastic about the class and still is!