Lough Swilly Yacht Club

The first dinghy event of the season is being held this Sunday in conjunction with the ISA “Come and Try It” event, Sailspree.  Sailspree continues on the Lough next weekend during SeaFest.
Dinghy sailors are invited to muster in the club house at 2.30pm.

The Club Picos shall be available for use.
The rescue boat shall be manned on the day.

Can dinghy sailors advise Conor Desmond of their intent to sail by text.
0044 (0) 7703583420

nb. This event is open to members and non members (visitors) and club rules apply. Visitors are welcome to the club free on their first occasion.
The next five visits are chargeable at £5 or €5 for visitors.

See details of further dates in the Dinghy Sailing section of the web-site.

The prospect of moderate to strong westerly winds, forcing a long beat to Tory made for a reduced fleet and a high attrition rate on this year’s outing. Four boats crossed the starting line on Saturday morning. Faustina and later Hi Spirit retired and returned to port. Niamh & Viking Lord pushed on. Agonisingly Niamh was forced to retire in Tory Sound with a broken steering cable. She made it safely into Tory and was able to returned to Fahan the next day.

Viking Lord crossed the finishing Line after 12 hours 41 mins. Also joining the fleet on Tory were Crusin’ & Bonaventure. Social activity was more subdued than previous years but the crews enjoyed good hospitality and craic with the islanders.

SeaFest 2012 has officially launched, and is readying itself for a weekend of even greater magnitude this year during 22-24 June.

The detailed programme of water and on-shore events is almost complete but the highlights of this year’s festival can now be viewed on the website at http://seafestloughswilly.com

Of particular interest to most club members will be the keelboat events, which comprise the Saldanha Cup on Saturday 23^rd June, and the Lough Swilly Cup on Sunday 24^th June. There will be three fleets: IRC, Club Class and White Sails.  As most of you will recall, the Saldanha Cup is a long haul race starting from Rathmullan pier to the Saldanha wreck and back, taking in various other marks en route. The Lough Swilly Cup reverts to a series of more traditional and shorter windward ~ leeward courses.

As per last year, the combined entry fee for the keelboat events is €30 or £25 Sterling.
This permits participating yachts to free berthing at the Rathmullan pontoon from Friday 22 June through Sunday 24 June 2012. Participants will receive a decal in their registration pack which should be attached to the boat for identification purposes.

Detailed racing instructions and courses will be available nearer the time and included in all registration packs. However, the Notice of Race and the Entry Form is now available on the SeaFest 2012 website.

Completed entry forms and fees [cheques made payable to LSYC] should be forwarded to myself, Paul J Hasson, Hon Treasurer, 108 Rockfield,Derry,BT48 8AX.

As a sweetener, entry forms and fees receicved by June 15th will be in with a chance to win SeaFest food vouchers for 2 people.

There will also be an opportunity to register your entry on the morning of Saturday 23^rd June at 9am in the clubhouse, but I know that most of you will be eager to enter in advance and spare me early morning stress!

I can also confirm the following highlights of this year’s festival:

• Return of MC ED, with his unique take on the keelboat runners and riders.
•  BeerFest!- Up to 5 Irish Craft Brewers will have their wares for sale in the marquee area over the weekend.
•  Blessing of the boats and live performance by the Henry Girls on Friday evening 22^nd June.
•  PotatoFest!- a vast array of Donegal potato varieties will be one of the menu highlights
•  Tug ‘o War competition- I remember the days when the club had proper sea dogs in its ranks who would have won a Tug o’ War competition using their teeth!!

Another feature of this year’s SeaFest [which is part of the festival’s longer term plans] is the scheduling of events on this side of the Lough. I am delighted to announce therefore that the Beach House Restaurant, Buncrana is hosting a SeaFest lunch event on Saturday, 23^rd June, with complimentary bubbly and seafood canapés.

We will be laying a special race mark as close as permissible to the Beach House, to showcase the boats as they make their way to the Saldanha wreck and back.

What better way then for the HABS and WAGS of LSYC to watch their loved ones tackle the elements by cheering them on from the Beach House, before catching the ferry and joining them at the finishing line at Rathmullan.

For much more details on the festival, hop on to the website at http://seafestloughswilly.com

In the meantime, see you on the water.

 Paul J Hasson

On behalf of LSYC & SeaFest Organising Committee

Sail Spree is an initiative launched by the Irish Sailing Association in 2012 to encourage people of all ages to get together in their local community and discover the thrill of either sailing, windsurfing, powerboating or jet skiing.

The event will take place nationwide over the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of June,  where clubs and training centres around the country will open their doors for two days of watersports, games, activities, music, entertainment, food and drink.  SeaFest is already being hailed as the highlight of the weekend, and was strongly promoted at the official launch of SailSpree this week.

In support of the event, LSYC plans a “Come and Try It” day on Sunday 17th June from 14:00-17:30, and we hope that many of our members will get involved.  More details to follow.

After a positive experience at the J24 East of Ireland Championships at the beginning of May, the crew of Jumbo, sailing under the banner of LSYC and SeaFest 2012, face an unlikely rival in Division 3 of the IRC Nationals this weekend.

Renamed Alliance II, the former bane of the Swilly will be looking for similar joy on its new home turf of Howth.

A change in sail plan has seen the Laser 28’s IRC drop to .896. With Jumbo’s IRC for the year confirmed at 0.888, racing should be very tight.

But will reducing the Laser’s foresail area cut her legs just that too much. As Leda, the Laser 28 enjoyed being fully powered up with plenty of meat on the rail.

It is a contest the Jumbo crew are eagerly anticipating but it seems keeping in clean wind more than anything else will be the deciding factor, not just in individual battles but also for the overall class prizes.

With 19 boats registered for Division 3 and 123 in all, there will be significant churn and dirty winds on the race course.

Members can keep up to date on Jumbo’s progress over the weekend via the following link:

http://www.hyc.ie/openevents12/bmwCruiserNats/bmwNatsHome.asp