Members of the National Yacht Club this week unanimously approved a £1 million development for a foreshore facility that will add a breakwater and double the boat parking capacity to 3,307 square metres at the Dun Laoghaire clubhouse.
The expansion adds to the investment already made by the four harbour clubs and follows the £1.1 million Royal St George YC and £800,000 Royal Irish YC developments completed this season.
Private investment by the waterfront clubs in harbour developments over the past 12 months now stands at over £3 million.
Facing competition to improve facilities before the arrival of the 650-berth marina, National YC commodore Barry MacNeaney told members at an e.g.m. at the clubhouse on Monday evening: "Let no one be in any doubt, if we do not proceed the National will decline as a major yacht club." Instead of decline, however, the granting of full planning permission on October 17th, along with this week's approval of the club's 540 full members, enables MacNeaney to pursue his goal of attracting world class events for the east pier club.
Ample hard standing for one design keelboats, such as the club's own dry sailed Flying Fifteens and 1720 sportsboats, means world championship keelboat fleets can be accommodated without difficulty.
Although Mermaid dinghy moorings in front of the clubhouse will be lost, the development includes plans to moor up to 10 of the clinker dayboats, one of the club's strongest classes, in trots alongside a new floating breakwater. The breakwater design dovetails with the RNLI station reconstruction plans to the west of the club.
A new eight metre wide slipway will allow boats to be launched and trailers retrieved at all stages of the tide and a second hoist is included in the plans to increase dry sailing.
The slip will relieve on-going traffic problems where over 100 boats and 200 crew are often bottle-necked prior to launching for major regattas.
A levy on members has secured the finance for the National YC project which will be completed in time for next season, regardless of progress on the harbour marina.
Elsewhere in the harbour, and despite the continued decline of summer dinghy sailing, winter numbers are bursting at the seams for the 28th Dun Laoghaire Motor YC Technomarine Frostbite series. Organiser Valerie Kinnear closed the entry for the 20-race series which reached its maximum fleet size of 110 boats two weeks before the event began.
The first of the harbour courses got underway last Sunday in perfect conditions and host club pair Noel Butler and Garth Ablett in a Laser 2 dinghy now lead the 63-boat handicap fleet.
Laser master champion Chris Arrowsmith of the Royal St George YC leads a 17-boat Laser single-handed fleet while brothers Robert and John Collins lead the 17-boat Mirror division.
In Cork harbour, Kevin Lane, the Admiral of the Royal Cork YC, won the first of seven races in the annual SmithKline Beecham Winter league at the helm of Impulsive. A 19-boat fleet competed in moderate westerly breezes for an all-in ECHO handicap prize to be presented on December 13th.
Meanwhile, Lane has formed a fundraising committee to assist Olympic aspirant Mel Collins who has teamed up with Belfast's Frazer Brown in the Olympic 49er dinghy.
Collins is bound for the class world championships in January and the Royal Cork hopes to help the pairing with their £50,000 campaign.
