The 2024 annual dinner of the Sailors of Dublin Bay Twentyones was hosted by the National Yacht Club on Saturday 9th November with 48 Sailors including their guests at the start line.
The evening opened with a prosecco reception from19.30 where attendees mingled and caught up after a short break since the last sailing outing. At 20.00 the dinner gong was sounded, and all took their places following the table plan with six tables laid out named Maureen, Estelle, Garavogue, Oola, Naneen and Geraldine.
Vice-Captain Seán Doyle, and NYC member, was MC for the evening and following opening remarks welcomed the Commodore of the National Yacht Club, Peter Sherry and his wife Frances as special guests of the Class and invited the Commodore to address the room. Peter welcomed the Sailors to the National Yacht Club noting the great support for the Class from the Club, not alone in the recent revival but also prior to their long sojourn ashore. The Commodore commended the support of the Sailors for the National YC in return and looks forward to continuing this mutual support into the future. The Commodore then proposed the first toast of the evening, to Ireland.
Prior to the serving of the meal John Sugars said Grace, in Latin.
The following menu was served to assembled guests, the quality of which was highly complemented:
Spiced Butternut squash Soup
Goats Cheese Salad
Marinated Heritage Beets, Gold River Farm Leaves, Candied Walnuts, Orange, Sherry Vinegar Dressing (7,9,10)
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Roast Sirloin of Irish Beef with natural jus
Duo of Salmon wrapped in puff pastry
Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes, and Market Vegetables
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Biscotti Cheesecake
After the first course, Class Captain Winifred Kelliher asked for all to be upstanding and proposed a toast to the Dublin Bay Twenty-One-Footer Association. The Association is the owner of the boats and is charged with the sustained revival of the class and, working closely with the Sailors, to ensure that the class remains strong and vibrant into the future
Following the toast Winifred noted that she was very honoured on behalf of the Sailors to introduce Fionán de Barra, one part of the dynamic duo that has led to us being here tonight and called on Fionán to present some vintage footage from the archives.
Fionán, very resplendent with his Bow Tie fashioned from the original timber of Garavogue, presented a short film taken in 1985 of Bermudian rigged Garavogue sailing around the DBSC start marks. The film was shot by Fionán’s son. While the weather condition was such that the fleet decided not to go racing, Fionán and the crew of Garavogue, not being able to contact his son who was already set up on the West Pier, braved the elements and in doing so preserving some sailing history.
The film, about 3 minutes long, clearly shows the Bermudian rig set up and Fionán was able to describe the various features including the backstay, 3 shrouds on each side, double fore halyards and believe it or not - two winches! The “dog box” coach roof arrangement introduced with the Bermudian rig was clearly visible which was to provide higher headroom within the cabin. Fionan described how the Bermudian rig, while becoming the fashion, was in hindsight a mistake for the class as it inflicted undue stresses to areas of the boat for which they were never designed for, thus hastening their need for a major structural overhaul leading to them departing the bay in 1986 for such works and then to over 30 years off the water.
After the presentation Dinner was served and following the superb main course Aybike Tombak rose to address the room. Aybike spoke briefly of her introduction into the class in 2023 and the great welcome she has received and enjoyment she has derived from her association. She then proposed a toast to the Sailors of The Dublin Bay Twentyones which was warmly endorsed by all.
Following desert and as teas and coffees were being served a photo montage presentation highlighting many of the season’s activities and adventures was shown on screen. The photos were mostly taken by the Sailors themselves during the events and were supplemented by some taken by eminent class photographic recorder Joe St-Leger who, with his wife Angela, were guest of the class at the dinner. The presentation was set to the soundtrack of “Sailing” by Christopher Cross - a very fitting combination. This is now up on the website for all to view.
Throughout the evening there was a table laden with various trophies on display. After the Seasons photo presentation, the MC highlighted the three DBSC silver trophies centrepiece’s which had been awarded by DBSC Prize at their annual prizegiving the previous evening at the Maritime Museum as follows:
· The Daisy Picker Cup – Tuesday Series awarded to Deane McElree
· The Carson Cup – Saturday Series awarded to Seán Doyle
· The Inisfallen Cup – best overall for 80% of all races – awarded to Mike Reid
The recipients being the skippers with most recorded wins for the respective prize category.
This was followed by the presentation of other class prizes the first of which was in recognition of an incident which occurred during the season which in hindsight can be viewed as humorous but less so at the time. The Order of the Buoy was bestowed on the Crew of Garavogue who, on 22 June, while leading the fleet, suddenly found themselves ensnared with their jib Sheet wrapped tightly around East Mark Buoy. This caused momentary confusion, not alone for those on Garavogue, but also for the following boats who suddenly could not see East Mark but as realization dawned as to what had occurred they sailed around the hapless Garavogue and continued the race. Garvogue was assisted by one of the DBSC ribs to free herself before gracefully retiring.
The Garavogue crew -Liz Faulkner, Orflaith Doyle, Mike Reid – Skipper (& John Parker in absentia) with their Order of the Buoy Awards
Replica Buoys were also awarded to the Skipper and helm of the winning boat of the day being Estelle 
Fionan de Barra - Skipper , Robert Barr – Helm
On display also were four historic Class trophies which have not been awarded since the class ceased activity in 1986. However, this year the Committee decreed that it was timely that these trophies be awarded. While traditionally these trophies would have been awarded to individual boat owners for racing success there is now a more challenging task to recognize individual Sailors and Class Captain Winifred Kelliher made the presentations as follows:
- The Anniversary Trophy - presented by Stanley Dyke in 1958 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Class – this year to be awarded to the Sailor most regularly crewing on a winning boat and including being helm on some occasions – Jean O’Driscoll
- The Royal Alfred Corinthian Race Silver “Egg Warmer” first awarded to Maureen in 1905 – to be awarded for most successful new Skipper in the Season – Rupert Bowen
- J. B. Kearney Salver - presented by J. B. Kearney on the occasion of his new design for the Class in May 1964 – to be awarded to the most successful new Sailor for the season – John Sugars
- The August Bell – designed and first presented by Fionán de Barra in 1972 - In her citation Class Captain Winifred Kelliher went off script and said “The awarding of the August Bell trophy for 2024 was for an individual who has shown enormous dedication and whose contribution epitomised the Esprit de Flotte. This individual has, and continues to make, a huge and significant contribution to the Sailors bringing an incredible energy to their role. We are just two years into a three-year programme and already we have achieved many of the objectives agreed at the outset. The recipient is a force of nature and the key driver behind the Sailors of Dublin Bay Twentyones. This Award is being presented to Seán Doyle for his outstanding commitment and contribution to the Sailors of Dublin Bay Twentyones.”
It is no exaggeration to claim that, without exception, all recipients were taken completely unawares by these awards and all were greatly humbled to be so recognized and presented with such awards.
There then followed a presentation of DBSC glasses to all Sailors present at the dinner again to much surprise and excitement.
The evening was not yet over and, in the spirit, and tradition of the Class it was time for some songs and entertainment. Seán and Peadar Doyle, had prepared karaoke type versions of three well known songs and presented them to the assembly inviting all to sing along.
The first, Hal-elujah, a panegyric to the great Hal Sisk penned by his great friend Fionán de Barra and which had its first airing at last year’s dinner, was re-presented on screen with a photo of Hal standing leading on the boom with the words shown and music playing. Everyone was invited to sing along which they duly did in superb voice for all five verses.
Following Hallelujah, the well-known Rod Steward’s Sailing was aired with the lyrics tailored to the Twentyones revival story. During the instrumental solo the original video showed the singer on a motorboat in New York harbour this was replaced with more appropriate footage of four Twentyones sailing in harmony on Dublin Bay.
Finally, to round off the entertainment a reworked version of the Abba 1973 Eurovision Classic Waterloo was aired but now restyled as Twentyones. This got the crowd to their feet as the music pulsated around the room and a backing group emerged for the harmonies!.
Overall, a great lively and fun filled evening further contributing to the great Twentyone annals and hopefully re-establishing traditions for future events.
The words of the three songs are reproduced below and it is intended to have the live version aired on the website shortly.
