SailingLast weekend's turnout for the traditional highlight event for the world's oldest Corinthian yacht racing organisation marked a significant watershed for organisers of Dublin Bay's Royal Alfred Yacht Club.
About 50 boats sailed in the cruiser-racer and one-design classes compared to fleets of more than 160 boats of just 10 years ago.
A series of 'market forces' has seen the RAYC end up on the marginal end of general popularity amongst the hundreds of racing boats in the Dublin region. Ten years ago, the club had a loyal following stretching from Dun Laoghaire to Howth and up to Malahide.
More recently, 'the Alfred' withdrew to Dublin Bay citing lack of demand from northside sailors for their Superleague format.
Several one-design classes also opted out although the club's annual Baily Bowl Championship each May has managed to retain its following.
The club now face into a period of change but are also warning of similar market pressures coming to bear on other racing organisations, both nationally as well as on the east coast.
RAYC Commodore Ailbhe Millerick points to a variety of factors that have accumulated. "There's pressure on the calendar and the range of dates available. For example, the Irish Cruiser Racing Association Nationals attracted a mostly Dublin fleet. The acid test for this will be when it travels next year - will the Dublin boats go south?" he asks.
Then there's pressure on free time. "Typically, you might do a Cork Week-type event and a couple of weekends plus there's your family time commitments as well. Life is simply a whole lot busier than it was 10 years ago."
Putting crews together on a regular basis also presents difficulties.
"What size of a crew panel is needed to get say five people to race a boat? And how do you get any five of the panel to work well together and maintain seamanship skill when they only race together a handful of times?"
So the pressures facing owners and crews arise from modern lifestyles plus the variety of sailing and racing opportunities available. A plentiful supply of boats that sail less often is suggested as having been the net result, leading to an apparent drop in numbers.
But are people being lost from the sport? "I would suggest they are," says Millerick.
"There's only a trickle coming through from childhood junior training and most of these are coming from the university clubs. At least the colleges now have decent equipment, which is good news."
From here on, the RAYC plans to concentrate on specifics.
"We will be majoring on our own Alfred days and getting new blood into our type of racing such as the Baily Bowl. We will be specialist rather than populist as Dublin Bay is unique in that 85 per cent of crews seem happy to tumble around the buoys and that's their sport and no more.
"But it's now difficult for the top boats in one-design and the leaders of the cruiser-racer classes to get consistent crews because the new blood isn't feeding up."
"But the world has caught up with the Alfred and now demands more than just vanilla flavour," admits Millerick.
"We now plan to offer more variety like random pairs and match racing which enhance skills and attract people that way."
The annual two-day Allianz Helmsmans' championship will this year be staged at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club, Hollywood, Co Down, on Saturday, September 18th and Sunday, September 19th.
The competitors will include Irish Olympians David Burrows, Gerald Owens and Tom Fitzpatrick and defending champion Neil Hegarty.
The junior and women's Helmsmans' Championships will also be staged at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club over the weekend of September 18th-19th.
Both championships will be sailed in Firefly dinghies.
