It turns out that next week's Quarter Ton World Championships in Cork Harbour may well have a bearing on the overall results of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's IRC Three division.

The reason is that at least three top Quarter Ton teams - including one visiting former world champion - are signed up in a 20-boat mix of eclectic designs. 

The stand-out entry is the presence of multiple dinghy and keelboat word champion Ian Southworth. The Hamble River Sailing Club skipper will use VDLR as a warm-up in his quarter-tonner Protis before the World Championships begin on July 13th.

Two other top Irish quarter tonn campaigns are also in the fleet, Martin Mahon's Snoopy from Wexford Harbour and Kieran Dorgan's Illegal from Cove Sailing Club.

Martin Mahon's Snoopy, a 1979 Joubert-Nivelt Quarter Tonner from Wexford Harbour was the 2021 ICRA Three National Champion Photo: Afloat

Three Solings are racing with GBR 144 'Gerda' being sailed by Andrew Riches. IRL 3, Romance II, is skippered by Paul Tully and coming from Tralee Bay in County Kerry is Soling IRL 2, Chinook, sailed by Cormac Murphy. 

Four J24s competed in this division in 2019, but only one is sailing this edition, with Jack McMahon skippering Kilcullen.

The Antrim-Based Limbo 6.6, FA 2

The successful Antrim-Based Limbo 6.6, FA Too, is the sole Northern Irish entry in the class. As regular Afloat readers will know, Jeff Harrison and Charlie McAllister's Limbo 6.6 FA2 dominated the Antrim Boat Club's Summer Series score sheet in the VDLR lead-up. 

IRC 3 will spend three days on VDLR's fixed mark south course and one day on the North course, which will see either a triangular or windward leeward course.

Michal Matulka's Trapper 300, an entry in this week's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta IRC Division Three, is a former winner of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's Annual Winter Turkey Shoot Series Photo: Afloat

Early forecasts

With so much riding on the optimum setup for the prevailing conditions, an early peek at weather forecasts indicates there will be a breeze and plenty of it to produce a range of conditions over the four days. Medium to strong conditions with winds from a southerly quadrant will build from and provide some top-class conditions. Starting Thursday (July 6th), there will be medium conditions up to 13 mph with strong gusts for the first afternoon races. From there, the breeze is forecast to strengthen up to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and with its southerly direction, the six courses on the Dublin Bay race track can anticipate a big sea state to boot. Sunday's last races, however, may see a drop in wind strength for a light to medium-air conclusion to the 2023 event.