The four day week got a further boost yesterday afternoon (Thursday) when it was announced that a Volvo Ocean race yacht will also visit Dun Laoghaire as part of the title sponsor's contribution.
O'Rourke's Chieftain, a Cookson 50, that also picked up the ICRA yacht of the award in November, will come to the east coast port straight after the New York to Hamburg Transatlantic race starting on June 16.
Dun Laoghaire's plans to become the Cowes of the Irish Sea are on track with entries rolling in from eight different countries five months before the regatta starts.
The increase in entries with many from the Welsh coast were confirmed by event chairman Brian Craig.
The biennial event was revived just two years ago, after an absence of almost 40 years, and is organised by the four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC) in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC.
In a further boost, Craig has also attracted Grand Prix racers to the bay with the early entry of the TP 52 Panthera Benny Kelly from England's Royal Corinthian YC. Yesterday the regatta office claimed up to four other TP52s may also be heading for the Irish sea.
It is expected that the bulk of last year's three Irish Commodore¹s Cup teams will be competing. They will come directly from the Saab ICRA National Championships being held at the Royal Cork from June 22nd.
"The fact that the Volvo fleets will have such a depth of talent looks like it will be one of the quality events of the year. It's a real bonus for Irish crews who normally travel overseas to have this competition on home waters" said Colm Barrington, Irish skipper of the Ker 52 Magic Glove, winner of this year's Key West regatta.
Barrington is producing a brand new Ker 39 and it is expected her maiden sail will be in Dun Laoghaire.
A fleet of 25 boats from the Royal Dee will race from Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with Dun Laoghaire. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.
Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire¹s Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.
Until now, no other regatta in the Irish Sea area could claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes.
"The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it will be compared with Cowes" Craig said. But there the comparison ends.
"We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique and we are making a very special effort to welcome visitors from abroad" Craig added.
Although the inaugural event suffered from a lack of breeze, festivities ashore captured the hearts of sailors who through a special survey pressed for its return this July. Packed social events are strung along the four clubs on Dun Laoghaire's waterfront just six miles from Dublin's city centre and the event has already been dubbed 'Leopardstown on sea' by social diarists.
A total of 26 classes will race over six courses on Dublin Bay under ISAF international race officer Alan Crosbie. The majority are cruiser classes but there is also room for Ireland's newest one design class - the SB3 - that has become the biggest sportsboat class almost overnight with numbers reaching 60 since the class was formed in November.
Already entries for the week, which runs from July 12 to 15, are likely to top the 500 mark. The fact that there are 2,500 marina berths alone in North Wales gives an indication of the size of the organisers¹ ambitions.
And it's not just new boats that are racing - Craig is very much aware of the heritage of an event that stretches back to the early 1900s.
Dun Laoghaire's Royal Alfred YC is the oldest amateur yacht club in the world but the absence of a club house over its 150-year existence has not stopped it from being a major force in world sailing. It was the prime mover behind the establishment of the Yacht Racing Association (now the RYA), the world's first yacht racing authority. The RAYC also claims that its own club rules of 1857 formed the basis of the racing rules of sailing today. The RAYC is using Dun Laoghaire week to celebrate its sesquincentennial anniversary.
A keelboat class the Howth 17 which was first sailed from Kingstown 100 years ago, and which is now based exclusively in the north Dublin port of Howth is returning to mark its important birthday.
The world's oldest one design dinghy class, the Waterwag, has been competing on Dublin Bay since 1886 and the fleet is expected to attract one of the biggest turnouts of any of the five competing dinghy classes at the event.
Of course, not all of the North Wales fleet boats are racing yachts but that doesn¹t appear to slow the growth of interest in the Dun Laoghaire event.
Already a motorboat cruise in company of 20 boats, known as the Goodwill raid, is bound for the port just to take in some of the festivities planned at its four waterfront yacht clubs.
The Ecover Half Ton Classics Cup will race within Dun Laoghaire week and it has also been boosted by an early entry of 16 classics to date.
Competing classes - Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta July 12-15 2007
Super 0
Cruiser 0
Cruiser 1
Cruiser 2
Cruiser 3
Cruiser 5
Beneteau 31.7
Half Ton
Sigma 33
J109
E Boat
Ruffian
1720 Club/Classic
Etchell
Dragon
Laser SB3
J24
Shipman
Howth 17
Glen
Squib
Mermaid
Flying 15
Fireball
IDRA 14
Water Wags
