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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Ireland's Biggest Sailing Event on Dublin Bay
J109 'Mojito' from Pwllheli in North Wales is the IRC Offshore Class leader at VDLR
The clear record of Seamus Fitzpatrick’s First 50 Mermaid IV (RIYC) in the coastal racing of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta slipped today, taking quite a knock with an 11th while the Pwllheli J/109 (Peter Dunlop) was on top form to…
Verve, an Arthur Robb Yawl, sailed Brian and Jackie Comerford from the Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club in the Classic Keelboat division
The Mullaghmore Sailing Club Old Gaffer 'Purple Haze' skippered by Kevin and Heather Collins leads a 12-boat Classic Keelboat fleet at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Born out of 2017's Dun Laoghaire Harbour bicentenary celebrations, the 2019 classic keelboat fleet includes three gaff-rigged Colleen replicas that…
The Sonata Asterix from the DMYC leads IRC 4
The sunshine and summery sailing has suited the Frazer Meredith syndicate in the Sonata Asterix, they’ve taken the overall lead of IRC4 at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta from Abersoch’s Jonathan Fawcett with the She 31B She Too, with Michal Matulka…
Colm Bermingham’s Elan 333 Bite the Bullet
Colm Bermingham’s Elan 333 Bite the Bullet from Howth was looking good last night, now he seems unassailable at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, being in the luxurious position of discarding a second in today’s second race. Terry Fair’s Sigma 33…
Class One IRC Leader, J/109 Outrajeous (Richard Colwell and John Murphy)
“Champagne sailing” is a choice expression which is in danger of being over-used every time a bit of sunshine happens upon a decent sailing breeze during race time in Ireland writes W M Nixon. But we’ve no doubt it was…
Nigel Biggs's Checkmate XVIII is now ten points clear at the top of the 21-boat fleet
If sailing is a waterborne game of chess, then Nigel Biggs’ Half Tonner Checkmate XVIII is fulfilling the promise of her name with the bullet today in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta to have her on 6 points after discarding a…
GP14s start a race at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
There was another race win for Sam Watson and Andy Thompson in The GP14 Leinster Championships being staged as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. The result puts the lead pairing 13-points clear of Donegal's  John and Donal McGuinness after…
Frank Whelan's Eleuthera (left) from Greystones Sailing Club maintains the overall lead of the six-boat Class Zero fleet. She is pictured above with the Ker 37 Jump Juice, (Conor Phelan) currently in fifth place overall
IRC 0 Eleuthera is bringing it home for Greystones In celebration of the successful progress through this Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and others of Frank Whelan’s very fine Grand Soleil 44 Eleuthera, maybe they should re-name his home port Brightstones…
Mike McIntyre and his two man crew lead the RS Elites at Dun Laoghaire
Only three points after eight races separate two British Olympic medalists in the RS Elite UK National Championships being held as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. 1988 Seoul Gold Medalist Mike McIntyre from the Star Class leads Ossie Stewart (Bronze…
A skilled demonstration of the new in-race Shared Spinnaker Retrieval Manoeuvre being carried out to perfection by the Shipman 28 Class in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2019
The big noises in the communications business are always telling us that we should find ways of making our sailing races more interesting to the casual spectator, writes W M Nixon. In light of this, one of Dun Laoghaire’s most…
Rory Fekkes' Beneteau First 8 from Carrickfergus
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s the glorious Twelfth of July through all classes, and northern boats at VDLR 19 have been celebrating with particular style in Class 3, where Rory Fekkes' souped-up Beneteau First 8 from Carrickfergus was…
A long way from the original very basic idea of an “Asylum Harbour” with just one breakwater at Dun Laoghaire. Richard Brydges Beechey’s painting of the Royal St George YC Regatta in Kingstown Royal Harbour in 1874 captures the essence of a Golden Era. Although most of the course was in the bay and out to the Kish, even the largest yachts were expected to round a markboats in the harbour close off the Clubhouse, and the finish was in the harbour
When the Earl of Kildare - subsequently the Duke of Leinster – commissioned the building of his fine new townhouse in 1745 in what was then the unfashionable south side of Dublin, he can scarcely have imagined that nearly three…
Watson and Thompson have a point to prove on Dublin Bay this weekend
In a year of dream team reunions - think Spice Girls and Westlife -  the one featuring Sam Watson and Andy Thompson is perhaps best placed to reach new heights this weekend.  The Nantwich and East Antrim pairing were tipped…
Laser Master Ross O'Leary stays in contention for VLDR honours with two second places and a third
Trading a few years of experience on your rivals isn’t a major problem when you’re on a run of form like George Kingston. The Royal St George sailor gave a masterclass in race management and consistency last weekend when he…
Colm Bermingham’s Bite the Bullet from Howth leads White Sail 1
In the IRC Non-spin 1 division of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta today, the Elan 333s are having a fine old time of it, with the overall placings now putting Colm Bermingham’s Bite the Bullet from Howth first, while Paul Tully’s White Lotus…
Justtina, the Grand Soleil 34 is competing in VDLR's coastal class
They gave the offshore wannabes a real run for their money today in the Coastal Race of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, yet there was still a certain sameness about the final results, as Seamus Fitzpatrick’s attractive First 50 Mermaid IV…

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (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, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. 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 Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can 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 is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

 

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.

©Afloat 2020