Tom Dolan's second attempt at a Round Ireland speed record has ended off County Kerry, at the end of his second day at sea (Tuesday) because of the imminent arrival of Storm Ciaran off the southwest coast.
Tonight, Dolan is tied up in Dingle Marina, citing safety at sea as the first and only consideration for him and his team.
“I am gutted, I really am because it was going so well and I was quick with some really high sustained speeds around the NE corner where there was flat water,” said Dolan in Dingle. “I was getting gale Force 9 warnings on the VHF radio, and it was getting worse. 24 hours ago, it was looking difficult but doable but not now.”
Tom Dolan ties up in Dingle Marina. He has had to stop his 'faux' solo Round Ireland sailing record attempt in Kerry, despite being more than 80 miles – or about 10 hours - ahead of the existing record pace after having sailed more than half the 688 miles course on his boat Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan Photo: Gary Delaney
The difficult decision was made to abandon the attempt after some record speeds down the west coast had been achieved and head for Europe's most westerly marina in County Kerry on Tuesday (October 31st) afternoon.
“I will take stock in a while but immediately, I need to look after the boat. But there are worse things going on in the world and for sure there are worse places to be than Dingle”, he added.
Dolan said he was not prepared to take the risk on his 36-foot Figaro Beneteau 3, particularly 'with no safe havens to shelter in on the SW and S of Ireland'.
Eagle-eyed observers had already twigged the development when Dolan's track was spotted inside the Blasket Islands on Kerry's coast, contrary to the record course rules.
Two days into the challenge, the tracker shows Tom Dolan heading for shelter at Dingle Harbour ahead of Storm Ciaran on Tuesday, October 31st
Dolan had made impressive times over the past 48 hours since setting off from Dublin Bay on Sunday afternoon and was running well ahead of the existing double-handed and solo times.
He had made the County Mayo coast in 24 hours and was averaging 7 knots, and only needed to average 4 to beat the record, but weather forecasts indicated he would be challenged by 30-knot headwinds up to the Fastnet Rock tonight.
(Above and below) Tom Dolan as he embarked on the Round Ireland record challenge on Sunday afternoon at the Kish Lighthouse on Dublin Bay. He made the Blasket Islands off County Kerry 48 hours later to be on course for a sub three day record time Photo: Afloat 
Dolan's reference times to beat were the 2005 solo record by Kleinjans aboard a Class40: 4 days, 1 hour and 53 minutes and 29 seconds and the doublehanded record set in 2020 by Pamela Lee and Catherine Hunt on a Figaro3 of 3 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds, meaning he had until Thursday, 2 November at 11:32:12 to beat both. Instead, Dolan and his onboard media man, Andrew Smith, arrived in Dingle Harbour at 5.30 pm today.
As regular Afloat readers know, Dolan's southbound attempt in May fell short when he encountered a foul tide and light winds on the Irish Sea.
It remains to be seen whether it will be third time lucky for the County Meath man and if he can make another Round Ireland attempt before the end of the year.
