Solo Sailing and Circumavigation News
The Only Solo IMOCA Race of 2023: 'Le Retour à La Base' Race Starts From Martinique on Thursday
27th November 2023 Solo Sailing
Thursday 30th, November at midday local time (0800hrs UTC), more than 30 solo skippers on their IMOCA 60s will start the 3,500 nautical miles inaugural Rétour à La Base race from Martinique in the French Antilles across the Atlantic to…
Shannon Estuary & Limerick Have Combined Over Centuries As Ireland’s Most Innovative Sailing Area
18th November 2023 W M Nixon
The Cruising Group can often emerge as the backbone of any sailing club, particularly in the winter. Back in the day when the new Howth Yacht Club premises opened in March 1987, fresh concepts were needed to ensure that the…
Tom Dolan Sets the Record Straight on Last Week’s 'Sailing on Saturday' Article on his Round Ireland Challenge
11th November 2023 Tom Dolan
Tom Dolan halted his latest Round Ireland speed challenge on October 31st due to worsening weather forecasts off the South and Southwest coast. It was a disappointing decision for him and his team and a great many readers who had…
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…
Tom Dolan Closes In On Munster Coast For Continuing Round Ireland Windward Challenge Past Kerry And West Cork
31st October 2023 Tom Dolan
Tuesday morning 0815 hrs - As he expected, Tom Dolan, with his Figaro 3 Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan, is finding the challenge of getting past the majestic southwestern seaboard of Kerry and West Cork the most demanding part of his current Round Ireland…
Tom Dolan Looking At Northwest Mayo 24 Hours From Dublin Bay In "Enhanced" Easterlies
30th October 2023 Tom Dolan
Monday 4pm - Wind conditions with strong easterlies, "enhanced" by dense air, have been so favourable and powerful for Tom Dolan's anti-clockwise Round Ireland challenge that he has been able to downgrade the significance of favourable tides. Having breezed through…
Tom Dolan Making Record Time on North West Coast in Round Ireland Speed Challenge
30th October 2023 Tom Dolan
Monday 0900am - After 17 hours at sea, Tom Dolan is making strong progress off the Donegal Coast on Bank Holiday Monday morning, having departed Dublin Bay just before 4 pm yesterday in a northabout bid to break the solo and double-handed…
Day One (start): Just coming up to 4pm on Sunday, 29th October 2023, Ireland's leading solo sailor, the French-based Tom Dolan, embarked on his latest adventure to round Ireland in under four days and break the 2020 doublehanded record according to the bid…
Follow Tom Dolan during his Round Ireland Speed record attempt in the live tracker below. The course is approximately 700 miles long. Check out all Afloat's regular Tom Dolan updates on the record bid right here
Tom Dolan to Start Anti-clockwise Round Ireland Record Bid This Afternoon
29th October 2023 Tom Dolan
On stand-by in Greystones, County Wicklow for his second attempt at a Round Ireland speed record since early October, Tom Dolan will set off this afternoon for the Kish lighthouse startline on Dublin Bay. After some final weather discussions with…
Tom Dolan Still Waiting for Round Ireland Speed Sailing Winds to Blow for His Second Record Attempt
23rd October 2023 Tom Dolan
Ireland's leading solo sailor, the French-based Tom Dolan, is still waiting at Greystones Harbour Marina in County Wicklow for the right wind to embark on his second bid at the Round Ireland speed sailing record. Sunday night (October 22) brought the…
As solo star Tom Dolan said when he arrived this week in Greystones to position himself on stand-by for his waiting-game round Ireland record challenge from the Kish Lighthouse, the current increasingly Autumnal weather pattern is much more encouragingly dynamic…
Tom Dolan (With Onboard Reporter) Prepare for Second Round Ireland Speed Record Bid
17th October 2023 Round Ireland Speed Record
Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan is back in Ireland with his Figaro Beneteau 3 Smurfit Kappa Kingspan, aiming to set a Round Ireland speed sailing record, a bid sparking debate about the status of solo sailing in Irish waters and the…
Solo Global Circumnavigator Pip Hare On Women in Sailing, Managing Fear and Her New Vendéé Globe Campaign
6th October 2023 Wavelength Podcast
Pip Hare picked up a magazine one day to read about the BOC challenge, which was the forerunner to the Vendéé Globe. “And all of a sudden, there is Isabelle Autissier, absolutely kicking arse and being written about in the…
Solo Sailor Receiving RNLI Assistance off West Coast in Storm Agnes
27th September 2023 RNLI Lifeboats
A solo sailor who sought assistance off the west coast in Storm Agnes is being towed to safety. RNLI lifeboats from Achill and Clifden responded to the alert when the yacht, believed to be Norwegian, reported being in difficulty ten…
Four Ocean Race Veterans and Two Record-Breaking Female Solo Circumnavigators inducted into the Cape Horn Hall of Fame
25th September 2023 Solo Sailing
True to its tradition of hosting world-famous sailors, the town of Les Sables d'Olonne in France, the global capital of single-handed ocean racing, is now home to the International Association of Cape Horners Cape Horn Hall of Fame. Les Sables…