Of the 30 different one-design classes registered for Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the Dragon and Sigma 33 classes currently lead the entries for Ireland's largest regatta in 2023. 

The Dragon keelboat class has six entries so far as the Irish class builds towards the prestigious Gold Cup hosted by the Irish class at Kinsale in 2024. 

Joining some top-ranked Royal St George teams this July in Dun Laoghaire – such as Martin Byrne's Jaguar race team – is Michael Cope's Raissa and Tim Saunders Vixen, both from South Caernarfonshire Yacht Club in Wales.  

Dragon keelboat class racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Continuing the Irish Sea theme, three of the five Sigma 33s entered come from outside Dublin Bay, with Waterford Harbour's David Marchant entering in Flyover. There's an Isle of Man entry in the form of Jeremy Colman's Sea-Pie of Cultra from Manx Sailing and Cruising Club, and Paul Prentice's Squawk will travel to Dublin from Ballyholme Yacht Club in Northern Ireland.

There are cruiser-racing enthusiasts in Ireland who dream of living in a world of non-stop activity in 2023, making the most of a dedicated traditional schedule in which they swing into action with the Scottish Series - back on Loch Fyne at the end of May as Nature intended - and then keeping going with a judicious mixture of event campaigning, offshore races and brisk delivery cruises until mid-August. By then, they’ll find themselves in West Cork, recovering from Calves Week, and working out how best to get back to the Irish Sea and the final ISORA races and the ICRA Nats at Howth in the first weekend of September.

WALES SPRINGS FORWARD FOR RC35s

But before Scotland’s time-honoured classic, there are those who now dream of starting even earlier in 2023, as the Welsh IRC Championship is currently listed for Pwllheli from 12th to 14th May, when Cardigan Bay’s fine sailing waters should have their magnificent backdrop of Snowdonia still dusted with snow (what else, after all?), and the action afloat is sharpened by the presence of the highly-focused RC35 Class, who are using the Welsh series as part of their season-long count-up to their Celtic Cup.

Summertime at Pwllheli. This year, its major IRC season begins in mid-May with the Welsh Open Championship

This single-minded approach by the RC35s is something which has to be considered by several major regatta organisers, as the class – for boats in the IRC Rating Range of 1.010-1.040 – is building on its inherent strength to such an extent that it is a self-contained force, like the International 505s were in Ireland many years ago. Thus one of the features of the 2023 programme is a stand-alone RC35 two-day regatta on Belfast Lough, hosted by Royal Ulster YC at Bangor on the weekend of June 24th & 25th.

The RC35s can be good for your civic status. When the class last raced at Bangor (as here), it was still a town. When they return this June, they’ll find that Bangor has become a city, but crews will not be expected to wear ermine robes when racing

THRIVING CATCHMENT AREA

With the class’s current healthy catchment area extending from Dun Laoghaire to the southwest all the way to the Upper Firth of Clyde in the northeast, with sailing centres on both sides of the Irish Sea and the North Channel much involved, the top boats from the Irish side are currently John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Bangor, and Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush. So Bangor is a reasonably central and accessible venue for those who wonder if meeting endless logistical challenges has to be an inherent part of campaigning a cruiser-racer.

The rush from Rush…… a view of Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm (Rush SC) which is all-too-familiar to RC35 competitors. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

The short answer is: “Yes, you do have to be a logistics genius”. But meanwhile, other sailors live in a world of an alternative reality, where having your boat at the other end of the country can become demanding to the point of irritation, as there are inevitably other reasonable and non-negotiable domestic requirements increasingly encroaching on your time.

And anyway, what’s the point of being home-based in an agreeable sailing area with plenty of good local racing challenges, when you insist on expending season-long energy in going to only slightly more glamorous alternative locations simply because some hyper-vocal opinion-formers and commentators in sailing will insist on telling you: “This Is Where It’s At. Ya Gotta Be There.”

Born again….once upon a time, this was Paul O’Higgins’ Corby 33 Rockabill V of the RIYC. Now she has a completely new look and identity as a successful contender in the RC35 class. Photo: RC35 Class

WHEN LONG VOYAGING TO EVENTS WAS A BADGE OF HONOUR

Now admittedly, there was a time - maybe around forty or fifty years ago - when many of the main pillars of the modern sailing programme in and around Ireland were being put in place. In those early days, being prepared to travel long distances to take part in a location-specific major event was regarded as a badge of honour.

And, of course, by the nature of some events, this was unavoidable.

Thus that great pioneer of support for Wicklow’s Round Ireland Race, Dave FitzGerald of Galway Bay SC, knew that in entering his Holman 41 Partizan he was committing himself to sailing round Ireland twice. Equally, in the days when the Scottish Series was leading the pace in the numbers game with entrants running into several hundreds, boats like Partizan and Donal Morrissey’s GK34 Joggernaut from Galway, and Martin Reilly’s First from Sligo, made the long haul up round Donegal to get to Tarbert.

Dave Fitzgerald’s Partizan from Galway comes out of the dawn to finish the first Round Ireland Race at Wicklow in 1980. Participation in this classic meant she sailed round Ireland twice. Photo: Wicklow SC

This was a level of dedication occasionally outdone by a bunch of hard men from Tralee Bay SC in Fenit, who weren’t too sure which way round Ireland was the faster to Loch Fyne from Kerry with their Sigma 33 Black Pepper, but they got there nevertheless.

O’LEARY’S HYPER-ACTIVE CORBY 36 ANTIX

And then in the course of time, Anthony O’Leary of Royal Cork and his largely family crew with the Corby 36 Antix seemed to be winning everything everywhere, accumulating a score-sheet which indicated a level of dedication you’ll seldom see emulated nowadays. For even the current Antix - a Cape 31 with her first American title already logged in the Florida Keys – looks to be setting up for a leisurely American progress northwards with the new summer, bound for various event-offering venues.

Rather different to Loch Fyne in the Spring – Anthony O’Leary racing the latest Antix (red hull) to success with the Cape 31s in the Florida Keys

The possibility of a reaction against a hectic season-long and multi-venues programme may in its way be a small reflection of the increasing questioning of the benefits of globalisation. For sure, there are many aspects of life and business which get universal benefit from globalisation. But when carried to extremes, globalisation can mean that one area’s success inevitably brings another area’s impoverishment. 

LIMITED TIME WINDOWS

There are only so many weekends and free weeks available in the most popular period for major racing events, even if experience indicates that a championship of maximum four days is what the punters want for anything other than a Worlds. So, far from working with a clean sheet, any club or organisation looking to introduce a new event into the schedule is almost inevitably going to find they’re clashing with something important somewhere else.

Thus the two outstanding clashes in 2023 are the RC35s on Belfast Lough with RUYC in that last weekend of June going completely head-to-head with the Sovereign’s Cup in Kinsale, and the WIORA Championship 2023 at the intriguing venue of Kilronan on Inis Mor in the Aran Islands from 5th to 8th July, up against the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 in Dublin Bay from 6th to 9th July.

America comes to Ireland… one of the most successful contenders in the Sovereign’s Cup in Kinsale in recent years has been Kieran Collin’s Olson 30 Corace IV from Crosshaven, a mini “Transpac sled” of Californian inspiration. Photo: Robert Bateman

With the less-crowded West Coast programme, some East Coast sailors were bewildered by WIORA’s choice of dates, but those in the know say that Kilronan is committed to other events – some with a significant shoreside input – on any alternative weekend, and the little port town can only cope with a certain amount of overnight visitors, as the regular air service and the fast ferries from Rossaveal mean that most incomers are only day visitors.

JACKEENS VERSUS CULCHIES AFLOAT

Yet the Dublin spin on it all continues the Jackeen versus Culchie interface in its usual mildly malicious forms. They know that few if any WIORA boats will be interesting in racing in the VDLR in any case, but they point out that national travelling classes such as the J/24s might be keen to do both, but are now prevented. So they take it a stage further and say that the WIORA folk are keen to keep out East Coast interlopers, as the Westerners subscribe enthusiastically to the idea that if you’re keen to run your own regatta, then there’s little point in doing so unless you make reasonably sure that a local boat wins the main trophy…..

Kironan on Inis Mor in the Aran Islands, venue for the WIORA Championship 2023 from 5th to 8th July. Pontoons will be installed in the outer harbour to host the fleet, which totalled 43 boats in 2017 when last at the same venue

As “local boats” for WIORA means craft drawn from fleets as far north as Killybegs and as far south as Bantry, the scope is already broad in its catchment area. But we wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that some crews in Schull, Kinsale and even Crosshaven are thinking that they might as well turn right as left when they put out to sea in early July to head for a distant regatta, and if they were bound for Kilronan that might put a South Coast cat or two among the West Coast pigeons at Inis Mor.

WE CAN’T APPLY PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS OF INVOLVEMENT TO AN AMATEUR SETTING

Despite that, we take a sanguine view of these “fixture clashes” by pointing out that some amateur sailors are mistaken in trying to take their levels of involvement and time-consuming participation from the examples of headline-dominating resources-dominated super-star events. For the top pros find themselves having to think boats and sailing and personal promotion day and night, and it can be an unhealthy mental environment leading to burnout.

Place of potential pressure: Houston Yacht Club in Texas, where they’ve so much sunshine that boat-owners are prepared pay extra to be berthed under a sun-shading roof. 

We learned of an eloquent instance of this last season when the Irish ILCA squad – with Eve McMahon setting the pace towards another Gold Medal - were doing their stuff in style at the Houston Yacht Club in Texas. For the Houston YC is where John Kolius emerged – yes, that John Kolius, of Volvo Ocean and America’s Cup and sailmaking fame.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE BURNOUT

He makes no secret of the fast that at Houston YC, he was the classic young “clubhuse rat” from a newly-joined family, and mad keen to show he could sail well with any family who were going out when his own family weren’t afloat. And my goodness, could he sail.

He was so good at it that they wanted him here, there and everywhere, winning international races at the very highest level and at such a hectic pace that in time he burnt out, and he knew it. So he sold his sailing business in 2011 and he and his wife have gone private to the point of anonymity with an easygoing sports fishing operation in the Bahamas. 

ICRA “BOAT OF THE YEAR” IS OUR SALVATION

So those who would seek a non-clashing yet continuous season-long programme at a permanent championship pace should maybe be careful of what they wish for. There are times when Less is More. And in Ireland, we now have a rather good solution. Over the years, the formula for selecting the ICRA “Boat of the Year” has been refined until it has produced a set of requirements that can provide a meaningful result within a civilized level of sporting activity afloat.

The J/99 Snapshot (Mike & Richie Evans, Howth YC) is the current ICRA “Boat of the Year”. The continuing refinement of the Boat of the Year formula has gone some way to relieving pressure on any fixtures clash in a typical sailing season

At its best, it facilitates Corinthian-type sailing, even if semi-professionals are sometimes involved. It’s not perfect, but it really is working quite well. And those of us who fail to see the sport in “sports fishing” reckon that any approach which keeps people happily sailing is something to be welcomed.

After opening its online entry system, Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 organisers have called on class captains of competing classes to an information evening at the Royal Irish Yacht Club next week.

The purpose of the evening is to bring class captains 'up-to-date with the plans for the 2023 regatta following the Covid-enforced hiatus for the last few years'.

The regatta is scheduled for Thursday, July 6th to Sunday, July 9th, 2023 and typically attracts 22 different one design and IRC classes.

Race organisers, both ashore and afloat, will be on hand to address queries and concerns, says Event Director Paddy Boyd.

As Afloat reported previously, the Notice of Race has now been published, and its new online entry system went live at noon on January 1st 2023.

The information evening will be held at the Royal Irish on Wednesday, January 11th, at 1900 hours.

As Afloat reported previously, the RS Elite Association has already announced the RS Elite Open Tour will include Ireland's biggest regatta.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has been popular with RS Elite, particularly since the UK National Championship was held as part of the regatta in 2019.

No less than four national keelboat titles will be decided on Dublin Bay this July as more classes than ever opt to run their championships as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In total 11 class championships are now being sailed as part of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour-based regatta that will be split across two separate weekends as a COVID-19 measure.

From the keelboat fleets, Beneteau 31.7 and 211s along with Ruffian and Shipman classes will all race for national honours while Dragons will race for their East Coast Championship and SB20 race their 'Westerns'.

The SB20 Western Championship is being staged as part of Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 Photo: Afloat

In the dinghy divisions, the GP14s,  Fireballs, RS400 and RS200 will all fight for separate Leinster titles.

Fireball Leinster honours are up for grabs at Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 Photo: Afloat

The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

The Shipman class will sail for National Championship honours at Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Afloat

11 Class Championships ready to race at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021:

• Beneteau 31.7 National Championship
• Beneteau 211 National Championship
• Shipman National Championship
• Ruffian National Championship
• Dragon - East Coast Championship
• GP14 Leinster Championship
• Fireball Leinster Championship
• SB20 Western Championship
• RS400 Leinster Championship
• RS200 Leinster Championship
• Royal Dee Irish Sea Offshore Championship

The 2019 Volvo Dun Laoghaire event was hailed an enormous success both afloat and ashore for a combined fleet of 498 boats in over 34 classes, the biggest on the Irish Sea. Over 290 races on five different courses were staged over four days.

For 2021, in order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant, a new regatta format will comprise the One Design Championship specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes.

July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay saw a big surge in early bird entries the last few days of March with the fleet now close to 300 of the expected 400 boats which, organisers say, will really help in planning for the biennial event.

The Wayfarer dinghy class were added to the running order yesterday bringing adding another ten boats to VDLR  2021.

As regular Afloat readers will know, in order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant, a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This is to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes. 

In anticipation of a summer outside of 5km bubbles that might just be possible, the VDLR committee is extending the current Early Bird Entry price until Friday 16th April 2021.

The entries so far for July's VDLR 2021 on Dublin Bay

Event Chairman, Don O'Dowd told Afloat: "We saw a surge of entries in the final 24 hours of March, and look forward to seeing everyone on the water as soon as it is safe to do so".

"Thanks to those 260 who have already entered across both weekends. It is great to see a number of the classes now taking shape and will really assist in the logistics and planning for this year's regatta", he added. 

The safety of participants and volunteers is of the utmost importance to the Waterfront Clubs and the Organising Committee of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021. We are working extremely hard to ensure a Covid-19 compliant Regatta shall be run over the two weekends in July. The Regatta will comply with all current Government Guidelines relevant at that point in time, Event Chairman, O'Dowd said.

The Ruffian 23 National Championships has been confirmed for July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta National Championships on Dublin Bay. 

An expected entry of 15 boats will contest the title as part of the new format One Design weekend for VDLR 2021 from July  (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes.

The quarter-ton class which celebrated its 48th birthday this season is expected to see Ruffians from Skerries, Greystones & Wicklow and possibly Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland and Poolbeg compete.

The class has its biggest fleet on Dublin Bay with 15 registered with Dublin Bay Sailing Club, where club commodore Ann Kirwan is a stalwart.

The 2019 champion is  Belfast Lough Ruffian 23 Carrageen (Trevor Kirkpatrick) from Carrickfergus.

A second UK-based Ker 40 will race in July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's Offshore class adding extra spice to Ireland's biggest IRC regatta of the year.

Today's entry of US-based German skipper Christian Zugel's 'Tschuss' sailing under the burgee of New York Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club will line up with Niall Dowling’s Ker 40 Arabella that is also joining the VDLR offshore fray for the first time. London based Dowling took both line honours and the overall win in Wicklow’s Round Ireland Race in 2018 with the bigger Ker 43 Baraka GP and is set to be back on Irish waters next July 8.

Though Tschuss (ex Invictus) hasn't competed in Dublin before, the 2017-built racer was slated for 2020's cancelled Cork Week Regatta, she is no stranger to Irish sailing having competed at a previous Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale, She had Irish crew onboard for a 2017 Cowes Week campaign as Afloat reported here. 2017 Pit boss Johnny Mordant is involved in the 2021 campaign that will see it make its Dublin Bay debut.

The Ker 40 a top-end race boat has the capacity to race across a wider range of racing categories and for this season more and more owners thoughts are turning to what type of racing is feasible under COVID and as Afloat has reported previously there is a move to offshore and coastal racing

The Ker line-up for Dun Laoghaire means defending champion Seamus Fitzpatrick in the First 50, Mermaid will have his work cut out to repeat the performance  IRC offshore class. Fitzpatrick is already entered as Afloat reported previously here.

Here's a vid of the German Skipper talking about Key West Regatta in 2016.

Preparations for Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 next July on Dublin Bay are off to a flying start with nine of the expected 22 racing classes already declaring regional or national championships to be held as part of the biennial sailing festival.

It has been confirmed that Dragons will race for national honours and so will Beneteau 211s, Beneteau 31.7s and Shipmans.

As regular Afloat readers will know, in order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant, a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This is to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes. 

The Dublin Bay-based Shipman keelboat class will sail for national championship honours as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 Photo: Afloat

The special changes, announced in September, have been met with a strong seal of approval from competitors with the following early adopters: 

• Beneteau 211 National Championships
• Beneteau 31.7 – National Championships
• Shipman – National Championships
• GP14 – Leinster Championships
• Fireball Leinster Championships
• Dragon – Irish National Championship
• SB20 Western Championships
• RS200 Leinster Championships
• RS400 Leinster Championship

The Beneteau 211s will also race for National Championship honours Photo: Afloat

Royal Dee ISORA Championships

In addition, in the cruiser classes,  the Royal Dee Irish Sea Offshore Championship will be held as part of VDLR 2021. These offshore races will be held together with the Lyver Trophy Race from Liverpool to Dun Laoghaire on Friday 1st July 2021, to make it a highlight of next year's Irish Sea Offshore (ISORA) season. 

ISORA racing will be incorporated into Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021

It's a satisfying early result for the VDLR Committee under Chairman Don O'Dowd who meets again with his committee tonight to finalise the Notice of Race document due for release shortly. 

Meeting the COVID-19 challenges in 2021

Dun Laoghaire is unique in being able operate in this pandemic because of the extensive area within the harbour site and facilities provided by the waterfront clubs and organisations. The Regatta will utilise the full infrastructure of Dun Laoghaire Harbour venue to the best advantage and bring certainty to a calendar that has been hugely dictated by Covid-19 and the constraints imposed due to social distancing.

The Irish GP14 dinghy class has been one of the first to give a thumbs up to Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta plans for next July to divide Ireland's biggest sailing event over separate weekends.

As Afloat reported previously, Dun Laoghaire organisers plan to major on the dinghies and one design keelboats with a One Design Championship from 2nd – 4th July 2021 and then run the cruiser-racers the following weekend (8th – 11th July) catering for a full range of IRC classes. 

After a year of cancellations that wiped out nearly the entire GP14 2020 calendar, including the Skerries-based World Championships in August, the GP14 Committee has been supportive of Dun Laoghaire's move to the Dinghy/One Design event.

If all goes to plan the Geeps will be just one of many dinghy classes racing at VDLR next July before the restaging of its own class world championships in Skerries later that same month (July 25 to Aug 1 2021).

The only Irish GP14 event to sail so far this year was held in Blessington earlier this month as Afloat reported here. 

The committee says there is still hope, notwithstanding the Dublin and Donegal Level 3 lockdowns, that the annual 'Hot Toddy' event can still go ahead in East Antrim in Larne on October 10th.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour's combined waterfront yachts clubs have announced the continued title sponsorship by Volvo Car Ireland of next July's Dun Laoghaire Regatta and a new format for Ireland's top sailing event.

In order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes.

'The sponsorship announcement coupled with the significant format changes to VDLR 2021, will give sailors, sponsors, classes and the four waterfront clubs certainty in planning ahead for the 2021 season', says chairman of the organisers, Don O'Dowd.

Volvo Car Ireland has been the title sponsor of Ireland's largest sailing event since 2007 and is again joined by Spirit Motor Group, the premier dealership for Volvo.

Background to the event

Growing over the last 16 years, the regatta is now proudly one of Northern Europe's greatest shows on the water, eclipsed only by the UK's Cowes Regatta, one of the longest-running regular regattas in the world.

Since it first set sail in 2005, Dun Laoghaire Regatta has grown biennially and showcases the very best of Irish sailing action on the water. A regatta of this size also brings a lot of shoreside summer colour and significant economic benefit to the town of Dun Laoghaire.

The last edition in 2019 comprised over 300 sailing races across 30 classes, and 2,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors drawn from both across Ireland and overseas.

Meeting the COVID-19 challenges in 2021

Dun Laoghaire is unique in being able operate in this pandemic because of the extensive area within the harbour site and facilities provided by the waterfront clubs and organisations. The Regatta will utilise the full infrastructure of Dun Laoghaire Harbour venue to the best advantage and bring certainty to a calendar that has been hugely dictated by Covid-19 and the constraints imposed due to social distancing.

Format Changes planned for 2021

The focus of the new format will be to provide Regatta Sailing of the highest standard - taking advantage of the extensive shoreside facilities for the après sail enjoyment of the local and visiting sailors.

The new format Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one design keelboat and dinghy classes. This to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes.

The Regatta will provide competitive sailing, fun ashore and offer classes an exciting opportunity around which to plan their championships for 2021.

"Volvo Car Ireland, together with our retail partner, Spirit Motor Group are very proud to continue our relationship with the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in 2021. Together with Spirit Motor Group we work to support what we see as important events in the community where our customers live, work and engage in sporting activities as an important part of life. Sailing is a sport Volvo support at a community and international level.

The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has grown to become the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and we are proud to be part of that team and to continue to be associated with the event", David Thomas, Managing Director, Volvo Car Ireland Ltd

"In these most trying and uncharted times, it is truly wonderful to have Volvo Car Ireland back on board for 2021. The VDLR regatta is now in its 9th edition over 16 years and Volvo's participation has been a key to its success. In light of Covid-19 and the possible constraints it will place on the event, we are currently working on a new format for the regatta which will see one-design classes racing on one weekend (2nd – 4th July) and keelboats the following weekend (8th – 11th July). Dun Laoghaire and its unique four waterfront clubs lends itself to facilitating social distancing and being Covid-19 compliant. It is this uniqueness that allows us plan for, what hopefully will be, another very successful Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta" Don O'Dowd, VDLR Chairman