A statement from Tom Dolan Racing, issued at 07:54 on the morning of Wednesday, November 1st after his anti-clockwise Round Ireland Campaign from Dublin in his Figaro 3 had been abruptly brought to a halt at Dingle on Tuesday evening (October 31st), when it had seemed to be very successfully on track, has since been causing controversy with a comment about the availability or otherwise of safe havens on the coast of southwest Ireland between Dingle and Kinsale.

Tom Dolan’s anti-clockwise Round Ireland challenge this week had been going so well. After starting on Sunday afternoon, he’d hurtled along in a cleverly-chosen weather window to such good effect that he was on course on Tuesday afternoon to be furthest west, at the Blaskets, just 48 hours out from Dublin Bay. At that stage, the winds he was experiencing were being fed by a new low developing immediately west of Ireland, which would move slowly northwest away from Ireland, briefly clarifying its identity before eventually absorbing with other systems.

The complexities of sailing non-stop round Ireland are well illustrated in this recording of tracks sailed during the 2018 Round Ireland Race from Wicklow 

FAVOURABLE CONDITIONS APPEARED TO BE DEVELOPING

Yet although the winds being provided by this un-named low would involve a windward slog from the Blaskets to Dursey Head, at the time the immediate predicted winds in his sailing area were not shown as getting above 30 knots, and some areas were much less. As well, once the Blaskets were put astern, he could have found periods of smoother water by tacking into the mouths of the rias of the southwestern seaboard while the southeaster continued.

Then the later further freshening forecast for the latter end of Tuesday evening would come with a frontal system associated with that new western low, bringing a period of possibly strong but favourable southwest to west winds – an extremely helpful direction for the Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan Dolan Round Ireland Project at that stage.

Admittedly all these winds were giving greater pressure than their speeds indicated, thanks to the exceptional denseness of the current air quality. But having been sustained for weeks and months by the marvellous images of the French J/133 Pintia and her 77-year-old skipper Gilles Fournier thundering to windward to the Class 1 victory in 40 knots of wind in July’s Fastnet Race, we never doubted for a moment that a Figaro 3 could take it and more off the coast of Kerry this week as the wind direction looked to become more helpful

Vive la France! The spirit of French offshore racing at its best in July 2023’s Fastnet Race: the Fournier family’s J/133 Pintia slogging to windward in strong winds in open water, with 77-year-old Gilles Fournier helming on the way to the Class 1 win. Photo: RORC/Paul Wyeth

THREE DAY CIRCUIT?

And it would have brought the Dolan boat back to Dublin Bay by early Wednesday evening in conditions admittedly windy and squally, but in such a favourable direction by then that some of us were even musing on the possibility of Tom breaking the three day barrier.

But in France, where Tom’s previously very accurate routing adviser appears to have been based, emphasising the more distant Storm Ciaran was in the national sailing establishment’s best PR interests. It needed to put the most favourable spin on the fact that only one class in the supposedly all-oceans-challenging fleet of boats racing the Transat Jacques Vabre, the Ultim mega-trimarans, had managed to get completely away from Le Havre on time and on track at noon on Sunday, while two others – the Ocean 50 multihulls and Class 40 mono-hulls - had simply nipped round the corner inside Ouessant, and gone into Lorient as a handy hurricane hole.

Things were very different from Ireland off France’s north coast on Sunday afternoon. Somewhere in that mass of spray and more solid water is Pamela Lee of Greystones at the helm of the Class 40 Engie-DFDS-BrittanyFerries in the early stages of the special Le Havre to Lorient leg in the Transat Jacques Vabre Race 2023. Photo: Thomas Deregnieaux

IMOCA CLASS REFUSAL

As for the mighty world-girdling IMOCAs, they had flatly refused to go to sea at all, with the few who said anything remarking that they hadn’t built extremely expensive specialist 60-footers to race in the Great Southern Ocean for the silly purpose of being seriously damaged in freak conditions in the Bay of Biscay. Thus it looked as though they’d make their start a week late tomorrow (Sunday), on which the PR men can of course put a favourable spin by claiming that Le Havre is getting two TJV starting festivals for the price of one, but now it seems the 40 IMOCAs won’t be sent on their way until Monday

STORM CIARAN APPROACHES

That’s for consideration later this weekend. Meanwhile, back on Tuesday, the steady and accurately forecast journey of Storm Ciaran towards the western end of the English Channel was dominating all meteorological and public thinking and the international news media. But already it was being made clear – and was subsequently borne out as the weather pattern unfolded - that only the extreme south and southeast coasts of Ireland would be affected, and not until early Thursday morning. This would eventually bring adverse easterlies and possibly nor’easterlies to those areas, but had Tom gone on, he would already have been past the Kish and into port when those headwinds arrived.

When the going is good, the heavily-sponsored lone skipper presses cheerfully on. But when conditions begin to become extreme, he may come under added pressure for caution from his shore team, and possibly even from his sponsors too. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

IRELAND’S METEOROLOGICAL ISOLATION

For in these particular weather circumstances, Ireland was a long way from France and even southwest England. We were experiencing our own weather stream of average early November weather, whereas southwest and southern England and northwest France were to bear the full brunt of Storm Ciaran on Thursday. But as he has been based in Brittany since 2011, Tom and his team tend to be Franco-centric in their outlook, opinions and decisions.

Thus although those of us who have sailed round Ireland many times were looking at the local conditions with hope on Tuesday afternoon, in France everyone was pumping up the big glooms. In that atmosphere, the French mindset saw the coast of southwest Ireland as the toughest frontier of all against on oncoming super-storm. And it was their meteorological service that named it Ciaran as though to emphasise the Irish involvement, such that Tom began getting communications to the effect that he was putting his project and team at seriously dangerous risk if he continued.

The frequently spooky appearance of the Blasket Islands can have an adverse effect on the thinking of a lone skipper already under pressure from his shoreside team

SPOOKED BY THE BLASKETS?

It cannot have helped that he and his accredited media man were approaching the Blaskets at the time. Most people have a vision of the Blaskets as a sunny and exotic kind of place, for those are the photos that are usually circulated. But having frolicked in a notably able boat in and out through the Blasket Islands in an extremely grey and freshening easterly, I can assure you that this can be one very spooky place indeed, and we were extremely glad to get safely into Port Magee and snug in front of the stove in The Moorings Inn that evening.

DEFEAT SNATCHED FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY

Thus in trying to understand why a hitherto successful project saw defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory at the north end of Blasket Sound with the seemingly sudden decision to divert into Dingle and call off the challenge for now, we have to realise there were many factors involved that do not apply to independent skippers making their own decisions.

With high-powered Irish-based international sponsors, Tom Dolan is always under pressure to produce successful results, but a disaster is something to be totally avoided Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

We have to accept that in the world’s current ultra-febrile state, big time international corporate sponsors do not want to be associated with what will be seen as unnecessary risk and possible tragedy linked to what most of the general public will see as a very arcane challenge of only specialist interest. For if things went wrong, the tunnel vision of popular media would immediately raise associations to the 1979 Fastnet Tragedy happening in broadly the same area, thereby further stretching the Dolan support team’s crisis management resources.

CALL-OFF CAME FROM EXTERNAL PRESSURE

Under such pressure, Tom’s decision to call it off with the faint hope of having another go before Christmas – despite the harsh nights becoming grimly longer with every passing day – sustained those of us who had been rooting for what had seemed an exceptional performance, even though we couldn’t understand why he hadn’t at least gone on past the Blaskets and continued to give it a try until conditions really did oblige him to put into a handy port.

The sudden alteration of course into Blasket Sound on Tuesday afternoon, and then on into Dingle, was confusing for those followers who reckoned that Tom Dolan was well on track for a record despite the prospect of some windward work off the Kerry coast. Their confusion was heightened by the official statement about withdrawal not being issued until Wednesday morning. It’s interesting to note that at the time of withdrawal, the wind arrows were indicating a fresh southeasterly wind, which would have offered the option of occasional smoother sailing in the mouths of the Kerry and West Cork rias while beating towards the first easing of direction at Dursey Island, and beyond that the wind was expected to veer to the southwest and then west.

Thus we were all on his side and very understanding until he issued his official report, and one statement in it was so out of court that the Dolan Support Movement in Ireland was, for a day or so at least, holed below the waterline. Here is the update in its entirety:

“Dolan halts Round Ireland record challenge in Dingle

Because of a rapidly worsening forecast, Irish sailor Tom Dolan has had to stop his solo Round Ireland sailing record attempt in Dingle, 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.

Winds to storm force 9 and 5 metre seas with a very short, confused wave period are about to hit the SW of Ireland and Dolan 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.

"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 when he was safely tied up 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."

"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."

THE HAVENS OF SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH IRELAND

We cannot allow the slur on the havens of southwest Ireland to pass un-challenged, particularly as it is not a direct quote from Tom himself. For Tom Dolan, having first sprung to prominence through his outstanding showing as a sailing beginner and then an instructor with Glenans in Baltimore, is surely well aware of the string of wonderful natural harbours – safe havens every one – that are there to be found between Dingle and Kinsale.

(Above and below) Southwest Ireland has an abundance of inlets, natural harbours and safe havens, but some of them (as above) are lacking in shoreside amenities, whole others (as below) may have villages with facilities, but specialist 24-hour-staffed marinas to accommodate a Figaro 3’s unique requirements are not readily available

Consequently we feel that some of the statement’s assertions result from communications misunderstandings between Tom in Dingle and his shore teams in France and Dublin.

INDEPENDENT ANCHORING ABILITY VERY USEFUL IN POPULAR SOUTHWEST CRUISING AREA

The fact is that, for any well-found cruising boat in the southwest area, it’s simply a matter of having proper and more-than-adequate ground tackle, and efficient means for its convenient deployment, retrieval and stowage, for which chain is still the best of all, as it’s self-stowing when given a proper vertical locker directly under the windlass.

But this emphatically doesn’t apply to a Figaro 3. Have you ever seen a photo of a Figaro 3 lying to a mooring, let alone swinging gently to her own anchor? Me neither. They are One-Trick Ponies, built exclusively to be raced short-handed from one fully-furnished and 24/7 staffed marina to another, with all shoreside facilities – preferably in a town or village – available in every case. They are not built to lie to their own anchor or a mooring, though if you were trying to avail of the latter, you’d find it easier to come to it stern first.

Tom Dolan making fast in the marina at Dingle in the gathering dusk on Tuesday evening. Note the special fender required to protect the vulnerable foil. Photo: Gary Delaney

SEVERAL MARINA FACILITIES

As it happens, there are several sheltered marina facilities of various sizes between Dingle and Kinsale - they’re at Knightstown, Cahirsiveen, Lawrence Cove on Bere Island, Dromquinna at Dunkerron on the Kenmare River, and North Harbour at Cape Clear. Elsewhere, such as at Courtmacsherry, there are small pontoons, while alternatively there are visitors moorings, though you need to be sure they really are annually serviced. And there’s an abundance of naturally sheltered anchorages that usually offer the option of an ultra-sheltered corner to hole up in if you feel the weather is really going to go crazy.

But the setup of a solo sailor in a voluminous 36ft Figaro 3 with foils to be protected means that the only reasonable berthing option is a proper marina, with attendants available to take mooring lines at all hours, day and night.

The Fastnet Rock in a winter storm. The ready availability of images like this, and the worldwide awareness of the Fastnet Race Storm of 1979, tends to affect overseas assessments of what the weather in Ireland is like at any one time, and what it is likely to become in the days ahead.

That latter requirement is a big ask in a place like southwest Ireland. But it’s a scurrilous libel on an entire region to suggest that the area lacks safe havens. And it’s an assertion that, if allowed to go unchallenged, will have an adverse international effect on the number of overseas visiting cruising yachts, whose presence adds so much to the waterfront scene at many small visitor-reliant ports in what is, after all, Ireland’s most popular cruising area.

Thus our assumption is that the false assertion about the lack of safe havens is not Tom’s own, but is an attempt by his shore team – particularly in France – to put his challenge termination in a favourable a context as possible. But as a result, a sweeping and completely inaccurate generalisation has been made about Southwest Ireland by someone unfamiliar with the inshore coastal details of the area, and as a result false and damaging misinformation is being conveyed to an international readership.

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 Record bid.

The local low-pressure area off Shannon Mouth and the Clare coast is losing its identity as its centre moves slowly across Ireland in an easterly direction, and any northwest winds to the west of it have faded in the face of more vigorous north-moving systems taking over the weather picture, with increasingly strong southerlies the pattern for later today.

Tom Dolan, sailing fast on his Figaro 3 Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan during his Round Ireland Speed Record Challenge Photo: Afloat

However, while he has still been in the wind with it increasingly from ahead, he has sailed on to windward towards the Clare coast, and is now well southwest of the Aran Islands, making about six knots on a track which at 0800hrs was headed towards Kilkee.

After he has closed the land to find the smoothest water available, he then has the option of keeping it close aboard as the southerlies settle in properly. Although getting past the Blaskets may be a rugged business, once achieved he then has the choice of finding smoother windward sailing in the mouth of both Dingle Bay and the Kenmare River.

Tom Dolan is being filmed for a forthcoming documentary on his 'faux' solo Round Ireland Challenge by onboard media man Andrew Smith (on stern) Photo: Afloat

But with Dursey Island put astern, the coast is trending on a northwest-to-southeast axis, and he’s likely to have a real slugging match before reaching the Fastnet Rock. There, a significant course alteration to port may provide the opportunity for a close reach on track along Ireland’s south coast if the wind hasn’t backed too much to the southeast or even east as the signs of the approaching Storm Ciaran start to become more evident.

Thus, any small advantage fully utilised today will be all to the good, as Tom and his boat will be racing against the remorseless advance of the outliers of Storm Ciaran.

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 Round Ireland speed sailing record times. 

After Dolan's first night at sea along the north coast, his prediction that he could have favourable following winds for the entire circumnavigation is holding up. He appears to be over 60 miles ahead of Michel Kleinjan's single-handed record of four days,1 hour, 53 minutes and 29 seconds from 2004. (See tracker below).

As Afloat reported earlier, Dolan made an epic start to his second Round Ireland bid this year, but this October attempt sees the Meath sailor opting for an anti-clockwise routing.

His top speed so far is over 17 knots achieved in the tides of the North Channel last night. 

At around 0830 hrs this morning, he was already on the NW corner and ready to attack the west coast in very breezy conditions. He is expecting strong easterly winds gusting over 30 knots.

If Dolan can finish before 11:32 on Thursday he beats the double-handed record and if he wants to set a "faux" solo record (as he is sailing with a media man onboard) then he has until about 1740 on Thursday evening to cross the Kish line.

At this point, it looks very achievable because if he averages eight knots overall he will finish about midnight Wednesday and, in an extraordinary performance since Sunday's start, he has averaged over 11 knots.

But it won't be all plain sailing, however, as some forecasts now show a big hole in the wind on the west coast yet to be negotiated and followed then by some strong headwinds.

A forecast showing a hole in the wind on the west coast for Tom Dolan's Round Ireland record bid followed by strong headwinds (below)

Tom Dolan's foiling Figaro 3 craft can reach speeds of 20 knots Photo: Afloat

Dolan reports from onboard, “The night was good, a bit breezy, but there was not too much sea and so it was alright. I had 40kts of wind just off Bangor. It got a bit hairy. But I have a good reef in the mainsail and have an old J3 jib up so I don’t have very much sail up and am making good speeds. I am feeling fine. I had a lot of naps last night. The wind is quite up. I have 33 kts at the moment and the wind is up at the moment. I have only the two sails up – no spinnaker – as the wind is quite dense, this cold Irish damp air is really pushing the sails. I am going to gybe in a few minutes and start heading down the west coast. All good, life is good.”

Sailing counter-clockwise, leaving Ireland to his port hand side, at around 0830hrs this morning Tom Dolan was already on the NW corner and ready to attack the west coast in very breezy conditions Photo: Afloat

Based on current GRIB files, Dolan's team say they expect him to complete the 700 miles in 3 days and 16 hours, meaning Pamela Lee and Catherine Hunt's double handed record, in a Figaro 3 sisterhship, of three days, 19 hours, 41 minutes, and 39 seconds also appears under threat.