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.

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.

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 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 the North Channel with insouciant style in the dark, at 16OO hours this (Monday) afternoon, he's 24 hours on his way and will soon be halfway across Donegal Bay at a
current average speed of between 9 and 11 knots, well within sight - were visibility better - of the northwest corner of Mayo.

Thereafter, progress south from Eagle Island, and particularly once Slyne Head is astern, will be increasingly dependent on the continuing eastward progress of our current dominant low-pressure system. Its centre is currently about 40 miles west of Shannon Mouth, but as it is part of a larger system, all of which is likely to become less clearly defined as Storm Ciaran approaches through Wednesday, Tom is acutely aware that things could get messy as he approaches the Blaskets, where the frequently confused sea state greatly increases the benefit of a good fair wind.

So far, it has all been done with an impressive flourish. But with every southward mile made good, the likelihood of a less favourable scenario increases, with the majestic coast of Kerry and West Cork being a major challenge in themselves. Thus, if the low-pressure sub-system slows in its eastward progress, it's even possible that he'll shape his course well to the west to find the more favourable winds chasing the depression.

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.

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 Marcel Van Triest, the famous router, the skipper of the Figaro Bénéteau 3 in the colours of Smurfit Kappa and Kingspan has confirmed that he will set off on Sunday between 1500 and 1600 hrs UTC. 

"Dolan hopes he will be sailing downwind practically from start to finish"

“I’ll be taking advantage of a SE’ly wind to set sail. The wind is expected to back Easterly and then NE’ly as I make my way around the island, which should mean I will be sailing downwind practically from start to finish, with just a short tricky stretch on Tuesday afternoon around the Fastnet, due to an area of light winds, but which should not last,” explained the Irish sailor, who will set off anti-clockwise around Ireland.

“If the weather forecast is right, I would hope to cover the 698 miles in three and a half days,” said Tom, who, respecting Irish shipping rules, must keep a permanent watch and remain alert. He will be accompanied by Andrew Smith, a media man who of course will not be involved in the performance of the boat. “It all seems to be falling into place, which means I am optimistic. In any case, I must not hang around as a nasty weather system (gales) is due to sweep across Ireland on Wednesday,” the sailor concluded.

The outcome of his latest bid will be known on Tuesday.

 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 prospect of ideal conditions for a start off the Kish light on Dublin Bay, only for a late shift in the weather forecast to thwart plans.

"We have reviewed the latest forecast and decided not to go this evening. Winds are light on Tuesday off the coast of Clare, and the LP 973 is coming in Wednesday with 30-40 knots", Dolan said.

It is now considered 'unlikely' that the right conditions will be present this week for Dolan's latest adventure to round Ireland in under four days and break the 2020 doublehanded record, according to the bid lodged with the World Speed Sailing Record Council. He is also attempting what he describes as a 'faux' solo record and carrying an onboard reporter.

Whenever the bid happens, it will be a journey of 700 nautical miles around Ireland and all its islands; his seven-sail boat can hit speeds of up to 26 knots, or 52km per hour, but averaging much less than that, about seven knots.

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 lodged with the World Speed Sailing Record Council. He is also attempting what he describes as a 'faux' solo record.

The wait is over, and at 1500 hours and 50 minutes and 33 seconds, Dolan headed north, leaving behind the starting line between Dún Laoghaire harbour and the Kish lighthouse to establish a new time for the fastest sailing time around Ireland.

Fast sailing - Tom Dolan made a great start to his Round Ireland record bid off Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Before the start, Dolan said: “I’ll be taking advantage of a SE’ly wind to set sail. The wind is expected to back Easterly and then NE’ly as I make my way around the island, which should mean I will be sailing downwind practically from start to finish, with just a short tricky stretch on Tuesday afternoon around the Fastnet, due to an area of light winds, but which should not last,” explained the Irish sailor, who will set off anti-clockwise around Ireland.

It’s a northabout journey of 700 nautical miles around Ireland and all its islands; his seven-sail boat can hit speeds of up to 26 knots, or 52km per hour, but averaging much less than that, about seven knots.

“If the weather forecast is right, I would hope to cover the 698 miles in three and a half days,” said Tom, who, respecting Irish shipping rules, must keep a permanent watch and remain alert. He is accompanied by Andrew Smith, a media man who, of course, will not be involved in the boat's performance. “It all seems to be falling into place, which means I am optimistic. In any case, I must not hang around as a nasty weather system (gales) is due to sweep across Ireland on Wednesday,” the sailor concluded.

Dolan at full speed in the early part of his record bid off the Dublin coast with media man Andrew Smith at the stern documenting the attempt Photo: Afloat

Dolan was rewarded with 15-knot winds from the southeast at start time and big following seas to sweep past the startline at full speed under spinnaker.

The forecasts say he will get strong easterly winds of 25-30kts around the north coast of Ireland before winds become westerly on Wednesday, which he hopes will carry him around Ireland entirely downwind.

This afternoon's record start time was officiated by Irish World Speed Sailing Commissioner for Ireland Paddy Boyd, who authenticated the record bid at the Kish Light.

In order to comply with the rules of Irish maritime affairs prohibiting single-handed sailing for several years, the skipper will be accompanied by a media man. Under no circumstances will the latter affect the performance of the boat, Dolan claims.

Dolan has agreed with the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) that he will attempt to break the 'Round Ireland Double-handed less than 40ft record'.

Dolan hopes to return to the Kish within three days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds to break the doublehanded record and set a new 'faux' record solo record Photo: Afloat

While the WSSC is not recording this as a solo attempt (as Dolan has a journalist onboard), Dolan says he is also seeking to set a 'faux record' by attempting to break the Belgian Michel Kleinjan's solo 2005 record time.

Reference times are 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 Figaro 3 of 3 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds.

All going well, Dolan is expected home on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning with a predicted time of 3 days and 16 hours based on current GRIBS

See the tracker below

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 than it was when he made his previous attempt in the Spring.

It’s the Meath Maestro’s first time back in Ireland with the boat since he emerged as the winner of Stage 1 of the Figaro Solo Paprec 2023 in Kinsale on the last day of August, after racing over an artificially lengthened, extremely challenging and complex 620-mile course from Caen in Normandy.

While the Figaro 3 can certainly make to windward with enthusiasm - as seen here in the 2023 Figaro Solo Paprec in which Tom Dolan won the first stage from Caen to Kinsale – the strategic minimizing of windward work is essential to a successful Round Ireland challenge

The Figaro concluded, he then teamed up with fellow Figaro racer Gaston Morvan on Region Bretagne, and with three others aboard they contested the crewed season-concluding Figaro 3 Nationals at Lorient on October 7th, and won. As it was sailed while the late summer weather prevailed in heatwave conditions, subsequently choosing to sail north in Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan when the summer shutters came down with a bang on Ireland was inevitably a matter of going suddenly into a very different world. But it’s typical of Tom’s approach to challenges that he can put a cheerful spin on it all.

This was just a fortnight ago in South Brittany - Gaston Morvan and Tom Dolan and their crew basking in late summer sunshine after winning the Figaro 3 National at Lorient

STORM BABET? SHE WAS DEFINITELY “DYNAMIC”

And certainly “dynamic” is normally used in this positive way. Yet those who have been at the receiving end of Storm Babet in recent days - whether through wind damage, flooding, power outage, or just plain inconvenience - might find different and often unprintable words to describe the current rapidly moving chaotic kaleidoscope of conditions. It’s doubtful they’d enjoy being told they’ve just had a dynamic experience, accentuated by the brief bursts of sunshine lasting just long enough to emphasise the meteorological horrors in between.

These have included yesterday’s near-visit by Babet’s un-named little sister. While in development form, she went slowly past to the south of us, heading in an eastward direction in deepening mode. Then, having gained power, the nameless one unfairly turned back to have a whack at Ireland’s East Coast yesterday afternoon before settling down over England to start the messy process of fading away.

FLOATING ON DOLAN ENTHUSIASM

So what else can we do other than let ourselves be carried along by Tom’s bubbling enthusiasm? The Irish weather may be adversely under the heel of the jet-stream at its most malignant. And there are too many places in the world where intractable people-made horrors prevail ashore. Yet when we look at what this weekend has to offer as that latest low pressure area grinds away to the eastward while slowly filling, we find Irish sailors coming out for more sport at home and abroad.

Unlikely as it might have seemed early in the night, the final race may be sailed this afternoon in the monday.com Autumn League at Howth. And although there’ll be a real nip to the northerly wind, there are enough close placings at the top of various leaderboards to make it well worthwhile competing.

When Autumn sailing is good, it’s very very good – the Autumn League at Howth celebrated its 40th Anniversary last year, and memories tend to be like this, as seen with the two Howth 17s Leila and Aura, both of 1898 vintage. Photo: HYC

As for the seasonal leagues in Cork and Kinsale, being further west and using more of the weekend, they can expect even gentler conditions.

OUR NAVY OF ARMCHAIR ADMIRALS

But meanwhile, the considerable presence of Ireland’s navy of Armchair Admirals has been glued to weather observation and prediction charts as they wait and opinionate about Tom and Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan making their move.

It’s easy enough to say that wind directions were near enough just right to take off anti-clockwise on Tuesday. But severe easterly gales and zilch visibility in the shipping-busy North Channel would have been unnecessarily and extremely hazardous when the campaign has the luxury of time.

CHALLENGE OF 1986 GOT AWAY “BY SKIN OF ITS TEETH”

The last thing you need in a Round Ireland Record attempt is too much wind, even if it is favourable. Back in May 1986 when we were hanging around in Dun Laoghaire with Robin Knox-Johnston and his 60ft trimaran British Airways to inaugurate the current wave of non-racing Round Ireland records, we waited for winds from all sorts of easterly directions (with much rain) to abate a bit, and settle in a favourable direction.

Robin Knox-Johnston’s 60ft MacAlpine-Downie catamaran British Airways making away from Dublin Bay at the start of a successful Round Ireland record challenge in May 1986. Shortly after disappearing northeastwards into the murk, she was almost capsized in a sudden extra gust of wind. Photo: BA

All the ducks seemed to be in a row by Saturday, with a strong yet seemingly steady easterly. So off we went anti-clockwise in driving rain from the Kish, in sailing conditions which saw the big twin-hulled bucket at her noisy best. But she went so fast that we caught up with a line of squalls that had been retreating northwards, and one of them as near as dammit capsized us, though happily it’s a memory that had been largely obliterated by all the subsequent experiences before the job was done.

A FAVOURABLE GALE?

A favourable gale is just about manageable if you’re on a straight-line course, but a problem-filled challenge like the Ireland circuit is better off with good steady whole-sail winds and reaching conditions, just like Tom is enjoying in our header photo. So maybe after the current climatic chaos has fully departed, we can revert to the dynamic conditions the Meath skipper favours, and the show will be on the road.

And to think they might have been guiding a plough – former Meath farmboy Tom Dolan’s hands exfoliated by salt water at the end of a tough solo race

Yet while we’ve been left meteorologically punch-drunk at home by the hectic conditions, elsewhere Irish sailors are enjoying competition in something approaching summer, although it looks to be tough enough in Tangiers where Eve McMahon (Howth YC) is at the top of the table in the ILCA 6 U21 Worlds, which conclude tomorrow.

Thanks to Eve McMahon, IRL has been looking good at Tangiers this week in the ILCA6 U21 Worlds. Photo: ILCA Class

Meanwhile in Malta, it has been high summer by our standards in the countdown to today’s start in Valetta of the 609-mile Rolex Middle Sea Race, in which Conor Doyle’s xP50 Freya from Kinsale is defending an ORC Class podium place. Whether or not the strong wind conditions in Tangiers move eastward towards Malta is a moot point, as the Mediterranean weather is something of a law unto itself.

The ultimate in-harbour start: tradition dictates that the Rolex Middle Sea Race from Malta should start within Grand Harbour, Valetta. Photo: Rolex/Kurt Arrigo

She certainly gets around - Conor Doyle’s Freya from Kinsale in Dublin Bay. This morning (Saturday) she starts her second Middle Sea Race from Malta. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

Either way, the smart money overall might be on Bryon Ehrhart’s Lucky from the US, as she is of course the former round Ireland mono-hull record-holder Rambler 88 with which George David and his team demonstrated that they probably had the best-all-round big boat on the planet, with overall victory - including a course record – being part of their track record in the Malta major.

“Sail clear through the gap….” Nobody knows how the gap opened up to let Rambler 88 through the smaller boats at the start of the record-breaking 2016 Round Ireland Race from Wicklow, but she was right there at the Naval Vessel end of the line, bang on time and going two or three times as fast as any other mono-hull. Photo: W M Nixon

TWO MONTHS TO SYDNEY-HOBART

Rambler 88 had yet to prove herself in the Sydney-Hobart Race, which is sailed again in just over two months time, but meanwhile, Down Under the new season is having its traditional opening in New Zealand this weekend with the Auckland-Russell coastal race numbering a fleet of 150-plus.

Among them is “The Irish Boat”, Mick Martin’s TP52 Frantic (ex-Patches). She won the new Sydney-Auckland Race - a 1250-mile marathon – a week ago, with Trevor Smyth, formerly of Clontarf and one of the legendary Sailing Smyths, in the afterguard. After the Auckland-Russell contest, Frantic heads back to Australia and the Hobart count-down, with Trevor Smyth aboard for his second Sydney-Hobart.

While you can have year-round sailing in Auckland, for many New Zealanders the annual Auckland-Russell Race (seen starting here) marks the beginning of “the real season”

IRISH RUFFIANS IN HONG KONG

Thousands of miles to the north in Hong Kong, yesterday they were enjoying 25 degrees Centigrade, but on a cloudy day. Over the weekend, the temperature will drop a little, but the sky will clear, while the winds – 18 km/h today from just east of north - will freshen to 23-24 km/h fr between north and northeast.

It may be the other side of the world, but it’s of nationwide interest in Ireland today, as the Irish Ruffian 23 Class is carrying its Golden Jubilee celebrations to a new level with the resumption post-Covid of the biennial inter-port contest between the Irish and Hong Kong fleets.

This weekend sees the Irish Ruffian 23 Class in Hong Kong defending the inter-port trophy which they narrowly won in Dun Laoghaire pre-lockdown in 2018

In the fast-changing Hong Kong sailing scene, the relatively venerabe Ruffian 23s are seen as something of a mascot class in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, where they’re much celebrated. That will reach new heights today as Ann Kirwan of the National YC – a former Dublin Bay SC Commodore – has managed the logistical challenge of getting an all-Ireland team of twenty Ruffian 23 sailors from half a dozen widespread clubs out to Hong Kong for a long weekend of international sport and celebration.

The Ruffian 23 Hong Kong class’s trophies on display in the Royal Hong Kong YC

That Ruffian 23 international Corinthian contest is probably about as far as you can get – both in real distance and spirit – from top level sailing in France. As has been said maybe too often, the past is a different country, they do things differently there.

THE FRENCH WAY IS DIFFERENT

Certainly as far as sailing is concerned, at the top level France is indeed a very foreign and different country, with the corporate structures of its society reflected at the highest levels of professional sailing. The talented sailors compete for the support of promotion-geared companies which recognise that there’s an enormous appetite for news of extreme sailing among the population, most of whom live at some distance from the nearest bit of sea. And ashore, the gung-ho regional authorities vie with each other through big budget campaigns to host the starred events.

Obviously we’re looking at an Irish take on this with Tom Dolan’s Smurfit-Kappa Kingspan support. But in a week’s time one of the the really big one is right on top of the agenda with Le Havre hyper-alive with the crowds gathered for the start on Sunday, October 29th of the Transat Jaques Vabre to Martinique in the Caribbean.

Irish interest has never been higher, as Pamela Lee of Greystones – currently holder of two of the most meaningful Round Ireland Records as the two-handed champ and women’s record titleist - is on the line for the two-handed division with her loaned Class 40 and lead sponsorship from Brittany Ferries.

THE 2024 VENDEE GLOBE?

At the moment, there’s no noise from any of the four Irish sailors who announced potential campaigns three years ago towards the November 2024 Vendee Globe solo from Les Sables d’Olonne in IMOCA 60s, but the outcome of the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre might put a different spin on that.

Fast women. Pamela Lee (right) and Catherin Hunt in speed mode on the Figaro 3 with which they established a solid Round Ireland in October 2020

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 records themselves, which Afloat concluded in May, was all a bit of a mess.

The National Yacht Club sailor wants to break the long-standing record of 4 days, 1 hour and 53 minutes and 29 seconds established by Michel Kleinjans aboard a Class40 in 2005, but, he says, the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC) do not accept singlehanded record attempts, so Dolan has lodged a double-handed speed record bid.

"I will be sailing around Ireland single-handed with an onboard reporter (OBR)", he explained to Afloat. 

Dolan says the OBR has been quite common in offshore racing since the role was introduced in the Ocean Race 2012. (The first single-handed race with an OBR was transatlantic from New York to Vendee in 2016). "So I do all the sailing, he does all the filming!" he told Afloat. 

Nevertheless, some say it asks what record the Irish Figaro star attempts to break; the solo or double-handed record? Or will it set a new time as the first circumnavigation with an onboard reporter?

"Pointing at Michel’s record as a reference time makes no sense. Respect the current record and call this attempt what it is: a double-handed round Ireland record attempt as defined by the WSSRC", former Round Ireland record holder Mick Liddy told Afloat.

Female duo Pam Lee and Catherine Hunt set a double-handed record time in 2020 of 3 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds.

As regular Afloat readers know, Dolan similarly completed a circumnavigation in May but finished some hours outside Kleinjans reference time, as time and tide ran out.

He completed the course in 4 days, 11 hours, 54 minutes and 31 seconds but maintains that it is possible for him (with his OBR) to complete the 688-mile course in three and a half days if the weather window is good.

Now, in October, he says is under no time pressure on his second quest and can wait for an ideal weather sequence that will give him the best chance.

It would be a fitting conclusion to a hectic solo season, where he scored a spectacular leg one win into Kinsale in the Figaro race in September before ultimately ending up 18th overall. 

He will wait for an ideal weather sequence. While the weather seems very unsettled this week, Dolan is confident that he has much less time pressure now and can afford to wait. The weather at this time of year is much more dynamic than in the summer, with more lows coming sweeping in from the Atlantic. 

Dolan is still unsure whether the best way is to go anticlockwise or clockwise. He needs a system that will give him a sequence of shifts in wind direction. "The key is always that northeast corner where the strong tides are. Normally, I'd say you want to get through and deal with them first, and then you are not worried about getting stuck at the end, but you need the wind to work for you," says Dolan. 

The long hours of darkness and cold will be much more unpleasant than his summer attempt, but he is accustomed to the ocean's late autumn and early winter conditions. Dolan notes that weight is not super critical, as it is in La Solitaire du Figaro, so he can ensure he has a good supply of hot food and drinks and can carry more sails. 

Like the last attempt, Dolan's boat is in Greystones Harbour in County Wicklow, less than seven miles from the record starting line between Dun Laoghaire and the Kish Bank lighthouse, and is all set and ready to go.