“We’ve seen massive interest in white sail racing over the last few seasons and now we’re marking it with a new trophy that should appeal to boats from across Ireland and the UK,” said regatta chairman Phil Smith. The trophy is being donated by ISORA commodore Peter Ryan also commodore of the National YC, which has major historical significance in Dun Laoghaire, is presented to the organisers to celebrate the growth in this new style of racing. The white sails fleet attracted the largest entry at last year’s Volvo Regatta. Designed to get seldom used boats off marinas, the attraction of the concept is easy to see; a bunch of friends sailing together on an average cruiser can participate in simple racing after work or at weekends without any of the high-end hassle attached with spinnakers and large crew numbers. “We’re expecting over 100– white sail entries,” says race director Brian Craig. The white sail fleet will could swell numbers at the regatta to over 500. There is an online entry system now open here
As part of Ireland’s biggest regatta in 2009, Volvo Dun Laoghaire week will host the first ever White Sail World Cup and now the race is on to assemble the world’s biggest fleet. The east coast port is set to become the Cowes of the Irish Sea again in little over eight months time with racing for 26 classes from eight different countries expected.
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