A third canting keel 60-footer is set to contest June's Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle offshore yacht race, according to sources at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The Reichel-Pugh designed 'Wild Joe' has been bought by a Dun Laoghaire sailor, according to the Afloat source, who says the carbon-built mini-maxi will arrive here in time for the June offshore fixture, a highlight of the offshore year. 

The Dun Laoghaire waterfront rumour mill was already on high alert after the news broke of an Elliott 57 canting keeler coming to the Irish east coast, but the news of a third yacht of this type adds extra spice for race enthusiasts.

One of the world’s fastest 60-footers, Wild Joe' was built by the Australian Azzura Marine boat factory in 2002.

Wild Oats IX (her original name) is part of a 'legendary' line of Australian racing boats crewed by the Oatley family. The name and ownership change did not interrupt the boat’s success series, and up to now, it holds the record at the Pittwater Coffs Harbour Race, a regatta at which it captured four IRC victories.

She has been transformed from her original Admiral’s Cup-winning design to a DSS foiling boat using the latest foil and sail technology to take her performance to new levels, according to yacht broker Michael Schmidt.

More on Wild Joe here

Meanwhile, it is understood the Elliott will arrive here in Mid May and will contest not only the 280-mile D2D but also the coastal divisions of the Simply Blue Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale, also in June, and July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, but there is no new yet of the Wild Joe Irish programme.

The Elliott 57, currently named Opal, and Wild Joe will be strong competition for the New York-based Cookson 50 Privateer, already entered into Ireland's major offshore summer series.

The all-conquering North Wales-based Mojito is one of five highly competitive J109 offshore cruiser racers that will contest June 7th's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race organised by the National Yacht Club.

Two of the J109s entered are West Cork based, with Finbarr O'Regan's Artful DodJer from Kinsale Yacht Club and Tony O'Brien's Tighey Boy from Schull Harbour.

Tony O'Brien's Tighey Boy from Schull Harbour Photo: Bob Bateman

As regular Afloat readers will recall O'Regan's Artful DodJer was one of five boats to controversially suffer a 20 per cent time penalty after being judged to have entered the Tuskar Shipping Traffic Separation Scheme in the 2021 race.

Finbarr O'Regan's Artful DodJer from Kinsale Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

The other two are drawn from the Dublin ISORA fleet, with Simon Knowles Indian from Howth entered and the Shanahan family's Ruth coming from the host club who took third overall in an arduous 22-mile ISORA last Saturday.

The Shanahan family crew on their J109 Ruth competing in the first Viking Marine ISORA Coastal Race of 2023 Photo: Afloat

As regular Afloat readers know, 2022 was a stand-out season for the Pwllheli crew. Skippered by Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop, they won July's inaugural 260-mile K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork via Fastnet Race, followed by an overall win of the IRC Coastal Division of Volvo Cork Week and the overall ISORA Wolf's Head Trophy. More on the Mojito 2022 campaign here

Simon Knowles's J109 Indian from Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

The five J109s are part of a red-hot Class One D2D fleet of nine boats, including the defending champion in the 270-milers, Denis Murphy's Grand Soleil 40, Nieulargo.

Organisers have 35 entries for the race so far and expect a fleet of over 40, a highlight of the 2023 Irish offshore sailing calendar.

With the news that the Volvo 70 Wizard has already entered June's Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, organiser Adam Winkelmann of the National Yacht Club told this morning's ICRA Conference in Dun Laoghaire that the biennial offshore race has 20 entries to date. 

Entered by well-known Irish offshore sailor Johnny Mordaunt, the 2016 winner of the Sydney-Hobart Race will add extra spice to the 270-mile race to Europe's most westerly harbour.

As Afloat reported, Mordaunt, who most recently campaigned the Fast40+ Tschuss at 2022 Antigua Sailing Week, will undoubtedly make a splash when the VO70 starts off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the 30th anniversary of the race.

The race starts from Dun Laoghaire on June 7th and is scheduled to arrive in Dingle Harbour on June 9th and 10th.

Wizard won't be the only New York entry on the D2D startline either, with Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50 Privateer heading to County Kerry. 

As Afloat reported in January, Royal Cork Grand Soleil 40 'Nieulargo' will defend her Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race title, and the 20 boats entered so far are drawn from across the Irish Sea, including Cardiff Bay, Belfast Lough and Strangford Lough.

At the ICRA event, Winkelmann made a special appeal to competitors to arrange accommodation in Dingle as soon as possible. 

The NYC organiser also explained that a competitor's berthing plan for Dingle Harbour would be announced shortly as the County Kerry marina was damaged last year, and space is expected to be limited.

New York Yacht Club's Volvo 70 Wizard is the latest - and largest - entry into June's Irish offshore classic Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

Entered by well-known Irish offshore sailor Johnny Mordaunt, the 2016 winner of the Sydney-Hobart Race brings the race fleet to 20 so far for the 270-mile race.

Mordaunt, who most recently campaigned the Fast40+ Tschuss at 2022 Antigua Sailing Week, will certainly make a splash when the VO70 starts off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the 30th anniversary of the race.

The race starts from Dun Laoghaire on June 7th and is scheduled to arrive in Dingle Harbour on June 9th and 10th.

Wizard won't be the only New York entry on the D2D startline either, with Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50 Privateer also heading to County Kerry. 

As Afloat reported earlier, Denis and Annamarie Murphy's successful Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo from Royal Cork Yacht Club will defend its race title with up to 50 yachts competing.

The 2021 race was one of great success for Cork offshore sailing interests, and now, with the confirmation of the VO70s entry, international interest in the D2D shows no sign of letting up.

Competing yachts will vary between 30 and 100 feet in length, with crews of between 2 and 20 sailors on board.

The first D2D race took place in 1993 and the race has grown to become one of the great mini offshore sailing challenges in the UK and Irish waters. Underlining this growth in status is the fact that the D2D race now forms part of both the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Associations 2023 series.

Conor Doyle's Freya, the racing yacht at the centre of a kitesurfer rescue undertaken during the first hours of the  Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race on Wednesday has been granted redress, a decision that gives Doyle and his Kinsale Yacht Club crew second overall in the 2021 edition of the prestigious Irish offshore sailing fixture. 

The Xp50 yacht, the largest in the 38-boat fleet, was the first to finish in Dingle early on Friday morning but was scored fifth on IRC rating due to the time delay involved in completing the rescue off the County Wicklow coast.

Doyle filed for redress as required under racing rules of sailing and this afternoon the race protest committee found the following facts: on 9th June Freya was beating southwards along the Wicklow shore against a tide flowing northwards at approximately 2 knots.

At approx.19.20 on port tack sailing towards the shore, Freya saw a semi-inflated kite in the water, further out to sea at a distance of 0.5 N,M. She tacked to investigate. At 19.30 the crew identified a kite surfer in the water in need of assistance. Freya's position was N 52 51.671, W 06 02.610. A video of the incident is posted on Afloat here.

Freya started her motor, lowered sails and requested RNLI assistance via Rosslare radio.

At 19.45 the casualty was taken on board and Freya motored in a Southerly direction to rendezvous with the Arklow lifeboat.

The kitesurfer casualty is taken on board Freya

At 19.50 Freya informed the race office of the incident.

Freya transferred the casualty to the lifeboat at 20.12 and then motored northwards until resumed racing at 20.21. Her position at this moment was N52 51.581 W 06 02.553, less than 200m south of the position where they stopped racing.

Freya transfers the casualty to the Arklow lifeboat Photo: Chris Power Smith/Aurelia

The protest committee found that Freya's overall strategy was not significantly modified by the time lost in the rescue.

In conclusion, the committee granted redress and said Freya's elapsed time was made significantly worse through no fault of her own by giving help as required by RRS 1.1.

The Protest Committee evaluated that the total time lost was approx.75 minutes. However, it decided the fairest arrangement for all boats affected is to give Freya joint second place.

Download the full case document below

It is a well-established principle of the sea that help must be extended to those in distress, a principle that is espoused in Rule 1 of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS):

SAFETY 1.1 Helping Those in Danger. A boat, competitor or support person shall give all possible help to any person or vessel in danger.

When a competitor suspends racing or diverts to help they put their own position in the race in jeopardy and so the RRS allows them to claim redress based on the time spent away from their course to the next mark.

Thus Freya, who stopped racing in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race last night to rescue a kite-surfer off the Wicklow coast just south of Brittas Bay on Wednesday evening, spending the best part of an hour doing so, will probably file a redress request for the time lost through giving help.

Freya stopped racing in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race last night to rescue a kite-surfer off the Wicklow coast Photo: Chris Power Smith/Aurelia

The organisers will convene a jury to consider the request, and if found valid will most likely adjust Freya's elapsed time to compensate for her time spent on the rescue.

While the tracker will form a key part of the evidence used to determine time lost, the calculation is complicated by the need to take the tide, the search area and any other movement during this time. As Freya is close to the leading group, it may well be that redress, if awarded, will have impact on the podium positions.

Day #1 7 pm The largest yacht in the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race has temporarily suspended racing this evening to rescue a kitesurfer off the off Wicklow Coast.

The 14th edition of the 280-mile offshore fixture started at 2 pm today off Dun Laoghaire Harbour and is organised by the National Yacht Club.

Ian Travers a crewman on Conor Doyle's XP50 Freya called the Race Office this evening to say the Kinsale entry 'has temporarily suspended racing in order to rescue a kite surfer.'

Travers told NYC organisers that "All ok and coastguard informed".

The plan is for Freya to transfer the casualty, who is safe and well to the Arklow lifeboat and then resume racing.

Freya prepares to transfer the Kitesurfer to Arklow RNLI Photo: Chris Power Smith/Aurelia

Day #1 4 pm: The first retiral from the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race is the First 40 Prima Forte that has retired into Killiney Bay just two hours after the start.

The 14th edition of the 280-mile offshore fixture started at 2 pm off Dun Laoghaire Harbour and is organised by the National Yacht Club.

The former British Commodores Cupper, skippered by Sean Lemass, was among the leading bunch immediately after this afternoon's start as Afloat reports here but retired shortly after leaving Dublin Bay with halyard issues.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Cathaoirleach Councillor Una Power visited the National Yacht Club tonight on the eve of the 2021 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race to wish competitors fair winds for Wednesday's 280-mile race.

The biennial D2D Race – now in its 14th edition – has a great history and a valued place in the NYC Club calendar as a major event that the NYC owns and manages.

In recent years, the race has also become a Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) event and expanded further.

This year the entry is limited, for Covid reasons, to yachts from the Island of Ireland - but even still the entry is strong – at 38 boats. The story of the race was covered on Saturday by Afloat's WM Nixon here.

The race starts at Dun Laoghaire Harbour at 2 pm on Wednesday, June 9th.

Runner up in the 2019 edition, Royal St. George Yacht Club's Aurelia, skippered by Chris and Patanne Power Smith returns to the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race startline with unfinished business.

This J/122 is a regular top performer in Irish offshore fixtures such as ISORA and Wicklow's Round Ireland Race, where the RStGYC crew posted third overall in the 2018 700-mile race. 

Aurelia, a name that translates from Latin as 'The Golden One', is the only J122 in the 2021 D2D fleet. 

A keen J Boat exponent, Aurelia is Power Smith's sixth J Boat. The self-taught Dun Laoghaire Harbour skipper has also previously raced a J24 and then through, a J92, J92S, two J109s, Jetstream and the very successfully campaigned Rollercoaster in which we won two Dublin Bay Championships. He spoke previously about his sailing to Afloat here.

Chris Power Smith, skipper of J/122 Aurelia

Power Smith returns to the start line for the 14th edition as a front runner, having already clocked up some early season training practice in both of May's ISORA training race days. 

Brendan Coghlan's Sunfast 3600, Yoyo

Aurelia is one of three Royal St. George entries into Wednesday's race. 

Brendan Coghlan's Sunfast 3600 Yoyo is one of three of the French types racing to Dingle and Ian Bowring is racing again in his Sigma 33, Springer.

RStGYC Yachts in the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race

• Aurelia J122, IRL 35950, Skipper: Patanne & Chris Power Smith, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 1.075
• Springer Sigma33, OOD IRL 4464, Skipper: Ian Bowring, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 0.915
• YOYO Jeanneau Sunfast 3600, 3618 Skipper: Brendan Coghlan, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 1.036