Top Irish offshore racer Tom Dolan will sail the upcoming Tour de Bretagne with leading French coach Tanguy Leglatin seeking to land a solid result for Smurfit Kappa and new co-sponsor Kingspan and to keep his preparation for mid-August’s La Solitaire du Figaro on course.

One month on from racing across the Atlantic on La Transat en Double Concarneau -Saint Barths with Gildas Mahé, Dolan is delighted to be back sailing his own Figaro Beneteau 3 Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan and is raring to get going again, this time with one of France’s top offshore coaches, Tanguy Leglatin who has coached Dolan since 2017.

Dolan enthuses, “Tanguy I have always got on well with since 2017. We have always got on. I invited him to come race with me and he said yes, that was back in December. He has done a lot, lot, lot of coaching in all the classes, the Figaro, IMOCA, Ultimes. He knows these boats so very well, mostly looking at them from off the boat with the coach’s eye and developing them all the time, so I am looking forwards to racing with him.”

Leglatin is the principal coach at the Pole Lorient Grand Large and brings a wealth of experience on board Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan for the Tour de Bretagne which starts Friday 2nd with a Prologue before the 33 nautical miles race from Saint Quay-Portrieux to Saint-Malo. After that there is a mix of short 22-50 miles hops on either side of the longest stage, Monday’s 250-275 miles race from Saint Quay to Douarnenez. The race finishes 11th July with a final 24 miles sprint out of and returning to Quiberon.

It is a very positive reflection on the esteem that Dolan is held in among his peers in Brittany that the Irish sailor was asked to race the Transat by Mahé and now Leglatin has agreed to abandon the coaching support boat to race with Tom. “Tanguy is a good guy. He has a great outlook on sails and the sensations you should be feeling on the boat and so he is great to sail with.”

Dolan smiles when he recalls their first meeting back in 2017 when he was admitted to the elite Lorient group. “He is famously impossible to get in touch with, a real Breton in that way, he doesn’t answer his phone often and doesn’t respond to e-mails. In 2017 when I wanted to get in the good group with the Mini, one day I finally got him on the phone and I said ‘I’d like to come and join the group’ and he said ‘Sure, why not?’ But I never heard from again, he never answered his phone or emails. So I just rocked up at a training session and he pretty much said nothing to me but didn’t tell me to get lost. I’ve never looked back. And so we have got on since then, he appreciates I work hard and what I am trying to do. “ He adds, “Tanguy is very good on the weather and the tides and where to go, he knows these areas and the little local effects and he is good on boat on boat tactics which I am still not good at.”

The added sponsorship support of Kingspan alongside Smurfit Kappa has allowed Dolan to upgrade his sail programme from this race forwards, “It is great to have been able to get new sails, it is all new. The gennaker has changed a lot since last year and the mainsail a little bit too” He notes enthusiastically. “The Transat was great but it was mainly downwind and so I am really confident in my speed there but the great thing really is having spent so much time on the boat everything feels easy and intuitive. I learned a lot about just making sure you are completely in phase with the wind. The only thing I need to do is still look after my ankle a bit (Tom injured his ankle and had to pull out of his first regatta of the season in April), especially as the courses can be quite short, but in general the ankle is good and the muscle Is building again and I am running and working on it in the gym. The physio is happy. I never really had time to do that before the Transat as I was still pretty much rehabbing it before the start.”

Having been in the top 3 for much of the race to Saint Barth’s and finishing eighth, Dolan regards the race to the Caribbean as very useful experience, highlighting the positives. “ We were disappointed with the final placing in the race but we did a good race. We sailed a good race and did not get the finish we wanted which is better than doing a bad race and jagging a good finish at the end, getting lucky. That gives me way more confidence up against the very good guys, the rock stars.”

Their goal for the Tour de Bretagne is a top five. Dolan smiles….”…at least. It is a key race on the French Elite Championship and important training before La Solitaire which is the big one. And this is the first race in the colours of Kingspan so I want to do well for them especially.”

But right now all courses work up to the ‘big one’ La Solitaire du Figaro which will be especially brutal this year with no fewer than three stages of more than 600 nautical miles in length. “ The main thing I am looking to do it is to be all ready and prepared super early so that in the weeks leading up to the start I am maximising rest and minimising stress and effort. That is really all I can do, but for example, I have been doing all my homework early, looking at the tides and all the potential scenarios so that I know them backwards, and even like now, doing the delivery up to Saint-Malo (from Concarneau) is valuable because it covers a good section of the course so we can stop and look carefully at some of the rocks and tidal flows at different times.”

Irish skipper Tom Dolan strengthens his long term solo and short handed Figaro Bénéteau offshore racing programme after agreeing an exciting new support package with Kinsgpan, the building materials and insulation group which operates in 70 countries worldwide and is headquartered in Kingscourt, County Cavan, close to where Dolan grew up.

The objectives are to increase the company’s profile and strengthen knowledge of its core values and to highlight its ten year global strategy for sustainable development, ‘Planet Passionate’. This plan acts on three major global concerns: climate change, circularity and the protection of our natural environment. The skipper for whom the oceans are both his valued workplace and a playground is a daily witness to impact and damage that plastic waste causes to the seas and oceans and has long since established himself as an ambassador for change, seeking to educate as many people as possible about the future of the planet.

“Planet Passionate” includes twelve ambitious goals that focus on four key areas: energy, carbon, circularity and water. Through this effort, Kingspan aims to contribute to the renewable energy mix of the planet, to reduce its carbon emissions, to recover waste initially going to landfill, to preserve water resources, to provide recycling solutions for plastic waste and to help clean up the world's oceans and protect biodiversity.

By committing to offshore racer Tom Dolan the company sees itself as taking a small step further in line with the actions that 'it is already working with ECOALF to collect plastics from the sea and integrate them into the production cycle through its partner Synthesia Technology.

Common objectives include recycling one billion plastic bottles per year until 2025 as one of the axes of the Kingspan group's“ Planet Passionate ”sustainable development plan. Their mission is to accelerate the transition to carbon neutrality by putting people and the planet at the heart of its action.

“This is completely in step with my own philosophies, how I have evolved my programme to run, and corresponds to my objectives: to have the most eco-responsible boat possible and to set a new benchmark for monitoring the carbon footprint ”, explains Tom Dolan, who is supported by Smurfit Kappa the global specialist in the manufacture of paper-based packaging who are also very committed to the environment through its “Better Planet Packaging” initiative.

“I am honored that a company like Kingspan chooses to trust me. This is a company that I have known for many, many years as I grew up in a village located right next to the town of Kingscourt. Kingscourt where my mother would take me for a walk in a park, Dun na Ri, next to Kingspan's headquarters. I feel like I grew up with them and having their support is a huge boost, not only for me but also for Irish sailing and ocean racing more generally ".

Being involved with an international sporting programme like Tom Dolan’s project represents an opportunity for Kingspan to broaden the scope and reach of their international action. Dolan races are the highest level on the Figaro Bénéteau 3 circuit, the first mass-produced sailboat equipped with foils, a highly innovative marine technology which is expected to become a key part of maritime transport of tomorrow, without depending on fuel fossils.

Even more, the sailor from County Meath in Ireland beside where Kingspan is headquartered, is very much hoping to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games in the offshore mixed doubles, which is an excellent means of communication with a global audience to highlight the importance of the future of the planet.

Ireland’s Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Gildas Mahé have been coming to terms with a slightly disappointing outcome following a very close finish to the Transat en Double Concarneau to Saint Barthélemy race.

The Franco-Irish duo finished very early on Monday morning, crossing the line in eighth place in the 18 boat fleet. After more than 3,890 nautical miles or 18 days and 8 hours of racing, during which they spent the majority of the time in the top three or top five, when they crossed the finish they were less than 15 minutes shy of a top five position which was their pre-start target and less than one hour short of the elapsed time of the third placed boat.

At three days before the finish into the Caribbean island the Smurfit Kappa supported Dolan and his French counterpart seemed to be well set for a placing on the podium, tussling within a handful of miles of the leaders. But their strategic choice to stay south, along with many of the leading players in the class, found them suffering with less breeze – and although they bit the bullet and went north to try and consolidate with the fleet – the duo on Breizh Cola ­lost places and had to settle for eighth.
“That is the way it goes sometimes in this sport. It is a tough one to swallow because with Gildas I feel we had sailed a good race. We made the right choices all the way and we were quick downwind, clearly, eighth is a bit lower than we had hoped for.

But even until the day before the finish we could still have got on the podium. At the end of Sunday we crossed with the northerly group and we considered they had gybed too early so we went on so we thought we would get a better angle to th line at Saint Barths but that was our mistake. We held on too long and let a few of our rivals get away from us at the last minute. We lost big time and that is hard to take.” Said Dolan on the dock in Gustavia, Saint Barthélemy.

“After 4,000 miles of racing where we were constantly in contact and even racing in sight with some boats, it was finally a gybe that cost us something like ten miles and our podium chances. But that is the way it goes in the Figaro.” Acknowledged Dolan.

He adds wryly, “All that being said, in my head I am happy that we had a good race and got stung near the end which I would actually much rather than have a mediocre race and then jag it, getting lucky near the end. And being honest this is actually the first time that I’m disappointed like this because we didn’t win or end up on the podium when we had the potential, the game and the boat to do so. With Gildas, we did things well and we have don’t have anything to be ashamed of. We fought well and gave it all we could. The Figaro Bénéteau3 is tough, demanding and you have to work hard. We finished pretty much completely burnt out, especially since we had to fight with the weed and some rudder issues. On starboard tack, the boat was bad. We were always on edge and you had to steer with both hands to keep it under control.”

Dolan concluded, “We had a lot of trouble but with Gildas we formed a great duo. We hit it off and I learned a lot of things that will help me a lot in the rest of the season and especially on La Solitaire."

The last 450 miles of the Transat en Double Concarneau to Saint Barthélemy sees the leaders of the 18 boat fleet finely balanced with a group to the north which has been gaining and the long-established leading pack which have been slowed slightly in lighter airs.

In the southern pack are Ireland’s Tom Dolan racing with Gildas Mahé on Breizh Cola were lying in fourth place, less than one mile behind third-placed Guyot Environnement sailed by Pierre Leboucher and Thomas Rouxel. The leaders are TeamWork, Nils Palmieri and Julien Villion who are only seven miles ahead of Dolan and Mahé after 17 days of racing.

Weed has continued to be a problem for Dolan and Mahe, as the Irish skipper reported, There is seaweed everywhere wrecking all our fun. That and Teamwork up in the north who are screaming towards the finish stealing away hope of a podium at every pointage. They have a very light ridge of high pressure to get through though, so that is our hope, the same ridge we have dived south to avoid. They should be able to sail straight at the finish, but in very light winds, whereas we have to zig zag along the south of it, in winds that are not exactly strong. Up until now it has been all about wind pressure rather than the angle of heading, let’s just hope that it stays that way.”

Seaweed has continued to be a problem for Dolan and Mahe

They were six duos on the north route eight on the south route. If the southerners had an advantage in recent days, the balance seemed to have turned. Since Thursday the routing had swung to favour northerners including the current leader who are also positioned in the north: TeamWork.

“The southerners were faced with sluggish winds today, Friday,” confirms Yann Château of the Race Direction, race director. “The southern group has regained speeds in line with the weather forecast while a soft zone is forecast for the next few hours in the north.”

With just over 1200 nautical miles to the finish line and more than ten days since leaving Brittany, Ireland’s Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Gildas Mahé are fighting hard in third place on the Transat en Double Concarneau – Saint Barthélemy. Racing Mahé’s boat Breizh Cola the duo have been between five and eight miles behind the leaders Pierre Leboucher and Thomas Rouxel and have a decent four miles in hand ahead of the fourth-placed duo.

Over the weekend, especially, there were two activities occupying the thoughts of the leading teams, if and when to gybe south to find stronger, more settled trade winds, and how best to deal with the massive quantities of weed in the water which becomes hooked on the appendages of the Beneteau Figaro 3 yachts.

Dolan, who is supported by Smurfit Kappa, reported: “ For the last day we have been under full seaweed, there is so much of it everywhere across the sea that we have no choice but to get on with it. All the sophisticated systems that we have concocted up are useless as. As soon as you remove some, three minutes later it has been replaced! So you have two choices; sail slowly, stopping every half an hour to remove seaweed or just simply sail slowly! We have opted for the latter and have even noticed a few things, while sailing under full seaweed! Changing a few sail twist settings and playing about with the foil settings. The thing I suppose is at least we all have the same problems. identical boats and identical amounts of seaweed!”

Explaining their choice to be among the first to gybe south Dolan says, “Since the Canaries we had it our heads that we wanted to get south as there has always been more wind in the south and a better angle. But at the same time we wanted to make sure the port gybe was clean and so we waited for the afternoon and evening as the wind shifts to the right overnight, but Pierre and Lois and Tom seem to have done well going earlier and getting to the gain earlier, they won a lot. Our idea was a bit conservative and it did work quite well but it really, really worked well for the others and we have a bit to pull back on them. We are both feeling great where we are. I would not mind having a bit of porridge now though, it is 25 degrees but I really fancy some porridge so I do.

Ireland’s Tom Dolan, racing with the French co-skipper Gildas Mahé on Breizh Cola, lies in fourth place on the Transat en Double Concarneau Saint Barthélemy as the fleet heads west across the Atlantic after passing the Canary Islands rounding mark in fifth early on Monday morning. Mahe and Dolan are less than two miles behind the leaders Alexis Loison and Guillaume Pirouelle.

Racing at around 11 knots of boatspeed in a moderated NE’ly tradewinds there is nothing between the top group of boats.

Dolan reported today, “It feels great to be at the top of the fleet, there is a great match going on and it's really stimulating. Even though we're crossing the Atlantic it's still a Figaro race in terms of sheer intensity, and so constant contact with other boats makes it all the better.  Our team work together is great, we got a right kicking at La Palma this morning, we sailed into the headland to exploit the acceleration zone and shift and ended up in 40+ knots of winds. We didn't break anything though and it did allow us to get a bit of a boost to get south. There are a lot of keys to achieving high average downwind speeds, it’s a never-ending compromise between sailing deep and high for speed, and now we have these foils that make it so much easier to accelerate. You can quickly lose the run of things and end up sailing a lot of distance over the water.”

Racing on Breizh Cola with French ace Gildas Mahé, Ireland’s Tom Dolan reported today that he is happy with their positioning on the Transat en Double Concarneau – Saint Barthélemy fleet.

Racing downwind in 18-20kts of NE’ly tradewinds 175 nautical miles WNW of Casablanca this Monday afternoon Dolan and Mahé are computed to be lying ninth in the 18 boat fleet but in terms of latitude, they were the furthest south of the leaders and were the quickest boat over the previous 24 hours making 226 nautical miles.

They still have over 420 miles to go the Canary Island where there is a passing virtual mark before the fleet turn west to cross the Atlantic.

The Smurfit Kappa backed Dolan reported this afternoon, “Tonight might yet be a key stage of the race as some weather files are looking at 27 to 30kts of wind, downwind, full on, should be tiringly good craic! But it’s an important part of the race I’d say. We struggled a bit for speed with all of the reaching at the start over the first few days, it wasn’t much fun, it was hard work, always heeling and trying to scrape back every little 0.1 of a mile. But since it has become downwind we're really in the groove! ! am happy with our trajectories and in the right place so all is good on board.”

Tom Dolan and Glldas Mahé are lying seventh in the 18-boat Transat en Double Concarneau-Saint Barthélemy after last night's start of the postponed fixture.

Dolan's prediction that the first stage of the race will be key has proved correct as the fleet moves towards Cape Finisterre this morning.

Following a postponed start, moved to this Wednesday evening at 1900hrs local time from last Sunday because of stormy conditions on the Bay of Biscay, the Irish Sailor of the Year and his ace French co-skipper Glldas Mahé were in a buoyant mood as they made their final preparations for the Transatlantic race from Brittany to the Caribbean.

“I can’t wait to be going, I really can’t. It was great to have been actually at my own home in Concarneau these last few days waiting for the weather to change, it makes a real difference, but now we are ready to go and get on with it.” Says Dolan. “Let’s be clear though I am not taking this race lightly. I never forget how lucky I am to be here. I am lucky to be here with this boat and to be racing with someone like Gildas so you can be sure I will be making the absolute most of it.”

With the passage of the past days, the weather picture on the Bay of Biscay has changed considerably since Sunday’s feisty outlook. The conditions will still be brisk for the first few hours on Biscay but there are now fewer strategic options when it comes to the passage of a new low pressure moving west to east across the path of the 18 boat fleet at Cape Finisterre.

Dolan summarises, “The first key stage will be the Bay of Biscay, negotiating the low pressure which will complicate the course towards Cape Finisterre. Now we are going round the west of it but there will be fewer options here and so I can’t see the fleet spreading out here. We arrive at Cape Finisterre with a new low pressure coming in. The negotiation of that, a shift in the wind to the left and then the big shift to the right in wind direction will be key, inside or outside the Traffic Separation Scheme – an exclusion zone at Cape Finisterre – and after that there is a dying undulating front which comes across the zone and so you have to be careful not to be caught there. At Cape Finisterre, the timing of the wind shifts is key and not getting eaten by the light winds at the second front. And tonight can be interesting.”

Tom Dolan estimates it will take six and a half days of sailing to the waypoint at the Canary Islands for an overall passage of 17-18 days duration.

Tracker here

As Sunday’s start of the Transat en Double race to Saint Barthélemy was postponed because of severe weather forecasted for the Bay of Biscay, Tom Dolan and Dubarry are pleased to make use of the delay to announce an extension of their partnership.

Ireland’s leading solo offshore sailor, Tom Dolan, has extended his long-standing partnership with marine footwear and clothing brand Dubarry for a further three years.

The skipper of Smurfit Kappa has just taken a timely delivery of a full collection of pieces from their New Aquatech range as he prepares to take on the Atlantic for the imminent "Transat en Double", Concarneau- Saint Barthélemy race.

Transat en Double competitors Gildas Mahé (left) and Tom Dolan Photo: Alexis Courcoux

“Dubarry were the first on board back in 2016 when they really showed some early interest and faith in me. Michael Walsh sent me over a pair of boots for my first serious mini-campaign and after five full racing seasons, including three Atlantic crossings, I still use them today! Since then we've had a great relationship and stay in close touch, they have always taken an interest in what I am doing and clearly, they feel I do a reasonable job for them. I am really delighted they have chosen to extend our partnership.” smiled Dolan, “They are an Irish company achieving global success in their markets and I am proud to fly their colours.”

Tom will be fully kitted out with pieces from the new Dubarry Aquatech clothing range, with footwear as well as some financial support. “We are proud to support Tom and to share in his story seeing him progress from leaving his native rural County Meath to pursue his dream in France” commented Michael Walsh Marketing Director of Dubarry. “We like Toms professional yet friendly approach both on and off the water and value the feedback he can provide us on the performance of our footwear and clothing, which our Design team can then incorporate into the product development process” added Walsh.

Irish sailor Tom Dolan is among the 18 duos breathing a collective sigh of relief today in Concarneau, France after Sunday’s start of the Transat en Double race to Saint Barthélemy has been postponed because of severe weather forecasted for the Bay of Biscay during the first part of the coming week.

Winds were expected to be over 50 knots off the notorious Cape Finisterre on the northwest corner of Spain, accompanied by big, five-metre confused seas.

Race director Francis Le Goff has chosen to be extra prudent as this is the first Transatlantic race yet for the 10.85m semi foiling Beneteau Figaro 3. On top of that there are three low pressure systems rolling in one after the other.

“The saying in this part of France is L’orage sur mer, trente jours à terre which literally means ‘storms at sea 30 days on land’ but it is really when there are this type of storms at sea, with the lows coming up from the south and the Iberian peninsula, they tend to follow one after the other.” the Smurfit Kappa backed sailor explains.

“Right now we just have to chill out, keep following the evolution of the weather and keep super rested. I don’t think we will be going anywhere before the middle of the week as it looks at the moment.” Dolan adds, “And I am in the very lucky position of having this race starting from my home port and so I can wait things out in the comfort of my own home.”