Dun Laoghaire to Dingle - First Leg Race Preview

11th June 2011

Afloat.ie Team

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle - First Leg Race Preview

Starting at 1000 this morning, the ebb tide will make up for the light winds forecast for the early part of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race writes our Offshore Correspondent. However, it looks likely that anchoring will play a role once the flood sets in and there may be some close work inshore to escape the worst of the tide. It looks unlikely that any of the fleet will make the Tuskar before the next ebb which may well carry the whole fleet around the first waypoint and into the building headwinds.

This should advantage the smaller boats of the fleet initially, but could help the larger boats to get further along the south coast before the westerly sets in around midnight Sunday.

Alan McGettigan's Pride of Dalkey- Fuji should show a clean pair of heels to the fleet, but she will always be fighting the handicap and a slow start will not suit.

Expect to see quite a battle between 2009 winner Cathal Drohan's X41, Legally Brunette, the Tyrell J122 Aquelina and the relatively unknown Steve Kershaw's Fortuna Redux, the South African built Fast 42. ISORA class leading form has already been shown by Richard Tudor's Sgrech and Vincent Farrell's Tsunami, while Matt Davis' Sigma 400 Raging Bull is a recent winner.

While the handicap suggests that Pride of Dalkey-Fuji should take line honours, the current forecast suggest the overall winner will come from the lower rated boats.

Its going to be an interesting few days.

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Tracker 2023

Track the progress of the 2023 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race fleet on the live tracker above and the leaderboard below

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Leaderboard 2023

The 16th edition of the 280-mile race organised by the National Yacht Club starts at 2 pm on Wednesday, June 7th, on Dublin Bay.

Read the full 2023 race preview by WM Nixon here
Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here
Listen to Lorna Siggins's interview with Race Chairman Adam Winkelmann on Afloat's Wavelengths here

WM Nixon will be posting regular race updates and analysis throughout the 2023 race here

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

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Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Information

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down to the east coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry.

The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

It never fails to offer a full range of weather, wind and tide to the intrepid entrants, ranging from a 32ft cruiser to a 79ft all-out racer.

Three divisions are available to enter: cruiser (boats equipped with furlers), racing (the bulk of the fleet) and also two-handed.

D2D Course change overruled

In 2019, the organisers considered changing the course to allow boats to select routes close to shore by removing the requirement to go outside Islands and Lighthouses en route, but following input from regular participants, the National Yacht Club decided to stick with the tried and tested course route in order to be fair to large and smaller boats and to keep race records intact.

D2D Course record time

Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2009 and that time stood until 2019 when Cotter returned to beat his own record but only just, the Dun Laoghaire helmsman crossing the line in Kerry to shave just 20 seconds off his 2009 time.