Galway Harbour Claims Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

14th June 2011

Afloat.ie Team

Galway Harbour Claims Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

All offshore races have their moments of drama, particularly when exposed to the variability of weather in our temperate climate writes our Offshore Correspondent. This year’s Dun Laoghaire to Dingle was no different and race winner Galway Harbour certainly had their ups and downs over the 270 nautical mile course.

From an early decision just after the start not to get sucked inshore, Galway Harbour led the race on handicap almost from start to finish. But even more remarkably, they led on the water for much of the race and only conceded the on-the-water lead to the top rated boat, keeping the other 8 higher rated boats well astern.

Coping with blown out sails, low visibility, a damaged vang, gale force winds with beam seas, no main for two hours and considerable sleep deprivation was swallowed up in their stride to the finish, pushing particularly hard in the final stage along the west Cork and Kerry coasts.

Lynx, for that is the yacht’s original name, was built originally for Sir Robin Knox Johnston’s Clipper Venture corporate training fleet. More recently she has racked up some successes as an IRC racer and underwent a complete refit in 2009. Skipper Martin Breen put together a formidable crew for the race and their mixed offshore and dinghy sailing experience combined successfully to take the overall prize.

Galway Harbour Crew: Martin Breen – Helm, Neil Spain - Helm 2, Aodhán Fitzgearld - W/L Navigator, John Murphy - W/L Tactician (Trim), Nigel Moss - Main Trimmer, Conor Baynes - Jib/ Kite (Main) Trimmer, Brian Phelan - Jib/ Kite Trimmer , Rachel O'Toole - Pit (Trim), Ruaidhrí De Faoite - Mast (Trim), Cathal Clarke - Bow (Trim)

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

Tagged under

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

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.