Coleman's Blue Oyster Prepares for Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Debut

23rd May 2019

Bob Bateman

As a build up for next month' 300-miler, Blue Oyster is on her way to sail in Kinsale Yacht Club’s Fastnet Race this weekend Credit: Bob Bateman

Cork sailor Noel Coleman always had a dream to do the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race and when the family acquired the heavy displacement Oyster 37 – a yacht which has already done a Round Ireland race – this seemed the ideal time to give it a try writes Bob Bateman.

As a build up for next month' 300-miler, Blue Oyster is on her way to sail in Kinsale Yacht Club’s Fastnet Race this weekend and will then sail in the SCORA race the following weekend from Cork Habour to Dunmore East.

Commodore of SCORA, Johanna Murphy says that the Waterford race has attracted a lot of interest and up to 25 yachts could be on the line. It’s A Great Island Sailing Club organised event and the early morning first gun is 6.55 on June 1st.

Following that race, Blue Oyster will continue northwards to Dublin be on the start line for the D2D at the National Yacht Club on June 12th.

Blue Oyster is an Oyster 37

Noel’s daughter Karen is cutting short her round the World trip to join her father for the biennial offshore that is expected to attract 40 boats. Afloat's WM Nixon previewed the 2019 edition here.

Other members of the Blue Oyster crew will be daughter Louise and nephew Alan Coleman, John Molloy and Mark Murphy.

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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Bob Bateman

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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.