Dun Laoghaire Dingle Fleet Get Fair Wind & Ebb Tide To Speed their Way

12th June 2019

Andrew Hall’s J/125 Jackknife from Wales holds the corrected time lead in the D2D Race Credit: Afloat

Day #1 8 pm: With Mick Cotter’s 94ft Windfall the on-the-water leader as she puts Cahore Point astern at 2200hrs, it’s intriguing to note that the unstable but brisk northerly airflow is generous if unpredictable in spreading its favours to different sections of the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle fleet at different times writes W M Nixon

We signed off at 2000 hrs with Andrew Hall’s J/125 Jackknife from Wales holding the corrected time lead. But since then for a while defending champion Rockabill VI (RIYC), Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 1080, was running south on the sluicing ebb with most purpose, and took her turn at the top of the leaderboard.

Windfall Wicklow The view from onboard the on-the-water leader -– Wicklow Lighthouse astern of Windfall by 1955hrs Photo: Windfall Crew

Rockabill D2D Race start 2219 Defending champion Rockabill VI (RIYC), Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 1080 Photo: Afloat

But now Jackknife is back in business in a big way with a Corrected Time overall lead of 28 minutes over Rockabill, while third - just ten minutes behind the O’Higgins boat - is a new player in the lead role drama, the J/109 Outrajeous co-owned by ICRA Chairman Richard Colwell and Johnny Murphy, with the latter skippering for the dash to Dingle.

Outrajeous D2D Race start 2833 The J109 Outrajeous co-owned by ICRA Chairman Richard Colwell and Johnny Murphy Photo: Afloat

Conor Fogerty’s Figaro 3 Raw seems finally to have found her mojo, and is moving into contention – she may be back at 7th overall on CT, but on the water only Jackknife and Windfall are ahead of her.

While most of the fleet have stayed fairly close to the coast, gallant westerners Dan Mill and Yannick Lemonnier in the Mini 650 Port of Galway have tended to embrace the offshore option, and at the time of writing it’s doing them no harm at all, as they’re logging a cracking 12 -13 knots over the ground and are still ahead of the bulk of the entrants.

Early in the small hours, the favourable ebb will begin to lose its power, and when the adverse flood begins to set in, all will depend on how far your boat has got past the Tuskar Rock, if indeed you’ve managed that at all.

Once you get west of the Coningbeg off the Saltee Islands, the tides are no longer so important. But the tidal gate off southeast Ireland could divide the fleet in a way which will have a lasting effect for the remainder of the race. Get clear of it, and the next turn at the Fastnet Rock beckons, as does the prospect of tomorrow seeing a temporary improvement in the weather.

Track Chart below:

Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here

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 Dingle Race

About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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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.