Windfall Misses Her Angelus Bell Appointment by Seven Miles

13th June 2019

Michael Cotter's Windfall closes in on the County Kerry finish line but misses a sub 24-hour time Credit: Rachel and Richard Langdon/Ocean Images

Day #2 - 6 pm Mick Cotter’s gallant tilt at getting the 270-mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race time through the 24-hour barrier by finishing before 6.0pm has been frustrated by a very few miles writes W M Nixon

Earlier today, it was a localised calm which stopped his big boat, the 94ft Windfall, at Mizen Head for just long enough to make it touch-and-go whether or not the record was still possible. Then the weaving northerly breezes of Kerry in Dingle Bay kept them hard on the wind all the way towards the finish, and as the Angelus bell sounded in Dingle town, Windfall still had seven miles to sail, even if she was making 10 knots and better.

That said, she was being headed, and now the challenge is to beat the 24 hrs and 48 minutes record set by the same skipper in the 78ft Whisper in 2009. But at least the big boat will soon be finished, and with a real-time for others to aim at. During the course of the race, fortunes have waxed and waned so much that at one stage Windfall was both ahead on the water and on corrected time. Which, when you remember that she’s nearly twice as long as the next biggest boats in the fleet, the Xp 50 Freya (Conor Doyle) and the classic 50ft yawl Amokura (Pau Moxon), was quite something as she carries a ferocious handicap rating.

Cruelly, the smaller craft – with Andrew Hall’s J/125 Jackknife still leading the pack – are now down in the same Mizen Head region which was Windfall’s undoing, but they’ve a reasonable sailing breeze and Jackknife is showing 7.1 knots, while next in line Freya is even better at 8.5, and seemingly going better relative to her competitors with every mile sailed.

The overall IRC lead is now back in Jackknife’s hands, but Paul O’Higgins’ defending champion Rockabill VI is lying second and always ready to pounce as they head into what looks like a difficult evening and night of racing, as the mainly northerly wind changes in response to the next lot of inclement weather heading in from the Atlantic.

As ever, the J/109s are on hand ready to pounce, and Johnny Murphy skippering Outrajeous is back in third overall, but right up there with him is a new presence among the front-runnners, the Shanahan family in sister-ship Ruth, overall winner in 2015 and now placed 4th ahead of Hot Cookie and Aurelia – for the moment, it seems, Mono is leading The Prof……..

Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Tracker 2023

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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.

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Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

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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.