Four Royal Cork Yacht Club Offshore Boats Are Contesting the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

6th June 2021

Ian Hickey's Cavatina from RCYC is racing to Dingle- the 1978 built yacht is a doube Round Ireland Yacht Race winner Credit: Bob Bateman

Four Royal Cork boats are contesting Wednesday's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race including two noted offshore performers who have previously won big in Irish races.

The RCYC foursome includes the Murphy family's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, last year's winner of the inaugural Fastnet 450 Race over a similar course from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour.

The Crosshaven flotilla also includes the former double Round Ireland Yacht Race winner Cavatina, a vintage 1978 Granada 38 skippered by Ian Hickey, that is a proven giant-killer.

Murphy sisters Molly and Mia are the drivers on the Grand Soleil Nieulargo in the 2021 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Photo: Bob Bateman

Also competing is Paul Tingle's X-34 Alpaca and David Coleman's Blue Oyster.

Paul and Deirdre Tingle's X34 Alpaca Photo: Bob Bateman

Royal Cork Yacht Club boats in the 2021 D2D Race

Alpaca X-Yachts X-34, IRL35221, Skipper: Paul and Deirdre Tingle, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 0.994
Blue Oyster Oyster 37, IRL3852, Skipper: David Coleman, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 0.932
Cavatina Granada 38, IRL3861, Skipper: Ian Hickey, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 0.928
Nieulargo Grand Soleil 40, IRL 2129 Skipper: Denis & Annamarie Murphy, Class: IRC Racing, Rating: 1.023

As Afloat reported, the race is shaping up to be a highlight of the sailing season and has attracted a formidable line-up of Irish offshore sailing talent.

David Coleman's Oyster 37 Blue Oyster Photo: Bob Bateman

38 boats are lined up for Wednesday's start at 2 pm, a date that Afloat's WM Nixon is calling a Clarion Call for Ireland's 2021 Sailing Season.

Also racing from Royal Cork are pro sailors Mark Mansfield on the Dublin Sunfast 3600 Hot Cookie from the National Yacht Club and Maurice O'Connell on Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600, Searcher from Howth.

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.