Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Forecast is 10 to 20-knot South & Southwest Winds Over First 48 Hours

7th June 2021

The general consensus seems to indicate that the 38-boat fleet will encounter 10 to 20-knot southerly backing southwesterly winds over the first 48 hours

"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future". Yogi Berra.

Long-range forecasts from numerous sites are being pored over avidly by crews competing in this year's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race commencing next Wednesday, June 9th at 1400. The general consensus seems to indicate that the 38-boat fleet (as previewed by WM Nixon here) will encounter 10 to 20-knot southerly veering southwesterly winds over the first 48 hours.

At this stage, there is potentially a temporary veering on Thursday along the south coast that could benefit the larger yachts, but only for a short period as the indication is for lighter winds on the Cork and Kerry coasts. If the winds blow as predicted there is a real chance that the entire race will be a two-sailer for a large portion of the fleet, with nothing abaft the beam currently in the forecast until early on Saturday morning.

"There is a real chance that the entire race will be a two-sailer for a large portion of the fleet"

It is hard to tell how this will impact the fleet - perhaps it will disadvantage the boats that are rigged for asymmetric sailing as there are currently unlikely to be favourable reaching angles. Perhaps the most telling factor might be the tide, particularly as the start time, two hours after high water, means that the big boats are unlikely to round the Tuskar before the second flood, perhaps giving an advantage to the lower-rated boats. It does mean that there will be rock-dodging activity along the Wexford coast in the twilight hours of Wednesday evening as the fleet seeks to avoid the stronger flood offshore.

So at this stage, there seems to be no great rating advantage due to the weather.

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

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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.