Kinsale & Crosshaven Yachts Leading on Water & Handicap in Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

9th June 2021

The Murphy family's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo is leading the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race on corrected time

Day #1 8 pm: The weather has settled down to a warm and sunny summer's evening as the fleet in the 2021 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race turn to windward close inshore between Wicklow Head and Arklow, theoretically with ample time to appreciate the lush beauties of the coastline of the Garden of Ireland, as they'll be plugging an adverse flood tide until midnight.

But the pressure of the racing is such that coastal beauty will have to be appreciated in hindsight. Conor Doyle's Xp50 from Kinsale was finally beginning to feel the benefit of her extra length, and had moved into a stylish lead on the water, but at the 1945hrs check in, she was shown as heading back north – however, that position had reversed at 2000, and she was back on track in light winds. Read how Freya picked up a Wicklow kitesurfer here.

But on corrected time it's the star of Crosshaven, the Murphy family's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, whose name is in lights. She has seldom put a foot wrong in keeping ahead of some very determined assaults from decidedly hot boats close astern, with Pete Smyth's Sun Fast 3600 Searcher briefly almost managing to get ahead at one stage when the breeze had lightened and the tide was at its strongest.

Pete Smyth's Sun Fast 3600 Searcher (National YC) is fresh out of the box, and fancied to be in the frame in the race to Dingle

If you have to go to windward, conditions are as pleasant as possible – the breeze no longer batters – but with some boats working very determinedly indeed on getting inside the worst of the tide, there isn't really a moment to relax. And once the tide is in their favour in the small hours, they'll have the challenge of piloting their way past Ireland's uber-rocky southeast corner, buoyed by the prospect of having clear water racing once the Coningbeg Light off the Saltee Islands is put astern tomorrow morning.

Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl (Kinsale YC, Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt) heads the two-handed division Photo: Michael Chester

Meanwhile, as of 2000hrs Wednesday, Nieulargo leads overall and in Class 1, the J/109 Indian (Simon Knowles, Howth YC) leads Class 2, the Sunfast 37 Desert Star of Irish Offshore Sailing, co-skippered by Ronan O Siochru and Conor Totterdell, is tops in Class 3, and the Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl (Kinsale YC, Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt) heads the two-handed division.

Update 3 tomorrow morning.

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

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.