Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Yacht Freya Can File for Redress After Time Lost in Kitesurfer Rescue

10th June 2021

Afloat.ie Team

It is a well-established principle of the sea that help must be extended to those in distress, a principle that is espoused in Rule 1 of the Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS):

SAFETY 1.1 Helping Those in Danger. A boat, competitor or support person shall give all possible help to any person or vessel in danger.

When a competitor suspends racing or diverts to help they put their own position in the race in jeopardy and so the RRS allows them to claim redress based on the time spent away from their course to the next mark.

Thus Freya, who stopped racing in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race last night to rescue a kite-surfer off the Wicklow coast just south of Brittas Bay on Wednesday evening, spending the best part of an hour doing so, will probably file a redress request for the time lost through giving help.

Freya stopped racing in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race last night to rescue a kite-surfer off the Wicklow coast Photo: Chris Power Smith/Aurelia

The organisers will convene a jury to consider the request, and if found valid will most likely adjust Freya's elapsed time to compensate for her time spent on the rescue.

While the tracker will form a key part of the evidence used to determine time lost, the calculation is complicated by the need to take the tide, the search area and any other movement during this time. As Freya is close to the leading group, it may well be that redress, if awarded, will have impact on the podium positions.

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.