Watch Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Yacht Freya Crew Rescue Lucky Wicklow Kitesurfer (VIDEO)

11th June 2021

Afloat.ie Team

Freya crew man Will Byrne rescues the kitesurfer from the water off Wicklow

Watching this video (below) of a seemingly empty County Wicklow coastline and then seeing a tiny black dot hove into view gives you some idea how fortunate Wednesday's kitesurfer was to be spotted by an eagle-eyed crew onboard a leading contender in the 2021 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

As Afloat reported previously, Conor Doyle's largest yacht in the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race temporarily suspended racing on to rescue the kitesurfer as the video below reveals.

The rescue itself may yet be the focus of a race appeal for the Freya crew that was first to finish the biennial race early this morning. As Afloat also reported Freya can file for redress after time lost in the rescue that may have a bearing on the overall handicap results of the 280-mile race.

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

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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.