New York's 'Privateer' Crew Celebrate Record Breaking Run in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race

8th June 2023

Afloat.ie Team

American skipper Ron O'Hanley (pictured in grey gear) and his New York Yacht Club crew celebrate setting a new course record at Dingle Marina in County Kerry this morning, having broken the line honours record time in the 30th-anniversary edition of the offshore race Credit: Dominick Walsh

American skipper Ron O'Hanley and his New York Yacht Club crew stepped ashore to celebrations at Dingle Marina in County Kerry this morning, having broken the line honours record in the 30th-anniversary edition of the 270-mile Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race.

As Afloat reported earlier, O'Hanley clinched the course record and multiple wins in the biennial offshore race, a highlight of the Irish yacht calendar and part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's season points championships.

The 50-foot yacht is reversed into her berth at one of Europe's most westerly marinas in Dingle, County Kerry ahead of course record celebrations for the American crew Photo: Dominick Walsh

O'Hanley's canting keel yacht Privateer sped ahead of the fleet with such confidence and competence that it was only briefly, while she was going through a soft patch on the East Coast, that the numbers showed she was no longer both the Line Honours and Corrected Time leader.

The rest of the 43-boat fleet is still racing towards Dingle this morning for IRC handicap honours.

New York Yacht Club skipper Ron O'Hanley celebrates his line honours win in Dingle this morning Photo: Dominick Walsh

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.