Dun Laoghaire to Dingle: Tides Just Aren't Fair on Ireland's Southeast Coast

11th June 2025

WM Nixon

Tom Shanahan's J/109 Ruth has the close overall lead on the first night of the 2025 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Credit: Afloat

D2D Day 1 (Wednesday) 8.30 pm - In passage racing, tides just aren't fair. That's not a whinging bleat – it's a fact. The speed of a tidal current is an absolute which may be slightly but not significantly affected by wind direction and barometric pressure. But the speed of boats increases with extra length.

Thus a small boat turning to windward is much more adversely affected by a foul tide than a biggie. Their VMG is more starkly reduced in every way. So if the cards fall the right way for them, the biggies by contrast pile on the size of their lead.

Of course, as a race progresses, other factors on other areas of coastline come into play, and things may even out by the finish. But at the moment late on Wednesday evening, the medium and bigger boats seem to be generally dominant in the overall placings in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race, as the fleet have been pushing an adverse flooding tide since 17:00hrs or thereabouts.

Frank Whelan's Elliott 57 Opal leads the fleet on the water off the Wexford coast as the Dun Laoghaire Dingle race unfolds in challenging tidal conditions Photo: Afloat

Big boats still in breeze have been making hay, with Frank Whelan's Elliott 57 Opal and Conor Doyle's Xp50 Freya marching along in stately style at the head of the fleet off the Wexford coast, while some of the little 'uns have been completely hung up in relatively little wind and extra-strong uphill tide around Wicklow Head.

Freya, Conor Doyle's Xp50, claims fifth place in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race as the race progresses into the first night at sea Photo: Afloat

But the IRC rating system proves to be a startlingly harsh introduction of a different reality. With her fierce 1.414 rating, Opal is back in 13th in Corrected Time, but Freya – rating 1.169 – is in the top six at fifth.

J/122 Aurelia (Chris Power Smith) lies second on the first night of the 2025 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Afloat

Medium size boats have an agility denied to larger craft. Thus at 20:30hrs, Tom Shanahan's J/109 Ruth has the close overall lead from the J/122 Aurelia (Chris Power Smith) in second, with the J/122e Mojito (Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox) third and Johnny Murphy with the J/109 Outrajeous fourth. Getting past the Tuskar and the Coningbeg in the night will be interesting. But at least for most the tide should be fair.

Johnny Murphy's J109 Outrajeous crew from Howth includes 2004 Olympian Killian Collins and 1720 multi-champion Ross McDonald Photo: Afloat

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Tracker 2025

Track the progress of the 2025 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race fleet on the live tracker above and the leaderboard below

The 17th edition of the 280-mile race organised by the National Yacht Club starts at 2 pm on Wednesday, June 11th, on Dublin Bay.

Read the full 2025 race preview by WM Nixon here
Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here

WM Nixon will be posting regular race updates and analysis throughout the 2025 race here

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

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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.