The best news for Ireland thus far in this developing sailing season of 2023 is that, at last weekend’s 400-boat four-day Spi Ouest Easter Regatta at La Trinite in Southern Brittany, Meath’s own Tom Dolan won the hyper-keen Figaro 3 Class racing Smurfit Kappa Kingspan. Admittedly it was by just one point in a real ding-dong series, but a win is a win, and anyone who has thrown themselves into the maelstrom of Spi Ouest will tell you that this is a very big deal indeed.

Before that, in the last weekend of February, before the real winter arrived (though little did we know it at the time), the University College Dublin Firsts team skippered by Jack Fahy found themselves involved in the absurdly elitist Top Gun Series hosted by Oxford University.

Easter eggs in the basket – Big Tom Dolan at the centre of last weekend’s prize-giving at Spi Ouest. Photo: Justin Burke

That event makes no pretence whatever at being an everyday happening – it’s an invitation-only series, and the social highlight is a black-tie ball in the historic St Edmund’s Hall in the heart of college. But the racing on Farmoor Reservoir is totally a meritocracy, yet although UCD found themselves up against all the might of Cambridge in the finals, they won – the first time for an Irish team.

The image of a sunlit evening in late winter is belied by the ferocity of the actual competition afloat in the Top Guns Team racing at Farmoor in England. Photo: Nigel Vick

UCD Firsts as Top Guns were Jack Fahy & Emily Riordan, Liam Glynn & Triona Hinkson, and Tom Higgins & Cian Lynch. Photo: Nigel Vick

For your reasonably switched-on club sailor in Ireland, these two international achievements mean that Irish sailing is in good heart in 2023, as a late winter finally gives way to welcome spring. Yet if you take the narrow official view of our international competitive sailing as it challenges the world from Ireland, then - so far - 2023 has been little short of disastrous.

NEWS IS BAD THROUGH NARROW OFFICIAL LENS

Admittedly 2022 was such a golden year in every way - emerging as we did with a glorious flourish from the pandemic - that 2023 would have had to take successful flight with full rocket boosting to be in any way comparable. Yet without delving into the depressing details, the fact is that the final outcome of the first official major of the season, the recently-concluded Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, was little other than bad news.

Oh for sure, we can find glimmers of hope for the Irish squad in specific episodes in this very significant event. But such bright spots are ultimately obscured by the darkness of the final results, which in today’s rapidly-churning news cycle, is all that will be remembered in a couple of weeks’ time, as equally will be the fact that the British squad returned with six medals.

It’s a matter of regret that fringe sports such as sailing are only evaluated at official and governmental level in Ireland by the number of high-value medals they collect in major world championships and Olympics-related events. But that’s the way it is, and with only 15 months to go to the 2024 Paris Olympics and its sailing events at Marseille, the national funding focus closes ever more closely on the accumulating Olympic countdown results.

GULF BETWEEN THE PUBLIC AND ENTHUSIASTS’ VIEW

Politicians are dictated to by fickle public opinion, and whereas sailors are fascinated by the minutiae of their sport and its boat and equipment and the lovingly-analysed details of each and every race in events such as Spi Ouest and Top Gun, the public - and hence the government - are only interested in narrowly-focused high-profile value for money in the hope of a return in the form of medals. Consequently, the public funding for sailing – a sport in which only a tiny minority will ever have a serious interest in Olympic participation – is inevitably skewed in favour of national high-performance squads.

International sailing success as understood by sailors – Annalise Murphy makes a neat and admirable job of consolidating her position in the final leg at the Rio Olympics in 2016 to bring home the Silver Medal

That in turn means there is a very biased reliance on the success of rising stars. In fact, an entire mini-industry has grown up around the hope of the continuing emergence of young Irish sailors who will have the ability and character – almost inevitably with exceptional and extraordinary support from their families and circles of friends – to bring home the Olympic-flavoured bacon. Ultimately, it’s just as crude as that.

International sailing success as understood by the public and politicians – Annalise Murphy returns in style to the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire with her Silver Medal.

It’s something of which everyone is particularly aware this weekend, with the Youth Nationals 2023 at Howth seeing the adult stars of tomorrow being put into the pressure cooker of junior performance to become the youth stars of today.

EXTREME PRESSURE ON YOUNG STARS

For some, it’s magic. For others? It’s tough, and heaven only knows what longterm psychological problems it might be engendering. And as for its relationship with the gentler yet genuinely competitive club sailing which is the backbone of our sport, there are times when you’d be hard put to see any natural connection at all.

So is there a way in which we can build a healthier funding relationship between Irish sailing in general and government expenditure? True sailing by its very nature – and through its special history in Ireland – may be largely a private and self-reliant activity. Yet sailors are tax-payers like everyone else, and while they aren’t looking for government handouts at every turn, it would induce a pleasanter atmosphere if there was even a feeling that their rather weird activity is better understood.

Shannon One Design veteran Alan Algeo in full flight. In 2022 the SODs very successfully celebrated their Centenary, yet how do we explain the enduring popularity of such a class and boat type in the generally-held context and image of “yachting”?

Thus it’s fascinating to observe how the Irish attitude compares with other nations as we see the accelerating buildup towards the Paris Olympics. Indeed, one of the most intriguing cases is France itself, as the remarkable French explosion in sailing is based on individual offshore superstars who go back in a direct line to Eric Tabarly.

OTHER NATIONS DEALING WITH SAME PROBLEM

In French sailing, Olympic effort is only one of several main lines. But with the Olympics in their home waters in 2024, don’t be at all surprised if the French still somehow manage to get an offshore category included, despite the fact that altering the course of a super-tanker is a doddle by comparison with getting that ponderous beast World Sailing to re-direct its line of progress.

Eric Tabarly in Cork, a place he visited whenever possible as his “pet boat”, the 1898-vintage 43ft gaff cutter Pen Duick, was built in Cork Harbour at Carrigaloe

Taking a broader view, we have to realise that sailing’s special requirements bring other factors into play. And there’s the national context, to begin with. There is absolutely no doubt that Ireland is one of the most sports-enthusiastic nations on earth. Yet there’s so much sport going on that sometimes the talent can get spread very thin indeed.

Let’s accept for a start that the country is horse mad, and puts so much interest, energy, resources and talent into equine competition that it attracts naturally athletic, competitive youngsters who – in a warmer climate – might equally think in terms of sailing.

And yes, climate is of huge significance, whether we like it or not. For sure, those pioneers of Irish sailing who went afloat with the Water Club of the Harbour of Cork 300 years ago did so when Ireland was marginally colder than it is now. But local factors of time and place and circumstances were involved, and there were far fewer options available for recreational sport at every level of society.

GAA MOVES IN ON HISTORIC SAILING HEARTLANDS

So now it’s very telling that on the eastern shores of Cork Harbour, the former site of Rostellan House – the ancestral home of the Earls of Inchiquin who led the way in forming the Water Club in 1720 – is the location of the extensive playing fields of the Aghada Gaelic Athletic Association. The GAA was still a very long way into the future when the Water Club was formed. Yet today it provides a non-vehicle sport to thousands, with a healthy social matrix to support it. So much so, in fact, that it’s difficult to escape the feeling that the Round Ireland Race won’t really have arrived until there’s a GAA entry.

Aghada GAA Club at Rostellan on the eastern shores of Cork Harbour. The now-demolished Rostellan House was the ancestral home of the Earls of Inchiquin, who provided the first Admiral of the Water Club of the Harbour of Cork in 1720

When you’re up against a sporting monolith like the GAA when searching for public funding, you become only too well aware of the crude metrics through which international success in minority sports is assessed, and so – depressingly – we come back again to the unhealthy reliance on the success or otherwise of young sailors who have to perform spectacularly well in a very narrow international spotlight.

The only consolation is that most other sailing nations have to cope – well or otherwise - with their own particular problems in seeking Olympic funding and success, and in this the British have set a standard to which most others can only hope to aspire. Ultimately, it all goes back to one man - John Major, arguably the most under-valued British PM since Clement Attlee was in the top position from 1945-1951.

For Major was in the hot seat when the British National Lottery came into being, and he sorted the debate about what should be done with the resulting funds by simply insisting that every last cent should be spent on sport at all levels, with enough ear-marked for the Olympics to provide no excuses for poor performance.

Former British Prime Minister John Major and Taoiseach the late Albert Reynold as they negotiated the vital early stages which led eventually to the Good Friday Peace Agreement. Major was Prime Minister when the British National Lottery was inaugurated, and it was his straightforward decision that all profits should go to developing British sport of all kinds and at every level which led to the emergence of Greet Britain as a leading force in Olympic sailing. Photo: Longford Leader

For sailing, this may have meant that would-be Olympians have had to relocate themselves to the top sailing hotspots in southeast England. But in terms of results, the Major Plan worked, and it’s still working - six medals from the Princess Sofia require no further comment.

But for Ireland, with a much smaller population and other sports carrying a higher profile, there’s a feeling of bouncing from one financial year to another, with the most recent Olympic-context successes – or lack of them - significantly affecting the future funding.

SHORT-TERMISM SEEMS INEVITABLE

It smacks of short-termism, and each time round, rumours circulate about budget over-runs, about families and friends being called on to divvy up for an extra round of essential fund-raising, and then inevitably the usual clichés of “heads will roll” as people seek to safeguard their own pensionable positions after a disappointing result.

The International 49er is the most athletically-demanding of all the Olympic classes. How can young sailors be expected to give consistently of their best in a boat like when their funding and management support is barely adequate, and constantly in doubt?

How can any young athlete can be expected to give of their best in such a stressful framework? And it’s very poor consolation to have to grasp at the idea that most other nations – regardless of their “natural” situation or otherwise as a foremost sailing country - can also have their structural support problems.

For instance, within the recent past, the French national sailing authority has to all intents and purposes experienced bankruptcy. In a corporate state like France, such a thing may seem unthinkable, yet apparently such was the case.

But being very much a corporate state in the administrative sense, French sailing administration was able to rely on enough support to continue functioning with barely a visible glitch. In the USA, however, the official ambition is to reduce the role of the State if at all possible – as Ronald Reagan put it, the thing most red-blooded Americans fear and detest is having someone in a uniform turning up and saying: “We are from the Government, and we are here to help you”.

AMERICA’S UNIQUE PROBLEMS MAY BE A POST-OLYMPIC ATTITUDE

Yet in America, corporatism is in a completely different non-State form of the huge resources of big business conglomerates, and funds can be raised for something like Olympic sailing through having the right person – someone of real power and status – approach the promotional expenditure controllers of these industrial and financial behemoths.

Paul Cayard, one of the world’s truly great sailors and an inspirational leader. Originally from France, he raised Italian sailing to new heights, but despite a successful sailing career in his adopted home of America, even he has failed to re-invigorate the US Olympic Sailing Programme

Perhaps. But American Olympic sailing has been in the doldrums for some time now. And there are many possible explanations. For a start, the world’s only super-power with its enormous population is allowed only the same number of entries in the Olympics as the smallest sailing nation on earth. Yet the reality is that American Olympic participation could be given a boost if a greater element of more local pride could be introduced into it, and sailing states like Florida, California or a combined New England squad were allowed to take part as full national entries in their own right.

As it is, it’s difficult to avoid the notion that the USA may have reached a post-Olympics attitude in its sailing history. Let’s face it, the repetitive nature of the Olympic Regatta sailing programme and its classes is hardly likely to float the boat – in every sense – in a huge and energetic nation in which novelty and innovation and continually improving vehicles is what they live for.

PAUL CAYARD’S RESIGNATION FROM US SAILING

So there may be more to the sensational news of a month ago that the great Paul Cayard – just two years in the job of American Olympic Sailing Overlord – had quit. His statement said much, yet leaves much to be conjectured about the nature of America’s sailing culture:

“Unfortunately, over the past couple of months, the US Sailing Association and I had a complete breakdown on several levels. The process of resolution was not good and ultimately unsuccessful. Despite my passion for our mission and my perseverance, I can no longer work with US Sailing.
In 2020, I was told that trying to build a successful Olympic Team, within US Sailing, would be very challenging. Changing the processes, culture, and support for the Team is an extremely difficult task. We are just starting to make gains. Raising two or three times the amount of money ever raised in the USA to support that goal is also a difficult task. Starting and building an endowment so that future leaders will have something to rely on financially is another tall order.
Ultimately, the relationship with US Sailing proved to be one that I could not cope with. It pains me to admit that, as I did sail around the world twice, and generally feel pretty capable of dealing with adversity”.

There’s so much in that brief statement that people are still chewing over it, and for some of us it may point to the fact that sailing in the magnificent and diverse and inventive United States of America is entering a post-Olympic phase, for it is such a universe unto itself that it holds events like the Super-Bowl and other world titles in which no other nation is involved.

Back to doing what he does best. Paul Cayard in winning form in the International Star, which has thrived as a class since it was de-coupled from the Olympics

And come to think of it, here in little old Ireland the USP for the success of the GAA is that an Irish team is always guaranteed to win. But enough of such thoughts. All we’re trying to say is that it’s disturbing to think that much of the government funding for sailing in Ireland is reliant on the international success of a few talented and very dedicated youngsters whom we may praise to the skies when they achieve international success, yet the apparent glamour of their position disguises the fact that they often find themselves on a very lonely mission.

TOM DOLAN CHEERS US ALL

So it’s much more cheering to think that, this weekend, the indomitable Tom Dolan is due in Dun Laoghaire to prepare for a round Ireland record challenge. At no stage in his courageous career has he been strait-jacketed into the official narrow vision of what constitutes performance progress under the international public service approach. Yet for ordinary sailors everywhere in Ireland, he’s right up there with the best of them. And he’s as welcome as the flowers in Spring, for he has brought the Spring back with him as he comes home to Ireland.

Tom Dolan nicely placed in a series in Brittany in the first weekend of April. Next on the agenda is a Round Ireland Record Challenge from Dun Laoghaire.

Ireland’s Tom Dolan, sailing with a crew comprising England’s Alan Roberts and French ace Gildas Mahe, took overall victory today in the hotly contested Figaro Beneteau 3 class in France’s huge annual Easter showcase regatta Spi Ouest France.

Racing over four coastal races spanning the holiday weekend, Dolan and the team finished one point clear of the second-placed French crew after finishing with a third place today in the 11-boat class. Dolan, Roberts and Mahe scored a conclusive race win on Saturday when the breeze was very light, reading the transition zones and the tidal currents well.

“It was very close until the very end of the regatta. It was down to the last leg of the last race and we won with just a point in it.” said Dolan.” Saturday’s race made the difference to us winning though. Anyway, it is nice to race with your friends like this, we all know each other so well there is a good mood on board all the time. We sailed well. And from my point of view, my first time at Spi Ouest, where you are in amongst a fleet of over 400 different boats, there are many people out on the water, and it is nice to earn a win.”

“The last two days we have sailed for the points we need, that is to say, keeping a close eye on our rivals which is quite interesting.” Tom Dolan summarised.

Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan will be delivered later this week to Dun Laoghaire Harbour where the Irish sailor will prepare for his round Ireland solo record bid which will take place when an optimum weather window arrives between late April and May.

Irish sailor Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Achille Nebout should have been content with finishing in ninth place when they crossed the line off La Trinite sur Mer, Brittany yesterday, concluding the 315 nautical miles Laura Vergne Trophy, but the duo were mildly disappointed to lose two places in the final miles because of a tactical choice.

Racing Dolan's Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan the Irish-French pair led the 22 boat fleet not long after starting on Monday afternoon and through the whole passage were among the top four boats. But choosing to go to windward of the island of Houat cost them places.

"It is disappointing, it really is after having worked so hard and been up there. But it is a good lesson in risk management at the right time. This is not a championship race so I learn from it and am just glad it's not La Solitaire du Figaro, the big event." Dolan said on the dock in La Trinite.
The duo finished less than 15 minutes behind race winners Guillaume Pirouelle and Sophie Faguet.

“We kept hard at it, and it was great to be up with the frontrunners throughout the race. With Achille, we did, however make a stupid mistake right at the end, when we chose to go windward of the island of Houat. The wind was expected to strengthen from the West and move to our right. That is indeed what happened, but unfortunately too late for our option to pay off,” said the disappointed Irish racer.

He was nonetheless pleased with their speed and tactical choices. “On the very long 120-mile reaching tack between the tip of Brittany and Rochebonne, we started and finished with the same gap to the leaders, Région Normandie and Mutuelle Bleue, the references on the circuit, so that is encouraging,” added the skipper who will be making the most of a well-deserved rest tomorrow before competing again out on the water on Friday in the 45th Spi Ouest-France – Banque Populaire Grand Ouest.

He will be racing in the crewed division with Brit Alan Roberts and France's Gildas Mahé.

Two weeks after his encouraging sixth in the 2023’s season’s first race, the Solo Maître CoQ, Irish sailor Tom Dolan transitions to double-handed mode as he pairs up with French ace Achille Nebout for the new 316 miles Trophee Laura Verge which started this afternoon.

Over last year’s race season the Irish-French duo tested and trained a lot together, on the same boat and boat on boat testing. This Monday afternoon at 1500hrs aboard Dolan’s Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan they crossed the start line of this new race which has drawn a high-quality 22 boat fleet.

The race started off La Trinite sur Mer where it is due to finish on Wednesday after completing a loop down to the south in what look set to be mainly light winds, especially towards the finish when there might be a regrouping with the fleet compacting near the line. But Dolan is confident their pairing will prove a strong one.

“ We are good friends and have complementary skills, we have worked together, trained together and shared logistics before so we get on very well.” Dolan summarises, “He is from an Olympic background, so good at making the boat go fast.”

Although the pinnacle event of the season, August and September’s La Solitaire du Figaro, is a solo race Dolan is pleased to have the opportunity to race with a co-skipper of Nebout’s experience,

“ I like sailing with someone else, sailing solo can get monotonous sometimes so it is great to have someone to bounce ideas around with. And Achille is good, he is strong on starts, manoeuvres and boat on boat. And de got a podium overall on La Solitaire du Figaro. We know what works as we worked together last year and so we are very much on the same page.”

Before this afternoon’s start Dolan spoke of the weather and likely strategy, “For now, the weather files do not agree with each other. It's very difficult to know what's going to happen but in any case it promises to be interesting. They are taking us south instead of north to stay away from a high pressure system and its light winds. ”

To follow the race, see chart below

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan plans to return to his native Ireland from France in May when he will seek to break the singlehanded record for sailing 698 nautical miles around Ireland. The skipper of Smurfit Kappa –Kingspan is aiming to complete the circumnavigation in 3.5 days or less on his 30ft (10m) Figaro Beneteau 3 which he normally races in France where he has been based for more than a dozen years since leaving his rural, farming life at home in County Meath to pursue a career in solo ocean racing.

It's a busy time on the Round Ireland record front with two RORC sailors also scheduled to make a bid at the doublehanded record as Afloat reports here.

Dolan has harboured the round Ireland idea since 2020 during a period when all racing in France was cancelled because of the health crisis. Now, in 2023, a gap in his racing calendar has opened up and he is looking to seize the opportunity.

“ I wanted to do something valued and different.” recalls Dolan, “ Once the seed was sown in my mind and I saw the original record was set by an older Class40 I remain sure my more modern boat can go quicker.”

Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan plans to return to his native Ireland in May when he will seek to break the singlehanded record for sailing 698 nautical miles around Ireland.

He plans to bring Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan to Ireland in late April and will be based in Dun Laoghaire until a suitable weather window appears. He explains: “ I have never sailed round Ireland, and I know myself already that it is the most beautiful Island in the world, so it will be great for me to learn about my own country from the sea. It is also a very challenging course, with a lot of headlands, tidal gates and of course the infamous Irish weather. This idea has been in the back of my mind for a while, and as I have a gap in the season, I thought ‘let’s go’. And for me, it is a nice personal odyssey, a chance to come home and enjoy a big challenge and, after 12 years away in France, I suppose you could call it a little bit of a homecoming.”

And while he has raced many times around the famous Fastnet Rock and taught sailing in Baltimore, his knowledge of the west coast is limited.

“ The furthest west really I have been is Fastnet, so it will almost all be new to me, and so I am really looking forward to it.”

Tom Dolan at the helm of his 30ft (10m) Figaro Beneteau 3 in which he aims to sail round Ireland in 3.5 days or less to set a new solo speed record Photo: Alexis Courcoux 

A Class 40 sailed by Belgian Michel Kleinjans set a solo record of 4 days 2 hours in 2005, but the Department of Marine issued a notice effectively banning solo record attempts. Tom is of course, knowledgeable of the situation and will of course, respect all maritime safety regulations and rules set out by the World Speed Sailing Record Council. "I have a little surprise up the sleeve of my foul weather gear", he smiles.

Tom Dolan asserts, “I think three and a half days is possible and if conditions are really, really perfect, I think it could be done in under three days. That is based on my weather studies using historical weather forecast files over the last 15 years. I can run course routings which tell me what is feasible and whether it is best to round clockwise or counter-clockwise. There are so many different potential weather scenarios - a big anticyclone over Siberia, a good old fashioned Atlantic low pressure.” The decision will be taken at the time, but Dolan believes at the moment that going counter-clockwise, Ireland to port (left) is most probable.

“Leaving Ireland to port (to the left) seems most likely. There are strong tidal gates in the North Channel, between Scotland and Ireland, and so being able to leave and time them more accurately can be important rather than coming all the way around and hitting them at a time you cannot really predict before the start, so that is where there is the potential to lose a lot of time near the end. And there is quite often a wind shadow there, so you want to get through that bit and on to the West coast, which is the longest leg but where you can eat up the miles fastest and most efficiently.``

There is an existing record for the Beneteau Figaro 3, sailed two-handed, which was set by Pamela Lee and Cat Hunt in 2021 at three days and 19 hours. The Irish racer who has finished fifth and seventh overall on La Solitaire du Figaro, the unofficial world championship of solo one-design offshore racing, concludes, “It will be very different to racing. There will be no tactics involved, no fleet of boats racing in close contact with me like on La Solitaire du Figaro so although I will have to ensure safety on my own, equally I can set my own rhythm a bit more so I can pick the best times to sleep and eat according to the weather and the leg rather than what other competitors might be doing. You are not monitoring a fleet of rivals all the time can be incredibly tiring and stressful.”

Standby will be from the end of April to end of May in Dun Laoghaire so there will be a chance to sail with his sponsors Smurfit Kappa, Kingspan and Dubarry.

“I hope this is a great opportunity to engage with the Irish people. It is a good sailing challenge but easy enough to follow. I have never done anything like this before, and I can't wait"

Ireland’s leading solo offshore racer Tom Dolan laid to rest the ghosts of three past Solo Maître CoQ events when he finished seventh overall from a 30-boat fleet Saturday. After his 11th in Wednesday’s short inshore race the skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan fought back from a schoolboy error early in the 340 miles offshore race to finish eighth across the finish line off Les Sables d’Olonne on Saturday late afternoon.  

He passed the wrong side of a mark on the way south towards La Rochelle and had sailed three miles passed it before he turned back and made good his course. Not long after, he was 29th, but he once again proved one of the fastest sailors in the strong breeze when he pulled back through the fleet in blustery winds to 35kts at times.  

“It was good to be able to even see the winners in the end. I don’t really know how deep I was in the fleet but it was very bad and a silly mistake that could really have cost me", smiled a relieved and exhausted Dolan back in the Vendee port. “But this is my best ever Solo Maître CoQ yet, and so it’s fine, it’s good.”  

Of the navigational error he said “I gave the boat a good thumping with my fist I was that angry with myself but having vented I just got on with concentrating on my strategy and bit by bit it paid off.” reported Dolan who blew his chances of a good result last year when he tore his gennaker sail. The previous edition he twisted his ankle and had to retire from the offshore and on his first attempt he lost his focus entirely when he made a few bad early decisions and finished way down the fleet,  

 “This long offshore was tough, with calm and a real battle in the strong winds, it just got windier all through last night.  It was trying, both for the nerves and physically and hard on the boats, so I am glad I did not break anything.”  

“In the end, it was about going fast and not breaking anything. I took places as I went but obviously, when I started to get closer to the leaders, it became more complicated! “, said the Irish skipper who crossed the finish line after two days and five hours at sea.”  

“Anyway the hoodoo is buried and it feels good! “ concluded Dolan whose next regatta is the Laura Vergne Trophy, the lead-up to the Spi Ouest-France Banque Populaire Grand-Ouest event on April 1 in La Trinité-sur-Mer. 

As expected the weather conditions and more significantly the sea state with a swell greater than 5 meters off Les Sables d'Olonne, required Race Management of the 20th Solo Maître CoQ to give up the idea of a short coastal course on Tuesday.

There is positive news for Ireland's Tom Dolan (Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan) and the 29 other solo competitors who have been forced to stay ashore for two days.

The situation is expected to improve significantly by Wednesday and should allow the organization to launch the first contest, a coastal course of 15, 5 miles between Petite Barge and Port-Bourgenay.

The start of this race which has a coefficient of 1.5 is scheduled for 1100hrs.

The winds should be from the south-southeast blowing between 6 and 12 knots.

Then Thursday at midday is the start of the main 340 miles offshore between the Iles de Ré, Yeu and Belle-Ile.

After Monday's severe gales which buffeted the French Vendee coast to keep Ireland's Tom Dolan and the 29 other solo skippers tied to the dock in Les Sables d'Olonne unable to race, a proposed new programme for the Solo Maître CoQ has been announced by Race Direction.

The plan is to try and do a 16.5 nautical miles loop off Les Sables d'Olonne Tuesday if the winds and seas have dropped enough; planned starting time is 1400hrs local time.

Dolan, skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan commented “The situation is quite complex. The wind is expected to ease tomorrow morning but a five-metre swell is predicted and could make it difficult to get out of the channel out of Les Sables d'Olonne. We will know very soon though as we get out from the protection of the breakwaters."

He continues, “If it's not possible tomorrow I am sure it will be better Wednesday when Race Direction plan a coastal race of 15.2 miles at 1100hrs before the start of the big race scheduled for the next day at 1200hrs. It would be really nice to be able to get these two inshore courses away because that is what is different and important about this Solo Maître CoQ, it tests coastal and offshore racing."

“This is an important event for me, the first of the season. I have had problems here with the last few editions of this event, and so I have to work on my mental condition, just really concentrate on what is important and not make mistakes. I try to be really, really focussed on the weather strategy, my navigation and, how I am sailing, where I am relative to the fleet, but to not think about ‘what ifs’ or think about messing it up, what happened last time.” explains Dolan.

“But I don’t feel any pressure really, I try to think only about my sailing. My inshore sailing is better than it has been. Offshore I know this race course by heart so It does not hold any secrets by now.” Dolan contends.

This 20th edition of Solo Maître Coq has attracted 30 entries and is the first solo race of the season for the Beneteau Figaro 3 fleet on the French Elite Solo Ocean Racing Championship.

A comprehensive sail testing programme completed in January and longer periods of intensive pre-season training races should mean Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan is well equipped to stake his claim to regular podium places over the course of the Figaro Bénéteau season in France.

The seven-month racing season starts next weekend with the curtain-raising Solo Maître CoQ in Les Sables d’Olonne.

“I certainly feel good and have established myself well up in the fleet in training. I feel like I am sailing better than ever before, but until you go racing, you never really know if you have made the gains or the others are not as sharp yet.” smiles Dolan, the skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan who has just returned to France and his programme after a short break with family and friends at home in his native Ireland.

“I had the boat launched in the water in early January – as early as I ever have – and did a week of sail testing with Incidences Sails and a couple of the top French guys, Alexis Loison and Jules Delpech, and that were very interesting. It was enough to give lots of confidence in their new technology and shapes and get the sails ordered very early.”

With his training group out of Lorient, Brittany Dolan has spent many hours refining boat handling and short course starts and tactics, much more so than previously when the pre-season preparations focused on straight-line speed testing.
“The thing is actually the more racing you do the more you learn when you are fast and slow relative to the fleet and so we think it is time better spent. Now I am just itching to go racing for real.”

The Solo Maître CoQ has proven something of a bogey event for Dolan. In the past. Three editions ago he lost focus when his strategy did not work initially, and he made some rash, wrong choices, two editions ago, he twisted his ankle and had to retire and last year he blew up a sail, so he is very much hoping this is his year to finish on the podium and his bad luck has run in threes.

“Actually, I am quietly confident, ready to go and deal with what comes my way. I am definitely one of the older and more experienced guys now and feel I have proven myself. There is quite a bit of turnover now in the Figaro fleet, I am among the best and I feel I am in good shape.” Dolan asserts.

His season will pivot around five major events on his programme: the Solo Maître CoQ (from March 9 to 19), the Laura Vergne Trophy as a prelude to the Spi Ouest -France Banque Populaire Grand-Ouest (from April 1 to 2), the Tour de Bretagne (from June 29 to July 9), the Solo Guy Cotten (from July 23 to 30) all leading up to the season’s pinnacle the Solitaire du Figaro (from August 19 to September 17).

The first stage of the course for the 2023 La Solitaire du Figaro is from Caen in France to Kinsale in Ireland

The course for the 2023 La Solitaire du Figaro has been recently published and includes the first stage from Caen to Kinsale in Ireland. The second leg goes north into the Irish Sea to a mark at the Isle of Man. All three stages are well over 600 miles in length usually meaning four nights at sea.

“It’s an interesting course, I always seem to be able to do well going to the Fastnet and around the area I know well but you never know. But for sure, I am looking forwards to going back to Kinsale.” he enthuses. “It’s definitely a stage I’d love to win.”

Tom Dolan is from a farming family in Meath, and started his sailing on Lough Ramor plumb in the middle of Ireland, but thanks to Glenans Ireland (now Glenua) he has been totally committed to France’s challenging solo and two-handed offshore circuit for a dozen years now. With the reputation of being L’Irlandais Volante (The Flying Irishman) in this rarefied world, in September, he added to his laurels with sixth overall and the Vivi Trophy for the top non-French participant in the Figaro Solo 2022.