Champions Emerging At Breezy Dun Laoghaire Regatta Day Two

10th July 2015

The J109 Storm leads the J109 National Championships at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

#vdlr – As Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2015 reaches its halfway stage, leaderboards are shaping up across 29 classes. The strong wind sixth edition of Ireland's biggest sailing event has produced some impressive performances on the water.

With a strong wind warning there was alway going to be gear damage on day two of the massive 415-boat regatta. Battered sailors returned to harbour tonight with plenty of stories from the race course of retirals, torn sails, crews overboard, capsizes and dismastings. A lifeboat call–out and worrying stories of yachts straying into the Dublin Port shipping lanes only added to the drama of day two.

It marked a busy day for both for competitors and the race committee who were forced to postpone racing for the dinghies and one designs until lunch time as southerly winds touched 30-knots yesterday morning.

With all classes aiming for either two or three races today, results in the 415-boat fleet were still being computed in some classes at 7pm partly due to the late start of the one designs.

Racing started with the bumper 25–boat IRC offshore class and a start close to the Dun Laoghaire shoreline. Adrian Lee's canting keel Cookson 50 Lee Overlay took an immediate advantage in the heavy airs to lead the fleet south and now leads the division from George Sisk's Farr 42 WOW from the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Third is Kinsale visitor Freya, an X–442, skippered by Conor Doyle.

The offshore race was not without incident and in the closing stages in the afternoon the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat was called to render assistance to a man overboard from the Arklow J122 Aquelina with winds reaching 25 knots in choppy seas.

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Mobile phone footage gives a glimpse of the strong wind start to this morning's IRC offshore race

Three straight wins for Royal Cork Yacht Jump Juice puts skipper Conor Phelan in the running for the top overall performance in the regatta so far. The former Commodore's Cupper is now five points clear of the Clyde's Corby 37 Auora (R Stuart B Ram) in the seven boat fleet. Struggling to perform so far, however, in this big boat class, is the new C&C 30 Checkmate XVI under skipper Nigel Biggs from the Royal Irish.

The Ker 37 Jump Juice (Conor Phelan) took wins in the first three races of the series in Class Zero

Bon Exemple (XP33) owned by X Yachts GB from the Royal Irish Yacht Club leads Class one

In class one, two Royal Irish yachts, Bon Exemple, an XP33 and Paul O'Higgins' Corby 33 Rockabill V are separated by a single point at the top of the 16–boat fleet. Third is another Dublin Bay boat, the A35 Gringo skippered by Tony Fox of the National Yacht Club.

South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club Injenious J97 is the leader of class two from Howth Half–Tonner Checkmate XV. Third is Craig Latimer's J/92 Wildebeest V from the Clyde Cruising Club.

The Howth X 302 Dux (Anthony Gore-Grimes) is counting two wins and a second to lead clubmate Paddy Kyne's sistership by a single point in the 11–boat class three. Third is another Howth boat, the Corby 25 Fusion (Richard Colwell/Ronan Cobbe).

The battle of the Howth X 302s – Dux (Anthony Gore-Grimes) leads Maximus (Paddy Kyne) below

After three races sailed Royal Irish yachts have taken the lead in cruiser class four. Paul Colton's Quarter Tonner Cri Cri has the same five points as the Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Ballyholme entry Starflash (Alan Morrison and John Simms)but leads by virtue of her two race wins today.

The Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Ballyholme entry Starflash (Alan Morrison and John Simms) is on the same points as cruisers four leader Cri-Cri

Quarter–tonner Quest (Barry Cunningham/Jonathon Skerritt) from the Royal Irish Yacht Club looks in great shape on the upwind leg of race two in Cruisers four...

...until a dismasting only moments later

Pat Kelly's first race advantage in the J109 National Championships, being sailed as part of the regatta, turned out to be short–lived when Thursday's race was scrubbed due to an error in the starting sequence. The aim is to re-run the race tomorrow. Kelly, however, did not let the setback deter him and took two further wins today. It puts the Howth boat at the top of the leaderboard and ahead of pre-regatta favourites, John Maybury's Joker II, who counts two seconds.

An error in the starting sequence in race one (above) for the J109s caused the race to be scrubbed on Thursday night

Alan Harper's Leaky Roof 2 from the Clyde takes a second race win to lead the Sigma 33s

In a fine turn out of 16 Sigma 33s Alan Harper's Leaky Roof 2 from the Clyde Cruising Club leads Belfast lough rival Squawk (Paul Prentice). Third is local yacht Popje skippered by Ted McCourt of the National Yacht Club.

Three race wins gives Ian Mathews and Keith Poole the lead in the 20–boat Flying Fifteen class.

According to forecasters, it looks like there will be more blustery south-westerlies for racing tomorrow, moderating slightly for the final races on Sunday morning.

The vintage wooden Huff of Arklow raced by Cremyll Charity is sailing under the Royal St George Yacht Club burgee. Read more on Huff's participation in VDLR 2015 in WM Nixon's blog tomorrow on Afloat.ie here

Scroll down for 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta results class by class

Read all the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Race News in one handy link here
Click links to read more on VDLR IRC divisions Coastal, IRC Zero, IRC One, IRC Two and IRC Three
Listen to Lorna Siggins's interview with Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Race Director Paddy Boyd here
Read more on the Coastival Festival here
See live Dublin Bay webcams covering here

Afloat will be posting regular race updates throughout the 2023 Regatta. Send your photos, tips and stories by email to [email protected]

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Race Results

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.