A crowd of sailors, sponsors and volunteers attended the official launch of Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta 2019 at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland last night.
This eighth edition of the regatta event promises to be the second biggest sailing event in Northern Europe this year and is attracting a large visiting entry from around the Irish Sea and further afield. A crowd of sailors, sponsors and volunteers attended the official launch at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland on Thursday 4th April.
The event is previewed by David O'Brien in the Irish Times Sailing Column this morning here and also on Afloat.ie here.
The significance of the event for the town was evident from the gathering of councillors and official representatives.
Mary Mitchell O'Connor T.D., Minister of State for Education, who is a local representative, highlighted the role of volunteers in staging the massive event that relies upon over a 300-strong team.
Among the guests last night was Irish Sailing President Jack Roy, the event's Chief Race Officer Con Murphy and newly elected National Yacht Club Commodore Martin McCarthy. DBSC Turkey Shoot organiser Fintan Cairns attended along with new DBSC Hon Sec Chris Moore.
The Royal Irish's Pat Shannon and the Royal St. George's Derek Ryan were also part of the 400-strong launch party along with Dun Laoghaire Harbour Master Captain Simon Coate.
The Irish Marine trade was well represented too with, among others, Graham Curran of UK Sailmakers, Antonia O'Rourke of Viking Marine and Joss Walsh and John O'Kane of MGM Boats.
Howth Yacht Club guests included former commodore Brian Turvey and Paddy Judge. Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race organiser Adam Winkelmann also attended along with class reps from 30 different class associations that will participate in July.
Photos of last night's special gathering by Gareth Craig are below with WM Nixon's take on the 2019 VDLR appearing in his Afloat.ie blog tomorrow.