The defending Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta offshore champion is among the first six entries into that division for July’s regatta, a class that looks set to become one of the biggest fleets of the biennial event again.
As regular Afloat readers will recall, Seamus Fitzpatrick's victory in the First 50, Mermaid came in the final races of the 28-boat IRC offshore class in 2019 when the Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper beat the Welsh J109 Mojito, an ISORA champion, for the VDLR title.
Niall Dowling’s Ker 40 Arabella joins the VDLR offshore fleet
This July, Fitzpatrick can expect more competition in the form of club-mate Niall Dowling’s Ker 40 Arabella that is joining the VDLR offshore fray for the first time. London based Dowling took both line honours and the overall win in Wicklow’s Round Ireland Race in 2018 with the bigger Ker 43 Baraka GP and is set to be back on Irish waters next July 8.
Royal Irish Beneteau Entries
Three different Beneteau models are already entered for VDLR’s offshore class that, as predicted by Afloat, looks likely to be the type of racing most appropriate in 2021. As well as the Royal Irish champion First 50, other RIYC Beneteau’s are Leslie Parnell’s Beneteau First 34.7 and Keith and Rodney Martin’s Beneteau First 44.7, Lively Lady.
J125 Jackknife returns
Another strong offshore entry returning to Dun Laoghaire Harbour is Andrew Hall's J125 Pwhelli-based Jackknife. This regular Irish visitor only narrowly missed out on the 2019 ISORA overall title and was a late favourite into the 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race.
Two-handed class
As well as a buoyant offshore class, VDLR has also initiated a new two-handed offshore class, a move that has been warmly received by short-handed sailing exponents such as top Irish Figaro sailor, Tom Dolan.
New format regatta for 2021
The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.
The 2019 Volvo Dun Laoghaire event was hailed an enormous success both afloat and ashore for a combined fleet of 498 boats in over 34 classes, the biggest on the Irish Sea. Over 290 races on five different courses were staged over four days.
For 2021, in order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes.
Strong early VDLR entry
In liaising with classes, organisers estimate entry numbers are 'very good' and 'on a par with 2019', so it looks like both VDLR weekends will have a strong entry by the close of the early bird entry discount at the end March.