Almost 300 Yachts Already Entered as July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Launches

16th May 2023

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 203 launches Pictured (L-R) are Volvo Ambassadors Amy Huberman, Author and Actress, and Dermot Bannon, Architect, alongside Maria McEnery, of Event Sponsor, Volvo Cars Ireland and Don O’Dowd, VDLR Chairman at the launch of the 9th Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Ireland’s largest regatta which takes place from July 6th - July 9th. Amy is attending Ladies Day as a special guest, at this now major international sailing event.Co-hosted by the 4 Waterfront Yacht Clubs in Dun Laoghaire (Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, National Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Royal St. George Yacht Club) Credit: Marc O'Sullivan

Volvo Ambassadors Amy Huberman, Author and Actress, and Dermot Bannon, Architect, were ‘onboard’ to help launch the ninth Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Ireland’s largest regatta, which takes place from Thursday, July 6th to Sunday, July 9th 2023 - now a major international sailing event, with craft travelling from as far afield as Hong Kong and South Africa to participate.

Reflecting the event’s growing international profile, more than 41 different sailing clubs are represented, including the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, UK, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, amongst others.

Growing steadily since its inception in 2005, the event is eclipsed in scale only by the UK’s Cowes Regatta, one of the longest-running regattas in the world.

Volvo Ambassadors and Dermot Bannon, Architect and Amy Huberman, Author and Actress at the launch of the 9th Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Marc O'Sullivan

Co-hosted by the four waterfront Yacht Clubs in Dun Laoghaire (Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, National Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club and Royal St. George Yacht Club), this biennial four-day event is set to welcome upwards of 400 boats across 36 competing classes of boats, ranging from small 14-foot dinghies up to ocean-going 50-footers, with no less than 2000 individual crew members travelling from all over the world to participate in the event.

VDLR Event Director, Paddy Boyd, speaking about the much-loved event, which showcases the very best of Irish (and international) sailing action on the water, said, “The tide is rising once again for Dun Laoghaire Port, and we’re hugely proud of the role that the VDLR has played in this upward trajectory over the last number of years. With over 300 sailing races across 30 classes, and 2,500 competitors ranging from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, there is a growing acknowledgement of the role of sailing as an economic driver in the harbour town. Aside from this, there are no less than 200 cruise liners due to visit the port this Summer. Watersports are thriving with over 40 different organizations operating within the harbour walls, home to the country’s largest marina with 800 pleasure boats, a new site for the Sport Ireland National Watersports Campus and the permanent base of the Irish Olympic Sailing Team” He continued, “Our Town and waterfront communities have been working hard to plot a new course for Dun Laoghaire – the culmination of which will be celebrated during our Regatta this July and the town’s inaugural Coastival Festival”

This year’s Regatta coincides with ‘Coastival’, a brand new, week-long family-focused festival for all, celebrating Dun Laoghaire’s incredible maritime heritage with various events, including Maritime Movies on the Green, Coastival Nights with live music and comedy, boat cruises, and free sailing, kayaking and paddle boarding.

For competitors in the VDLR, the Volvo Trophy is on the line for the overall winner of IRC classes, and with 25 entries already in, two months before the first gun, Class One IRC looks like it's going to be a repeat of some of the hottest Irish Sea IRC action since before the Covid Pandemic.

Scottish boats are travelling to Dun Laoghaire under the RC35 class banner that will add to the Class One fleet, making it one of the most keenly contested battles of the season.

In addition to Class One, key classes in the line-up include an offshore class which will feature coastal races along the Dublin and Wicklow coasts, and competing ‘one design’ classes will include the brand-new Cape 31s, Beneteau 31.7s, Beneteau 211, Sigma 33, Ruffian 23s, and Dragons.

Dinghy classes will include the GP14, Wayfarer, Squib, Mermaid, Flying Fifteen, and single-handed Lasers and the heritage Water Wag class.

Alan Cowley, Commercial Director and Acting MD for Volvo Cars Ireland, added, “The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is an incredibly well-run, and professionally organised event, and we’re so proud to be title sponsor – an inherent part of the team and event since 2007. The Volvo brand is synonymous with sailing all across the world, both at a community and international level, through the Ocean Race, so VDLR is a natural fit for us here in Ireland. At Volvo, everything we do begins with people, from our commitment to safety, to innovation. We believe in the importance of supporting local organisations, particularly those that drive community engagement, where our customers live, work and engage in sporting activities as an important part of daily life. There is also synergy in that both VDLR and Volvo have shared commitments to minimising the impact of our activities on the environment – another reason why our collaboration on this event works so well”

The VDLR is kindly supported by

• Volvo Car Ireland in partnership with Spirit Motor Group (Title sponsor)
• Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
• Rationel Windows & Doors
• Helly Hansen
• Collen Construction
• Dubarry of Ireland
• The Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire
• UK Sailmakers
• Crane Hire Limited

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

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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.