Displaying items by tag: Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

7th November 2019

170 Boats Set To Line Up For 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart

Wild Oats XI (left) and Comanche competing in a previous Rolex Sydney Hobart

Entry for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race has now closed — and organisers at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) have announced that 170 yachts from Australia and overseas will take part in their 75th race.

This will make it the largest fleet since the 50th in 1994 in which a record 371 yachts started, and the fourth-largest in the history of the race.

Commenting on the fleet, CYCA Commodore Paul Billingham said: “To receive such an incredible number of entries this year is astonishing and testimony to the enduring appeal of the Great Race.

“The range of yachts is truly impressive and the spectacle we will witness on Boxing Day will be unprecedented in the modern era of the race.”

Among this year’s number are five super-maxis: Peter Harburg’s Black Jack (Qld); Jim Cooney and Samantha Grant’s record-holder Comanche (NSW); Christian Beck’s InfoTrack (NSW); the Oatley family’s reigning line-honours champion, Wild Oats XI (NSW); and Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag from Hong Kong.

International boats are representative of Ireland, Great Britain, France, China, Hungary, Poland, Hong Kong and USA — and while New South Wales has predictably yielded the largest Australian numbers, with 96, the other states have produced healthy numbers, too.

There are also a few ‘first timers’, most notably the first Aboriginal crew to ever take part in the race with the Beneteau 47.7, Tribal Warrior.

There are 10 past overall winners representative of various sizes and eras, from the 2018 winner, Philip Turner’s RP66 Alive; Matt Allen’s TP52 Ichi Ban; Bob Steel’s TP52 Quest, which also won as Paul Clitheroe’s Balance seven years later; Oskana, a Cookson 50 that won as Victoire in 2013; Simon Kurts’ 46-year-old classic yacht, Love & War, one of only two three-time winners in the race’s history; and two-time winner Wild Oats XI.

Published in Sydney to Hobart

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Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Fleet Already Building For 75th Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

Wild Oats XI approaching the finish to take line honours in the 2018 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race Yacht Race

A mix of newcomers and race-winning veterans headline a 75-strong list already entered in the 75th editor of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race which sets sail less than seven months from now, on Thursday 26 December.

The Cayman Islands-registered Caro is the latest, returning to the race after a five-year hiatus, bringing the number of entries to 75 with five months remaining for further entries.

Two multiple-race-winning yachts, Love & War and Quest, have officially announced their return, with many more expected before entries close on 25 October — hopefully including, for Irish interests, last year’s line-honours winners Wild Oats XI.

Oskana (previously Victoire) is another previous winner who’s registered for the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart, having won the Tattersall Cup in 2013.

Simon Kurts’ Sparkman & Stephens 47, Love & War (NSW), is one of only two yachts to ever win the Tattersall Cup three times — in 1974, 1978 and 2006 — and is making her triumphant return after a few years’ absence from the great race.

Alongside her entry is Bob Steel’s TP52, Quest, a two-time overall winner in 2008 as Quest and 2015 as Balance.

The 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart could also feature a strong fleet of rookies. New to offshore racing is Mark Spring, who has entered Highly Sprung.

Spring bought the Beneteau 45 in Thailand before racing her in 2018 Hamilton Island Race Week. She won the Pittwater to Paradise earlier this year — and now Spring has his sights set on Boxing Day.

“We’ve been putting in the time and effort on the water and done some team performance evenings and lots of races to get ready for the Hobart,” Spring says.

“I’ve chosen some mates that sail a bit, and then some others who have sailed a lot. We’ve got a well-rounded team and some that are serious offshore racers.”

The bulk of the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet currently sits in the 40-50ft range, where most yacht owners have their eye on the Tattersall Cup for the overall win.

French entrant Daguet (Mylius 50), About Time (Cookson 50) and Carrera S (Marten 49) are just some of the first-timers who join the likes of race veterans Black Sheep (Beneteau First 45), Chancellor (Beneteau 47.7) and Last Tango (Salona 44) in the hotly contested range.

The returning yachts with their sights on line-honours victory include Peter Harburg’s Black Jack (Qld) and Christian Beck’s Infotrack (NSW), the 2016 Rolex Sydney Hobart line-honours winner as Perpetual Loyal.

The race within the race for line honours is sure to grow as more 100ft supermaxis are expected to enter the 75th Rolex Sydney Hobart, which starts on spectacular Sydney Harbour on 26 December before heading south, finishing at Constitution Dock in Hobart, Tasmania.

The 75th anniversary of the race will include a number of exciting features for both competitors and fans, with further information to be released in the months ahead.

Prospective entrants can find out how to take part in the 2019 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race HERE.

Published in Sydney to Hobart

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Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

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Page 6 of 6

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.