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Moonduster
Moonduster - She has languished, unused, neglected, and deteriorating in a dock in Trondheim, but she is now being restored, and, as Derek Holden reports…
The 'Duster' is smiling again and looking good as restoration and upgrading work continues in Norway. Posting what he describes as a "happy update" on Facebook about the restoration of the legendary Moonduster "from the Duster team here in Norway,"…
The beginning of a welcome new chapter. Moonduster hauled over the weekend in Trondheim in Norway
We've always believed that all truly good works are best done by stealth, and so it has proved. On Friday night (June 21st, Mad Midsummmer's Day) we heard a whisper that there'd been movement on the entombed Moonduster in Trondheim…
Just one step from becoming a ghost ship. The very unused classic 1981-vintage Frers 51 Moonduster seen recently languishing in Trondheim in Norway
In the Spring of 1981, Dens Doyle’s Frers 51 Moonduster was launched at Crosshaven into a glittering 20-year partnership in which she and her very special owner-skipper became a much-admired feature of the European offshore racing scene. It was a…
Denis Doyle’s Moonduster in her prime, as she was between 1981 and 2001 – designed by German Frers Jnr, built by Crosshaven Boatyard, and with sails by McWilliam of Crosshaven
As each year passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to explain to up-and-coming offshore racers just what “The Doyler and The Duster” meant to a whole generation of Irish sailors writes W M Nixon. Crosshaven-built in 1981 and kitted out with…
The current condition of Moonduster. See more pictures in the slideshow below
The great Denis Doyle’s star-quality Frers 51 Moonduster of 1981 vintage, built in Crosshaven Boatyard with the legendary Dick Leonard in charge of the construction details and the then-locally-based designer Tony Castro as consultant, is in a sorry state in…
An elegantly varnished hull with effortlessly powerful performance…. Moonduster off Cork in May 1981.
Hello and welcome aboard this week’s edition of your maritime programme Seascapes .....this week we hear about efforts afoot to assist in the restoration of “Moonduster”; we have the results of our recent competition for copies of Carsten Kriegers ‘…
A glorious debut. Even the cheapest of printing and forgetting to put the year in the cover date for the magazine failed to lessen the fabulous impact made by Moonduster on Irish sailing in May 1981
This week’s sad video on Afloat.ie about the dilapidated and deteriorating condition of the late Denis Doyle of Cork’s very special Frers 51 Moonduster in northern Norway has led to a flurry of communication on social media, and all sorts…
The poor condition of Moonduster's varnished stern. The full video on facebook (below) reveals the current state of the 1988 Round Ireland record holder
There has been plenty of comment on social media about the current condition of the much loved Irish yacht Moonduster, the former Round Ireland record holder skippered by the late Denis Doyle of the Royal Cork Yacht Club. See the…
Afloat.ie: Which Moonduster was lost?
News that the yacht Moonduster, once owned by the late Denis Doyle of Crosshaven had been lost this month has led to confusion in some quarters about which boat in the series of Moondusters owned by Doyle had been sunk…

About Moonduster

The queen of all fleets. Denis Doyle's legendary Moonduster was the flagship of Irish offshore racing for twenty years. Doyle's enthusiastic support moved the Round Ireland Race into the international league, and his regular participation set performance standards which greatly enhanced the event. 

Doyle owned four different Moondusters in his long career. His last boat, arguably the best known, the varnished Frers, was sold to Norway around 2005 where she is still sailing but not in the same state of repair as she had been in Crosshaven.