Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom retains lead on second day of Qualifying Series at the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship in Oman but it has been a tough four races for Ireland's Annalise Murphy who lies in 82nd place in the 100–boat fleet. Tomorrow (Sunday) will see the final Qualifying Series races (5 and 6) take place.

After another glorious day of racing on the Gulf of Oman, Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) retains the overall lead in the Qualifying Series at the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship. Marit Bouwmeester (NED), the reigning world champion, also retains her second overall despite a relatively poor day on the race course.

The wind played true to form with a light breeze in the morning forcing a short postponement but finished off with winds up in the mid teens that provided exciting racing.

Number two-ranked Rindom (25), representing Horsens Sejlklub in Jutland, Denmark, had a mixed day with a poor result in the first race of the day, which she was able to discard, but was back on form for race two, which she won. Naturally she came ashore this afternoon with a smile on her face.

"It was a tough day because it was very up and down. The first race was bad. I had a good start but from then on it was really bad and I made a lot of mistakes. Thankfully I made up for it in the second race,” she said.

Second-placed Bouwmeester (NED) was not quite so happy about her day but is pleased to have kept her top result. As she stepped ashore after a tough final race, Bouwmeester said: “It was an okay day but I have to say, I am not too pleased with myself. I always try to do my best but today I failed myself a bit. Hopefully I will have a better day tomorrow.”

The transition from light to heavier winds this afternoon resulted in some extremely shifty conditions, which made for even more tactical racing. One notable performance came from Viktorija Andrulyte (LTU). This 23-year-old, lightweight sailor from Kaunas – the second-largest city in Lithuania – recently qualified her country for the Olympics. She sailed exceptionally well in the first race of the day and won Blue group by an impressive 1 minute, 6 seconds over Tuula Tenkanen (FIN), who is currently lying third overall in the rankings.

Andrulyte commented: “Today was all about taking the shifts and I think that, combined with my lightweight, was the key to my win. I had a bit of a poor start but I took the shifts and got to the mark in the top three. I was then able to extend on that and have a good lead at the finish.”

Lijia Xu (CHN), reigning Olympic champion who has returned to sailing after a two-year break, had another reasonable day including a third place in Yellow group in race 2. This leaves her in fourth place in the rankings. Xu (28) said the wind trend on the race course today was very typical: “When the wind picks up it veers and shifts to the right. It is tough, but I am trying to sail as fast as I can and also to learn from others and to learn from mistakes.”

Fellow Chinese sailor Min Gu sailed well today scoring a first place in the opening race of the day in the same group, which keeps her well up the rankings even with a 21st to count.

Tomorrow (Sunday) will see the final Qualifying Series races (5 and 6) take place. The start time is scheduled for 1300 local time (CET +3) and once again the fleet will split into Yellow and Blue groups, the results of which will cumulate to determine the overall rankings.

After the first two races of the Laser Radial Women’s World Championship in Oman, Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) leads the field overnight, with Marit Bouwmeester (NED) in second. Ireland's Annalise Murphy scored a 35 and a 33 to be placed 74th in the 100–boat fleet. Download the results sheet below. 

In winds that reached 9–knots the 100 competitors enjoyed an exciting start to the intense six-day event.

Number 2-ranked Rindom (25), from Aarhus, Denmark comes to the event fresh from a win at the Semaine Olympique Francaise, La Rochelle, France in October. She continues to sail impressively and in Blue group today, managed to hold off current reigning world champion Marit Bouwmeester (NED) who is in second place overnight.

Commenting on her win, Rindom said: “It was a really good day. I managed to have good speed, which is very important in this competitive fleet. In the coming days, I think it will be a fierce competition between today’s top 10, and I look forward to what lies ahead.”

Leader of Yellow group today and fifth overall in the overall rankings is Philipine Van Aanholt (ARU). Twenty-three-year-old Van Aanholt, posted a 10th and a 3rd to beat world ranked number one – Evi Van Acker (BEL), 30. Van Acker with a second and a 12th is lying 7th in the overall rankings. Commenting on today’s racing Van Aanholt said: “I think I made good decisions today and I am just really happy about it. The conditions are generally light and shifty which makes it really tactical, but I like it that way.”

One of the most impressive performances today came from Lijia Xu (CHN) – reigning Olympic champion. This 28-year old speed sailor who has spent the last two years recovering from back and knee pain, led both races in Blue group today and finished the day with a 1st and 10th, which leaves her in fourth place overall.

Commenting on her comeback, Xu said: “I am really pleased with my performance today after such a long time off. I had a forced break from sailing because I felt I could no longer sustain the heavy training and the intensive load of sailing the Laser Radial. I suffered a lot with lower back and knee pain so it is a bonus to sail here pain free. I am pleased to see my feeling is still there but obviously I need to practice more to get those boat handling skills, and fitness back.”

Another race winner today in Yellow group was Paige Railey. This high profile American Olympic sailor who has spent over a year recovering from a cycling accident is back on form again. She won the Pan American Games in Toronto in August and now looks set to challenge for a top place at this event.

Following a lavish, Laser Radial Women’s World Championship grand opening ceremony yesterday evening, which showcased the best of Omani cultural hospitality, and a tough day on the water today, the 100-strong fleet is taking time to relax this evening and prepare for day two of the regatta.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, David Graham (CEO Oman Sail) said this event will help to create a lasting legacy in Oman for female sailors: “Our Women’s Programme has created new career opportunities for Omani women in sailing, either as coaches or instructors, or as part of the region’s first all-female sailing team – regularly lining up alongside male teams and showing that sport can break down boundaries and provide equal footing on which to compete.”

It was evident from the sort of performance seen on the race course today that this women’s event is going to live up to its reputation. Jeff Martin, Executive Secretary of the International Laser Class Association, commented: “The 2015 Laser Radial Women’s World Championship is the largest and arguably the toughest of all the women’s Olympic sailing events. Here in Mussanah we have 100 of the world’s best women sailors from 48 countries across five continents.”

The second day of racing (races 3 and 4 of the Qualifying Series) continues tomorrow (Saturday). Once again the fleet will split into Yellow and Blue groups, with the first race scheduled for 1200 local time (CET +3).

The best female Laser sailors in the world including Ireland's Annalise Murphy will be sharpening their skills and tactics ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when the 2015 Laser Radial Women’s World Championships get underway in Mussanah, Oman, later this month.

In their last major competition before Olympic sailing starts on 15 August 2016, and the final qualifying event of the cycle, the 100 top Laser Radial sailors including London 2012 gold medallist Lijia Xu from China and Evi Van Acker from Belgium who is ranked world number one, will be arriving at Al Mussanah Sports City determined to leave their mark on this fiercely competitive fleet.

In October, Mussanah played host to the hugely successful RS:X World Windsurfing Championships and the Rio-like conditions in the Gulf of Oman are similarly expected to produce new rivalries and see old scores settled among the medal hungry Laser women.

Their World Championship campaigns will start on Tuesday 10 November when they descend on the Millennium Resort race village to begin their acclimatisation and training before the first qualifying race gets underway on Thursday 20 November.

Six days of racing, with two back to back races each day, will culminate in a prize-giving and closing ceremony attended by a host of dignitaries from the Sultanate of Oman, event organisers Oman Sail and from the International Laser Class Association.

With Van Acker looking to reaffirm her position in the fleet, competition promises to be tough. One of her main rivals Gintare Volungeviciute-Scheidt from Lithuania won the recent Test Event in Rio and will have received plenty of handy tips on the conditions at Mussanah from Brazilian husband Robert who swept to victory in the Laser World Championships in Oman in 2013.

Dutch rival Marit Bouwmeester, silver medallist at London 2012 and ranked fourth in the world, Alison Young from Great Britain in third and Anne-Marie Rindom from Denmark will also be keen to establish themselves as contenders for the gold medal in nine months time while Paige Riley from the US will be looking to repeat her 4th place success from the Test Event in August.

Chinese interest will be running high as Lijia Xu returns to competition for the first time in two years though she has already made it clear she will not be campaigning at Rio 2016, opting instead to continue her studies in England and explore other sailing opportunities. Laser Radial fans are in for a real treat as these top class contenders battle it out for honours at such a critical time in their preparations in a venue recognised as a perfect warm up opportunity for Rio.

“We are delighted and proud to be welcoming the Laser Radial Women’s World Championships to Oman and hope the athletes and their coaches from all the different nations enjoy the same success as the three Laser World Championships we staged in 2013 and the recent RS:X Worlds last month,” said Salma Al Hashmi, Director of Events and Marketing for Oman Sail.

“It is especially pleasing that the 2015 Laser Radial Women’s World Championships race management will be officials from Oman Sail, trained here in Oman and now officiating at top class events all around the world. We send the athletes, race managers and everyone our best wishes for a successful competition.”

In total, 100 sailors representing 50 nations will attend the 2015 Laser Radial Women’s World Championships. A further 39 coaches will be in attendance alongside other back up staff members of the national squads and Laser class officials.

Though there was no Irish dimension to the Sailing World Cup in Abu Dhabi both Irish trialists Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins will have been watching the results sheet closely in the Laser Radial class. Josefin Olsson of Sweden beat Dutch favourite Marit Bouwmeester and Anne-Marie Rindom of Denmark was third.

The battle for gold in the Laser Radial was one of the most intriguing of the World Cup final, and ultimately it went to Sweden's Josefin Olsson who had trailed Holland's Marit Bouwmeester by a single point overnight. "This is my first World Cup win so it feels great," said Olsson, "It's always good to win the final. It means a lot to be up there and fight it out with the top girls and get a podium position in the end."

While Olsson finished fourth on the day, Bouwmeester slipped to eighth in the Medal Race. Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom, first to finish, subsequently collected a penalty but was still able to beat Belgium's defending champion Evi Van Acker to the bronze medal.

The Irish Olympic laser trials for both men and women begin next month. Annalise Murphy will compete this month at the Laser Radial Worlds in Oman.

 In skiff news, Dun Laoghaire duo Andrea Brewster and Saskia Tidey will make their final bid for Rio qualification later this month in the 49erfx. There was no 49erfx racing in Abu Dhabi.

Australia's Mat Belcher and Will Ryan led the gold rush as the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final reached its conclusion in Abu Dhabi

The result underlines the Aussies' position as firm favourites to strike gold at next year's Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro and adds to Belcher's haul of six Men's 470 world titles, three won in tandem with Ryan.

Final top three:

470 Men
1. Mathew Belcher / William Ryan, AUS, 10 points
2. Anton Dahlberg / Fredrik Bergstrom, SWE, 21
3. Stuart Mcnay / David Hughes, USA, 28

470 Women
1. Hannah Mills / Saskia Clark, GBR, 15
2. Lara Vladlau / Jolanta Ogar, AUT, 21
3. Al Kondo Yoshida / Miho Yoshioka, JPN, 22

49er Men
1. Nico Delle-Karth / Nikolaus Resch, AUT, 22
2. Stefano Cherin / Andrea Tesel, ITA, 28
3. Gabrial Skoczek / Yann Rocherleux, FRA, 35

Finn Men
1. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, CRO, 15
2. Alican Kaynar, TUR, 17
3. Pablo Guitian Sarria, ESP, 21

IKA - Formula Kite
1. Oliver Bridge, GBR, 10
2. Florian Trittel, ESP, 7
3. Alejandro Climent Hernandez, ESP, 5

Laser Men
1. Tom Burton, AUS, 21
2. Pavlos Kontides, CYP, 33
3. Matthew Wearn, AUS, 36

Laser Radial Women
1. Josefin Olsson, SWE, 27
2. Marit Bouwmeester, NED, 34
3. Anne-Marie Rindom, DEN, 38

RS:X Men
1. Ivan Pastor Lafuente, ESP, 30
2. Ricardo Santos, BRA, 39
3. Tom Squires, GBR, 44

RS:X Women
1. Bryony Shaw, GBR, 12
2. Flavia Tartaglini, ITA, 21
3. Patricia Freitas, BRA, 29

Full results: www.sailing.org/worldcup/results/index.php

16–year–old Howth Yacht Club sailor Aoife Hopkins will compete in an Irish Radial Olympic trial for Rio against Annalise Murphy and potentially several other female sailors who have yet to declare. The Radial trial devised by the ISA consists of three events involving three transatlantic trips in six month's starting this December. The cost of the proposed women's trial was the focus of an Irish Times Article last Friday here.

Hopkins is self-funded and although she receives coaching support from the ISA there is little direct funding available towards the cost of the trials estimated at €20,000. 

‘In June I competed in the Sailing World Cup in the UK. I qualified based on my impressive domestic and international results in 2015. The top 40 in the world (of all ages) were sailing in this event. I was the youngest competitor in the World to be invited and was honoured to represent my country at such a high level. I have achieved my goals for this year which were top 10 at the Europeans and top 20 at the Worlds. My ultimate goal is to win a medal for Ireland at the 2020 Olympics, Hopkins said.

Hopkins has launched a pledge site to raise funds for the campaign here

Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom looks mathematically assured of the Laser Radial gold medal at Semaine Olympique Française in La Rochelle tomorrow but the double points medal race will have no Irish participation.

Annalise Murphy finished in 12th overall with Nicole Hemeryck of the National Yacht Club in 27th, Aoife Hopkins of Howth YC (30th) and Aisling Keller of Lough Derg (32nd).

Mathilde De Kerangat, from the Société des Régates Rochelaises, is still in 2nd overall after today’s 3 races. In third position, Spanish Alecia Cebrian is followed by Marie Bolou, member of the French National Team in 4th.

Mathilde de Kerangat (FRA) said  "I am starting to feel a bit tired from this week’s competition. We had some wind coming from the East today, it was physically hard, the sea was chopy, and it wasn’t easy technically speaking. I am quite pleased with my day. On the first race I took a very bad start and succeeded to climb back at the 10th position. The regatta isn’t finished yet, but I am very happy with my performances this week, I stayed in front with good starts but most importantly, when I was behind, I stayed focused, and climbed back little by little'.

 

The National Yacht Club's Con Murphy has been selected as a race official for the Olympic Sailing Competition for Rio.

Murphy, an international race officer is the father of Irish Olympic Sailing Star Annalise Murphy, who finished fourth in Loondon 2012 and is campaigning again for Rio.

Con Murphy was Irish Olympic coach for the 1988 Olympic Games in Korea. The full list of ISAF officials appointed for Rio are in Appendix one of the pdf document downloadable below.

The Rio 2016 International Race Officers have between them 208 years of combined experience at international level. The youngest Rio 2016 race official is 33 years old and the 58 officials include a dentist, physical education teacher, wood turner and psychologist.

Just like Olympic sailors campaigning and facing a selection process international race officials also face a similar process.

This week brought to an end over two years of assessments and monitoring which included the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander and the Test Events for the 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition.

Led by ISAF Technical Delegates Alastair Fox and Scott Perry, the race management team will be headed by Nino Shmueli (ISR), ISAF's Principal Race Officer at the 2014 ISAF Sailing World Championships and recently at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Qingdao. The International Jury will be chaired by Bernard Bonneau (FRA) who recently finished chairing the 2014 - 2015 Volvo Ocean Race and was the Vice-Chairman of the Olympic Jury at London 2012. Dimitris Dimou (GRE), the 470 Class Chief Measurer, will head up the ISAF equipment inspection team.

A sixth, an eighth and a 22nd scored by Annalise Murphy today moves up her the scoreboard from 19 to within striking distance of the top ten of the Laser Radial fleet at Semaine Olympique Française.

This morning's race started with 15-18 knots of wind, and averaged 23 knots this afternoon, with strong swells.

The National Yacht Club solo sailor leads Irish hopes in the 37–boat fleet where three other Irish sailors are also competing. Joining Annalise in La Rochelle are Irish Olympic trialists Nicole Hemeryck of the National Yacht Club in 25th, Aoife Hopkins of Howth YC (28th) and Aisling Keller of Lough Derg (32nd).

Racing continues tomorrow.

Ireland's 'Breeze Queen' Annalise Murphy got off to a flying start at the first day of the Semaine Olympique Française in La Rochelle, with strong wind and sea conditions. Competitors faced a 'beefed up' weather on the French west coast with more than a twenty knots of south–westerlies and gusts of up to 35–knots and strong swells. Because of the strong winds only the RS :X Men, Laser, Laser Radial, and Finn have been able to compete so far.

Unfortunately, a black flag penalty (a premature start) in the second race has put the Irish Laser Radial 2016 Olympic campaigner back in 19th in the 37–boat fleet. Joining Annalise in La Rochelle are fellow Irish Olympic trialists Aoife Hopkins of Howth YC (26th) and Aisling Keller of Lough Derg (28th) and Nicole Hemeryck of the National Yacht Club in 33rd.

The French Radial fleet is without some of its Olympic stars including any of the London 2012 medallists but there are still some significant players in attendance inlcuding fleet leader, the rising Danish Star Anne-Marie Rindom. Full results here

Behind the Dane there is a French trio with Amélie Riou, seond, Pernelle Michon third and local girl Mathilde De Kerangat fourth who said after sailing: 'A physical day for us, and as our sailing area is quite far away, there is a lot of sea with big swells. It’s been awhile since I last sailed in this conditions, it was awesome. Today was a good day for me and after my recuperation, I’ll be ready for tomorrow’s fight'.

Racing continues this morning with more moderate winds of 10 to 12 knots forecast.

Top three after 1 day of racing:

RS:X Men (1 race)
1. Benoit Bigot, FRA, 1 point
2. Igor De L'Hermite, FRA, 2
3. Adrien Mestre, FRA, 3

Laser (2 races)
1. Jean Baptiste Bernaz, FRA, 2
2. Sergey Komissarov, RUS, 6
3. Alessio Spadoni, ITA, 6

Laser Radial (2 races)
1. Anne-Marie Rindom, DEN, 6
2. Amelie Riou, FRA, 8
3. Pernelle Michon, FRA, 8

Finn (2 races)
1. Poggi Giorgio, ITA, 2
2. Max Salminen, SWE, 5
3. Enrico Voltolini, ITA, 5

 

#dlregatta – With the Kinsale ICRA Nats/Sovereigns Trophy 2015 very successfully concluded last weekend, and a classic Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race put stylishly in place before that, the feeling of another sailing summer busily in progress is all-pervasive. But while the image projected may well be one of stately progress by the cruiser-racer fleets along the Irish coast, taking in an offshore race here and a regatta there with much leisurely cruising in between, the reality is usually otherwise. For those boats doing significant segments of the programme, it's a case of fitting chosen events into the usual hectic early summer life of work and family commitments and exams and everything else, with the re-location of boats to the next venue being a hurried task undertaken by delivery crews.

Next week sees the mid-season peak of the sailing summer, with the four day Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2015 in Dublin Bay from Thursday July 9th to Sunday July 12th. In a way it is an amalgamation of all that has has already occurred in this year's season, together with new elements to make it a unique sailfest which celebrates the fact that the citizens of Ireland's capital city and their guests can be conveniently sailing and racing within a very short distance of the heart of town. W M Nixon sets the scene

In the dozen or so years since its inception, the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has settled itself firmly into the sailing scene as an exceptionally varied event in terms of the boats and classes taking part. There are five regular cruiser-racer classes, plus an offshore division, fourteen one design keelboat classes, and nine dinghy classes. And although there are contenders from Ireland's north coast and from the Cork area and south coast too, together with one gallant entry from Galway, it is essentially an Irish Sea Sailfest, though with a remarkably strong Scottish presence.

However, it was on the coast of Wales at 8.0pm last night that this sailing celebration began, with an ISORA Race starting in Holyhead and heading for Dun Laoghaire to set this large and complex programme into action towards a culmination on Dublin Bay in eight days time with the conclusion of VDLR2015.

2015 marks the Bicentennial of the Royal Dee YC, which was founded in 1815 on the Cheshire shores of the River Dee estuary where northwest England marches with northeast Wales. Originally the Dee Yacht Club (and founded, it's said, a month or two before the Royal Yacht Squadron came into being in the south of England, making the RDYC the second-oldest Royal yacht club in England after the Royal Thames), the Cheshire club became the Royal Dee YC in 1847.

Although the great prosperity of Liverpool in the 19th century saw the club's fleet of substantial yachts gathered in the Dee and then increasingly in the Mersey, by the late 1900s it was looking to the Menai Straits area as the focus of its keelboat events. As well, the completion of Holyhead breakwater in 1873 added a new and important harbour to its list of possible big boat sailing locations, and there was an increase in the number of cross-channel "matches" which the Royal Dee and the Royal Mersey, in conjunction with the Dublin Bay clubs, had already been running for some years.

A Royal Alfred YC cross-channel match from Dublin Bay to Holyhead gets under way in 1888. Cross-channel links were strong in the latter half of the 19th Century, and with the new breakwater completed at Holyhead in 1873, a new venue was available both for the Irish clubs and those on the other side such as the Royal Dee and the Royal Mersey

The bicentenary logo of the Royal Dee YC. In 1815, this club on the Cheshire coast was founded shortly before the Royal Yacht Squadron in the souh of England, whose Bicentennial is being celebrated at the end of July.

Dun Laoghaire saw its first regatta staged in 1828, and participation by yachts from the northwest of England and North Wales was regularly recorded. This is the Royal St George YC regatta of 1871.

So when we say that the Royal Dee has always been a stalwart of offshore racing in the Irish Sea, we're not referring to a story spanning only the 20th and 21st Centuries. On the contrary, it goes well back into the 1800s. And now, with the revival of keelboat sailing in the Mersey with several of Liverpool's myriad docks being given over to recreational use, we have in a sense come full circle with enthusiastic Dublin Bay support of the Bicentennial celebrations reflecting sailing links which go back almost 200 years

The Lyver Trophy is the Royal Dee's premier offshore challenge, and this year it is special, as it's a fully-accredited RORC event counting for points in the annual championship, and a highlight of the ISORA Programme 2015. It's start scheduled for yesterday evening in Holyhead will see the fleet – mostly regular ISORA contenders – sail a course of at least a hundred miles before finishing in Dun Laoghaire. Then as VDLR 2015 gets under way, races in it, combined with the Lyver Trophy results, will count as part of a series towards finding an overall winner of the RDYC Bicentennial Trophy.

Only entrants in the Lyver Trophy race are eligible, and for that race itself – which can be followed on the Averycrest Yellowbrick Tracker - the favourite has to be the Shanahan family's J/109 Ruth, still buoyed up by her great victory in the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race three weeks ago.

Back in The Bay – the Shanahan family's J/109 Ruth will be back in her home waters of Dublin Bay after winning the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race and completing the Lyver Trophy Race from Holyhead which started last night. Photo: David O'Brien

At the other end of the size scale, the VDLR2015 Dublin Bay programme includes several dinghy classes, and the biggest fleet will be mustered by the International GP 14s, who have designated the racing in Dublin Bay as their Leinster Championship. In an interview with Sailing on Saturday in March, VDLR Chairman Tim Goodbody emphasised that, overall, the event should be seen as a regatta rather than a championship, and for most boats that's just what it will be. But the GP 14s with their great esprit de corps have always done things their own way, and with their compact boat size – albeit comprising a large fleet of dinghies – they reckon they can get in a proper championship while sharing in the fun of the event.

The brothers John and Donal McGuinness of Moville Sailing Club in Donegal are expected to be among the pace-setters in the GP 14 class with their superb Alistair Duffin-built boat. Photo: W M Nixon

The GP 14 Ulsters 2015 were recently won on Lough Erne by Shane MacCarthy & Damian Bracken of Greystones

As to who is favourite, the McGuinness brothers – Donal and John - from Moville in Donegal, with their top-of-the-line Duffin boat built in Northern Ireland, have to be in the reckoning after being top Irish at last year's Worlds on Strangford Lough, but there's fresh blood in the fleet with the newest class developing at Youghal, while this year's recent Ulster Championship on Lough Erne was won by the Greystones duo of Shane MacCarthy and Damian Bracken.

The dozen and more boats coming south from Scotland, most of them substantial cruiser-racers, are testimony to a growing trend in sailing on Europe's Atlantic seaboard. Given a choice of venues, your average yachtie on this long coastline will incline to head south if at all possible. Other things being equal, it's reckoned the further south you go the warmer it is likely to be. And from the upper reaches of the Firth of Clyde, there are times when Dublin Bay might seem like the distant and sunny Mediterranean.

Maybe so, but we'd caution that much depends on the moods and location of that all-powerful weather determinant, the northern Polar Jetstream. In July, so long as it's well clear of Ireland -whether to the north or the south - we will have glorious high summer, and that occurred for the previous VDLR back in 2013, where the photos speak for themselves.

So we hope for the best in looking forward to welcoming a fleet of around 415 boats to Dun Laoghaire between July 9th and 12th, with all four of our in-harbour yacht clubs extending the hand of hospitality in a regatta tradition that goes right back to 1828. But while heritage and ceremonial are all very well in their place, it's the prospect of good sport which energises the participants and their sailing, and with several major contests already logged in 2015, what can we expect on the leaderboards next week?

At the top of the tree, Class 0 has formidable competition, including former Scottish champion Jonathan Anderson racing his XP38i Roxstar against the Royal Cork's Conor Phelan with the Ker 37 Jump Juice, which was one of the best performers in last year's ICRA Nationals at the same venue, and this year again became a force to be reckoned with as the breeze sharpened in the four day Kinsale ICRA Nats 2015/Sovereigns Cup a week ago.

Freshly squeezed – her storming finish to last weekend's final race of the ICRA Nats/Sovereigns Cup at Kinsale makes Conor Phelan's Ker 37 Jump Juice one of the top contenders in the VDLR2015. Photo: David O'Brien

With a win in the final race, Jump Juice came in second to seasoned campaigner George Sisk's class overall winning Farr 42 WOW (RIYC), the pair of them in turn displacing the early leader, lightweight flyer Mills 36 Crazy Horse (ICRA Commodore Nobby Reilly & Alan Chambers, HYC) down to third in the final day's racing, so Crazy Horse will be hoping for a return of lighter breezes when racing starts next Thursday on Dublin Bay.

In the previous Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta in 2013, the most successful boat in was Nigel Biggs' much-modified Humphreys Half Tonner Checkmate XV, but this year the Biggs team is racing as Checkmate Sailing with the newest boat in the fleet, the Mark Mills-designed American-built C & C 30 OD Checkmate XVI. She may be only 30ft LOA, but she's such a hot piece of work with so many go-fast bells and whistles that she has a rating of 1.140 to put her in Class 0.

The oldest boat in the cruiser-racer fleets will be found in Class 3, where the 44ft Huff of Arklow is making an historic return to Dublin Bay racing. Originally built in 1951 by Jack Tyrrell of Arklow to a design by dinghy genius Uffa Fox, Huff is so-called because her concept is reckoned three-quarters Uffa Fox and one quarter Douglas Heard. The latter was the founding President of the Irish Dinghy Racing Association in 1946, and he later went onto to become Commodore of the Royal St George YC and a noted cruising and offshore racing enthusiast with this unusual boat, which is like a very enlarged Fying Fifteen with a lid – in fact, with her 30ft-plus waterline, she was described as a Flying Thirty. In recent years she has undergone a total restoration with Cremyll Keelboats near Plymouth in Devon, and Dominic Bridgeman of the Cremyll group will be racing her with trainee crews in her old home waters of Dublin Bay.

The Flying Thirty Huff of Arklow racing off Dublin Bay while under Douglas Heard's ownership in the 1950s. Built by Tyrrell's of Arklow in 1951, the hugely innovative Huff has recently had a major restoration, and will be making her return to Dublin Bay to take part in VDLR2015.

Among the newer boats on the bay, the 2013 champion Checkmate XV is still very much in the picture, but now she's owned by Howth's Dave Cullen, and took second overall in class in the Kinsale series a week ago. In Dun Laoghaire next week, she's with other Half Tonners at the lower end of the Class 2 rating band on 0.944, almost 200 rating points below the new Biggs boat. Class 2 also includes the Division 3 winner at Kinsale, Richard Colwell & Ronan Cobbe's Corby 25 Fusion (HYC) which bested VDLR 205 Chairman's Sigma 33 White Mischief in a real duel after they went into the final day's racing equal on points, while another Kinsale success story in the Class 2 lineup is Paddy Kyne's X302 Maximus from Howth, overall winner of the Portcullis Trophy for top ECHO boat.

Dave Cullen's modified Half Tonner Checkmate XV will be looking to take the top slot on Dublin Bay after being runner-up in Kinsale. Photo: David O'Brien

In between the two Checkmates on ratings, we find most of the cruiser-racer fleet, with Class 1 shaping up some interesting competition between the likes of Paul O'Higgins Corby 33 Rockabill (RIYC), Kenneth Rumball skippering the Irish National Sailing School's Reflex 38 Lynx, and two very sharp First 35s, Prima Luce (Burke, Lemass & Flynn, NYC & RIYC) and another former Scottish Series champion, John Corson (Clyde Cr C) with Salamander XXI.

This year's Scottish Series Champion and the Afloat.ie "Sailor of the Month" for May, Rob McConnell of Dunmore East, will certainly be racing in the VDLR 2015, but whether or not it's with his all-conquering A35 Fool's Gold (second in class at Kinsale) or aboard another boat (a Flying Fifteen) remains to be seen. And the Top Sailor Count doesn't end there, as there'll be at least four Olympic sailors involved in four different classes, with Robin Hennessy racing in what has all the marks of a quality International Dragon fleet against the likes of former Edinburgh Cup winner Martin Byrne, Annalise Murphy racing in the Moths which will surely be a change from the Water Wag which she raced with her mother Cathy MacAleavy (also another ex-Olympian) last time round, and Mark Mansfield helming John Maybury's J/109 Joker 2. After Joker 2's class overall win in Kinsale, we can expect a battle royal in the J/109s with boats of the calibre of Ruth for the National title fight.

The Shipman 28s find that the sport and socializing which the VDLR guarantees will provide some of their best racing of the year. Photo: VDLR

The J/109s are the queens of an impressive array of One Design keelboats which includes Sigma 33s (where VDLR 2015 Chairman Tim Goodbody's White Mischief is racing under the command of Paul McCarthy), Beneteau First 31.7s, Shipman 28s having one of their best gatherings of the year, Ruffian 23s with a good turnout, the attractive First 21s which are steadily gaining traction as a Dublin Bay class, and best OD keelboat turnout of all is by the Flying Fifteens, nearly all of them under the NYC flag.

Olympians all – in VDLR2013, Olympic sailors Cathy MacAleavey (1988) and her daughter Annalise Murphy (2012) raced the family Water Wag Mollie. But while Cathy will be sailing Mollie again this year, Annalise will be on her own racing a foiling International Moth.

Newest of the oldest – Adam Winkelmann and Doug Smith's new French built Water Wag No.46, Madameoiselle, has been launched in time for the regatta. Photo: Owen McNally

The Howth 17s of 1898 vintage will be the oldest class racing. Photo: David Branigan

Veteran classes include the IDRA 14s from 1946, the Glens from 1945, the Howth 17s of 1898 which pre-date the 1902 Water Wags, and the 1932 Mermaids, the latter being in the interesting position of no longer having an official division in Dun Laoghaire, yet it's a Dun Laoghaire skipper, Jonathan O'Rourke of the National, who continues to dominate the class both at home and away.

With large fleet numbers afloat guaranteed, the shoreside programme is appropriately busy, with the official side of each day's racing concluded by the evening's daily prize-giving at one of the four waterfront clubs. But with so many sailors involved, there'll be action in all the clubs – and at other establishments in Dun Laoghaire - throughout the week. The scene is set, let the party begin at a venue which has been staging regattas since 1828.

When the summer comes, the après sailing at the VDLR is world class. Photo: VDLR

Further reading:

Download the full entry list for Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2015 class by class below

Download the Sailing Instrcutions for Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2015 HERE