Dublin Port Company has issued noticed to mariners of navigational changes for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta which begins on Thursday (6 July).

To ensure the safety of all concerned and to facilitate the management of such a large sailing event, the South Burford Traffic Separation Scheme will be closed to all commercial traffic on Thursday 6 July between noon and 6.30pm, and Friday 7, Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 July between 10am and 6.30pm.

Vessels arriving or departing Dublin Bay, including to/from the anchorage, during these times must use the North Burford Traffic Separation Scheme.

In addition, the port company has also issued a notice regarding the five temporary yacht markings that will be deployed in Dublin Bay for the duration of the regatta.

There will be only nine 'non-J109s' in this week's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's buoyant 26-boat IRC One fleet, but two new powerful campaigns are within those nine.

At least a Northern Ireland A35 and a Howth J99 campaign must be added to the contenders' list for the class one prize and, maybe, the overall Volvo Trophy for the best performance in IRC over the four days of racing on Dublin Bay starting on Thursday afternoon.

With the top three boats from 2019 all competing again, the outcome of this contest depends mainly on what conditions will prevail. Six days out, it looks like the Bay will serve strong to medium-strength southerly breezes, which could upset the pecking order in the regatta's most significant class.

26-boat fleet

The impressive gathering of IRC One interests on Dublin Bay represents the biggest turnout of the 35-footers this season in Ireland and the UK, rivalled only by Cowes Week.

Scotland's Scottish Series mustered only 12 boats in May. June 24th's inaugural RC35 event on Belfast Lough launched with five. Kinsale's Sovereign's Cup on the same weekend had 11. Surprisingly, a comparable class at RORC's GB IRC Championships on the Solent last weekend saw just ten entries. 

There is a buoyant turnout of 17 J109s in a 26-boat IRC One of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Afloat

These comparisons are valid because they reveal that VDLR 2023 has achieved the same fleet size as VDLR 2019, even though the regatta fleet number is down overall this year compared to four years ago. It's a sign of the strength of what the four Dun Laoghaire clubs have achieved for IRC racers, not least the turnout of 17 J109s in the rebuild post covid. Perhaps, more importantly, with double – or even triple – the competition available on the Bay than elsewhere, it also underlines that whoever finishes on top in Dun Laoghaire Harbour next Sunday is justifiably the IRC One champion of these islands.

Ten UK visitors 

Ten boats are visiting from Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Five members of Scotland's RC35 class are in Dun Laoghaire, and three boats are coming from Northern Ireland; two from Strangford Lough and one from Royal Ulster on Belfast Lough. The rest of the fleet comprises Dublin Bay interests but, disappointingly, no IRC One entry from Cork.

Four Howth boats are competing, and from the home port, there are seven turning out from the Royal Irish and three from the National Yacht Club. 

Past performances

In 2019, J109s took the top three places with five times National Champion John Maybury in Joker II, winning from Royal Irish club mates Timothy & Richard Goodbody in White Mishief. Third was Pat Kelly's Storm from Rush and Howth. Already this season, Maybury has scooped the class win at Kinsale Yacht Club's Sovereign's Cup this month, so the RIYC's skipper continues his excellent form but asked if a repeat performance is on the cards, Maybury told Afloat, "Haven't a clue! There are a lot of good boats out there, including some that weren't in Kinsale. But we'll give it our best shot!"

He's right on that score, as some new challengers have arrived over the past two seasons. Moreover, Maybury only narrowly took the Sovereign's title by two points after six races, pressed by ICRA Boat of the Year for 2022, the J99 Snapshot skippered by Howth brothers Mike and Ritche Evans.

If Maybury succeeds, however, it would mean a sixth VDLR class win in a row, winning first in 2011.

Mike and Ritche Evans J99 Snapshot competing at the 2023 Sovereign's Cup Photo: Bob Bateman

Another new campaign at VDLR is John Minnis's Archambault 35 Final Call II, the sole Belfast Lough visitor in this class. As regular Afloat readers know, Minnis beat Maybury overall at their only previous meeting at Howth's Wave Regatta in 2022. 

However, Minnis knows the dominance of the J109 designs, especially if winds are below eight knots. But that is not the forecast. In a signal of his intent, "We're not coming down to make up the numbers", he told Afloat. 

John Minnis's Archambault 35 Final Call II

One of the strengths of the A35 is its ability to perform well downwind using a symmetric spinnaker on windward-leeward courses, which allows them to sail dead downwind compared to the asymmetric setup of the J109s. At least six windward-leeward races are scheduled on VDLR's Collen course this week. 

Pat Kelly's J109 Storm from Rush and Howth Photo: Afloat

And as regular Afloat readers will recall, Kelly's Storm is one of few J109s that is IRC-optimised with symmetric and asymmetric spinnaker setups and has been doing so successfully since 2018. This season Kelly has already had success at Kip Regatta in Scotland in May and, more recently, was the IRC winner a the smaller Belfast Lough RC 35 event. 

DBSC Thursday Series leader, Richard and Timothy Goodbody's J109 White Mischief Photo: Afloat

Other campaigns that can be part of the mix on home waters this week will be Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) top performer Colin Byrne's XP33, Bon Exemple, which is the current DBSC Saturday Summer Series leader, both he and his clubmates, the Goodbody's White Mischief (the DBSC Thursday Series leader) come with plenty of local knowledge.

Colin Byrne's XP33, Bon Exemple Photo: Afloat

Early forecasts

With so much riding on the optimum setup for the prevailing conditions, an early peek at weather forecasts indicates there will be a breeze and plenty of it to produce a range of conditions over the four days. Medium to strong conditions with winds from a southerly quadrant will build from and provide some top-class conditions. Starting Thursday (July 6th), there will be medium conditions up to 13 mph with strong gusts for the first afternoon races. From there, the breeze is forecast to strengthen up to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and with its southerly direction, the six courses on the Dublin Bay race track can anticipate a big sea state to boot. Sunday's last races, however, may see a drop in wind strength for a light to medium-air conclusion to the 2023 event. 

If it’s July, it must be the return of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, along with Coastival, the new festival celebrating the rich maritime heritage of the south Dublin waterfront.

Over 370 boats have registered for the regatta, opening on Thursday, July 6th, weather permitting, and running until Sunday, July 9th.

Along with Irish entries, British, Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh and French competitors are travelling to participate in races across 40 classes.

Over 360 boats have registered for the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta Photo: Afloat

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 event director Paddy Boyd spoke to Wavelengths about the week ahead, starting with Coastival opening on July 1st.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 event director Paddy Boyd Photo: Bob Bateman

He also spoke about how the 200-year-old harbour has survived the loss of its ferry service, about the new relationship between the harbour, the town and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council – and about long-term plans for a national watersports campus.

There is a new relationship between Dun Laoghaire harbour, the town and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council – and there are long-term plans for a national watersports campus

Click below to listen to Paddy Boyd on Wavelengths

A week of maritime-related festivity is underway today (Saturday) as Coastival gets going in Dun Laoghaire, with the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta from next Thursday through to Sunday contributing mightily to a peak of dynamic interaction between town entertainment and sea sport through the unique harbour.

Tomorrow (Sunday) sees the Grand Parade on-water of Dun Laoghaire-related classic boats starting in-harbour at 11:30 and using the East Pier as the basis of their course, as they sail round to Sandycove with maritime historian and boat-restoration polymath Hal Sisk providing a commentary.

GRAND PARADE OF CLASSICS

The historic flotilla will include the first four finished boats of the Dublin Bay 21ft Class restoration programme. They are emerging in the broader picture as the symbol of the town’s old and new interaction with the sea through recreational sailing. For ever since its construction began in 1817, Dun Laoghaire’s monumental yet totally artificial harbour played a unique and often developmental role in Dublin Bay sailing development, to such an extent that what happened first in “the old granite pond” often went on to have national and international relevance in sailing elsewhere.

Recreational sailing and racing may have started to come to prominence elsewhere, but after the new harbour was completed Dun Laoghaire provided a unique combination of affluent population and good sailing water in close proximity. By 1870 the port was the world leader in the codification and development of formalized yacht racing, as recorded by Hal Sisk in this book.

It’s quite the special place, so artificial that it’s ultra-real to such an extent that at an early meeting of the town’s Save our Seafront movement, one of the platform speakers referred to it - without irony – as “this wonderful natural feature of Dublin Bay”. In fact, these days when virtual reality seems more real than actuality, the sense of a film set devised for the likes of Cecil be de Mille or James Cameron to demonstrate the extraordinary achievements of early 19th Century civil engineering in its insouciant confidence, with the development of an exuberantly neo-classical style of club pavilion architecture, makes for an exceptional, daring and entertaining combination which is best appreciated by sailing into the place.

MIRACULOUS EXISTENCE

In other words, its existence is something of a miracle, for there’s no way you’d get planning permission to create such a place effectively from nothing in 2023. So instead of trying to sanitise history or even topple old statues or monuments, most folks in Dun Laoghaire today are happily grateful that twists and turns of history – some of them good, some of them definitely bad – can be left in their boxes while people nowadays use this amenity, in a very 21st Century way, as an ideal location for staging regattas.

The process of restoring the 1902 Dublin Bay 21 Class has provided an appropriate symbol for Dun Laoghaire’s special place in world sailing history, and the first four boats to be brought back to life will be starring in tomorrow (Sunday’s) Grand Parade of Classic Sail.  

DUN LAOGHAIRE IS PERMANENTLY 90% “REGATTA-READY”

At some sailing venues, if you want to stage a major regatta or some other special event afloat, some re-working of the basic waterfront infrastructure may be required. Not so in Dun Laoghaire. In fact, so stately are the historic waterfront pavilions gracing the crowded shoreline as yacht clubs serving Dublin Bay, that you could argue that Dun Laoghaire is “Regatta Ready” on a 90% basis.

All you have to do is send up more flags, press the button marked “Trained Volunteers Requested”, and you soon have the colourful setting and the required number of race organising teams with a shared experience and applicable knowledge going back two centuries.

“There never was an overall plan”. When construction of the harbour started with the first stages of building the East Pier in 1817, the simple plan was for an “asylum harbour” in which the crews of vessels seeking temporary shelter – almost all of them sail-only – would not have any contact with the then-largely-undeveloped shore. As the best strategists put it: “Never have A Plan, but always Keep Planning.”

Quite. We should be so lucky. But as it’s a Dun Laoghaire tradition that huge organisational effort can be put into a successful regatta without this effort being unduly visible to the participants – an attitude being continued by current Chairman Don O’Dowd and Event Director Paddy Boyd – the role of competitors is to enjoy themselves in a unique setting.

PALACES OF MARITIME SPORT

For someone sailing into Dun Laoghaire for the very first time, it can be almost over-powering. Surely these Palaces of Maritime Sport must be like museums, protected by cordons of velvet rope and supervised by uniformed wardens?

Not a bit of it. For any sailing family in Dun Laoghaire, the grand clubhouses are anything but pretentious. For that’s the way they’ve always been within living memory and way beyond. While young sailors elsewhere may take their first steps afloat from some glorified Portakabin on the shores of a bleak reservoir, for Dublin Bay junior sailors, living as happy, fulfilled and very active sailing kids in stately surroundings is just the way it happens to be.

It’s all done with such unconscious ease that a visiting American sailor was once moved to comment: “The Irish do their posh yacht clubs very well indeed. They’re now comfortable with their clubs’ history, however different and difficult it may have been at various stages of time past. They’ve worked out ways of living with that past, respecting the best of it, yet you’ve a sense of concentration on the present, living for the moment, and always with some focus on the future as their sailing continues to develop on what is successfully established, while leaving room for attention to future possibilities. And all of it is ultimately for the good of sailing and the community”.

The Royal Irish Yacht Club. The many young sailors learning the ropes here are unaware that they’re doing so from premises which – when opened in 1850 - were the world’s first complete purpose-designed yacht club building

Thanks to the strength of the “hidden machine”, there’s a flexibility of approach which means that – as we’ve put it here before – in order to stay the same, Dun Laoghaire regattas have always to be ready to change. For by staying the same, we refer to the effect it has on all participants, afloat and ashore.

Regardless of the format, they have to come away from the programme of racing and socialising with the feeling that this is the best possible regatta that could have been staged in Dun Laoghaire and on Dublin Bay for the times that are in it. Thus over the years, right since the very first regatta was staged in 1828, new approaches have been developed.

Now over-used as it’s the only illustration available of the event, this was the first very successful regatta at the new harbour of Kingstown in 1828. Things didn’t go so well in 1829 – a sudden extreme downpour led to spectating fashionable see-and-be-seen Dubliners returning soaked and disgusted to town, while afloat the tensions were such that the crews of competing boats were fighting each other hand-to-hand before the fleet had even cleared the harbour

ADAPTING TO CHANGING DEMANDS 

One-day events might have become two-day events. Then now and again, somebody has a rush of blood to the head, and for a while, everyone has a go at an entire Regatta Week. Yet it begins to seem too long when part of weekly life is that Dublin Bay Sailing Club stages what is, in effect, a regatta every Thursday evening.

That particular quandary indicates that special features are needed when many of the competitors live within a short travel journey of the boats and clubhouses, while others may have travelled significant distances to take part. If you try to force people to create an entire Regatta Week atmosphere in these circumstances, you’re devaluing the reality that many South Dublin sailors cherish the fact that they can pop down to the club of a summer’s evening just for some undemanding casual relaxation and a chat with old friends.

 It is planned that the prize-giving on Sunday at the National Yacht Club will be well over by the time the flood-lighting goes on

A full-on Regatta Week is many things, but undemanding it is not. Its very intensity can lead to satiation before the programme is complete. So since 2005, the biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has its own special 4/3 day formula. Thus next week, the 2023 staging from July 6th-9th – the first since 2019 thanks to the Pandemic - sees the major classes have a couple of races on the Thursday, July 6th, but other classes don’t get fully involved until Friday.

With a fleet of 300 and counting, there are five race areas, but for many where possible, Senior Race Officer Con Murphy is noted for his ability to set a highly visible finishing line within the harbour, representative of Dun Laoghaire sailing in the rare ould times.

The Royal St George YC will be the focus for the Super-Buzz next Saturday night (July 8th). Photo Afloat.ie

Although all four clubs are going to be a-buzz throughout, the word is that the Royal St George Yacht Club will be the focal point for buzz-plus on Saturday evening, while the National Yacht Club will be staging the all-singing all-dancing prize giving at precisely 4.0pm on Sunday, July 9th. That concluding show is going to last – we’re told - exactly one and a quarter hours, so if you trip up in collecting your trophies, expect to be walked over until some kind soul hauls you out of the way of a procession of blinkered silver-seekers.

FLEET VARIETY

It says much about the regatta that the 300-plus boats in wide-ranging classes pushing towards the 30 mark can be seen as ranging between the 1887-originating Dublin Bay Water Wags and the newest kids on the block, in the Irish National Championship of the Cape 31 Class.

Cape 31s in full cry. In Dublin Bay terms, they’re still the new kids on the block

The Water Wags, in their initial version, were up and running in 1887 within a year of Ben Middleton in his office in Dublin, taking out a bit of time to codify the rules of One Design Classes. Today, the class in its 1900 version, as designed by Maimie Doyle of Dun Laoghaire, has never been healthier, with more than 50 boats – including some very new ones – now officially registered as being class-qualified.

The sun sets on sailing as the pandemic moves in. The Dublin Bay Water Wags – which include Olympic sailors and international champions from a variety of classes – had the last race of all on the evening before the pandemic lockdown was implemented. At Volvo Dun Laoghaire Week, this ancient class’s current healthy state, with new boats being built, symbolizes the resurgence of sailing

It makes you wonder a bit about so-called progress. Ten years after the Wags started racing, up in Belfast Lough, the 25ft LWL No 1 Class – able Fife-designed boats which could comfortably cross the North Channel or sail to Dun Laoghaire for regatta participation in the Clyde or Dublin Bay – were up and running within a year of the class first being mooted.

WILL CAPE 31s MAKE THE BREAKTHROUGH?

Yet how long have we waited for the Cape 31s to fulfil their obvious potential as the ultimate performance one-design keelboat? For sure, they’re a hit in their waters of origin at Cape Town. But even with global warming, there’s no way that most Northern Hemisphere sailing centres can match Cape Town’s warm, strong breezes and the intensely localised enthusiasm of the original Cape 31 fleet.

Thus in Ireland, keen Cape 31 sailors still have to travel in search of worthwhile competition, and it remains to be seen if Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 gives the class a real foothold in Dublin Bay. Meanwhile, the J/109s – the perfect size of boats for a senior reasonable modern “DBOD” – are back having a moment, with their domination of IRC1 in the Sovereigns at Kinsale, and 14 boats lined up for the start of racing next Thursday, even if their offshore star Mojito from Pwllheli has elected to race in the Coastal Division rather than the meat-grinder which is IRC1 in the Bay.

John Minnis’s up-graded A35 Final Call II, with a glamourous eye-catching spinnaker, will be the leader of the northern contingent at the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

We’ll have more time to study runners and riders next week as the countdown intensifies. For now, it’s a wonder to reflect that not only is Dun Laoghaire and its sailing something of a wonder in itself, but its sense of a shared space emerging from a turbulent history without the need to tear down ancient and sometimes symbolic structures is something of an example for a changing modern world.

Sailors, sponsors and volunteers launched Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta 2023 in fine style at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland on Wednesday night.

This ninth edition of the regatta event promises to be one of the biggest sailing events in Northern Europe this year and is attracting many visiting entries from around the Irish Sea and further afield. 

As Afloat reported earlier, almost 300 boats are already entered, and 400 are expected to be the final number for the first gun on July 6.

The significance of the event for the town was evident from the gathering of councillors and official representatives at the launch by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Cathaoirleach Mary Hanafin and the County Manager, Frank Curran.

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

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.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Launch Photo Gallery by Brian McEvoy

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 organisations 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”

There’s a remarkable inherited experience of staging regattas in Dun Laoghaire, reinforced by the shared skill in running races of appropriate type and length, which comes through from the unrivalled memory bank of what is and isn’t reasonably possible, passed down through the ages by the huge store of knowledge that is always available from Dublin Bay Sailing Club.

It stays the same in that the objectives are always the same. The repeated ambition is to maximize sport afloat while also permitting plenty of time to avail of the unrivalled socialising opportunities offered by four active harbourside clubhouse, three of them right on the main waterfront in prime positions to demonstrate that they’re very much open and active for hospitality for anyone involved with the sailing in any way whatever. 

OPEN HOUSE IN EACH CLUB FOR ALL COMPETITORS

In normal times, clubs, by their very nature – however close to each other they may physically be - have to maintain a certain level of dignified privacy for the personal benefit and enjoyment of their members. But the intense four day format of the VDLR (in 2023, it’s from July 6th to 9th), which has been in place since the regatta was re-constituted in 2002, leads to a relaxed approach to boundaries in a shared enthusiasm for sailing races in boats of all types.

2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta launch - Dermot Ferris -DLR Chamber President, Alan Cowley -Acting MD Volvo Cars Ireland, Councillor Mary Hanafin, Don O'Dowd -Chairman VDLR and Frank Curran Chief Executive of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council at the joint launch of the 9th Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Ireland’s largest regatta which takes place from July 6th - July 9th 2023 and the brand new Coastival Festival which runs from 1st-9th July 2023 Photo: Brian McEvoy

When everyone becomes a winner – as the sociable post-race banter builds, the perception of the actual results can become ever more rosy. Photo Courtesy VDLR

That has always been the ambition of the organisers, but the social and sporting changes which have taken place since the first Regatta took place in 1828 – when the massive new harbour which made it all possible was still very much Work in Progress – have seen the format change out of all recognition.

In 1828, actual personal involvement in yachting was very much a minority interest, but being at major regattas to socialise and spectate and see and be seen was a significant part of the annual summer season. And that first regatta in 1828, under the benign patronage of the liberal, generous and very sailing-minded Viceroy, the Marquess of Anglesey, was an outstanding success in terms of good weather, fashionable socializing at an intense level, and clean sport afloat.

All was sweetness and light for this first regatta in 1828, with good weather and clean sport afloat despite the new harbour building still being Work in Progress. But the very future of any regular regattas as a fashionable fixture came into doubt the following year, with foul weather and fights among competing crews

A BAD-TEMPERED YEAR

But the following year of 1829 was the bad-tempered year of Catholic emancipation, and the pro-emancipation Anglesey had been side-lined. The weather was bad tempered too, so much so that the cream of Dublin society may have made their way in greater numbers than ever to enjoy the party, but a total deluge saw them returning to town completely soaked and in a foul mood, loudly declaring that they would never go near one of these wretched yachting festivals again.

And indeed, even afloat it was eminently forgettable, for by now the crew were getting significant prize money, and inter-yacht fights broke out in 1829 before they’d even cleared the harbour. For in those days the idea was that the crowds would politely witness the start as the big yacht raced away from an in-harbour start for long races round the bay and out to the Kish, leaving the specators to increasingly hectic socialising either al fresco or in very temporary pavilions, to such an extent that many had forgotten the existence of a yacht race by the time the leaders returned.

A new peak is reached by the 1870s as seen in this magnificent impression by Richard Brydges Beechey of the Royal St George YC regatta of 1873, with a race-course turning mark in the harbour right beside the clubhouse, and exceptional skill required in handling the large cutters competing. Photo courtesy RStGYC 

ERA OF NEW CLUBHOUSE BUILDINGS

1829’s unhappy experience rather dampened the regatta enthusiasm for a few years, but with the building of clubhouses with the Royal St George YC from 1838 onwards, and the Royal Irish YC - in one fell swoop in 1850 to become the world’s first complete purpose-designed yacht club building - a new focus was provided, where the elite members and their guests could gather at the clubhouses while the racing and its associated festivities continued apace.

With the new clubhouses actively in being, inevitably a “them and us” situation develops. Here, while racing proceeds in the Bay, members and guests at the Royal St George YC are being entertained by in-harbour sports…

…..while the public day-trippers brought in by special railway excursions have to make do with the distant view of racing from the end of the East Pier. Photo courtesy Cormac Lowth

RAILWAYS GET IN ON THE ACT

As for everyone else, the expanding railway companies saw an opportunity for spectators viewing from the natural grandstands at the end of the piers, so not only did they offer special day excursions, but they put up extra regatta prizes to stimulate added sport and interest afloat to bring the crowds out from town.

The inherited folk memory of this yacht race spectating, which continued – albeit in a fading form – until the early 1930s, when the J Class occasionally visited to provide the impressive sight of big boat racing at close quarters, is still so much part of some areas of Dun Laoghaire thinking that making yacht racing spectator-friendly almost always comes up on the agenda.

A new era was ushered in after the establishment of Dublin Bay Sailing Cub in 1884. Active participation afloat was everything, and One-Design racing was becoming all the rage. Yet simply being at the Dun Laoghaire Regatta was more popular than ever, and anchored cruisers filled the harbour. It’s all summed up in this photo of the 1903 Royal Irish YC regatta, as the Viceroy Lord Dudley, in order to complete his win at the finish line at the club, has to thread his way in his new Dublin Bay 25 Fodhla through closely-anchored large yachts while overtaking the also-racing new 1900-version boats of the 1887-founded Water Wag Class

Yet such an approach overlooks several facts, not least that other forms of spectator arena sport provide more immediate and accessible action, while many yacht races are so inherently complex that the only way to watch them with any real interest is to be a participant yourself, and here again Dun Laoghaire has been in the front line of development.

FIRST “MODERN” REGATTA WEEK WAS IN 1860

The first recognisably modern Regatta Week at what was then known as Kingstown was in 1860, following which the fleet broke even more unexplored ground by having the first identifiably modern offshore race with a significant overnight element, 120 miles from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour.

And then in 1870 the new-formed Royal Alfred Yacht Club in Kingstown put direct participation further up the agenda by organising races for amateur crews in which the only professionals allowed on board were the ladies’ maids and the stewards.

That was obviously for larger craft, but the birth of the Dublin Bay Water Wag OD Dinghy Class in 1887, and the small-boat-oriented Dublin Bay Sailing Club in 1884, tipped the balance irreversibly further. Dublin Bay yacht racing in all its forms was now for active participants. If anyone wanted to be a spectator, well, good luck to them, but taking part was now what it was all about.

ACTIVE PARTICIPATION AFLOAT BECOMES ALL-IMPORTANT

And it has remained so ever since. As a result of this, regatta organisers have to be constantly alert to changing tastes in both the kind of racing that’s expected during the day, and the kind of social programme that works for participants in the post-race evenings and nights as the après sailing bandwaggon rolls cheerfully on.

A very blurred Box Brownie schoolboy snap of Dun Laoghaire Regatta Week 1955. Photo: W M Nixon

Thus in many ways the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has had to change in order to stay the same, and since 2002 there had been a rotating yet continuous and renewing management group which is in permanent existence to keep tabs on the sporting and social requirements of thousands of sailors in one very intensive biennial four day sportsfest. That in turn is now the culmination of the new week-long Dun Laoghaire Coastival which – on the water - gets under way with the Parade of Classic Sail round the East Pier and along the coast to Sandycove on Sunday July 2nd.

Still in the hot seat. Having had to oversee the pandemic cancellation of 2021, Don O’Dowd is soldiering on in 2023 and is pictured this week with the outgoing Event Secretary, Ciara Dowling, at a special presentation to mark her retirement after 16 years with the regatta from 2005 to 2021. Photo courtesy VDLR

VDLR people – the dedicated team who have built the VDLR to its present eminence include (left to right) Tim Goodbody, Adam Winkelmann, Ciara Dowling, Phil Smith and Brian Craig. Photo: Courtesy VDLR

After the painful hiatus of pandemic cancellation in 2021, it says everything for the spirit of the organising group that longtime member Don O’Dowd, already busy as Chairman as 2021’s stoppage approach, has willingly stayed up at the reins. For although for continuity the Chairman usually sees through the staging of two VDLRs over a four year period, the lockdown has meant something of a new scenario, as longtime and very able Director Ciara Dowling has moved on to fresh fields, but she has been replaced by Paddy Boyd, and anything that Paddy Boyd doesn’t know about the ins and outs of Dublin Bay racing simply hasn’t been discovered yet – and if something new is discovered, we can be fairly sure that it is Paddy who is making the discovery.

A wealth of experience – Regatta Director Paddy Boyd Photo: Robert Bateman

Inevitably the glamour interest will focus on the very international IRC 1 and the RC35 division within it, while the idea of the Cape 31s – designed just up the road by Mark Mills in County Wicklow – having their National Championship in Dublin Bay certainly has very special excitement. But for me, the appeal in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is that each and every class – and there are many – will have its moment of glory. And thanks to the re-assessment of ECHO handicaps after every race in classes where handicaps apply, the feeling of continuous total involvement at every level is heart-warming.

It may currently still feel crisp enough in mid-May, but come July the VDLR really can bring Mediterranean sailing to Dublin Bay, as seen here with Scenario Encore from Fleetwood. Photo courtesy VDLR/David Branigan

I first saw a very basic of Dun Laoghaire Regatta Week in 1955 when we happened to be on a family holiday in Dun Laoghaire, when the preponderance of gaff rigs with topsails was still something of note, and the hottest boat in the show was Peter Odlum’s completely new 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Namhara. A couple of very blurry schoolboy photos show that it did indeed happen. But by 1962, not only was I sailing as crew on Namhara in Clyde Week, but I also found myself helming the Dublin Bay 21 Geraldine in the class’s final season under their original gaff rig.

Another blurred schoolboy Box Brownie image – Peter Odlum’s new 8 Metre Cruiser/Racer Namhara at Dun Laoghaire Week in 1955. Within a few years, the tyro photographer was crewing Namhara in Clyde Week, and helming Dublin Bay 21s in Dun Laoghaire. Photo: W M Nixon

Thereafter, there were to be many Dun Laoghaire Regattas in many forms, but it has to be said that the VDLR as it is today is a very successful modern distillation of this most ancient sporting event, as it offers something for everything. But then I would say that, having been involved with the restored and returned Huff of Arklow from Dartmouth when she won the Boat of the Regatta trophy in 2015, and tangentially associated with the wonderful 1897-vintage Myfanwy from Milford Haven when she did the same thing in 2017.

That’s the great thing about the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Absolutely everybody is in with a chance.

Something for everyone in the fleet….in the 2017 VDLR, the top trophy went to Rob Mason’s wonderful 1897-vintage cutter Myfanwy from Milford Haven. Photo Afloat.ie/David O/Brien

• See a photo gallery from this week's launch of the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta here

Of the 30 different one-design classes registered for Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the Dragon and Sigma 33 classes currently lead the entries for Ireland's largest regatta in 2023. 

The Dragon keelboat class has six entries so far as the Irish class builds towards the prestigious Gold Cup hosted by the Irish class at Kinsale in 2024. 

Joining some top-ranked Royal St George teams this July in Dun Laoghaire – such as Martin Byrne's Jaguar race team – is Michael Cope's Raissa and Tim Saunders Vixen, both from South Caernarfonshire Yacht Club in Wales.  

Dragon keelboat class racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Continuing the Irish Sea theme, three of the five Sigma 33s entered come from outside Dublin Bay, with Waterford Harbour's David Marchant entering in Flyover. There's an Isle of Man entry in the form of Jeremy Colman's Sea-Pie of Cultra from Manx Sailing and Cruising Club, and Paul Prentice's Squawk will travel to Dublin from Ballyholme Yacht Club in Northern Ireland.

There are cruiser-racing enthusiasts in Ireland who dream of living in a world of non-stop activity in 2023, making the most of a dedicated traditional schedule in which they swing into action with the Scottish Series - back on Loch Fyne at the end of May as Nature intended - and then keeping going with a judicious mixture of event campaigning, offshore races and brisk delivery cruises until mid-August. By then, they’ll find themselves in West Cork, recovering from Calves Week, and working out how best to get back to the Irish Sea and the final ISORA races and the ICRA Nats at Howth in the first weekend of September.

WALES SPRINGS FORWARD FOR RC35s

But before Scotland’s time-honoured classic, there are those who now dream of starting even earlier in 2023, as the Welsh IRC Championship is currently listed for Pwllheli from 12th to 14th May, when Cardigan Bay’s fine sailing waters should have their magnificent backdrop of Snowdonia still dusted with snow (what else, after all?), and the action afloat is sharpened by the presence of the highly-focused RC35 Class, who are using the Welsh series as part of their season-long count-up to their Celtic Cup.

Summertime at Pwllheli. This year, its major IRC season begins in mid-May with the Welsh Open Championship

This single-minded approach by the RC35s is something which has to be considered by several major regatta organisers, as the class – for boats in the IRC Rating Range of 1.010-1.040 – is building on its inherent strength to such an extent that it is a self-contained force, like the International 505s were in Ireland many years ago. Thus one of the features of the 2023 programme is a stand-alone RC35 two-day regatta on Belfast Lough, hosted by Royal Ulster YC at Bangor on the weekend of June 24th & 25th.

The RC35s can be good for your civic status. When the class last raced at Bangor (as here), it was still a town. When they return this June, they’ll find that Bangor has become a city, but crews will not be expected to wear ermine robes when racing

THRIVING CATCHMENT AREA

With the class’s current healthy catchment area extending from Dun Laoghaire to the southwest all the way to the Upper Firth of Clyde in the northeast, with sailing centres on both sides of the Irish Sea and the North Channel much involved, the top boats from the Irish side are currently John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II from Bangor, and Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm from Rush. So Bangor is a reasonably central and accessible venue for those who wonder if meeting endless logistical challenges has to be an inherent part of campaigning a cruiser-racer.

The rush from Rush…… a view of Pat Kelly’s J/109 Storm (Rush SC) which is all-too-familiar to RC35 competitors. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

The short answer is: “Yes, you do have to be a logistics genius”. But meanwhile, other sailors live in a world of an alternative reality, where having your boat at the other end of the country can become demanding to the point of irritation, as there are inevitably other reasonable and non-negotiable domestic requirements increasingly encroaching on your time.

And anyway, what’s the point of being home-based in an agreeable sailing area with plenty of good local racing challenges, when you insist on expending season-long energy in going to only slightly more glamorous alternative locations simply because some hyper-vocal opinion-formers and commentators in sailing will insist on telling you: “This Is Where It’s At. Ya Gotta Be There.”

Born again….once upon a time, this was Paul O’Higgins’ Corby 33 Rockabill V of the RIYC. Now she has a completely new look and identity as a successful contender in the RC35 class. Photo: RC35 Class

WHEN LONG VOYAGING TO EVENTS WAS A BADGE OF HONOUR

Now admittedly, there was a time - maybe around forty or fifty years ago - when many of the main pillars of the modern sailing programme in and around Ireland were being put in place. In those early days, being prepared to travel long distances to take part in a location-specific major event was regarded as a badge of honour.

And, of course, by the nature of some events, this was unavoidable.

Thus that great pioneer of support for Wicklow’s Round Ireland Race, Dave FitzGerald of Galway Bay SC, knew that in entering his Holman 41 Partizan he was committing himself to sailing round Ireland twice. Equally, in the days when the Scottish Series was leading the pace in the numbers game with entrants running into several hundreds, boats like Partizan and Donal Morrissey’s GK34 Joggernaut from Galway, and Martin Reilly’s First from Sligo, made the long haul up round Donegal to get to Tarbert.

Dave Fitzgerald’s Partizan from Galway comes out of the dawn to finish the first Round Ireland Race at Wicklow in 1980. Participation in this classic meant she sailed round Ireland twice. Photo: Wicklow SC

This was a level of dedication occasionally outdone by a bunch of hard men from Tralee Bay SC in Fenit, who weren’t too sure which way round Ireland was the faster to Loch Fyne from Kerry with their Sigma 33 Black Pepper, but they got there nevertheless.

O’LEARY’S HYPER-ACTIVE CORBY 36 ANTIX

And then in the course of time, Anthony O’Leary of Royal Cork and his largely family crew with the Corby 36 Antix seemed to be winning everything everywhere, accumulating a score-sheet which indicated a level of dedication you’ll seldom see emulated nowadays. For even the current Antix - a Cape 31 with her first American title already logged in the Florida Keys – looks to be setting up for a leisurely American progress northwards with the new summer, bound for various event-offering venues.

Rather different to Loch Fyne in the Spring – Anthony O’Leary racing the latest Antix (red hull) to success with the Cape 31s in the Florida Keys

The possibility of a reaction against a hectic season-long and multi-venues programme may in its way be a small reflection of the increasing questioning of the benefits of globalisation. For sure, there are many aspects of life and business which get universal benefit from globalisation. But when carried to extremes, globalisation can mean that one area’s success inevitably brings another area’s impoverishment. 

LIMITED TIME WINDOWS

There are only so many weekends and free weeks available in the most popular period for major racing events, even if experience indicates that a championship of maximum four days is what the punters want for anything other than a Worlds. So, far from working with a clean sheet, any club or organisation looking to introduce a new event into the schedule is almost inevitably going to find they’re clashing with something important somewhere else.

Thus the two outstanding clashes in 2023 are the RC35s on Belfast Lough with RUYC in that last weekend of June going completely head-to-head with the Sovereign’s Cup in Kinsale, and the WIORA Championship 2023 at the intriguing venue of Kilronan on Inis Mor in the Aran Islands from 5th to 8th July, up against the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 in Dublin Bay from 6th to 9th July.

America comes to Ireland… one of the most successful contenders in the Sovereign’s Cup in Kinsale in recent years has been Kieran Collin’s Olson 30 Corace IV from Crosshaven, a mini “Transpac sled” of Californian inspiration. Photo: Robert Bateman

With the less-crowded West Coast programme, some East Coast sailors were bewildered by WIORA’s choice of dates, but those in the know say that Kilronan is committed to other events – some with a significant shoreside input – on any alternative weekend, and the little port town can only cope with a certain amount of overnight visitors, as the regular air service and the fast ferries from Rossaveal mean that most incomers are only day visitors.

JACKEENS VERSUS CULCHIES AFLOAT

Yet the Dublin spin on it all continues the Jackeen versus Culchie interface in its usual mildly malicious forms. They know that few if any WIORA boats will be interesting in racing in the VDLR in any case, but they point out that national travelling classes such as the J/24s might be keen to do both, but are now prevented. So they take it a stage further and say that the WIORA folk are keen to keep out East Coast interlopers, as the Westerners subscribe enthusiastically to the idea that if you’re keen to run your own regatta, then there’s little point in doing so unless you make reasonably sure that a local boat wins the main trophy…..

Kironan on Inis Mor in the Aran Islands, venue for the WIORA Championship 2023 from 5th to 8th July. Pontoons will be installed in the outer harbour to host the fleet, which totalled 43 boats in 2017 when last at the same venue

As “local boats” for WIORA means craft drawn from fleets as far north as Killybegs and as far south as Bantry, the scope is already broad in its catchment area. But we wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that some crews in Schull, Kinsale and even Crosshaven are thinking that they might as well turn right as left when they put out to sea in early July to head for a distant regatta, and if they were bound for Kilronan that might put a South Coast cat or two among the West Coast pigeons at Inis Mor.

WE CAN’T APPLY PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS OF INVOLVEMENT TO AN AMATEUR SETTING

Despite that, we take a sanguine view of these “fixture clashes” by pointing out that some amateur sailors are mistaken in trying to take their levels of involvement and time-consuming participation from the examples of headline-dominating resources-dominated super-star events. For the top pros find themselves having to think boats and sailing and personal promotion day and night, and it can be an unhealthy mental environment leading to burnout.

Place of potential pressure: Houston Yacht Club in Texas, where they’ve so much sunshine that boat-owners are prepared pay extra to be berthed under a sun-shading roof. 

We learned of an eloquent instance of this last season when the Irish ILCA squad – with Eve McMahon setting the pace towards another Gold Medal - were doing their stuff in style at the Houston Yacht Club in Texas. For the Houston YC is where John Kolius emerged – yes, that John Kolius, of Volvo Ocean and America’s Cup and sailmaking fame.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE BURNOUT

He makes no secret of the fast that at Houston YC, he was the classic young “clubhuse rat” from a newly-joined family, and mad keen to show he could sail well with any family who were going out when his own family weren’t afloat. And my goodness, could he sail.

He was so good at it that they wanted him here, there and everywhere, winning international races at the very highest level and at such a hectic pace that in time he burnt out, and he knew it. So he sold his sailing business in 2011 and he and his wife have gone private to the point of anonymity with an easygoing sports fishing operation in the Bahamas. 

ICRA “BOAT OF THE YEAR” IS OUR SALVATION

So those who would seek a non-clashing yet continuous season-long programme at a permanent championship pace should maybe be careful of what they wish for. There are times when Less is More. And in Ireland, we now have a rather good solution. Over the years, the formula for selecting the ICRA “Boat of the Year” has been refined until it has produced a set of requirements that can provide a meaningful result within a civilized level of sporting activity afloat.

The J/99 Snapshot (Mike & Richie Evans, Howth YC) is the current ICRA “Boat of the Year”. The continuing refinement of the Boat of the Year formula has gone some way to relieving pressure on any fixtures clash in a typical sailing season

At its best, it facilitates Corinthian-type sailing, even if semi-professionals are sometimes involved. It’s not perfect, but it really is working quite well. And those of us who fail to see the sport in “sports fishing” reckon that any approach which keeps people happily sailing is something to be welcomed.

After opening its online entry system, Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 organisers have called on class captains of competing classes to an information evening at the Royal Irish Yacht Club next week.

The purpose of the evening is to bring class captains 'up-to-date with the plans for the 2023 regatta following the Covid-enforced hiatus for the last few years'.

The regatta is scheduled for Thursday, July 6th to Sunday, July 9th, 2023 and typically attracts 22 different one design and IRC classes.

Race organisers, both ashore and afloat, will be on hand to address queries and concerns, says Event Director Paddy Boyd.

As Afloat reported previously, the Notice of Race has now been published, and its new online entry system went live at noon on January 1st 2023.

The information evening will be held at the Royal Irish on Wednesday, January 11th, at 1900 hours.

As Afloat reported previously, the RS Elite Association has already announced the RS Elite Open Tour will include Ireland's biggest regatta.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has been popular with RS Elite, particularly since the UK National Championship was held as part of the regatta in 2019.

No less than four national keelboat titles will be decided on Dublin Bay this July as more classes than ever opt to run their championships as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In total 11 class championships are now being sailed as part of the Dun Laoghaire Harbour-based regatta that will be split across two separate weekends as a COVID-19 measure.

From the keelboat fleets, Beneteau 31.7 and 211s along with Ruffian and Shipman classes will all race for national honours while Dragons will race for their East Coast Championship and SB20 race their 'Westerns'.

The SB20 Western Championship is being staged as part of Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 Photo: Afloat

In the dinghy divisions, the GP14s,  Fireballs, RS400 and RS200 will all fight for separate Leinster titles.

Fireball Leinster honours are up for grabs at Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021 Photo: Afloat

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 Shipman class will sail for National Championship honours at Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Afloat

11 Class Championships ready to race at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2021:

• Beneteau 31.7 National Championship
• Beneteau 211 National Championship
• Shipman National Championship
• Ruffian National Championship
• Dragon - East Coast Championship
• GP14 Leinster Championship
• Fireball Leinster Championship
• SB20 Western Championship
• RS400 Leinster Championship
• RS200 Leinster Championship
• Royal Dee Irish Sea Offshore Championship

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 the One Design Championship 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.