A strong Dublin Bay fleet is assembling for the final race of the ISORA Viking Marine Irish Coastal Series next Friday evening, 21 August, with the start time moved to 19:00 to avoid a clash with a Royal Irish Yacht Club charity race.
The Dún Laoghaire coastal race is the fifth and final event in the Viking Marine Coastal Series and will decide the Vincent Farrell Trophy, with the fleet returning to the National Yacht Club for an après-race celebration.
ISORA chairman Peter Ryan announced the later start after learning that the RIYC charity race, supporting cancer research, is due to start at 18:30.
“RIYC are starting a charity race at 18.30 on Friday evening so, to avoid a clash, I’m changing the start time of our race to 19.00,” Ryan told competitors.
Cristina Plans Charity Race Start Before ISORA
Among the ISORA entries is the NMD 43 Cristina, whose crew plan to support both events.
Johnny Treanor said Cristina has entered the RIYC charity race and intends to cross its start line before retiring and heading directly to the ISORA start.
“Thank you Peter for supporting this with the revised start time,” Treanor told the fleet.
Other boats confirming their intention to race include Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia, Justin Burke's JPK 10.30 ReQuest, Simon Knowles' J/109 Indian, the Ker 32 Hijacker, Beneteau First 40.7 Tsunami, JPK 10.30 Loinnir and Pillaban.
Barry O'Connor indicated the Elan 31 Katanca is also likely to race, while Paradox, a Sunfast 3300, is expected to compete two-handed.
The original entry list also includes the Swan 37.1 Albireo, Mustang 30 BlackSheep, XP 33 Darling XX and Sydney 43 GTS El Syd.
The Dehler 30OD No Xcuse, Sigma 38 State O'Chassis, J/109 Ruth and Razorbill have indicated they will not race.
Three-to-Four-Hour Coastal Course
The Supplemental Sailing Instructions describe the event as a coastal race of approximately three to four hours, with the course intended to have the fleet finished by 22:30.
The start will be off the Dún Laoghaire Outfall Buoy, with the same course for all classes. The precise course is to be announced separately and confirmed to competitors on VHF Channel 17 before the start.
The finish is between the East Pier lighthouse and a virtual mark approximately 0.3 nautical miles from the lighthouse.
All competing boats will carry YB trackers, with finishing times automatically recorded through the tracking system. Competitors must also post their finish time through the ISORA CrewManager app.
The race time limit is midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning.
Early indications suggest a light northerly may be in prospect for Friday, although the forecast remains several days out and will be watched closely as race day approaches.
The race concludes the five-race Viking Marine Coastal Series, with the overall Vincent Farrell Trophy winner due to be celebrated at the National Yacht Club immediately afterwards.
