Meath's Dolan Is Lining Up For Mini Transat Race Against 84 Competitors

23rd March 2015

#minitransat – On 19 September 2015, Ireland will be among 84 Mini–Transat 2015 competitors heading out to do battle with the Atlantic for the 20th edition of the Mini Transat. As was the case in 2013, the race will set sail from Douarnenez in north-west Brittany. County Meath sailor Tom Dolan launched a Mini Transat solo sailing campaign in December as Afloat previously reported.

Dolan's first qualifying race is the 150–miles double–handed Lorient Bretagne Sud Mini race on April 11.

For this second edition starting out from Douarnenez - the third if we go back to 1991 when the town first hosted the Mini Transat - the Douarnenez Courses team is building on past experience whilst ensuring continuity with a return to Douarnenez' first harbour, the basin of Port Rhu, a genuine showcase for the Mini fleet that proved so successful in 2013.

With some 78 racers already pre-registered, the Mini Transat is once again guaranteed to have a full line-up. Among the entries we find some of last edition's front runners in the proto ranking including Michele Zambelli, Ludovic Mechin and Romain Mouchel, who are back once more to try their luck. They'll be joined by some of the movers and shakers of the Mini Class, who have traded in their series boats for a prototype, such as Clement Bouyssou and Davy Beaudart with his Maximum, the sistership to the famous Magnum, which won the Mini Transat 2011 and secured second place in the Mini Transat 2013.

In the series fleet, all eyes will be on the battle between the Nacira designs, which dominated the competition in 2013 in the hands of Damien Cloarec, Jonas Gerckens and Patrick Girod. Also worth following are the Argos, led by Tanguy Le Turquais, and the two latest newcomers (provided they are granted the status of a series boat), the Pogo 3 and the Ofcet, skippered by Ian Lipinski and Julien Pulve respectively.

County Meath sailor Tom Dolan

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Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.