Monday 0900am - After 17 hours at sea, Tom Dolan is making strong progress off the Donegal Coast on Bank Holiday Monday morning, having departed Dublin Bay just before 4 pm yesterday in a northabout bid to break the solo and double-handed Round Ireland speed sailing record times.
After Dolan's first night at sea along the north coast, his prediction that he could have favourable following winds for the entire circumnavigation is holding up. He appears to be over 60 miles ahead of Michel Kleinjan's single-handed record of four days,1 hour, 53 minutes and 29 seconds from 2004. (See tracker below).
As Afloat reported earlier, Dolan made an epic start to his second Round Ireland bid this year, but this October attempt sees the Meath sailor opting for an anti-clockwise routing.
His top speed so far is over 17 knots achieved in the tides of the North Channel last night.
At around 0830 hrs this morning, he was already on the NW corner and ready to attack the west coast in very breezy conditions. He is expecting strong easterly winds gusting over 30 knots.
If Dolan can finish before 11:32 on Thursday he beats the double-handed record and if he wants to set a "faux" solo record (as he is sailing with a media man onboard) then he has until about 1740 on Thursday evening to cross the Kish line.
At this point, it looks very achievable because if he averages eight knots overall he will finish about midnight Wednesday and, in an extraordinary performance since Sunday's start, he has averaged over 11 knots.
But it won't be all plain sailing, however, as some forecasts now show a big hole in the wind on the west coast yet to be negotiated and followed then by some strong headwinds.
A forecast showing a hole in the wind on the west coast for Tom Dolan's Round Ireland record bid followed by strong headwinds (below)
Tom Dolan's foiling Figaro 3 craft can reach speeds of 20 knots Photo: Afloat
Dolan reports from onboard, “The night was good, a bit breezy, but there was not too much sea and so it was alright. I had 40kts of wind just off Bangor. It got a bit hairy. But I have a good reef in the mainsail and have an old J3 jib up so I don’t have very much sail up and am making good speeds. I am feeling fine. I had a lot of naps last night. The wind is quite up. I have 33 kts at the moment and the wind is up at the moment. I have only the two sails up – no spinnaker – as the wind is quite dense, this cold Irish damp air is really pushing the sails. I am going to gybe in a few minutes and start heading down the west coast. All good, life is good.”
Sailing counter-clockwise, leaving Ireland to his port hand side, at around 0830hrs this morning Tom Dolan was already on the NW corner and ready to attack the west coast in very breezy conditions Photo: Afloat
Based on current GRIB files, Dolan's team say they expect him to complete the 700 miles in 3 days and 16 hours, meaning Pamela Lee and Catherine Hunt's double handed record, in a Figaro 3 sisterhship, of three days, 19 hours, 41 minutes, and 39 seconds also appears under threat.
