Solo Sailing and Circumavigation News

Trading Ketch Ilen to Make Foynes Her Base as 2021 Programme Gets Under Way in May
14th April 2021 Shannon Estuary
Global circumnavigator and sailing ship designer Conor O’Brien (1880-1952) inevitably saw his most noted vessels, the 42ft world-girdler Saoirse and the 56ft trading ketch Ilen, being closely associated by the rest of the world with their birthplace in Baltimore. But…

Lough Neagh Rescue was paged on the 9th April to the aid of a lone yachtsman whose vessel had engine difficulties just outside Kinnego Bay on the southern shore of Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. On scene, the lifeboats found…

Injured Solo Sailor Tom Dolan Says He Will Be Fit for May Double-Handed Transat
30th March 2021 Solo Sailing
County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan is confident he will be fighting fit for the double-handed Transat en Doible Concarneau to Saint Barthelem which starts May 9th. This is despite an ankle injury sustained by Dolan in the Season Opening…

Twisted Ankle & Retiral From Solo Maitre Coq Offshore Race is Disappointment for Tom Dolan
29th March 2021 Solo Sailing
Tom Dolan had a disappointing retiral in the weekend's first on offshore race of the season that saw only 18 or 29 of the Solo Maitre Coq fleet finish the course in the Bay of Quiberon. Dolan, who fell in the…

Ireland’s Tom Dolan lies Ninth as Solo Maître CoQ Reaches Half Way Point
25th March 2021 Solo Sailing
The annual Solo Maître CoQ, the traditional curtain-raiser for the Figaro season, has never gone very well for the Irish racer Tom Dolan but the skipper of Smurfit Kappa has this time made a strong start to the early season…

Golden Globe Race 2022 Starts in 530 Days, Ireland is Among the Entries
24th March 2021 Solo Sailing
The 1968 Golden Globe was the first-ever around the world yacht race. Since then, legends like the only finisher and winner Sir Robin Knox Johnston, and Bernard Moitessier have inspired many sailors and created new Around the world races. Philippe…

Tom Dolan finished seventh and just seven minutes and five seconds behind Alan Roberts, the winner of the first inshore race of the 2021 Solo Maitre Coq. Dolan is racing in the foiling Figaro Beneteau 3 class of 29 entries.…

It is with a mix of hard-earned confidence and early season nerves that Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan starts his 2021 racing season on Monday in Les Sables d’Olonne. France on the annual Solo Maître CoQ race series. Since finishing…

Ireland's Sailor of the Year Tom Dolan gets his first test of the 2021 season this week when he races in the Solo Maitre Coq Regatta in the Figaro Beneteau 3 foilers. For two days, the Dolan among a fleet…

The organisers of The Race Around, Class 40’s official round-the-world race, have announced the establishment of a solo category running alongside the already announced double-handed fleet. In a move that will spark memories of the highly successful ‘BOC Challenge’ and…

Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation Centenary at Dun Laoghaire is Already on Horizon
6th March 2021 Dun Laoghaire Harbour News
Ireland's Conor O'Brien was the first amateur skipper to circumnavigate the globe by the classic sailing ship route south of the great Capes, running down his easting in the big winds of the Great Southern Ocean which blow unhindered round…

Quite a few of us still think of Yannick Lemonnier as the keen young French guy who came to Galway by way of Dingle, and in time became the Irish branch of Quantum Sails, with a new loft in the…

Killaloe Sailing Club to Give Zoom Fair Wind to Limerick Golden Globe Racer Pat Lawless
17th February 2021 Solo Sailing
Bring your own cup of tea, biscuits, glass of something stronger…. plan to sit back, unwind and enjoy watching and listening to the adventurous Pat Lawless as he tells Killaloe Sailing Club and everyone else the story tonight (Wednesday) at…

Tom Dolan Delighted with Sailor of the Year Award & Preparing for Busy 2021 Season
15th February 2021 Tom Dolan
Ireland’s leading solo offshore racer Tom Dolan was recognised for his exceptional 2020 season, during which he finished in an unprecedented fifth place in La Solitaire du Figaro, when he was named Irish Sailor of the Year. The award, now…

Tom Dolan: Ireland's 25th 'Sailor of the Year' Provides a Heartening Story for Our Time
13th February 2021 Tom Dolan
The Figaro Solo was arguably the peak in sailing competition – both inshore and offshore – in Europe during 2020. In a truncated and contorted season, somehow the crème de la creme of international solo sailing were guided into a…

Solo Sailor Tom Dolan is Named Irish Sailor of the Year for 2020
12th February 2021 Sailor of the Year
Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan has been named Afloat Irish Sailor of the Year for 2020 in recognition of his fifth overall and best ever Irish result in the year's La Solitaire du Figaro Race, amid another landmark 12 months…