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#DUN LAOGHAIRE NEWS - Dun Laoghaire will play host to sailing’s most exciting new global championship series when the MOD70 European Tour visits from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 September.

Ireland has hosted many of the world’s top sailing events during 2012 and the welcoming of this new series surely positions Ireland as one of the best sailing locations in the world. The MOD70 fleet - Race For Water, FONCIA, Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Spindrift Racing and Musandam-Oman Sail - will be hosted by the National Yacht Club (NYC) and the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company (DLHC), and a five-day family festival will be held on the East Pier to celebrate the arrival of the most innovative racing trimarans in the world.

The festival will include food courts, a farmers' market, Fairtrade and ethnic stalls, craft stalls, street entertainers and vintage amusements.

On Friday 7 September and Saturday 8 September the MOD70s will be competing in Dublin Bay in the Dublin City Race and Speed Match Races, and there will be live commentary from the East Pier. The trimarans will then leave Dun Laoghaire at 3pm on Sunday 9 September for the start of the second leg of the European Tour from Dun Laoghaire to Cascais.

Gerry Dunne, CEO of the DLHC, said: "We are delighted to welcome the world’s most innovative trimarans to Dun Laoghaire Harbour which has witnessed 200 years of maritime history. 1.4 million people walk the East Pier on an annual basis and we hope that the hosting of this global event will attract many more people to our beautiful harbour in September."

The high-speed MOD70 class of trimarans are a new innovation for sailing, and have already proven to be the fastest offshore one-design class in the world. Each MOD70 is completely identical, built from the same moulds, so that success – both inshore and offshore – reflects the skills of the sailing crew and not any technological advantage.

"The National Yacht Club has played host to many world championships and in July this year we co-hosted the ISAF Youth World Championships. We are delighted that the MOD70s has chosen Dun Laoghaire to host a stopover on the European Tour and we look forward to thousands of people visiting Dun Laoghaire to enjoy the spectacle," said Paul Barrington, Commodore of the NYC.

The MOD70 European Tour starts in Kiel, Germany before visiting Dublin, Cascais near Lisbon and Marseille before finishing in Genoa, Italy. Over the five weeks of the MOD70 European Tour the teams will sail nearly 5,000 miles over five offshore stages.

The tour is the second event of the Multi One Championship, following on from July’s inaugural Krys Ocean Race which saw the MOD70s race the Atlantic from New York to Brest in France at remarkable speeds. The first three boats finished within less than two hours after traversing the Atlantic in less than five days, with the winning boat making more than 711 miles in one 24-hour period.

Already the MOD70 fleet has attracted a cross-section of some of the best ocean racing sailors in the world. Michel Desjoyeaux of France has twice won the Vendée Globe solo round the world race and skippers FONCIA. There are more than eight sailors across the different boats who hold round the world records including Britain’s Brian Thompson who sails for Musandam-Oman Sail.

Thompson has more than 20 offshore sailing speed records to his name and was the only Briton on board Banque Populaire V when the giant multihull set a new record for sailing non-stop around the world in January.

Marco Simeoni, president of MOD SA, said of Dun Laoghaire's hosting of the tour: "Local knowledge and local expertise in hosting world-class sailing events is widely appreciated. We thank all the institutions involved in this stopover and we look forward to spending five wonderful days in the heart of the local culture. Sports and entertainment is guaranteed in the Dublin Bay from 5-9 September!"

Programme of events

Wednesday 5/Thursday 6 September

  • All day Wednesday: Estimated arrival of MOD70s
  • 10am–6pm: Food courts, farmers market, Fairtrade and ethnic stalls, craft stalls, family entertainment, vintage amusements (every day)

Friday 7 September

  • 2pm: Dublin City Races and Speed Matches Day 1 (vantage points from the East Pier to Sandycove with live commentary from the East Pier)
  • 10pm: Firework display in Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Saturday 8 September

  • 2pm: Dublin City Races and Speed Matches Day 2

Sunday 9 September

  • 3pm: Start of Leg 2 from Dublin (Dun Laoghaire) to Cascais (vantage points from the East Pier to Sandycove with live commentary from the East Pier)
Published in Dublin Bay

#DUBLIN BAY NEWS - The inaugural European Tour for the MOD70 trimaran class is set to come to Dublin next summer, pending agreement with the relative authorities in January.

The Irish Times reports that the National Yacht Club is at the head of efforts to include an event in Dun Laoghaire on the first tour for the new 70-foot design.

But apart from the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, there has so far been little support from local or national authorities despite organisers waiving the €250,000 franchise fee.

John McKenna of tour organiser OC Thirdpole says he is determined to ensure Dublin is included, and that costs will be borne by the competing teams.

However, he added: "The tour needs to be assured that it will have a major public occasion in Dublin if it is to commit to coming here."

mod70

The MOD 70 fleet – plans are afoot to bring the fleet to Dun Laoghaire and moor them off the National Yacht Club at the Carlisle Pier

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Dublin Bay welcomed its first MOD70 earlier this year when yachtsman Roland Jourdain tested his Veolia Environnement trimaran ahead of the Fastnet Race.

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

Published in Dublin Bay

About Dublin Port 

Dublin Port is Ireland’s largest and busiest port with approximately 17,000 vessel movements per year. As well as being the country’s largest port, Dublin Port has the highest rate of growth and, in the seven years to 2019, total cargo volumes grew by 36.1%.

The vision of Dublin Port Company is to have the required capacity to service the needs of its customers and the wider economy safely, efficiently and sustainably. Dublin Port will integrate with the City by enhancing the natural and built environments. The Port is being developed in line with Masterplan 2040.

Dublin Port Company is currently investing about €277 million on its Alexandra Basin Redevelopment (ABR), which is due to be complete by 2021. The redevelopment will improve the port's capacity for large ships by deepening and lengthening 3km of its 7km of berths. The ABR is part of a €1bn capital programme up to 2028, which will also include initial work on the Dublin Port’s MP2 Project - a major capital development project proposal for works within the existing port lands in the northeastern part of the port.

Dublin Port has also recently secured planning approval for the development of the next phase of its inland port near Dublin Airport. The latest stage of the inland port will include a site with the capacity to store more than 2,000 shipping containers and infrastructures such as an ESB substation, an office building and gantry crane.

Dublin Port Company recently submitted a planning application for a €320 million project that aims to provide significant additional capacity at the facility within the port in order to cope with increases in trade up to 2040. The scheme will see a new roll-on/roll-off jetty built to handle ferries of up to 240 metres in length, as well as the redevelopment of an oil berth into a deep-water container berth.

Dublin Port FAQ

Dublin was little more than a monastic settlement until the Norse invasion in the 8th and 9th centuries when they selected the Liffey Estuary as their point of entry to the country as it provided relatively easy access to the central plains of Ireland. Trading with England and Europe followed which required port facilities, so the development of Dublin Port is inextricably linked to the development of Dublin City, so it is fair to say the origins of the Port go back over one thousand years. As a result, the modern organisation Dublin Port has a long and remarkable history, dating back over 300 years from 1707.

The original Port of Dublin was situated upriver, a few miles from its current location near the modern Civic Offices at Wood Quay and close to Christchurch Cathedral. The Port remained close to that area until the new Custom House opened in the 1790s. In medieval times Dublin shipped cattle hides to Britain and the continent, and the returning ships carried wine, pottery and other goods.

510 acres. The modern Dublin Port is located either side of the River Liffey, out to its mouth. On the north side of the river, the central part (205 hectares or 510 acres) of the Port lies at the end of East Wall and North Wall, from Alexandra Quay.

Dublin Port Company is a State-owned commercial company responsible for operating and developing Dublin Port.

Dublin Port Company is a self-financing, and profitable private limited company wholly-owned by the State, whose business is to manage Dublin Port, Ireland's premier Port. Established as a corporate entity in 1997, Dublin Port Company is responsible for the management, control, operation and development of the Port.

Captain William Bligh (of Mutiny of the Bounty fame) was a visitor to Dublin in 1800, and his visit to the capital had a lasting effect on the Port. Bligh's study of the currents in Dublin Bay provided the basis for the construction of the North Wall. This undertaking led to the growth of Bull Island to its present size.

Yes. Dublin Port is the largest freight and passenger port in Ireland. It handles almost 50% of all trade in the Republic of Ireland.

All cargo handling activities being carried out by private sector companies operating in intensely competitive markets within the Port. Dublin Port Company provides world-class facilities, services, accommodation and lands in the harbour for ships, goods and passengers.

Eamonn O'Reilly is the Dublin Port Chief Executive.

Capt. Michael McKenna is the Dublin Port Harbour Master

In 2019, 1,949,229 people came through the Port.

In 2019, there were 158 cruise liner visits.

In 2019, 9.4 million gross tonnes of exports were handled by Dublin Port.

In 2019, there were 7,898 ship arrivals.

In 2019, there was a gross tonnage of 38.1 million.

In 2019, there were 559,506 tourist vehicles.

There were 98,897 lorries in 2019

Boats can navigate the River Liffey into Dublin by using the navigational guidelines. Find the guidelines on this page here.

VHF channel 12. Commercial vessels using Dublin Port or Dun Laoghaire Port typically have a qualified pilot or certified master with proven local knowledge on board. They "listen out" on VHF channel 12 when in Dublin Port's jurisdiction.

A Dublin Bay webcam showing the south of the Bay at Dun Laoghaire and a distant view of Dublin Port Shipping is here
Dublin Port is creating a distributed museum on its lands in Dublin City.
 A Liffey Tolka Project cycle and pedestrian way is the key to link the elements of this distributed museum together.  The distributed museum starts at the Diving Bell and, over the course of 6.3km, will give Dubliners a real sense of the City, the Port and the Bay.  For visitors, it will be a unique eye-opening stroll and vista through and alongside one of Europe’s busiest ports:  Diving Bell along Sir John Rogerson’s Quay over the Samuel Beckett Bridge, past the Scherzer Bridge and down the North Wall Quay campshire to Berth 18 - 1.2 km.   Liffey Tolka Project - Tree-lined pedestrian and cycle route between the River Liffey and the Tolka Estuary - 1.4 km with a 300-metre spur along Alexandra Road to The Pumphouse (to be completed by Q1 2021) and another 200 metres to The Flour Mill.   Tolka Estuary Greenway - Construction of Phase 1 (1.9 km) starts in December 2020 and will be completed by Spring 2022.  Phase 2 (1.3 km) will be delivered within the following five years.  The Pumphouse is a heritage zone being created as part of the Alexandra Basin Redevelopment Project.  The first phase of 1.6 acres will be completed in early 2021 and will include historical port equipment and buildings and a large open space for exhibitions and performances.  It will be expanded in a subsequent phase to incorporate the Victorian Graving Dock No. 1 which will be excavated and revealed. 
 The largest component of the distributed museum will be The Flour Mill.  This involves the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road based on a masterplan completed by Grafton Architects to provide a mix of port operational uses, a National Maritime Archive, two 300 seat performance venues, working and studio spaces for artists and exhibition spaces.   The Flour Mill will be developed in stages over the remaining twenty years of Masterplan 2040 alongside major port infrastructure projects.

Source: Dublin Port Company ©Afloat 2020.