It was Super Saturday on Dublin Bay for VDLR23 Day 3, with brisk but very manageable sailing conditions matched by a brisk throughput of three races by the Race Teams, setting up everything nicely on track for two intense races in the Grand Finale tomorrow (Sunday).

A southeast-to-south breeze at premium competition strength provided some notably close finishes, made even more so by the application of the handicap system of your choice, but for now we concentrate on IRC.

Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher Photo: Michael Chester

Class 0 has seen a real ding-dong developing between two very different boats, Paul O'Higgins JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (RIYC) and Pete Smyth's Sunfast 3600 Searcher (NYC).

With one discard now in use, Rockabill is on 5 pts to the 7 of Searcher after winning the final race of the day from Searcher by 49 seconds.

Shaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game Changer Photo: Michael Chester

Also in the frame is that grand veteran from Belfast Lough, Shaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game Changer (RUYC), whose crew delighted themselves by winning Race 4 by twenty seconds from Rockabill, while Game Changer's newer sister, the First 40 Prima Forte (Patrick Burke, RIYC) is on equal points at 14, but is notched at fourth through the count-back.

The 2023 regatta, the ninth edition of Ireland's largest sailing event, concludes on Sunday with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

It may look like only half the size of the other IRC classes at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, but an 11-boat IRC Zero fleet is every bit as competitive as the other four and double the size of the 2019 entry.

And to add extra spice to an impressive line-up, this IRC Zero division – where five of the fleet will be visitors to Dublin Bay – has attracted a clear favourite for overall honours, the Royal Irish Yacht Club's Rockabill VI.

Rockabill, with an IRC rating of 1.054, comes into Zero with regular tactician Mark Pettit and Kieran Tarbert driving a well-proven JPK 10.80 for the forecasted breeze.

Having won last Saturday's Lyver Race, Paul O'Higgins's offshore supremos have elected to sail windward-leeward courses this week instead of sailing in their usual hunting ground of coastal racing. It means, as leaders, they take no further part in the five-race Royal Dee championships being sailed as part of VDLR. 

The attraction, in part, must be new competition in the shape of an optimised Beneteau First 40.7 from Northern Ireland, a Sunfast 3600, a J112e and a visiting J122 from Scotland.

New to Dublin Bay, J112e, Johnny Treanor's Valentina" from the National Yacht Club has already notched up some early success in 2023. As regular Afloat readers know, Treanor scored a debut win in Key Yachting's J Cup at Hamble in the UK and a second at last month's Sovereign's Cup in Kinsale. Dragon ace Adam Winkelmann is on tactics.

Johnny Treanor's new J112e Valentina competing at the Sovereign's Cup Photo: Bob Bateman

Game Changer from Northern Ireland is an optimised Beneteau First 40.7, ex "Philosophie", with former Laser ace John Simms driving. The Belfast Lough boat has a non-overlapping jib configuration, resulting in a low rating of 1.042. That's very low for a 40-footer, and if windy, as per the forecast, she could be a force to be reckoned with.

Shaun Douglas's First 40.7 Game Changer from Belfast Lough Photo: Afloat

The National Yacht Club's Pete Smyth, on the Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 "Searcher", recently won her class and finished third overall in the Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race. The distinctive black boat rates lower than Rockabill VI at 1.044 and carries a new symmetric spinnaker configuration. As with the D2D, Pete will be sailing shoulder to shoulder with his brother Nick as a tactician.

Pete Smyth's Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 Searcher Photo: Afloat

Jonathan Anderson's Irish J122 campaign from the Clyde continues in Dun Laoghaire this week.

Jonathan Anderson's J122 from the Clyde Photo: Bob Bateman

The one-time leader of last month's Sovereign's Cup, "El Gran Senor", is a very experienced campaigner and will seek to improve on her further overall from 2019.

Another new marque for the division will include Norbert Reilly's new J111 Ghost Raider from Howth Yacht Club, which is expected to be quick downwind.

Norbert Reilly's new J111 Ghost Raider from Howth Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

The Cruisers Zero division will spend Thursday, Friday and Sunday on VDLR's Collen course over windward-leeward courses, but on Saturday, they will race a fixed mark course in the South Racing area.

Early forecasts

With so much riding on the optimum setup for the prevailing conditions, an early peek at weather forecasts from Met Eireann indicates there will be a breeze and plenty to produce a range of conditions over the four days. Medium to strong conditions with winds from a southerly quadrant will build from and provide some top-class conditions. Starting Thursday (July 6th), there will be medium conditions up to 13 mph with strong gusts for the first afternoon races. From there, the breeze is forecast to strengthen up to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph and with its southerly direction, the six courses on the Dublin Bay race track can anticipate a big sea state to boot. Sunday's last races, however, may see a drop in wind strength for a light to medium-air conclusion to the 2023 event.