Royal Cork Grand Soleil 40 'Nieulargo' to Defend Volvo Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race Title in June

3rd January 2023

Defending champions - The Royal Cork Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo will defend its Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race on June 7th Credit: Afloat

Denis and Annamarie Murphy's successful Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo from Royal Cork Yacht Club will defend its Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race title this June.

As regular Afloat readers will recall, after an epic 14th edition of the 'D2D' that attracted a 38-boat fleet, the Murphy's lifted the trophy in Dingle, County Kerry.

The 2021 race was one of great success for Cork offshore sailing interests, and now, with the confirmation of Nieulargos' entry, SCORA's interest in the 270-miler shows no sign of letting up.

The Nieulargo winning crew were given a triumphant welcome home to Crosshaven with a five-gun salute at RCYC, as Afloat reported here.

The 2021 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race start on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

The 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle “D2D” Race will start from the National Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Wednesday, June 7th, 2023. The notice of race for the 15th race has been published and is downloadable below.

The race counts as a qualifier for the RORC Fastnet Race and is timed to allow yachts to travel to Kinsale to participate in Sovereigns Week (21 – 24 June) and the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta (6 - 9 July).

The race is 270 miles along the East and South Coasts of Ireland and finishes in Dingle and is widely regarded as the 'perfect' mini offshore as it usually mixes varying weather conditions with a good test of boat and crew along the South coast of Ireland.

Sailing Instructions include a fixed time limit to allow for a lively post-race function in the Dingle Skellig Hotel, and to provide certainty for travel planning for owners and crew.

The race also forms part of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing (ISORA) series, which helps to guarantee a strong racing fleet.

The race is ORC Category 3 with Liferaft and AIS transponder.

The fleet comprises yachts mostly in the 33 – 50 ft range, with the race record of just over 24 hours (24 hours 48 minutes) currently held by the 94ft Southern Wind – Windfall.

Downloads

Notice of Race Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle 2023.pdf (118 Downloads)

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle, Royal Cork YC, SCORA

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Tracker 2023

Track the progress of the 2023 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race fleet on the live tracker above and the leaderboard below

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Leaderboard 2023

The 16th edition of the 280-mile race organised by the National Yacht Club starts at 2 pm on Wednesday, June 7th, on Dublin Bay.

Read the full 2023 race preview by WM Nixon here
Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here
Listen to Lorna Siggins's interview with Race Chairman Adam Winkelmann on Afloat's Wavelengths here

WM Nixon will be posting regular race updates and analysis throughout the 2023 race here

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Tagged under

Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

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Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Information

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down to the east coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry.

The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

It never fails to offer a full range of weather, wind and tide to the intrepid entrants, ranging from a 32ft cruiser to a 79ft all-out racer.

Three divisions are available to enter: cruiser (boats equipped with furlers), racing (the bulk of the fleet) and also two-handed.

D2D Course change overruled

In 2019, the organisers considered changing the course to allow boats to select routes close to shore by removing the requirement to go outside Islands and Lighthouses en route, but following input from regular participants, the National Yacht Club decided to stick with the tried and tested course route in order to be fair to large and smaller boats and to keep race records intact.

D2D Course record time

Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2009 and that time stood until 2019 when Cotter returned to beat his own record but only just, the Dun Laoghaire helmsman crossing the line in Kerry to shave just 20 seconds off his 2009 time.