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Displaying items by tag: Mike Caplan

#Bjmarine – In a busy year for BJ Marine on both sides of the Irish Sea, the leading Irish boats sales firm has opened a new office in Pwllheli, North Wales to "give an unrivalled presence in the Irish Sea", according to the firm's Bernard Gallagher.

The move gives BJ Marine waterside locations and facilities at Bangor marina in County Down where it operates the marina boatyard, its head office at the new Greystones marina in Wicklow and now on the far side of the Irish Sea at Gwynedd in North Wales.

The marina in Pwllheli boasts 400 berths and storage for a further 200 boats ashore, which played a big part in BJ Marine's commitment to set up office there.

With a rich cruising ground and plenty of traffic across the Irish Sea, its no surprise that Gallagher says he's "extremely excited for the future of our Pwllheli office and the opportunities for customers on both sides of the Irish Sea."

Mike Caplan is managing the Pwllheli sales operation, bringing to the team over 16 years experience in both new and used boat sales, with Dickies in Wales and with BJ Marine on the Beneteau stand at numerous international boat shows over the years.

Caplan will be at the London Boat Show on 9-18 January to share his knowledge and help you find the right boat for your needs.

Published in BJ Marine

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.

RORC Points Calendar

The 2019 race was the first edition to form part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club “RORC” calendar for the season. This is in addition to the race continuing as part of the ISORA programme. 

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.