Displaying items by tag: Conor Totterdell

4th March 2024

National Yacht Club's Conor Totterdell Making Waves in Sydney Harbour's Cruiser Divisions

Conor Totterdell, hailing from Dun Laoghaire Harbour, recently participated in the 2023 Sydney-Hobart Race, finishing in seventh place in IRC Division 1 on the TP52 named Frantic before moving on to Sydney Harbour cruiser fleet success.

After returning to the water in the new year, he has won several significant cruiser class events in Sydney. In particular, he won the NSW ORC State Championships 2024, DIV 2, on 'Let's Get it on' (Corby 36) and also claimed victory in the Sydney Harbour Regatta 2024, DIV 2, on the same boat.

The National Yacht Club sailor has set his sights on some notable regattas in Sydney, including 'Sail Port Stephen's' at the end of April and the Australian National Championships on April 5-7.

Totterdell's Sydney trip will culminate in the TP52, Frantic, taking on the epic 1,064nm race from Sydney to Nouméa, New Caledonia, beginning on May 25th.

Published in National YC

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Conor Totterdell

Irish Interest In Renowned Chicago Yacht Club Race To Mackinac

Conor Totterdell (RStGYC) at the start of the Chicago to Waukegan Race last month

The Royal Cork’s Volvo Ocean Race winner Justin Slattery is among the Irish interest involved in this year’s Chicago Yacht Cub Race to Mackinac, which got under way yesterday (Friday 12 July).

Afloat.ie’s Sailor of the Month for June 2015 — for this key role in Abi Dhabi Ocean Racing’s win in that year’s VOR — is racing Whitehawk, a classic 105ft super yacht, in the world’s oldest annual freshwater distance race, now in its 111th running.

More than 2,000 sailors across 270 boats are racing the 289 nautical miles offshore from Chicago, north across the length of Lake Michigan, to where it meets Lake Huron at Mackinac Island.

Another Irish entrant is National Yacht Club sailor Conor Totterdell, who is racing the J109 Smee Again, part-owned by Irishman David Neenan.

The boat, which sets off with the more nimble boats in the race later today (Saturday 13 July), is in contention for ORR winners as well as the J109 one-design trophy, won by Neenan and his fellow owners’ previous boat, Impluse (J111).

Later this month, Totterdell will join Slattery on board Whitehawk for the Bayview Mackinac Boat Race from Port Huron (north of Detroit) to Mackinac.

Whitehawk, a custom-built King 104’ from 1978, is racing in the cruising division of ‘The Mac’ that set off yesterday, and as of 12.30pm IST was due east of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. (Follow along with the online race tracker HERE.)

Whitehawk 1

Whitehawk 2

It was recently bought by Peter Thornton who owned Il Mostro (Puma V70), on which Justin Slattery and Willie Lynch were regular crew.

Despite the distance from this island, The Mac has longstanding Irish connections. In 2002, the late Roy Disney, who was certainly no stranger to these shores, set the race’s monohull record of 23 hours and 30 minutes in his Maxi Z68, Pyewacket.

Published in Offshore

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Ireland & La Solitaire du Figaro

The Solitaire du Figaro, was originally called the course de l’Aurore until 1980, was created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault.

Half a decade later, the race has created some of France's top offshore sailors, and it celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new boat equipped with foils and almost 50 skippers Including novices, aficionados and six former winners.

The solo multi-stage offshore sailing race is one of the most cherished races in French sailing and one that has had Irish interest stretching back over 20 years due to the number of Irish stopovers, usually the only foreign leg of the French race.

What Irish ports have hosted The Solitaire du Figaro?

The race has previously called to Ireland to the following ports; Dingle, Kinsale, Crosshaven, Howth and Dun Laoghaire.

What Irish sailors have raced The Solitaire du Figaro?

So far there have been seven Irish skippers to participate in La Solitaire du Figaro.

In 1997, County Kerry's Damian Foxall first tackled the Figaro from Ireland. His win in the Rookie division in DHL gave him the budget to compete again the following year with Barlo Plastics where he won the final leg of the race from Gijon to Concarneau. That same year a second Irish sailor Marcus Hutchinson sailing Bergamotte completed the course in 26th place and third Rookie.

In 2000, Hutchinson of Howth Yacht Club completed the course again with IMPACT, again finishing in the twenties.

In 2006, Paul O’Riain became the third Irish skipper to complete the course.

In 2013, Royal Cork's David Kenefick raised the bar by becoming a top rookie sailor in the race.

In 2018, for the first time, Ireland had two Irish boats in the offshore race thanks to Tom Dolan and Joan Mulloy who joined the rookie ranks and kept the Irish tricolour flying high in France. Mulloy became the first Irish female to take on the race.

Tom Dolan in Smurfit Kappa competed for his third year in 2020 after a 25th place finish in 2019. Dolan sailed a remarkably consistent series in 2020 and took fifth overall, the best finish by a non-French skipper since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre finished runner up. Dolan wins the VIVI Trophy.

Dolan finished 10th on the first stage, 11th on the second and seventh into Saint Nazaire at the end of the third stage. Stage four was abandoned due to lack of wind.

Also in 2020, Dun Laoghaire’s Kenneth Rumball became the eleventh Irish sailor to sail the Figaro.

At A Glance – Figaro Race

It starts in June or July from a French port.
The race is split into four stages varying from year to year, from the length of the French coast and making up a total of around 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles (1,700 to 2,300 mi; 2,800 to 3,700 km) on average.
Over the years the race has lasted between 10 and 13 days at sea.
The competitor is alone in the boat, participation is mixed.
Since 1990, all boats are of one design.