Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2019: IRC Runners & Riders (Download Class Splits HERE!)

10th July 2019

Thursday's 2019 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta has attracted a fleet of 500 boats. Scroll down for a review of the IRC fleet divisions Credit: Afloat

There is no doubt about it that 500 entries – so far – for Thursday's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is a great indication of the state of yacht racing in Ireland, especially when so many other regattas struggle for numbers.

There are six IRC spinnaker classes bucking this trend plus a further 27 One Design and White Sail classes competing, making up this massive 500–boat fleet.

Download the Class Splits for Dun Laoghaire Regatta's IRC Classes below as a PDF file.

Based on these divisions, Afloat takes a shot at naming some likely winners in each of these six IRC classes. At the Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale, a fortnight ago, we did likewise and were successful in three of our four IRC class picks.

Light Wind Forecast

Weather conditions, as always will have a big bearing on who wins, with some designs clearly favouring lighter winds and some strong winds. With three days to go, it is possible to get a fairly decent steer of what the wind conditions will be like. It appears Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2019 will be a very light air affair unless some thermal winds appear, but with cloudy conditions expected for three of the four days, the chances of these thermals coming in are lessened. Therefore our picks for likely winners take this into account.

Offshore Class—28 Entries

In reality, though officially described as an 'Offshore' Class, it is effectively a 'Coastal' Class.

Jackknife D2D Race start 2497 Jackknife, the J125 of Andrew Hall from Pwllheli Sailing Club

Jackknife, the J125 of Andrew Hall from Pwllheli Sailing Club is leading the ISORA Series overall and is a potent performer, particularly when she can get planing. Likewise, the two Jeanneau Sunfast 3600s from Dun Laoghaire, Yoyo (Brendan Coughlan) and Hot Cookie (John O'Gorman). Hot Cookie had an impressive third place overall result at the recent Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, while Yoyo features well also on the ISORA Circuit.

Rockabill D2D Race start 2191 Paul O'Higgins's Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Paul O'Higgins's Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish has already won D2D overall and the Coastal class at ICRAs but may not like the light air conditions much. Even still, she will compete hard and if a bit of breeze builds, she will perform well.

WOW D2D Race start 2087 George Sisk's new XP44 WOW from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

All these boats will need some breeze and some good reaching conditions to shine. George Sisk's new XP44 from the Royal Irish took a clean sweep in the Coastal Class at the Sovereign's Cup just two weeks ago and is known to be particularly swift in light airs. In addition, she seems to possess a good selection of offwind sails, so she must be the favourite for this class. The two boats that might upset this, however, are the J109’s, Jaydreamer, owned by Paul Sutton from Liverpool, Peter Dunlop's Mojito from Pwllheli and Nigel Ingram's Jetstream from Holyhead. The J109 is a particularly potent performer in light airs, and with their asymmetric spinnakers will likely be well suited for this class.

Class 0: Six entries

The Offshore Class has pulled many of the larger boats, leaving just the hardcore of top IRC big boats here.

Signal 8 Ker 40 Jamie McWilliam Jamie McWilliam's Signal 8, a Ker 40, sailing under the burgee of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

The highest rated will be Jamie McWilliam's Ker 40, Signal 8 from Hong Kong. Signal 8 won last years Wave Regatta at Howth in light airs, from Jump Juice from Royal Cork owned by Conor Phelan. Jump will be in the mix this year as well.

Forty Licks 1581 Jay Colville's First 40, Forty Licks from East Down Yacht Club
Jay Colville's First 40, Forty Licks from East Down Yacht Club always performs well in all conditions, and will likely finish in the top three, as likely will Jonathan Anderson's J122e from the Clyde.

eleuthera racing14 Frank Whelan's Grand Soleil 44, Eleuthera from Greystones Photo: Bob Bateman

For the overall win, however, you cannot go beyond Frank Whelan's Grand Soleil 44, Eleuthera from Greystones. Second at the ICRAs and a clear winner at the Sovereign Cup last month, she is a noted light air performer, and with Shane Hughes from North Sails aboard, must be the bookies favourite in this class.

Class 1: 27 entries

This is likely to be the most competitive and hardest class to pick a winner this year. The normal Irish and Welsh boats in this class will be joined by the Scottish RC 35 Class who are using Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta as one of the Celtic Cup events, so six of this class have travelled to the hub of Irish Sea yachting.

16 x J109s feature in this class and are known to be potent in light airs, so it is likely that two or three of the podium results will go to a J109. So far this year, a J109 has won the Scottish Series, the ICRAs and the Sovereign's Cup, in varying conditions.

Animal Kip Kevin and Debbie Aitken's Beneteau 36.7, Animal, from the Clyde

Apart from the J109s, there are a few others that will feature. If it stays light for all four days, Kevin and Debbie Aitken's Beneteau 36.7, Animal, from the Clyde is a potent performer in light airs and has already won the RC35 Class Nationals this year. One windier day, however, could be her undoing as if she cannot keep up with the J109’s on a moderate day, she will end up with a couple of high numbers. This is what happened at the Scottish Series back in May.

Bon Exemple 2627 Colin Byrne's Xp33, Bon Exemple from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Colin Byrne's Xp33, Bon Exemple has been going particularly well in Dublin Bay Sailing Club racing until she had to do some mast repairs. She is a great all-round boat and will be to the front of the fleet. Andrew Algeo's new J99, Juggerknot 2 from the Royal Irish has shown some flashes of speed and will likely be in the mix.

J99 2688 Andrew Algeo's new J99, Juggerknot 2 from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Getting back to the J109s, the four that took the top four results at this year's ICRAs are all back, and all have good tacticians aboard. John Maybury's Joker 2, From the Royal Irish, who was the 2017 Dun Laoghaire Regatta winner will have Olympian Killian Collins aboard. Jelly Baby, owned by Brian Jones from the Royal Cork has Killian's brother Mel on tactics. Storm 2, owned by the Kelly family from Rush has North Sails Nigel Young aboard, and Outrajeous, owned by John Murphy and Richard Colwell from Howth, has Olympian Mark Mansfield aboard. Outrajeous just won the Sovereigns Cup two weeks ago in Kinsale. Other top J109s likely to do well will be Tim Goodbody's locally-based White Mischief from the Royal Irish, Brian and John Hall's Something else from the National Yacht Club and Andrew Craig's Scottish Series winner, Chimaera from the Royal Irish.

White Mischief J109 0359 Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Jelly Baby 2022 Brian Jones's J109 Jelly Baby from Royal Cork Yacht Club

Outrajeous 2934 Outrajeous, owned by John Murphy and Richard Colwell from Howth

Who to pick from this lot? Were it moderate conditions, it likely would be Outrageous, Joker 2 and Storm to fight it out. However, both Storm and Outrageous have opted for symmetrical spinnaker configuration this year and in light airs an asymmetrical spinnaker has an advantage. As a result, we suggest Joker 2 will take it by a nose.

Class 2: 23 entries

Were it moderate conditions we could talk about one of the J97s having a good chance, or perhaps Anthony O'Leary's converted 1720, Antix Beag, from Cork or the newly crowned ICRA Class Three champion, the X302 Dux (Anthony Gore Grimes) from Howth.

Antix Beag 2437 Anthony O'Leary's modified 1720, Antix Beag, from Cork

However in light airs, the modernised Half Tonners are flyers and so, one of these five must be likely to take the spoils.

The Wright brothers Mata from Howth has won the ICRAs this year and also won the Irish Half Ton Cup at the Sovereigns Cup. She has been going particularly well, but unlike the other events, she does not have a pro for this regatta.

MATA Half Ton The Wright brothers Mata from Howth Photo: Bob Bateman

Nigel Biggs's Checkmate XVIII from Howth won her class in Sovereigns and was close also at ICRAs. Her tactician, Neil Mackley from North Sails, will, Afloat understands, be with her again for Dun Laoghaire Week and this must make her one of the main contenders.

Nigel Biggs's Checkmate XVIII from Howth Photo: Bob Bateman

Finally, Dave Cullen from Howth has not featured of late in his champion Half Tonner, Checkmate XV. For this event, he has brought in well known one design pro, Ruairidh Scott from the UK to call tactics and this will likely bring him well into contention. So, it likely will be between these three. We will tip Nigel Biggs to take it from Dave Cullen, but it will all be pretty close.

Cullen checkmate 0385 Dave Cullen's Half Tonner, Checkmate XV from Howth

Dux X302 3304 ICRA champion X302 Dux (Anthony Gore-Grimes) from Howth

Class 3: 19 entries

Were it moderate to fresh, the four J24s would likely be in the frame. The Quarter Tonners, however, love this light stuff and chief among them will likely be Ken Lawless and Sybil McCormack's Cartoon from the Royal Irish. Other Quarter Tonners that will like the conditions will be Paul Colton's Cri Cri from the Royal Irish and John Hasson and Neil Doherty's Panic from Lough Swilly Yacht Club.

CrI Cri 3430 Paul Colton's Cri Cri from the Royal Irish Yacht Club

Fngr8 1982 FNGr8, the optimised First Class 8 skippered by Rory Fekkes from Carrickfergus Sailing Club

Brendan Foley's highly optimised Impala, Running Wild from the Royal St George, complete with fat head main, will also love these light airs. Finally, runner up to Dux at the ICRA Nationals this year was FNGr8, the optimised First Class 8 of Rory Fekkes from Carrickfergus Sailing Club. Rory won his class easily at the Scottish Series and was overall winner at 2018 Cork Week. We will tip him to add a Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta crown to these titles, likely with Cartoon or Running Wild in second.

Running Wild Impala 3287 Brendan Foley's highly optimised Impala, Running Wild from the Royal St George Yacht Club

Class 4: 16 entries

Hard to know who will take this one. Philip Dwyer's Supernova, who won his class at ICRAs has been moved up to Class 3, as has Dubious, the First 28 of Peter Richardson from the Royal St George.
The Sonata, Asterix, of Frazer Meredith is always sailed well and never goes away, despite her low handicap. In these conditions, she will always be in contention. We will tip her to win.

Asterix sonata 7 3213 Local boat Asterix (Frazer Meredith & John Counihan) of the DMYC

Download the class splits below. Read W M Nixon's VDLR 2019 Regatta preview here.

Scroll down for 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta results class by class

Read all the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Race News in one handy link here
Click links to read more on VDLR IRC divisions Coastal, IRC Zero, IRC One, IRC Two and IRC Three
Listen to Lorna Siggins's interview with Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Race Director Paddy Boyd here
Read more on the Coastival Festival here
See live Dublin Bay webcams covering here

Afloat will be posting regular race updates throughout the 2023 Regatta. Send your photos, tips and stories by email to [email protected]

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Race Results

You may need to scroll vertically and horizontally within the box to view the full results

Downloads

VDLR 19 Entrants_0807 1 Cruiser Classes and Offshore.pdf (682 Downloads)
VDLR 19 Entrants_0807 1 Non Spinnaker.pdf (547 Downloads)

Published in Volvo Regatta, Half Tonners, J109, National YC, RStGYC, Royal Irish Yacht Club, ISORA

Published in Volvo Regatta

Tagged under

Dun Laoghaire Regatta

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.