Day One (start): Just before dawn on Wednesday, May 3rd 2023, Ireland's leading solo sailor, the French-based Tom Dolan, embarked on his latest adventure to round Ireland in under four days and break the 2020 doublehanded record according to the bid lodged with the World Speed Sailing Record Council. He also in attempting to set a 'faux' solo record.
The 10-day wait is over, and at 04 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, Dolan headed south at 185 degrees for the Tuskar Rock, leaving behind the starting line between Dún Laoghaire harbour and the Kish lighthouse and establishing a new time for the fastest single-handed sailing time around Ireland.
It’s a journey of 700 nautical miles around Ireland and all its islands; his seven-sail boat is capable of hitting speeds of up to 26 knots, or 52km per hour but averaging much less than that, about seven knots.
"The first 24 hours are critical; it will be windy from Tuskar Rock to the Fastnet and beyond"
As the County Meath sailor, whose French rivals refer to him as 'Irlandais volant' or the 'Flying Irishman', approached the start line in upwind mode just after 4 am, conditions at start time were gentle on the Kish Bank, not exactly record-breaking stuff, with only five to eight knots from the south in a flat sea. But, as per the carefully chosen forecast, all that is about to change. Dolan will confront much stronger winds along the south and west coasts of Ireland over the next 48 hours so he can live up to his French billing.
Round Ireland speed record keepers - Gerry Jones, Tom Dolan's campaign manager (left), and Dublin Bay Sailing Club officials Brian Mathews and Rosemary Roy authenticate the record bid start at the Kish Light on May 23rd at 04 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, IST. Photo: Afloat
Dolan has been rewarded with a great weather window, winds of 25-30kts around the south of Ireland, but there is a danger that if he drops off the frontal weather system, he could be left with little wind. The fly in the ointment in this circumnavigation may be the North Channel off the Antrim coast which Dolan expects to pass sometime on Friday. He plans to clock up as many miles as possible before then so as to have some 'time in the bank' to negotiate the notoriously tricky final passage down the Irish Sea back to the Kish.
"The first 24 hours are critical; it will be windy from Tuskar Rock to the Fastnet and beyond, 25 gusting to 30 kts; you will do the whole south coast of Ireland on one gybe, and then the west coast on the other and the seas should be perfectly flat for a lot of the time", Dolan told Afloat before the off.
This morning's record start time was officiated by Irish World Speed Sailing representatives from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Brian Mathews and Rosemary Roy, who authenticated the record bid at the Kish Light on May 23rd at 04 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, IST.
In order to comply with the rules of Irish maritime affairs prohibiting single-handed sailing for several years, the skipper will be accompanied by a media man, Romain Marie. Under no circumstances will the latter affect the performance of the boat, Dolan claims.
Dolan has agreed with the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) that he will attempt to break the 'Round Ireland Double-handed less than 40ft record'.
While the WSSC is not recording this as a solo attempt (as Dolan has a journalist onboard), Dolan says he is also seeking to set a 'faux record' by attempting to break the Belgian Michel Kleinjan's solo 2005 record time.
The course is approximately 700 miles long.
Reference times are the 2005 solo record by Kleinjans aboard a Class40: 4 days, 1 hour and 53 minutes and 29 seconds and the doublehanded record set in 2020 by Pamela Lee and Catherine Hunt on a Figaro3 of 3 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes and 39 seconds.
The record bid has attracted some mainstream media overage with Ian O'Riordan's piece in The Irish Times here
See the tracker below
