8th May 2021 The spirit of Irish sailing – Ian Hickey s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina (Royal Cork YC) making a perfectly-timed start in the Dun Laoghaire-Dingle race. A successful participant in Fastnet, Round Ireland, Dingle and AZAB races, Cavatina is in the entry list for this year s Dingle Race on June 9th
Credit: W M Nixon
The welcome announcement that the National Yacht Club s biennial 280-mile Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race 2021 will be going ahead on Wednesday, June 9th, is encouraging. But it should not be seen as a clarion call to get the 2021 sailing season into full boisterous swing with all the traditionally noisy bells and whistles, and lively post-racing shoreside celebrations.
19th December 2020
The National YC s biennial Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, currently scheduled for June 9th 2021, could become symbolic of the emergence from pandemic. The start of 2019 s race shows overall winner Paul O Higgin s JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (left) showing briefly ahead of Mick Cotter s 94ft line honours winner and new course record-setter Windfall
Credit: Afloat.ie/David O Brien
In normal times, the yearly Irish sailing fixtures list is a reasonably harmonious programme based around annual or biennial pillar events of various types and sizes, an ongoing succession of regattas and championships which slot together in a reasonably meaningful structure which is dictated by traditional times of the year, and the needs of the bigger one design classes – particularly the dinghies – to find a location which will accommodate them for their annual national championship.