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.
The start procedure begins 8 minutes before the gun fires with the warning signal. At 4 minutes before, for the preparatory signal, the skipper must be alone on board, follow the countdown and take the line at the start signal at 13:02hrs local time. If an IMOCA crosses the line too early, it incurs a penalty of 5 hours which they will have to complete on the course before the latitude 38 ° 40 N (just north of Lisbon latitude). For safety reasons, there is no opportunity to turn back and recross the line. A competitor who has not crossed the starting line 60 minutes after the signal will be considered as not starting. They will have to wait until a time indicated by the race committee to start again. No departure will be given after November 18, 2020, at 1:02 p.m when the line closes.