Volvo 70 Wizard Enters 2023 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

24th February 2023

Afloat.ie Team

Wizard rounds the Fastnet rock in the Rolex Fastnet Race. In 2023, the VO70 will be back in Irish waters to compete in the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race

Wizard rounds the Fastnet Rock in the 2019 Rolex Fastnet Race. In 2023, the VO70 will be back in Irish waters to compete in the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race Credit: Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

New York Yacht Club's Volvo 70 Wizard is the latest - and largest - entry into June's Irish offshore classic Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

Entered by well-known Irish offshore sailor Johnny Mordaunt, the 2016 winner of the Sydney-Hobart Race brings the race fleet to 20 so far for the 270-mile race.

Mordaunt, who most recently campaigned the Fast40+ Tschuss at 2022 Antigua Sailing Week, will certainly make a splash when the VO70 starts off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on the 30th anniversary of the race.

The race starts from Dun Laoghaire on June 7th and is scheduled to arrive in Dingle Harbour on June 9th and 10th.

Wizard won't be the only New York entry on the D2D startline either, with Ron O'Hanley's Cookson 50 Privateer also heading to County Kerry.

As Afloat reported earlier, Denis and Annamarie Murphy's successful Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo from Royal Cork Yacht Club will defend its race title with up to 50 yachts competing.

The 2021 race was one of great success for Cork offshore sailing interests, and now, with the confirmation of the VO70s entry, international interest in the D2D shows no sign of letting up.

Competing yachts will vary between 30 and 100 feet in length, with crews of between 2 and 20 sailors on board.

The first D2D race took place in 1993 and the race has grown to become one of the great mini offshore sailing challenges in the UK and Irish waters. Underlining this growth in status is the fact that the D2D race now forms part of both the Royal Ocean Racing Club and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Associations 2023 series.

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Tracker 2023

Track the progress of the 2023 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race fleet on the live tracker above and the leaderboard below

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race Live Leaderboard 2023

The 16th edition of the 280-mile race organised by the National Yacht Club starts at 2 pm on Wednesday, June 7th, on Dublin Bay.

Read the full 2023 race preview by WM Nixon here
Read all the D2D Race News in one handy link here
Listen to Lorna Siggins's interview with Race Chairman Adam Winkelmann on Afloat's Wavelengths here

WM Nixon will be posting regular race updates and analysis throughout the 2023 race here

Published in Dun Laoghaire Dingle

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Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race

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Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race Information

The biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle race is a 320-miles race down to the east coast of Ireland, across the south coast and into Dingle harbour in County Kerry.

The race is organised by the National Yacht Club.

It never fails to offer a full range of weather, wind and tide to the intrepid entrants, ranging from a 32ft cruiser to a 79ft all-out racer.

Three divisions are available to enter: cruiser (boats equipped with furlers), racing (the bulk of the fleet) and also two-handed.

D2D Course change overruled

In 2019, the organisers considered changing the course to allow boats to select routes close to shore by removing the requirement to go outside Islands and Lighthouses en route, but following input from regular participants, the National Yacht Club decided to stick with the tried and tested course route in order to be fair to large and smaller boats and to keep race records intact.

D2D Course record time

Mick Cotter’s 78ft Whisper established the 1 day and 48 minutes course record for the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race in 2009 and that time stood until 2019 when Cotter returned to beat his own record but only just, the Dun Laoghaire helmsman crossing the line in Kerry to shave just 20 seconds off his 2009 time.