Solo Sailing and Circumavigation News
The 54th La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, a renowned solo sailing race, kicked off its first stage today at Ouistreham beach off Caen on France's Normandy coast. The 32 solo skippers were given a purposeful but relatively straightforward start on…
Ireland’s Tom Dolan And Figaro Fleet Start 54th Annual Solo Contest Towards Kinsale on Sunday
26th August 2023 W M Nixon
The Solitaire du Figaro has been a significant feature of the European sailing scene for 54 years now, and today it is well established as La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec, supported by the 1985-founded French re-cycling and green energy conglomerate.…
Rested Tom Dolan Aims to Improve on His Fifth Overall in La Solitaire du Figaro
23rd August 2023 Tom Dolan
Irish skipper, Tom Dolan is gearing up for the La Solitaire du Figaro solo offshore race, which starts on Sunday from Caen, Normandy and heads to Piriac-sur-mer via stops in Kinsale, County Cork in his native Ireland and Roscoff in…
Two Solo Sailors Rescued By RNLI Dunmore East Crew in Separate Incidents
18th August 2023 RNLI Lifeboats
Dunmore East RNLI lifeboat crew called out twice yesterday (17 August) to assist two solo sailors who were part of the qualifying stages for a long-distance solo race. Each sailor was piloting their own 6m sail-only vessels and had intended…
Tom Dolan, the Irish solo skipper of Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan, is gearing up for the upcoming 54th edition of the Solitaire du Figaro. With only 20 days remaining until the race, Dolan is devoting all his time to final preparations. The…
Tom Dolan Secures 12th Place Finish in Solo Concarneau Before August's Figaro Race
28th July 2023 Tom Dolan
Irish solo sailor Tom Dolan achieved a tenth-place finish on the 395-mile offshore race of the event, which took place on Friday afternoon. After two days of inshore races, Dolan recovered from a disappointing start to the offshore race and…
After a series of mainly double-handed and crewed races so far this season, Irish sailor Tom Dolan returns to solo racing mode this week when he takes on the 47th edition of the Solo Guy Cotten – Concarneau against high-calibre…
Conor O'Brien 'Saoirse' Rally Hailed a Success as Fleet Prepare to Depart Madeira
17th July 2023 Conor O'Brien
The centenary international Irish sailing event called the ‘Saoirse Rally’ has come to a successful end on the 8th of July 2023 after a series of celebrations hosted in Funchal, Madeira by the Clube Naval de Funchal, Madeira Tourism Board…
Conor O’Brien Two Year Saoirse Circumnavigation Centenary Celebration Now Well Under Way
11th July 2023 Conor O'Brien
A hundred years ago on this day, Conor O’Brien of Limerick’s 42ft own-designed ketch - newly-built by Tom Moynihan of Baltimore with some of the West Cork shipwright’s small but very effective hull shape improvements - was well into a…
Tom Dolan and French Co-Skipper Kevin Bloch are Top 5 on the Tour of Brittany
7th July 2023 Tom Dolan
After five races on the Tour de Bretagne à la Voile, the Irish-French pairing of Tom Dolan and Kévin Bloch, racing the Irish skipper’s Smurfit Kappa–Kingspan, are holding fifth place in the 26-boat fleet as of Friday (7 July). Still…
New York Vendée Set for Return as Final Confrontation Before the Vendée Globe 2024
7th July 2023 Vendee Globe
Organisers of the Vendée Globe have released the Notice of Race for the transatlantic New York Vendée–Les Sables d’Olonne in May 2024. Last held in 2016 with 14 IMOCAs, this second edition will be the first organised by the Vendée…
Dolan and Bloch’s Smurfit Kappa-Kingspan Fifth Into Brest on Tour of Brittany
4th July 2023 Tom Dolan
Ireland’s Tom Dolan and his French co-skipper Kévin Bloch took a hard earned fifth place on Tuesday (4 July) at the end of the first offshore leg of the Tour de Bretagne a la Voile, racing from Saint Quay-Portrieux to…
Irish skipper Tom Dolan eagerly looks forward to Saturday's Tour de Bretagne à la Voile, where he believes a podium place is within reach. The four-stage, double-handed race starts on Saturday, July 1st and goes around the Brittany peninsula starting…
Vessel Found in Search for Missing Cork-Bound Sailor as Family Appeal for Information
29th June 2023 Solo Sailing
A vessel has been found in the search for a solo sailor who went missing last week while en route to West Cork. However, there is still no sign of its skipper, whose family have issued an appeal for any…
Jakub Ziemkiewicz is Building His Own Racing Yacht in Cork Harbour to Race the Mini Globe
22nd June 2023 Tom MacSweeney
Jakub Ziemkiewicz tells me he was “born to sail but forced to work.” He is working as I talk to him - on the yacht he is building in a shed at Aghada in the northeast corner of Cork Harbour…
Ketch Ilen is Lead Vessel in Saoirse Rally to Celebrate Legendary Irish Sailor Conor O'Brien
20th June 2023 Conor O'Brien
An international Irish sailing event called the “Saoirse Rally” organised by the Irish Cruising Club, launched from Dun Laoghaire harbour, Co. Dublin, Ireland last Saturday, 17th June 2023, to commemorate the heroic achievements one hundred years ago of legendary Irish…
