Dun Laoghaire Harbour's combined waterfront yachts clubs have announced the continued title sponsorship by Volvo Car Ireland of next July's Dun Laoghaire Regatta and a new format for Ireland's top sailing event.

In order to facilitate social distancing and be Covid-19 compliant a new regatta format will comprise a One Design Championship (2nd – 4th July 2021) specifically tailored for sailors in the one-design keelboat and dinghy classes. This to be followed by an Open Cruiser Championship (8th – 11th July 2021) catering for the full range of Cruiser Handicap classes.

'The sponsorship announcement coupled with the significant format changes to VDLR 2021, will give sailors, sponsors, classes and the four waterfront clubs certainty in planning ahead for the 2021 season', says chairman of the organisers, Don O'Dowd.

Months of lockdown had sailors straining at the sheets to get out on the water. Theory
training delivered on zoom by Seán Donnelly and Adam Hyland upskilled NYC WoW sailors
on tactics as we sat at home. Social distancing meant that single-handers were now the only
option, so in late May Rosemary Cadogan O’Connell and Clodagh O’Connor formed the NYC
WoW Laser Group. Boats were retrieved from gardens and garages, and those who didn’t
own one scoured the buy and sell pages for Radials and 4.7s. Bidding wars were won on
whatsapp. The number of Lasers looking for platform parking jumped from 18 in 2019 to an
incredible 39 in 2020. The NYC welcomed 4 RS Aeros for the first time. Olivier Prouveur bent
the rules of Newtonian physics to accommodate them all.

Annalise held her lead over the 41-boat fleet to claim the Laser Radial open class title in the final racing of Italian Olympic Week at Follonica.

This result is a significant boost for Annalise's delayed Laser Radial campaign, although many of her key rivals for Tokyo 2020 gold next year did not contest the Italian championships. Next up are the European Championships in Gdansk just under two weeks time.

CONGRATULATIONS TO TOM!

NYC Country Member Tom Dolan finished a truly remarkable 5th Overall in France's 51th Solitaire offshore championship on his Figaro £ boat 'Smurfit Kappa'.

Tom received the VIVI Trophy for the best racer from outside of France.

It is the best international overall placing in the historic French multi stage offshore race series since 1997 when Switzerland’s Dominique Wavre placed second, and a remarkable result considering it is just Dolan’s third challenge and last year he was 33^rd.

“ I am delighted to see Tom win and delighted to see that in just the second year since the trophy was donated it really has become established as something that the sailors want to fight for and at the same time they are now getting some well-deserved recognition. ” Said Marcus Hutchinson, who with his wife Megan, donated the trophy last year.

“ And I am pleased to see it go to a fellow Irishman in Tom and he wins if not for being tenth or twelfth but for a great fifth place. He has been consistent this year and that is what La Solitaire is all about. This race so challenging and so complicated and he has worked hard. And it is nice, in a way, that he does not come from Dublin or Cork or one of the Irish sailing centres, his success says anyone can come and do this if they have the will and the determination, anything is possible. Tom has shown that. ”

Read more about La Solitaire 2020 on Afloat.ie