The first race of this year’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta will be a mass start fixed mark race on the Irish capital’s waters. Titled the Bay Race, it will start close to the piers and, weather permitting, offer several course options.
Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2025 are celebrating early entries for July’s regatta with a diverse fleet ready to compete in the expected 400-boat turnout on Dublin Bay
Boats that do not usually race from Dun Laoghaire, Howth, Greystones, Malahide, Poolbeg and Bray are the focus of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta’s (VDLR) new ‘introductory class’ this July.
A third of the classes lined up for the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2025 from 10th to 13th July would qualify as wooden-built Classics, even if a couple of them have seen some owners going over to the Dark Side by taking up a glass-fibre construction option!
ICRA Commodore Denis Byrne will introduce delegates from the ISORA series, Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, Calves Week, the Volvo D2D race, the Sovereigns Cup, which will incorporate the ICRA National Championships, and WIORA week. All will attend the East Pier pow-wow at the National Yacht Club this Saturday morning (February 15th) from 10:30 am.
Scheduled for May and July, the Nations Cup will coincide with several major regattas: the IRC Welsh Championships in Pwllheli, and the Scottish Series in Tarbert, before the spotlight shifts to the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta from 10th to 13th July, and concluding with the IRC Northern Ireland Championships in Bangor.
Organisers have formally announced details of the 2025 combined regatta initiative for teams from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Ireland. Following an inaugural meeting last December, four 2025 regattas in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales have combined.
Already, four Flying Fifteens are signed up for Dun Laoghaire with a fleet of 20 plus ultimately expected, making it one of the biggest one-design fleets at Ireland’s biggest sailing event from July 9-13.
The non-spinnaker Cruiser 2B class leads the entry count in the four non-spinnaker classes for July’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. Three local boats plus a Beneteau Oceanis 37 from Arklow Sailing Club comprise the four-boat fleet to date, including Colin O’Brien’s Spirit, a Jeanneau 39DS and Paul Conway’s Contessa 32, Cevantes, both from the Royal St George Yacht Club.
Xaviera, an X4 owned by Jonathan Anderson, was the name drawn from the hat in January to win back her entry fee in this year’s Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta’s early entry incentive.
Entered in the coastal class, Xaviera sails under the burgees of the Clyde Cruising Club and the Royal Irish Yacht Club.
As Afloat readers will recall, Xaviera was on form in Belfast Lough at Bangor Regatta in 2024 but she makes her Dun Laoghaire Regatta debut on Dublin Bay this July.
