SAILING/Dún Laoghaire Regatta:Dublin Bay will fill with sails this afternoon when a huge fleet leaves Dún Laoghaire to compete in the capital's biggest sailing regatta, which runs until Sunday.
From the Baily to Dalkey Island, the Bay will accommodate eight courses for 25 classes when racing starts at 3pm.
The Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta has become, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 competing, but also one of its largest sporting events, requiring 280 volunteers as well as international race officers and an international jury.
One reason for this, ironically, is that sailors have tired of venues claiming to replicate Cowes or Cork Week, with organisers mistakenly focused on being the biggest in an effort to be the best.
Dún Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority was quality, even after a disastrous start in 2005 when the event was becalmed for four days.
The rekindling of a combined Dublin Bay event after an absence of almost 40 years came about mostly thanks to the passionate persistence of race officer Brian Craig.
The support of all four Dún Laoghaire waterfront clubs (DúLaoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St George YC), in association with the racing clubs Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.
Sailors from all points of the compass have responded. Entries closed last Friday with 520 boats, roughly double the size of any previous regatta on the Bay.
Craig went to some lengths to achieve his aims, including the appointment of a Corkman, Alan Crosbie, to run the racing team, a decision that has raised a few eyebrows along the waterfront.
A flotilla of 25 boats has raced from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. That race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.
Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as to Dublin. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of Dún Laoghaire.
"The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable it will be compared with Cowes," said Craig.
"But we're doing our own thing here. Dún Laoghaire is unique and we are making a very special effort to welcome visitors from abroad."
The busiest shipping lane in Irish waters - across the Bay to Dublin port - is to close temporarily during the regatta.
Ships entering the Bay, including the high-speed Stena service to Dún Laoghaire, will use the Bay's northern lane.
As for the competition, the main attraction for many will be the appearance of four Super Zero class yachts, with Dún Laoghaire's Colm Barrington's TP52 Flash Glove expected to head the big-boat fleet.
At the other end of the technology scale, the traditional clinker-built Water Wags will compete, just as they did at a similar regatta 100 years ago.
The arrival of three TP52s and a Rogers 46 is a feather in the cap of organisers, because it brings grand-prix racing to Dublin Bay and the prospect of future big-boat fixtures hereabouts.
With 38 entries, the new Laser SB3s will make a big impact, although the White Sail Class 5 almost rivals them numerically.
The Fireball is the biggest dinghy class, with 27 entries, and there are 25 entries for the Ecover Half Ton Classics Cup, which began on Monday.
Class 0 is likely to be the most hotly contested. Three Cork boats - Jump Juice (Conor and Denise Phelan), Antix Dubh (Anthony O'Leary) and Blondie (Eamonn Rohan) - are expected to lead the fleet.
