Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 Day 3

The Sigma 33 class competing in the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay © Michael Chester

Dublin, Saturday 8th July 2023 Perfect summer sailing conditions on Dublin Bay brought changes to the leaderboard in several classes on the penultimate day of Ireland's biggest sailing regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on Dublin Bay today (Saturday).

One contender for tomorrow's (Sunday) top prize of the 'Volvo Boat of the Regatta Trophy' is the Royal Ulster yacht 'Final Call II', which held on to her overnight lead this afternoon. John Minnis's A35 stays on top of IRC One after six races sailed.

A promising 15-knot southwesterly wind got racing for all 400 boats in 22 classes off to a solid start this morning after a one-hour postponement. The gusty offshore breeze held all day to keep the ambitious programme of more than 290 races on target for tomorrow's final rounds.

One or Two races tomorrow will decide the Class One title as well as 34 other class prizes and the overall regatta winner to boot, a result that can still come from several key classes.

Canny offshore exponents Nigel Biggs and Dave Cullen of Howth in the Beneteau 50 Checkmate XX have taken the overall lead in the offshore class. John O'Gorman's Sunfast 3200 Hot Cookie and the Welsh ISORA champion Mojito co-skippered by Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop share the same five points in second and third place, respectively, going into tomorrow's final offshore race.

Paul O'Higgins's Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club maintains the overall lead of the nine-boat Class Zero fleet and has a three-point cushion over the Sunfast 3600, Searcher skippered by Pete Smyth of the National Yacht Club.

Likewise, in class 2 IRC, overnight leader Dave Dwyer's Half-Tonner Checkmate XX continues to lead and is now nine points clear at the top of the 17-boat fleet. Howth's Lambay Rules (Stephen Quinn) is second, with Colin Kavanagh's sistership Jeneral Lee in third place.

The top of IRC three is the battle of the Quarter Tonners as Ian Southworth's Protis leads from Martin Mahon's Snoopy from Courtown Sailing Club.

In selected results from the one-design classes, only three points after seven races separate clubmates Jerry Dowling from Colin Galavan in the SB20 class

North Dublin GP14 pair Alan Blay and Hugh McNally has a three-point advantage over defending champions Ger Owens and Mel Morris of the Royal St. George Yacht Club in the 25-boat fleet racing for Leinster Championship honours.

The 2023 regatta concludes tomorrow (Sunday) with two final races for most classes and a great festival of sailing across the waterfront and Dun Laoghaire town as four sailing clubs come together for the biennial event; Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club, Royal Irish Yacht Club, Royal St. George Yacht Club and National Yacht Club.

Results are provisional and subject to protest. Full results in all 34 classes are available on www.dlregatta.org.