Dun Laoghaire organisers bullish that numbers will add up

SAILING:DÚN LAOGHAIRE'S emergence as an Irish Sea yacht racing venue becomes more viable this evening when Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin launches the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta (VDLR) 2009 at the Allianz Boat Show, which runs at the RDS Simmonscourt until Sunday.

Billed as one of the biggest participant sporting events in the country, after the city marathons, July’s VDLR is also the country’s largest sailing regatta, and organisers remain bullish that numbers will exceed 500, making it bigger than the Irish Sea’s Scottish series or Wales’ Celtic Race Week.

“We’ve kept entry fees low, and have great new courses planned, including coastal passages,” says regatta chairman Phil Smith.

Of course, Smith also knows he has something of a captive audience, given at least 50 per cent of the fleet will be mustered from the capital’s biggest sailing centres at Dún Laoghaire and Howth.

Since the four Dún Laoghaire yacht clubs joined forces to launch the first regatta in 2005, the event has grown each year. This year, the regatta takes place on Thursday, July 9th, to Sunday, July 12th. More than 3,000 sailors from Ireland and 13 other nations are expected to compete across 25 classes.

Over the four days, Dublin Bay, one of Ireland’s busiest commercial shipping lanes, will also see more than a thousand races take place.

A long way from Dublin Bay, watch leader Damian Foxall will address the Boat Show tonight via satellite telephone as Green Dragon pushes on well into the Pacific. The Kerry man will take questions from the RDS that will no doubt focus on performances thus far in the race that stops in Galway in May.

The question and answers session is scheduled to start at 6.30pm.

Foxall is one of a dozen sailors in the running for the 2008 Sailor of the Year award which will be announced tonight at 10.30pm by Tom MacSweeney on RTÉ Radio 1’s Seascapes.

In other news from the Boat Show, a petition to raise Asgard II, led by a former master of the training ship, Capt Gerry Burns, has attracted a strong following.

There is still no news from Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea on a decision to salvage the vessel which sank in the Bay of Biscay five months ago.

“The Asgard II sank in late September in the Bay of Biscay,” said Burns, “and since then we’ve been waiting for a decision on what will happen to her.

“We understand that she was insured for €3.8 million, and we are calling on Mr O’Dea to set out exactly how she will be replaced, if in fact he has now decided that she should not be salvaged.”

Criticism of the delay in reaching a decision on the future of the Asgard have been growing in recent weeks.

An underwater survey in early October suggested she was capable of being salvaged. No decision was made on her fate, however, and another survey earlier this month has been followed by silence from the Department of Defence.

It is believed, however, that Coiste an Asgard – the ship’s management committee – have recommended that she not be salvaged.

GREEN DRAGON skipper Ian Walker remains philosophical about miles lost this week on the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race to Rio de Janeiro. Green Dragon holds fourth place from five starters, but is now 253 miles behind leader Ericsson 4.

The past 48 hours have been tough for the Green Dragon as they have been consistently slower than the leaders and have also paid the price for holding a more northerly position.

Ireland’s second boat in the race, Team Delta Lloyd, has launched its comeback for the second half of the race, beginning with the start of leg six from Rio.

The team retired on the brutal leg four from Singapore to Qingdao with structural damage to her bow section. The boat is being shipped from Hong Kong to Rio where a new bow, manufactured in Italy, will be fitted.