2025 Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Offshore Racing Campaign

2025 Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Yacht Race Campaign Here is your opportunity to dip your toe into offshore yacht racing on a smaller budget. Take 2 weekends of 3:1 race tuition, and then participate in a 3 day yacht race from  Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, taking in some of the most spectacular scenery on the Irish Coastline. Sail around the tusker Rock, the old heard of Kinsale, past the Fastnet Rock, the Bull, the Skelligs before bearing off into Dingle Bay and finishing in the beautiful harbour of Dingle, in Co. Kerry.   Allow us to train you in all the necessary sailing manoeuvres. Reefing the mainsail, peeling headsails, launching, gybing and taking down our asymmetric spinnakers. Sail on the yacht which finished 3rd overall and 1st in class on the 2024 Round Ireland Yacht Race. Having competed in this race for the past 14 years, we know the coastline, the local tides, but most of all we know our yacht. Her strengths and weaknesses and what she likes to go fast.   2025 Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Yacht Race Campaign Sat 10th – Sun 11th May 2025   ISAF Offshore Safety Course Sat 31st May –  Sun 1st June 2025   Race Training Weekend 1 Sat 7th – Sun  8th June 2025       Race Training Weekend 2 Wed 11th – Sat 14th June 2025  The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race   The total cos  

Wed 11th – Sat 14th June 2025  4 Day Race

The Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Yacht Race 275 Miles of Offshore Yacht Racing

Take your place onboard our 37 foot cruiser racer ” Desert Star”, class winners and 3rd overall in Round Ireland Yacht Race 2024, RORC School boat of the Year 2024, Irish Sailing Training Centre of the Year 2023,   13th overall (of 450 yachts) , 2nd in class Fastnet 2021, Fastest Sailing School Yacht in the 2015 Fastnet Race (66th overall of 340 yacht fleet), 94th overall in the 2017 Fastnet Race of 380 yachts,  9th Overall in the 2018 Round Ireland, 6th in class in 2016 Round Ireland, 3rd in class in the 2014 Round, 4th in class in the 2012 Round Ireland Yacht Race…….. learn to Offshore Yacht Race to Win! Come and spend two weekends training to race an offshore yacht, then do a 275 mile offshore yacht race through the most scenic cruising grounds in the world! No previous experience required! The Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Yacht Race is  the most challenging offshore race in the 2025 Irish Sailing Calendar and attracts an international following. It is a tricky tactical race, where tides and slack wind can make or break you.   You will get the opportunity to sail through what is arguably the most scenic coastline in the world. You will sail past the Tuskar Rock, Fastnet rock, the Bull lighthouse, the Skelligs Monastic Outpost, before bearing off into Dingle Bay and into one of the most picturesque harbours in the world, where you will relax, jump in the sea and maybe have a pint or two to celebrate a truly awesome offshore adventure! This is a huge achievement to spend  3  nights offshore racing through the night with the spinnaker up and demands a lot of work with little sleep. Our experienced Race Skipper assisted by a professional first mate will guide you through every aspect of offshore yacht racing. With 6 crew members plus 2 professionals onboard, you will get unparalleled training onboard this vessel. That’s a 3:1 student – instructor ratio! Whether you are a novice sailor or an avid club racer, you are guaranteed to learn an invaluable amount on a trip such as this. Our skippers are instructors and are laid back guys so enjoying yourself will be a major priority, having said that, the two weekends of training are designed not just to make it safe, but to enter this race as a competitive race crew with a real shot at winning! Otherwise we’d just be cruising! A great reception and a great night out are guaranteed on arrival in Dingle after the race! No prior experience is necessary to participate on this race, we have had crews from their teens to their mid – seventies, once you are reasonably fit to participate. All we ask is that you come ready for the challenge, able for tough work, little sleep and that you are a positive enthusiastic team player with a sense of humour! This is offshore yacht racing at its best! So often people jump onboard a yacht that is racing and find it daunting, there is a lot of shouting and you don’t understand whats going on. Race training weekends at Irish Offshore Sailing is about dispelling this notion. Your racing instructor and professional first mate work together to train you intensively to understand the tactics involved in racing a yacht and to make you a proficient crew member at all jobs onboard. 2025 Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Campaign

• 3 Weekends Training (6 days)
• Over 350 Miles of Offshore Training and Racing Logged
• 12 Days of 3:1 Instruction and Racing
• Personally Embroidered Team Jacket and use of our Offshore Waterproof Clothing
• You’ll only need to take 3 Holiday days from Work

2025 Campaign Itinerary:  

ISAF Offshore Safety Course	Sat 10th May 0900 – Sun 11th May 1700
Training Weekend 1:	Sat 31st May 0900 –  Sun 1st June 2025 1700
Training Weekend 2:	Sat 7th 0900 – Sun  8th June 1700
The Dun Laoghaire –  Dingle Race	Wed 11th – Sat 14th June 2025

The Dun Laoghaire – Dingle Race  2025 starts Wed 11th June 2025 at 1400 off the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire.   Cost : €2,750 per person Early Bird Price: €2,350 per person (if deposit paid before 31st Dec 2024) 50% deposit of (€1,175) secures your place. This deposit is fully refundable up until February 15th 2025     The Training:   The first weekend, will be the ISAF Offshore Safety Course, this is a 2 day course where you will learn about yacht safety equipment, how to rescue a crew member from the water and how to surviv should you have to abandon the vessel. It is a compulsory requirement for race entry by the organising authority to participate in this course. The second weekend (race training 1)consists of learning about the intensity and co ordination of each simple job, the weekend focuses on efficient tacking, roll tacking, mainsail shape and trim, reefing,  headsail peels, car positioning and positioning of crew weight. It focuses on upwind racing. The third weekend (race training 2), weather permitting will be a short offshore race on the saturday,  it will be a tiring 8 hours of racing, followed by our usual day of race training on the sunday. It is not liveaboard on the sat night. The race is subject to change, if so, a normal training weekend will occur from Dun Laoghaire. It will focus much more on ironing out problems with the spinnaker. The hoist, drop, gybe, crew positioning, spinnaker trim are the main areas to be covered here. As well as generally improving straight line speed. Whats included: Race tuition, breakfasts and lunch onboard during the training weekends, waterproof clothing, accommodation onboard if required, all meals included during the race, accommodation onboard on the night we arrive back in Wicklow if required.   Whats not included: Evening meals during the race training, (people generally go home if living locally or we out in a restaurant). Transport costs to and from Dingle before and after the race. Sea boots are not provided. Race crew must bring their own sleeping bags. This is a very intensive training course, students are strongly recommended to book into a b and b or hotel on the sat night of the training weekends and on the eve before the race to ensure a good night sleep prior to racing.      Payment and Cancellations:   A  deposit of €1,175 is required to hold your place on the team, this deposit is fully refundable up until the 15th February 2025, this is 3 months prior to the 1st training weekend. The outstanding payment is required on or before the 15th February to continue holding your place. After the 15th of February there is no refund unless Irish Offshore Sailing manages to fill your place on the team with another fully paying team member. Once the training has begun, this is no longer possible.       Further Information:     We appreciate that it can be difficult to make a decision about an intensive campaign from a website. We would be delighted to discuss the campaign further and address any queries or concerns you may have, either in person over a cup of coffee in Dun Laoghaire or over the phone.  In the meantime check out a few links to some raw unedited footage that will give you an insight as to what to expect during the race     Interesting Links: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/valuable-life-lessons-while-sailing-ireland-s-coast-1.3413166 https://afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/item/30025-learn-to-win-the-fastnet-race-irish-offshore-sailing-school-knows-how https://afloat.ie/sail/events/fastnet-race/item/51536-ireland-s-desert-star-finishes-fastnet-race-with-strong-second-overall-in-class-irc4 https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/novice-race-crew-hope-for-plain-sailing-30373977.html https://afloat.ie/sail/sailor-of-the-month/sailor-of-the-month-2013-2016/item/51760-the-crew-of-desert-star-are-afloat-ie-sailors-of-the-month-offshore-for-august https://afloat.ie/sail/sailor-of-the-month/sailor-of-the-month-2013-2016/item/29916-three-afloat-ie-sailor-of-the-month-awards-for-august https://afloat.ie/sail/events/round-ireland/item/63728-teasing-machine-confirmed-overall-round-ireland-winner-as-top-ten-positions-see-some-shake-up-at-wicklow-finish   Irish Sailing Announcement of Training Centre of the Year https://www.sailing.ie/News/id/12285    

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