STARTS WEDNESDAY 9TH JUNE 2021
AT 2PM
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Welcome
"Update to Volvo D2D Race as of April 5th 2021”
Myself and the organising committee continue to monitor and track all available information and guidance in respect of running an offshore sailing race between Dun Laoghaire and Dingle starting on June 9th. I am sure you all understand the difficult position we are in as race organisers. The Volvo D2D is a fantastic race combining all the best aspects of offshore sailing which we all love. A strong element of the ethos of the race is that it be fun. It combines competitive racing at sea followed by great social fun in Dingle for those that want it, and the opportunity to cruise in the South West region or participate in other racing events such as Sovereigns Cup. We want to offer all our skippers, crews and supporters just that - but the public health situation increasingly looks like it may make that combination impossible to achieve.
However, we are not cancelling the race at this time and we do not intend to cancel the race until the facts and the guidance determine that we should cancel it. In the meantime we continue to take advice from Irish Sailing and from the government guidance and regulations in force including those pertaining to the maritime community and our harbours / marinas. We also have to consider the situation with regard to rescue services and those people responsible for our safety at sea. We encourage you to also be proactive in deciding what is best for your crew given your own circumstances. The reality is that you have as much access to information as we do at this point. We will of course refund entry fees to any boats forced to, or deciding for personal reasons to withdraw their entries.
That being said we have a very strong entry and even a few boats on the waiting list. If at all possible we would like to run the race and accommodate those that do want to race on whatever basis that we can, including those currently on the waiting list. As per announcements by An Taoiseach this week, we expect some outdoor sport including sailing to commence in Ireland (Republic of Ireland) after April 26th. However the details of that protocol with regard return to sailing have still to be clarified by Sports Ireland and Irish Sailing. We don't know what type of sailing will be allowed and we don’t know what restrictions will apply to crew numbers and / or pods or social distancing. We also don’t know whether travel restrictions such as those on port / harbour arrivals as per Marine Notice 16 of 2021 (copied below), will still be in force.
So we have to wait and see for the moment. I am sure you will all understand the situation. We currently have very little hard information beyond April 26th, though we and the Dingle Skellig Hotel in particular are hoping for an opening of inter county travel and hotels in early June. We want to offer racing but we want to do so safely and within the guidance and rules that apply at the time. We will announce more as soon as we can with another date of May 5th now being the likely timeframe for more information. We may also run a survey of entrants at that point to better gauge individual owners intentions.
If you have any comments or concerns on this then please email sailing@nyc.ie and we will do whatever we can to help.
Yours in sailing and in hope,
Adam Winkelmann
Chairman, D2D organising Committee
March 1st 2021
