Round Ireland in a Laser 2000 dinghy

About the Journey

Ireland - being an island - didn't feature in my windsurf of mainland Europe, which made it a natural choice to sail round when the opportunity presented. This was a double-handed effort and our craft of choice was a Laser 2000 dinghy. The boat is a heavy beast, so finding suitable places to land was sometimes a challenge. We worked out a system with inflatable rollers and a pulley system, and after some practice could haul up at quite awkward locations. We camped every night of the journey, mostly on or behind sandy beaches, but sometimes on concrete car parks...

Many thanks to my first crew/co-helm, Mark Newton, who helped sail the boat over from Scotland to Ireland and then down to Dublin. For the rest of the journey Helene Erlandsen was crew and occasional co-helm. Helene is from Norway, and quite an adventurer having skied across Greenland, but in terms of sailing she definitely started out as a novice. It was an unfair ask really - to circumnavigate Ireland in a tiny dinghy - as there were days that would have tested experienced ocean sailors and that certainly tested me! She did great.

There's no book about this one yet, but we posted some updates via Facebook on the way round.

Track of the Journey

Tracking is from the always amazing YB Tracking.

Updates

For ease of admin we used Facebook for posting some pictures and videos. Apologies to those of you who prefer not to use the platform. See sample posts below or click through to https://www.facebook.com/jonodunnett

An overview of the boat

The Laser 2000 was an excellent choice for this journey, sturdy and comfortable. In this longer video, filmed at the end of the journey (just before we sold the boat) I explain how we carried the gear, hauled up on steep beaches, and had an option to row when becalmed.

Not mentioned is the reefing system used on Laser 2000 dinghies. Very neat reefing could be achieved when on land but at sea it was rather awkward to put a reef in. For long distance sailing a slab reefing system might be preferred.