Tom Dolan - Kingspan Sailing

Tom Dolan - Kingspan Sailing Skipper of Figaro ''Kingspan''. Winner of the 2024 Solitaire du Figaro From a young age Tom worked with cattle and sheep in the wind and the rain and the mud.

It was in 2009 that Tom left for France with a dream of racing across the oceans, a world little known of in Ireland, especially coming from a small farm in the Northeast of Ireland. Aged 9, on a small lake not far from his home, he first took to the water in a little wooden dinghy which he and his father had renovated. Unfortunately, as it remains quite an inaccessible sport in Ireland he left sailing behind and spent his teenage years in pursuit of a normal life, career and job. But in the back of his mind he always felt a yearning for the sea. In 2020, his third season in the Figaro class, he made the breakthrough that he had been working towards for all these years finishing 5th overall in “la Solitaire”, just under 30 minutes from the podium after three weeks of intense racing. This amazing and un-precedented result by any Irish skipper secured him visctory of the VIVI Trophy for the first non French skipper, 6th place in the French Elite Offshore Racing Championship as well as the crown of Irish Sailor of the Year.

L’Aventura – Stage 2 the full debrief 👇 « It’s a good thing the start was moved up by twenty-four hours. Otherwise, I th...
14/09/2026

L’Aventura – Stage 2 the full debrief 👇

« It’s a good thing the start was moved up by twenty-four hours. Otherwise, I think we’d still be out there! » Tom Dolan smiled a few hours after finishing 😅

After a long and tricky upwind along the Portuguese coast, the fleet split around a ridge of high pressure in the Bay of Biscay. Dolan and Mahé chose the longer western route in search of stronger wind.

🧐 « We’d been watching the situation for a few days and felt increasingly drawn to the option of crossing the ridge as quickly as possible. So, we took it, » Tom explained. The wind was there, but a drawn-out duel with Paul Cousin and Édouard Golbery meant they overcommitted to the detour, letting boats on more direct route slip past.

« I don’t think the problem was choosing that option; it was mostly that we handled it poorly. We clearly should have cut the corner more sharply, but we got caught up in our duel with Région Normandie, and that led us to sail way too much extra distance. » 😬

A misstep that saw Kingspan slip to 14th place, though Tom has no regrets about having taken the chance 👊

Read the full story here:

🇮🇪 English version: https://tomdolanracing.com/en/quelques-milles-de-trop/
🇫🇷 French version: https://tomdolanracing.com/quelques-milles-de-trop/
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing L'Aventura - Course au large

FINISH — LEG 2 OF L'Aventura - Course au large The French-Irish duo aboard Kingspan crossed the finish line of this long...
12/09/2026

FINISH — LEG 2 OF L'Aventura - Course au large

The French-Irish duo aboard Kingspan crossed the finish line of this long second leg of L’Aventura this Saturday, September 12 at 5:56 a.m., finishing in 14th place.

It took them 7 days and 13 minutes to make their way from Lagos, Portugal, to Île d’Yeu. The result isn’t necessarily what Tom and Gildas had hoped for, but they certainly gave it their all. They were among the key protagonists of this leg, showing plenty of boldness and determination 💪🏻

See you very soon for the full debrief 👋
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

Hello, everyone on land! 👋Here’s a little update from on board Kingspan.The sky has clouded over, and we’ve even had a b...
10/09/2026

Hello, everyone on land! 👋
Here’s a little update from on board Kingspan.

The sky has clouded over, and we’ve even had a bit of rain.
But most importantly, the good news is that the wind has just filled in, which is great news for our trio of Three Musketeers out west!

We’re really starting to pick up the pace now, with speeds often above 10 knots, while the guys further west are sailing more slowly. So we’re happy to have been the first ones out of the ridge.

The routing for the finish isn’t improving, though. The front is struggling to push into the Bay of Biscay, which means we’ll have to take a very northerly route to stay in the wind — but that also means a longer route.

So, we’re very happy with our positioning and the atmosphere on board is great. We’re confident about our speed over the next 24 hours, but it looks like things will get light towards the finish, so we’ll see what happens! 🤞

Greetings from the boat!

Follow the race : https://www.laventura.live/cartographie
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland France Classe Figaro Beneteau Dubarry of Ireland Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

09/09/2026

Leg 2 - Day 4 - L'Aventura - Course au large

Things are heating up on this second leg! 💥

The fleet has finished its long climb up along the Portuguese coast and has just rounded the northern tip of Spain. Now it’s time to cross the Bay of Biscay — and, above all, make some strategic moves ♟️

👉 One group has decided to take the northern route, longer but with more wind 💨
👉 Another group is heading east, taking the shorter route but with significantly less wind.

Which option will pay off??
We’ll know in just a few hours 🫣

The tracker : https://www.laventura.live/cartographie
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

Time for some serious thinking!On this second day of racing, we can tell you that brains are working overtime offshore o...
07/09/2026

Time for some serious thinking!

On this second day of racing, we can tell you that brains are working overtime offshore of Portugal! 🧠💨

The big challenge over the next few hours will be figuring out how to negotiate a high-pressure ridge approaching Cape Finisterre. The sailors’ goal is to find the wind shift and tack at just the right moment, in order to pick up the best breeze and make it past Cape Finisterre without any trouble.

But what’s the right moment?

On board Kingspan, just like on the other 20 boats still racing in this second leg of L'Aventura - Course au large , there must be some serious head-scratching going on! 🤯

The fleet is still incredibly tight this evening, with Tom and Gildas in 9th place — and everything is still up for grabs!

Follow the race here : https://www.laventura.live/cartographie
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

Leg 2 - Day 1 - L'Aventura - Course au largeThe boats continue their upwind climb along the Portuguese coast ⦚ The fleet...
06/09/2026

Leg 2 - Day 1 - L'Aventura - Course au large

The boats continue their upwind climb along the Portuguese coast ⦚ The fleet is incredibly tight, with Tom and Gildas currently in 9th place, just a little over a mile from the leader 👊

The rankings keep changing, with plenty of small strategic moves, and it looks like it could stay this way all the way to the finish at Île d’Yeu. We’re certainly not done with the surprises yet!

The wind should gradually strengthen as they approach Cape Finisterre. The atmosphere on board must be quite different from yesterday 😉 The race is well and truly underway 💥

🗺️ https://www.laventura.live/cartographie
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

05/09/2026

The moneytime onboard Kingspan 😍

There was very little wind off Lagos this afternoon, forcing the race management to slightly postpone the start. It was ...
05/09/2026

There was very little wind off Lagos this afternoon, forcing the race management to slightly postpone the start. It was therefore not until 4:22pm that the 20 Figaro boats crossed the start line and set off on the second leg of L'Aventura - Course au large , heading for Île d’Yeu.

783 nautical miles to cover, with the race still more open than ever 🤩

Head over to the race tracker so you don’t miss a thing from this race, whose overall winner we’ll know in six days’ time if everything goes according to plan 😉

👉 https://www.laventura.live/cartographie

Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

Small gains for big ambitions 👊Recovery time is over and it’s time for Tom and Gildas to head back out to the open seas....
05/09/2026

Small gains for big ambitions 👊

Recovery time is over and it’s time for Tom and Gildas to head back out to the open seas.

🏁 ⌚️ This Saturday at 2:00pm (Irish Time) the second and final leg of L'Aventura - Course au large will commence taking sailors 783-miles back up to the Île d’Yeu.

A different profile from the long diagonal route via the Madeira archipelago they faced in leg one. Instead, they must beat up the Portuguese coast in winds that could reach 20–25 knots, navigate a transition zone off northern Spain and finally unleash the boat’s speed on a downwind run to the finish.

💬 « It should go pretty fast, about five or six days, we are both well rested and so we’re heading back out in good shape. » And they will need to be, while shorter it will be a lot more intense.

« I don’t really see any major strategic choices. The main thing will be getting a good start, because the opening phase is crucial. We should have fairly light winds at the start, then the breeze should gradually fill in from ahead. After that, it’s about picking the right tacks along the Iberian Peninsula and sailing well. »

A high-intensity game of incremental gains, with the likelihood that the fleet will remain tightly packed right to the end. And for Tom and Gildas sitting in fourth place after the opening leg having regained their speed and seamless coordination, staying in contention is crucial for the pair.

« The idea is simply to sail well, do things the way we know how and then see how it turns out. »

🔚 If the forecasts hold true, the finish should take place on Thursday off the Île d’Yeu. Between now and then, every opportunity will be worth seizing even the smallest one 🧐

French version: https://tomdolanracing.com/gagner-petit-pour-voir-grand/
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

🇮🇪 Eight Days Offshore Gives Kingspan the Ultimate Test👉 An incredibly wet and windy offshore leg forced Tom and Gildas ...
03/09/2026

🇮🇪 Eight Days Offshore Gives Kingspan the Ultimate Test

👉 An incredibly wet and windy offshore leg forced Tom and Gildas to alter their watch system to just one hour at a time, conditions too miserable to bear for any longer. The relentless exposure left both sailors with blistered lips and soaked-through gear. It’s exactly the kind of test that a longtime pairing like theirs is built for years of racing together meant they could adapt watches and rest on the fly, simply by knowing one another’s needs so well.

The full race debrief is here : https://tomdolanracing.com/en/huit-jours-pour-retrouver-le-fil-et-presque-le-podium/

🚨🚨 Start postponed to Saturday, September 5:
14:00 local time
15:00 French time
13:00 UTC
Kingspan Group Dubarry of Ireland Classe Figaro Beneteau Irish Sailing Guy Cotten Dubarry Sailing

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