Dieppe Dash 2024 – summary

In the week before Dieppe Dash 2024, the WhatsApp group messages had  included several posts focusing on the evolving weather forecasts for the day of the event. The forecasts seemed to be changing every few hours. Was the promised band of stronger wind passing through during or before the event? And how quickly and how much would the wind die down?

By the time of the safety briefing on Thursday evening it seemed likely the conditions would be good enough for most boats to attempt to Dash. The race started at 7am on Friday morning in a choppy sea with a westerly wind giving fast boat speeds. The wind gradually lessened through the day and several spinnakers were hoisted towards the end of the trip, though many of the rally boats opted to motor the last part to ensure adequate drinking time in Dieppe.

Of 35 boats who entered, 25 arrived safely in Dieppe by evening with two more coming the following day.  Most boats finished in sunshine, though a few arriving just before sunset were greeted with a dark rain cloud and a glorious double rainbow.

The IRC race was won again by Redeye, with Kokomo coming second as well as getting line honours, having finished in just over 8 hours and 2 minutes.  In third place was Baradal with all boats finishing within 15 minutes of each other.

Unfortunately the wind died too much for the last two boats in the NHC fleet to be able to cope with increasing tidal stream and they retired less that a kilometre from the finish line!  But the first two boats finished with Foule Sentimentale winning first place, beating Silver Fox by only 5 seconds on corrected time. 

The Saturday was sunny and calm, an ideal rest day in Dieppe.  Yet again our French stakeholders were very supportive and welcoming, ensuring the continuing success of the event. Overall, this was the most successful running of Dieppe Dash since Brexit and COVID.

See you next year.