During the summer of 2024 Irish solo offshore skipper Tom Dolan joined an exclusive club when he became only the third non-French sailor to win the hallowed Solitaire du Figaro regatta.
His achievement is all the more impressive given that he did not come from a sailing family or grow up close to the sea.
In fact, Tom was brought up on a farm in the middle of Ireland and his first sailing experience was on a shallow lake aboard a battered old wooden dinghy on which he and his father taught themselves to sail.
An inauspicious start to a professional sailing career perhaps, but Tom had been well and truly bitten by the sailing bug.
Despite studying agricultural science at college he soon felt the pull of the sea and that led him to a bold move to Concarneau in northern France – the epicentre of the French offshore racing scene.
After teaching himself French and cutting his teeth in the Mini class he moved up onto the Figaro circuit where he set his sights on one day winning the Solitaire du Figaro trophy – one of yacht racing’s landmark events.
We caught up with Tom to find out the full story of his auspicious victory.
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