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Round Ireland Yacht 2024 Race Updates from Wicklow Sailing Club
The Great Partnership - Piet Vroon with his shipmates in yet another successful Tonnere de Breskens
Irish sailing has lost one of its best international friends and loyal supporters with the death at the age of 93 of Piet Vroon, who was the very epitome of the reality that in The Netherlands, we find Europe's leading…
The date of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2024 from Wicklow Sailing Club is Saturday, June 22. Pictured above is ICRA Boat of the Year, the J99 Snapshot from Howth off Wicklow Head, which finished second overall in the 2022 race
Wicklow Sailing Club organisers are aiming high for the next SSE Renewables-sponsored Round Ireland Yacht Race in just over 12 months' time. The 2024 edition of the race marks the 22nd running of Ireland’s premier offshore sailing event and will start on…
The team to beat – Round Ireland Two-handed Record Holders Cat Hunt and Pam Lee of Greystones 
Everyone seems to relish the idea of sailing round Ireland. Indeed, such is our appreciation of it that it all seems to mean different things to different people. To start with, how far is it? Time was when you’d be…
Mike and Richie Evans new J/99 Snapshot was an instant success with victory in the 2021 Sovereigns Cup in Kinsale
Ever since Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire and the late Jim Donegan of Cork brought the Irish Cruiser-Racer Association into being twenty years ago, ICRA’s Annual Conference & AGM has provided a fascinating overview of the state of play in…
The late Brian Murphy’s lengthened and up-rigged Hydro 28 Crazy Jane in her glory days around 1995. In 1995 - Howth YC’s Centenary Year - Team Murphy’s many achievements included overall victory in the Moneley Oyster Pearl at Carlingford from a record fleet, and a class win in the biggest class in the Centenary Autumn League at Howth
When the brief notice of the death of Brian Murphy at the age of 77 was posted on the Howth YC Facebook page recently, the response from members said everything about a remarkable - indeed a unique - sailing enthusiast…
The late Brian Murphy's 28ft Crazy Jane gets the best of the first Round Ireland Race start at Wicklow in 1980

Brian Murphy RIP

12th January 2023 Howth YC
Afloat.ie regrets to record the death of Brian Murphy of Howth. A popular sailor of multiple interests, he was renowned for his ingenious solutions to many challenges of marine engineering in all its forms. A veteran of the first Round…
A new race entry system 'SailRaceHQ' has been launched by RORC
The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has launched a new race entry system SailRaceHQ, replacing the old Sailgate system with immediate effect. 'Following a three-year study and build programme, SailRaceHQ is a totally new system that has many advantages and…
Wicklow Sailing Club Commodore Karen Kissane
Wicklow Sailing Club members elected Karen Kissane as Commodore at their recent AGM. Kissane has been hon secretary of the east coast club for the last few years and moves into her new role with immediate effect. She has spent…
Volvo's David Thomas (right) & Round Ireland Race Kyran O’Grady (left) presenting the keys of a new Volvo XC40 to Round Ireland Race winner Michael Boyd
Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper Michael Boyd finally got his hands on the Volvo car prize after accumulating the best overall points’ results on corrected time in the biennial Round Ireland races 2016, 2018 and 2022. To add to the drama,…
Shindig skipper Tony Kingston,(left) Artful Dodjer skipper Finbarr O'Regan (centre) and Cinnamon Girl skipper Cian McCarthy were applauded by Kinsale Yacht Club for their 2022 Round Ireland Race achievements in June
Kinsale Yacht Club's long tradition with the Round Ireland Yacht Race was celebrated again at the weekend when the West Cork Club marked the achievement of their three boats in the 21st race.  June saw one of the longest and…
The J121 Darkwood at the start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow on June 18th
After the Allmer Cup in Le Havre, France it was supposed to be somewhat of a rest after an intense few months of Figaro training and racing, however as previously reported, not so... The Offshore Racing Academy was supporting the…
Mike & Richie Evans J/99 Snapshot was top Irish boat in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022, missing first overall by just five minutes
June saw the staging of a truly vintage SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. But for those who think that success in events like this 704-mile marathon is only for seasoned sailors with many comparable races logged, the top…
Ultra-golden oldies - Hiroshi Nakajima (Cruising Club of America, fourth left) and his crew with the Maybird Mast Trophy after their 51-year-old Hiro Maru had become the oldest boat to complete the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race. As it happens, they also beat the three other boats of almost-comparable age on handicap
The Cruising Club of America is celebrating its Centenary this year, and while the actual birth date may not fall until September, the Club is already in the midst of a busy special season which saw its recent biennial Newport-Bermuda…
Volvo 70 Green Dragon's entry in the Round Ireland Race marked the ten year anniversary of the Volvo Ocean Race in Ireland
Ten young sailors from Galway Bay who were part of the crew that sailed the Green Dragon in last week's Round Ireland Race from Wicklow finished as Line Honours runners-up and second in Class Zero in the biennial 700-mile race. …
'No rule broken' - Michael Boyd's J121 Darkwood was protested for allegedly sailing in a Traffic Separation Scheme TSS but a Round Ireland Protest Committee found boats are permitted to enter the south-going lane of a TSS under race rules.
Two protests lodged over competing boats allegedly sailing in Traffic Separation Schemes (TSS), an area in the sea where navigation of ships is highly regulated, in this week's Round Ireland Race were dismissed or deemed invalid following hearings. As Afloat…
A long way from the Swiss lakes…..SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race Line Honours Winner Kuka3 (Franco Niggeler, Switzerland) is a Cookson 50, a classic Bruce Farr design which has been at the forefront of the top offshore races for twenty years
We can only be wishing this morning that the traditional-type low pressure areas which march across the Atlantic from New England towards Old Ireland could take aboard some of the strict Sabbatarianism of the regions they’re passing through in their…

Round Ireland Yacht Race Information

The Round Ireland Yacht Race is Ireland's classic offshore yacht race starts from Wicklow Sailing Club (WSC) and is organised jointly with the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC). This page details the very latest updates from the 2008 race onwards including the race schedule, yacht entries and the all-important race updates from around the 704-mile course. Keep up to date with the Round Ireland Yacht Race here on this one handy reference page.

2020 Round Ireland Race

The 2020 race, the 21st edition, was the first race to be rescheduled then cancelled.

Following Government restrictions over COVID-19, a decision on the whether or not the 2020 race can be held was made on April 9 2020 to reschedule the race to Saturday, August 22nd. On July 27th, the race was regrettably cancelled due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19.

Because of COVID-19, the race had to have a virtual launch party at the Royal Irish Yacht Club for its 21st edition

In spite of the pandemic, however, a record entry was in prospect for 2020 with 50 boats entered with four weeks to go to the race start. The race was also going big on size and variety to make good on a pre-race prediction that the fleet could reach 60. An Irish offshore selection trial also looked set to be a component part of the 2020 race.

The rescheduling of the race to a news date emphasises the race's national significance, according to Afloat here

FAQs

704 nautical miles, 810 miles or 1304 kilometres

3171 kilometres is the estimate of Ireland's coastline by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

SSE Renewables are the sponsors of the 2020 Round Ireland Race.

Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London and The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dublin.

Off Wicklow Harbour on Saturday, August 22nd 2020

Monohulls 1300 hrs and Multihulls 13.10 hrs

Leave Ireland and all its islands (excluding Rockall) to starboard.

It depends on the boat. The elapsed record time for the race is under 40 hours but most boats take five or six days to complete the course.

The Race Tracker is https://afloat.ie/sail/events/round-ireland/item/25789-round-ireland-yacht-race-tracker-2016-here.

The idea of a race around Ireland began in 1975 with a double-handed race starting and finishing in Bangor organised by Ballyholme Yacht Club with stopovers in Crosshaven and Killybegs. That race only had four entries. In 1980 Michael Jones put forward the idea of a non-stop race and was held in that year from Wicklow Sailing Club. Sixteen pioneers entered that race with Brian Coad’s Raasay of Melfort returning home after six days at sea to win the inaugural race. Read the first Round Ireland Yacht Race 1980 Sailing Instructions here

 

The Round Ireland race record of 38 h 37 min 7 s is held by MOD-70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail and was set in June 2016.

George David’s Rambler 88 (USA) holds the fastest monohull race time of two days two hours 24 minutes and 9 seconds set in the 2016 race.

William Power's 45ft Olivia undertook a round Ireland cruise in September 1860

 

Richard Hayes completed his solo epic round Ireland voyage in September 2018 in a 14-foot Laser dinghy. The voyage had seen him log a total of 1,324 sea miles (2,452 kilometres) in 54 sailing days. in 1961, the Belfast Lough Waverly Durward crewed by Kevin and Colm MacLaverty and Mick Clarke went around Ireland in three-and-a-half weeks becoming the smallest keelboat ever to go round. While neither of these achievements occurred as part of the race they are part of Round Ireland sailing history

© Afloat 2020

At A Glance – Round Ireland Yacht Race 2024

Race start: Off Wicklow Harbour on Saturday, June 22 2024

There will be separate starts for monohulls and multihulls.

Race course:  leave Ireland and all its islands (excluding Rockall) to starboard.

Race distance: is approximately 704 nautical miles or 1304 kilometres.

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