#roundireland – It's been a really interesting 24 hours on the south and west coast of Ireland as the leaders converge on Mayo, while the slower boats approach the Fastnet. On corrected time, the Ker 39 Inis Mor retains her lead over Tonnerre de Breskens 3, a 46–footer from the same designer, with Noonmark VI, a Swan 56 in third place.

TO VIEW THE FLEET STANDINGS THIS MORNING DOWNLOAD OUR EXCLUSIVE LEADERBOARD PAGE BELOW.

Fickle winds have dogged the fleet, with flat spots near the coast and better winds offshore.  As the leaders cleared the south west corner and freed their wind, the larger boats were able to set more canvas and stretch their legs.  The top rated boat in the fleet, Green Dragon, didn't like the initial dead downwind course and was forced, once again, to add distance in an attempt to get a good sailing angle.

Top performing ISORA offshore yacht Sgrech skippered by Stephen Tudor from Wales is in seventh place to be the first J109 in the Round Ireland fleet. She lies 9:13 off the leader (download full leaderboard below).  Sgrech's crew inlcudes ISORA Commodore Peter Ryan (in red oilskin trousers) from the National YC. Photo: Bob Bateman

With the big boats now making good progress northwards and the patchy breezes affecting the smaller tail enders, there has been some movement on the leader board.  Green Dragon and the Class 40 Maxvmg Fortissimo have benefitted the most, moving from the back to mid fleet, while the smaller X332 Pyxis has moved into the top ten.  Tracking shows the Cookson 50, Lee Overlay Partners making progress as well, but the data for this boat seems unreliable right now.

The two hander Lulabelle with Liam Coyne and Brian Flahive has fallen to 20th place overall after a great start Photo: Bob Bateman

Losers in the fickle breezes overnight and early in the morning were the two Beneteaus – the 31.7 Twister and the 36.7 LC Tyres Lulabelle, whose skipper, Liam Coyne, reported gooseneck problems as well as falling into a wind hole.

Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy's Swan 56, Noonmark VII, is third overall on handicap, just 2: 44 off the leader. Photo: Bob Bateman

Currently the forecast suggests the leaders will run into calms along the north coast within next 24 hours, which might help the smaller boats close the corrected time gap.

For all our Round Ireland 2012 coverage use this page

Next update tomorrow morning, stay tuned!

#roundireland – (Monday morning, June 25th). There is an element of déjà vu about the early leaderboard as the yachts make slow progress along the south coast in the 2012 Round Ireland Yacht Race.  Inis Mor, second in 2010, leads on corrected time from Noonmark VI with the 2010 winner Tonnerre de Breskens III in third place.

Light and variable head winds make this edition very unpredictable at this early stage, and it is unlikely that we will see any clear definition until the larger boats round Blackrock on the Mayo coast sometime on Tuesday.

Top rated boat and on-the-water leader, the Volvo 70 Green Dragon, took a more offshore route down the Irish Sea, tacking well south of the Tuskar before tacking back out again at the Hook.  The extra distance covered has not served her well and as she leads the fleet past the Old Head this morning, she lies 21st on corrected time.

NUI Galway crew work hard after the start yesterday. Photo: Bob Bateman

As is usual in the early stages, the faster boats tended to benefit from passing the Tuskar before the stronger flood tide set in and consequently dominated the early leaderboard.  However, lighter heading winds balanced the equation and the medium sized boats have started to progress up the correct time rankings.  Notable among these are Kirsten Donaldson's X332 Pyxis, Liam Coyne's Beneteau 36.7 LC Tyres Lulabelle from the host club and James Tyrell's Aquelina – the J122 from Arklow Sailing Club.

Although light winds prevail, there is good gusts near rain showers, here's Scottish entry EOS (an Elan 310) skippered by Rod Stuart going well after the start. Photo: Bob Bateman

Two-time Winner Cavatina (Granada 38), skippered this time by Royal Cork's Ian Hickey, lies mid fleet after taking the offshore route, but is enjoying some breeze advantage over those boats that stayed inshore.  Whether this will last long enough to overcome the greater distance sailed, is yet to be seen.

Double winner Cavatina is in a mid fleet position this morning but there is still 600 miles to go. Photo: Bob Bateman

With most boats still having 600 mile to the finish, it would be foolhardy to predict finishing times and finishing order – like all Round Ireland races it won't be over until the  bar in Wicklow Sailing Club is adorned by a large lady exercising her vocal chords.

Stay tuned for Afloat's next Round Ireland update this evening. 

Meanwhile a selection of photos from yesterday's Round Ireland start from Gareth Craig are in our gallery below

#RoundIreland– Sole Dutch entry Tonnerre de Breskens skippered by Piet Vroon looked every inch the defending champion when she won the reaching start of a crowded Round Ireland start line in Wicklow this afternoon. SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE PHOTOS BY BOB BATEMAN.

Vroon took six or seven gybes for more breeze before reaching Wicklow head just minutes after the start.

The Dutch yacht , a Ker 46, was followed closely by Laurent Gouy's Ker 39 Inismor and the J133 Spirit of Jacana from Carrickfergus. Also taking the route closest to the shore was Adrian Lee's canting keel Cookson 50 Lee Overlay.

Legendary Irish round the world yacht Green Dragon (the biggest in the fleet) took advantage of the light to medium north westerly winds to hoist a spinnaker and went immediately offshore to clearer air after a congested start of the 2012 Round Ireland Yacht Race start.  There was at least one collision at the committee boat end of the line just moments before the gun.

The start of the 2012 Round Ireland. Photo: Bob Bateman

The international 38 boat Round Ireland fleet departed as per schedule at noon, ahead of them up to a week long 700-mile sailing odyssey all the way round the coast of Ireland.

The fleet were tightly packed at Wicklow head on a shy port reach with most setting spinnakers.

Old warhourse and double race winner Cavatina took up her position at the rear of the fleet, settling in for her first night at sea and the first tactical challenge presented at Tuskar rock.

Next Round Ireland fleet update tomorrow morning as the fleet move along the Cork Coast

#roundireland – The Galwegians are rattling the round Ireland cages. Tomorrow's noon start of the biennial Round Ireland Race from Wicklow will see a strong mid-fleet challenge from Galway University with a college-crewed Reflex 38, boosted by a front-of-the-pack show by the veteran Volvo 70 Green Dragon, captained by intrepid Galway skipper Enda O Coineen, the moving force behind the western city's involvement with the Volvo Ocean Race.

No-one would now claim that the gallant old Green Dragon is the fastest Volvo 70 that ever floated. But even the slowest Volvo 70 is potentially much faster than the next quickest racer in tomorrow's 38-boat lineup. So if we were in for a few days of normal Irish summer weather with a bit of breeze now and again, the expectation would be that the course record established by Mike Slade's 100ft Leopard back in 2008 could be knocked sideways.

But whatever the weather is, normal it isn't. It may well be that global warming is to blame. And it is true that even the rain is warmer these days. But there's a lot of it. That in turn has had all sorts of peculiar effects on the wind and weather patterns. Or maybe it's the other way round. Whatever, a couple of days ago we weren't looking at a record breaking scenario, with the possibility of light northerly headwinds off the west coast by Monday. But now it's looking slightly more hopeful with a good possibility of southerlies off the west coast by Monday evening, and only a mercifully small dollop of rain with it – the precipitation may have to be elsewhere, it has an annual week-long date at Wimbledon.

This modest change in the predicted conditions could generate enough power to get the Dragon moving. But meanwhile in the rest of the fleet there are plenty of boats which can give a fair show in any weight of winds, and it's a healthily international fleet now that the RORC have given it the same points status as the Fastnet Race itself – in fact, for the first time, Irish entries are outnumbered by visitors.

Defending champion Piet Vroon of the Netherlands is back with his extremely effective Ker 46 Tonnere de Breskens, while the leading French contender is Laurent Gouy (he has Connacht connections, and lists Clifden BC as his club) with his Ker 39 Inismor, which has already been in successful contention this season in RORC events between France and England.

If reasonable breezes appear, the most fancied of the home contingent would have to be Dun Laoghaire's Adrian Lee with the Cookson 50 Lee Overlay Partners, which as Ger O'Rourke of Limerick's Chieftain was overall winner of the breezy 2007 Fastnet Race. In Lee's ownership, this boat secured herself a special place in sailing history by winning the inaugural Caribbean 600 race, an annual event which now has a central role in the international sailing programme. But light airs are not a Cookson 50's favourite conditions, though with a bit of bite to the breeze, this canting keel machine becomes a flyer.

The Reflex 38 NUI Galway was the winner of last year's Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Race, and with Cathal Clarke as skipper has the obvious potential, with her pacing being marked by sister ship Visit Malta Puma (James Gair).

Slightly down the size scale there are three J/109s which will sharpen each other's performance – Jedi (Andrew Sarratt) and Joker II (John Maybury) from Dun Laoghaire, and the Pwllheli challenger Sgrech (Stephen Tudor), whose crew lineup includes top ISORA honcho Peter Ryan of the NYC. Further up the J Boat range, the senior northern entry, Bruce Douglas's Spirit of Jacana from Carrickfergus, is a J/133 with a good racing record – she was top Irish boat in last year's Fastnet.

With light winds expected in the northeast part of Ireland on Wednesday, the smaller craft still trundling up the west and northwest coasts in the southerlies my be doing best, and yet again it could be the evergreen Noray 38 Cavatina (Ian Hickey, Royal Cork) which does the business. Lowest rated of all is the oldest boat in the fleet, the 1966 Sparkman & Stephens 36 Sarnia (Michael Creedon, National YC). One of the Italian-built fore-runners of the Swan 36 (same hull lines, different coachroof), Sarnia is something of a classic, and could do very well if the food doesn't run short and they simply keep plodding along. Let's hear it for Sarnia and vintage Italian style.

The Round Ireland Race will be just about done and dusted next weekend as the Volvo Ocean Race gears up in Lorient for the final stage to Galway on July 1st, where it's possible that the concluding inshore race will decide the top places. Ireland's brightest hopes are riding with Damian Foxall of Kerry aboard Franck Cammas's French entry Groupama. They now have a fairly comfortable points lead after the continuing implosion of Spain's Telefonica, skippered by Iker Martinez. But as the Telefonica experience has painfully demonstrated, a couple of gear breakages and one mistaken tactical call are all that is needed to knock the wheels off even the most promising effort. Current points: Groupama (Franck Cammas, France) 219; Puma (Ken Read, USA) 196; Camper (Chris Nicholson, NZ) 191; Telefonica (Iker Martinez, Spain) 191; Abu Dhabi (Ian Walker, GBR) 122; Sanya (Mike Sanderson, NZ) 39.

The revival of the old International Quarter Ton class continues apace (people simply have to do something in times of recession), and there's a strong Irish contingent of restored little boats in the three-day Coutts Quarter Ton Regatta starting in Cowes on Monday, headed by current Irish "Sailor of the Year" George Kenefick of Cork with Tiger – he's defending the Corinthian title. With more than thirty boats from several European countries, it's shaping up to be a cracker. So maybe this is where it's at in these straitened times. Certainly it looks much healthier than the Commodore's Cup in late July, which is basically just four British teams taking on Hong Kong, France and Benelux – it's far indeed from a cast of thousands in a blockbuster production.

W M Nixon's sailing column is in the Irish Independent on Saturdays

#roundireland – Galway sailor Enda O'Coineen will skipper the Green Dragon in Sunday's Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. The last minute Volvo 70 entry (that is awaiting an IRC handicap cert) has been confirmed by Wicklow Sailing Club and brings the fleet size to 38 boats, just two boats less than the 2010 fleet. 

Green Dragon project director Cillian McGovern has confirmed a 16-strong crew for the boat with Irish 49er sailor Ben Lynch, Kiwi professional sailor Alistair Moore and Commodore of the New Zealand Yacht Squadron Ross Masters on board.

The Green Dragon crew get in some last minute training with old salt Mr. Tayto in Dun Laoghaire

An exotic fleet contains not only the 2009 Irish Round the world yacht but also eight double-handers, a number of canting keelers and three Class 40 yachts.

Sunday's start will also include more British than Irish entries, it is the first time the Irish offshore fixture counts for the same points as the Fastnet race in the 2012 Royal Ocean Racing Club programme.

Race organiser Dennis Noonan reports that the defending champion Tonnerre de Breskens from Holland who competed last weekend in Cowes at the British IRC Championships is currenlty on her way to Wicklow.  Modifications to the Dutch entry for the 700-mile race include a deeper keel.

A large proportion of entries for the race are due to be inspected in Dun Laoghaire using the convenience of the town marina over the next 48 hours.

#roundireland – Round Ireland race organisers have confimed Ireland's former entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, 'the Green Dragon', will sail in Sunday's Round Ireland yacht race from Wicklow Sailing Club as one of the biggest entries in the race.

Wicklow SC say the 70-foot sloop will be raced by an 'amateur crew' but any other details of arrangements for the race are yet to be made public. Afloat.ie understands Green Dragon's crew are made up of a consortium of Dun Laoghaire yachtsmen.

In a post on its race website Wicklow officials say the Volvo 70 had arrived in Dun Laoghaire marina from Alicante in Spain to finalise preparations for her Round Ireland competition against an international fleet of 36 yachts, many from the UK.

The Reichel Pugh designed canting keel yacht was built in 2008 and competed in the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race under British skipper Ian Walker where she finished fifth out of seven starters.

Wicklow Sailing Club Commodore John Harte said: 'It will be great to have such an iconic yacht such as the Green Dragon in the Round Ireland Yacht Race. She will be a very impressive spectacle on the start line'.

The yacht has been stored in Galway since the end of the last VOR race before being moved to the continent for a number of promotional engagements including the VOR Legends Regatta.

Green Dragon is set to be involved in a number of initiatives as a youth academy boat.

Cork Harbour's Dave Hennessy is getting ready for his seventh Round Ireland race in two weeks time. The two times winner of the 704-mile offshore race in the vintage Granada 38 Cavatina gives some advice on what's involved in a successful circuit of Ireland.

Well we are off again on our seventh Round Ireland Yacht Race, this time with the very grateful sponsorship of CH Marine on board. We were asked for some ideas on tactics for the race, as we have been lucky enough to win it twice in the past.

Tactics

I think tactics play a small part in this race.The choice of boat would be the first consideration. It is a 704–mile offshore race around Ireland. The boat needs to be able to sail to her handicap over a wide range of conditions over a six day period by night and day. Cavatina is a 1979 design, weighs nine tons, has a long, sharp overhanging bow, a narrow enough stern, and like many heavy displacement boats, can keep moving in light conditions as well as coming into her own in heavy winds. In this year's fleet we seem very much the tortoise among the hares but we have been there before! The overall Fastnet winner in 2005 was a French" tortoise" beating us into second place overall by 22 minutes.

Seamanship

The next 'tactical' issue is crew. We are 12 years campaigning Cavatina offshore and have almost the same crew lining out every year. Our average age would be in late 50s but the group bring a range of skills to the boat – experience, stamina, good humour, sailing ability, mechanical, electrical skills.

The 'good humoured' crew of Cavatina go for their seventh Round Ireland race later this month. Photo: Bob Bateman

We managed to finish the '07 Fastnet where 240 of the 300 entrants were forced to retire.This is fair testimony to the crew's seamanship. I recall a bad night a few years ago approaching Inistrahull off the north coast under spinnaker with a rising gale forecast. We needed to drop the kite, gybe to avoid Scotland, but when we went to ease the halyard we found it had jumped the sheave and jammed solidly in the block at the masthead.

There was no way under the conditions to go up the mast. There was talk of shooting it with a flare even, but it was John Murphy who had the idea to ease the sheets as the boat slid down a wave, causing the kite to rise and the halyard to sit right on the sheave once again.The plan worked, kite came down for a few hours, went up again meaning we reached the fair tide at Rathlin and went on to win that race overall!

Sail Wardrobe

Another "tactical" issue to plan for is your sail wardrobe.You need to look at your boat's strengths and weaknesses in order to sail at your best in all conditions. Eric Lisson is shrewd in this regard and saw that the point of sailing from being close hauled to when you can carry a kite on a tight reach was critical for us. With Des McWilliam they came up with a Code Zero which we are only supposed to carry up to 15-knots apparent. This sail has won races for us. We also have a big overlapping furling Genoa.This means we can easily "change gear" when other crews are dragging headsails on deck or putting off marginal calls. Our main is quite small and is only reefed when it really blows.This again is a setup I feel lends itself well to offshore racing.

Cavatina passes along the Wicklow coast at the start of the 2010 Round Ireland. Photo: Bob Bateman

Victualling

Yet another issue to deal with at the planning stage is food.The crew need to be fed well to sail at their best over that time length. We pre-cook and freeze 6 main meals which are eaten in evening.We cook an FIB (full Irish breakfast) in the morning, usually served in sandwiches. Proper clothing is also essential. Thanks again CH Marine. We finished in Wicklow one year with two crew definitely hypothermic who would have been no good to us if there was another 50 miles in the race!

Lady Luck

Probably the most honest thing i can say re on the water tactics is that it is mostly luck.There are 4 tidal gates to negotiate. You sprint to Tuskar to find that gate open or closed. You slog to windward to Fastnet along the south coast, beating into the bays, risking being becalmed, or you take a chance on a long starboard tack to the south to avoid light winds.You push to reach the North Channel between Rathlin and Scotland with the gate open.This is the most critical piece of luck. We made it last year only to be completely becalmed towards Belfast Lough managing 6 miles in 10 hours! We didn't win that race! The final gate is approaching Wicklow itself. Many is the boat has come to a halt in view of the town lights, trying to sail against five knot tides in light night airs.

So if it is really down to luck why do so many do it? Yes it is a challenge heading off south past Wicklow Head into the "unknown" but for me it is the indescribable sense of achievement in "completing the circle". DO IT!

Good luck to crew of Eric Lisson, Ian Hickey, Lennie Donnery, Sean Hanley, Kelly and Dave Hennessy!

#roundireland – There will be more British than Irish entries in this month's Round Ireland race that has been boosted by a number of last minute entries.

Only last week race organiser Dennis Noonan told the Irish Times Sailing Column he expected only 33 entries but a surge of entries at the weekend has brought that figure tantalisingly close to the 2010 fleet size of 40. 37 boats are now entered and Noonan says there is a prospect of at least two more by the race start on Sunday, June 24th.

There are only 12 Irish boats compared to 18 English entries. The balance of the international fleet is made up with two boats from Northern Ireland, two from France,  the defending champion from Holland and one from the USA.

Among the Irish starters is last week's winner of the ISORA race from Pwllheli to Wicklow, the yacht Lulabelle is being sailed as a double-handed entry by Liam Coyne and Fireball dinghy champion Brian Flahive.

Coyne and Flahive will count victory in last weekend’s Lynxmet mast-sponsored race as a major boost. Lula Belle is one of a handful of double-handed entries for the Round Ireland Race.

36 Entries at June 10th

#ROUND IRELAND RACE – Adrian Lee's Cookson 50 in the big boat division of this year's Round Ireland race along with Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy's, Noonmark VI, a Swan 56 with a top crew, are just two of 25 entries received so far for Ireland's top offshore fixture that starts in six weeks time.

Billed by the hosts as one of Europe's major yacht racing events next month's Round Ireland Yacht Race 2012, which starts in Wicklow Harbour on 24th June, is being held for the 17th time since the biennial, non-stop, 704–mile circumnavigation of this island started in 1980.

Twenty five starters, to-date, have confirmed entry with anticipation high for further additions before the closing date for entries on the 8th June.

The Round Ireland Yacht Race is run under the auspices of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the largest yacht racing organisation in the world. The RORC include the Round Ireland Yacht Race as one of the premier challenges in their calendar of seventeen international races this year.

In the class 1 entries, one to watch will be Piet Vroon, in Tonnerre de Breskens 3 from Holland, who has dominated the RORC racing calendar from Fastnet to the Caribbean and is making a welcome return to Wicklow Sailing Club. Round Ireland also welcomes Dan Walsh, from the USA, together with six of his fellow sailors from the American Yacht Club of New York, who have chartered the yacht, Fujifilm, which will sail under the name of "Team Wild Goose", a Class 40 which also comes with an international racing pedigree.

Having left Howth a few years ago, Cracklin' Rosie is now returning under the helm of Londoner, Steven Anderson while the intrepid ladies, Kristeen Donaldson and Judith Eastwood, have entered their yacht PYXIS in the gruelling two-handed class. While on the subject of the ladies keep an eye on Allie Smith aboard Visit Malta Puma who won her class in the 2010 race and is determined to take the trophy back home again.

The west of Ireland is well represented with Inis Mor from Clifden BC, and NUI Galway from Galway University Sailing Club while Cork and Dun Laoghaire have lately shown a stronger interest. Of local Wicklow interest is the return this year of club member, Brian Flahive, to the two handed class in LC Tyres Lulabelle to be sailed under the WSC burgee.

Approximately half of the yachts entered in the Round Ireland Yacht Race are RORC racers based in England and include entries from the RAF and the Army Sailing Clubs. Boats from Scotland, Wales and Guernsey will also join the fleet in Wicklow. All in all a formidable entry of top rated racers, even at this early date.

"To win the Round Ireland Yacht Race, your crew have to race consistently well, all day and all night, every day; given the challenging Irish coastline, it is not an easy course. Three thousand miles for open seas to build up before they hit you on the West coast can be daunting. I have no illusions, winning against good opposition is never easy but it makes racing the Round Ireland Yacht Race all the more rewarding" said Theo Phelan, Race Organiser for the Round Ireland 2012 Yacht Race.

Entries received to May 10th 2012

#OFFSHORE – A number of significant announcements for Irish offshore sailing are expected at tonight's launch of the Round Ireland yacht race in Wicklow Sailing Club including a number of key international entries for June's 704-mile race. Already a strong entry from the UK has been received.

ISORA Commodore Peter Ryan will also announce a new title sponsor Lynx Metmasts for the Irish Sea Race from Pwllheli to Wicklow, a race in ISORA's 2012 programme. It is hoped that the weather will allow the course to be around the Arklow bank wind turbines when it sets sail on June 2nd, just three weeks before the start of Ireland's biennial offshore classic. Lynx Metmasts MD, Michael Martyn will present a perpetual trophy to the overall winner at Wicklow Sailing Club.

Meanwhile Arklow Sailing Club's fourth race round the Windmills will follow the ISORA race on Sunday, June 3rd. The 34-mile race is open to IRC and ECHO classes as well as white sail fleets.