Royal St. George's 'Golden One' Enters Fastnet 450 Offshore Race

13th August 2020

Aurelia - The Golden One - is signed up for the Fastnet 450 Credit: Afloat

Chris Power–Smith's J122 Aurelia ('The Golden One') from Dublin Bay is the latest entry for next weekend's inaugural Fastnet 450 Race from Dublin to Cork.

The skipper of the potent ISORA performer says the decision to enter the race first announced a fortnight ago was a very easy one to make given 'the allure of any race around yacht racing’s iconic Fastnet rock is always hard to resist'.

Power-Smith believes the race is a "nice length" and with the home port start attraction of Dun Laoghaire Harbour where most of the fleet is based, he says he could see it having "a regular place in what normally would be a very crowded calendar".

Chris Power Smith (pictured centre kneeling) on his J122 Aurelia is racing the first Fastnet 450 Photo: Afloat

The Royal St. George Yacht Club helmsman, who finished third overall in the 2018 Round Ireland Race and second in the 2019 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race, says he is delighted that in addition to the ISORA series another premier offshore event has been added to the otherwise very scant 2020 sailing calendar.

'the allure of any race around yacht racing’s iconic Fastnet rock is always hard to resist'

With a distance of 260 miles and an expected duration of around 36 hours in normal conditions, Power Smith says it has been relatively easy to organise from a logistics and crew point of view. "This is helped by the start in Dun Laoghaire which makes it like a home game for us".

While some of his more experienced crew had made alternative holiday plans after the cancellation of Round Ireland, Power-Smith says he is using the opportunity to test new crew and roles on a longer offshore race.

"I am at the point where I have nearly assembled a full crew. I have a couple of technical issues to sort out with a fault on my navigation PC and a new prop to be fitted next week, I am hoping to have the boat in reasonable racing condition, if not up to full Round Ireland level of preparedness".

The J122 skipper says it is usually a struggle to organise delivery crew for the trip back to Dublin but with "more people hanging around than usual, I have had a good response". The proximity of Crosshaven to Cork and it’s good transport links are a good help, he says.

The race starts off Dun Laoghaire Harbour at 12.55 on Saturday, August 22nd. More Fastnet 450 Race news here.

Published in Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q - 260 mile course

K2Q - 160 mile course

'K2Q' Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race Live Tracker 2022

Track the progress of both the 160 mile and 260 mile K2Q Race fleet on the live trackers above and see all Afloat's K2Q Race coverage in one handy link here

The K2Q will consist of two combined events:

The primary race for the "The Breffni McGovern cup" will be approximately 260 miles, starting in Dun Laoghaire, passing through a virtual gate at the Cork Buoy, rounding the Fastnet Rock and finishing at Roches Point.

The "restricted" race for a still-to-be-announced trophy will start with the primary fleet in Dun Laoghaire but finish at the same virtual finish gate at Cork Buoy – approximately 150 miles.

All boats starting will be included in the "restricted" race. Boats passing through the finish gate at Cork Buoy and continuing to round the Fastnet and finish at Roches Point would also qualify for the primary K2Q event. Yachts can only win prizes in one of the events.

The race for the ISORA points will be the primary race – 260 miles.

The plan is for both 'K2Q races' to finish at the old RCYC clubhouse on the Cobh seafront.

Published in Fastnet 450 Race

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Fastnet 450

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The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.

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