Royal St. George's Chris Power Smith has shown the depth of his Round Ireland Race ambitions by being one of the first entries for June's 2022 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race from Wicklow.
Having narrowly missed out on the top prize in 2019, the Dun Laoghaire skipper and his corinthian crew are slated to go round again in his impressively campaigned J/122 Aurelia.
Nine boats have so far availed of Wicklow Sailing Club's early bird offer for the 700-miler that includes double race winner Cavatina, the vintage Granada 39 skippered by Ian Hickey of Royal Cork.
Seven entries thus far are Irish, and two are from the UK since registration opened this week for the Jun 18 race.
Organisers expect a more significant entry than normal (up to 60 boats or more), given the 2021 race was cancelled due to COVID plus the fact that the Wicklow Classic has made the international Class40 calendar.
The prompt Grzegorz Kalinecki skippered First 310 More Mischief from Dun Laoghaire Harbour was the first entry in and at just 31-foot overall is likely to be one of the smallest in the fleet.
Early Bird entry closes on Mar 31 2022.
Early Round Ireland Race entries (up to Jan 25 2022)
- More Mischief Grzegorz Kalinecki First 310 9.15 ISA
- Cavatina Ian Hickey Granada 38 11.60 Royal Cork Yacht Club
- Aurelia Chris Power Smith J/122 12.20 RSGYC RORC
- Prime Suspect Keith Miller Mills 36 10.97 Kilmore Quay BC
- Mojo Kieron Blamey J105 10.51 Isle of Man Yacht Club
- Elantic Clarke Allen Elan 40 11.90 Arklow Sailing Club
- Blue Oyster Noel Coleman Oyster 37 11.30 Royal Cork Yacht Club
- Hiro Maru Hiroshi Nakajima Sparkman & Stephens 15.05 Stamford Yacht Club
- Finally Paul Kitteringham Elan 350 10.50 Pwllheli Sailing Club