Round Ireland Race Day Six (Thursday) 0900 hrs - Although the Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka 3 and the Volvo 70 Green Dragon took first and second in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022 in full daylight yesterday evening, an entire summer’s night - though admittedly the second-shortest one of the year - had elapsed before the next finisher, Andrea Fornaro’s Clas40 Influence (Italy) crossed at 05:05hrs this (Thursday) morning, having got the best of the race-long duel with sister-ship Kite (Greg Leonard) by an hour and nine minutes.

Robert Rendell’s Grand Soleil 44 Samatom (Howth YC) got across the Wicklow finish line at 05:37 Photo: Afloat

With the boats only crawling along in the lightest of breezes, what had been relatively tight gaps were exaggerated in time, but in that Influence/Kite divide, Robert Rendell’s Grand Soleil 44 Samatom (Howth YC) got across at 05:37, the first of the “orthodox” IRC boats to finish. But then with Kite across at 06:14 the way was clear for Michael Boyd’s J/121 Darkwood (RIYC) to get in at 06:36, thereby correcting in to an IRC I win by 59 minutes over Samatom, a state of affairs in class which is likely to continue even with other IRC 1 boats getting to the line this morning, as many of them are higher-rated.

Michael Boyd's J121 Darkwood crew prepare to come ashore in Wicklow Harbour after finishing at 0636 hours on Thursday

In fact, it is an IRC 2 boat, the French J/111 SL Energies (Laurent Charmy) which will likely be across within the hour, for at 08:00 hrs she was just 4.8 miles from the finish and making good 6.8 knots. (She finished at 0845). However, although this will put her in a position of some certainty during a race in which sailing conditions cannot be relied on for any significant length of time, the morning-long (and more) ebb tide down the Wicklow Coast will aid boats still at sea on the final stage to get to the finish, and at 0800 the J/99 Snapshot (Mike & Richie Evans, Howth YC) was still in the IRC Overall First Position she has held for some time, but now just 36 miles from the finish and sailing at 5.7 knots and south of Rockabill, racing in her home waters, and showing an hour in hand on the next batch of boats.

Ian Hickey’s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina from Cork

The Wednesday evening excitement of Ian Hickey’s veteran Granada 38 Cavatina from Cork moving into second overall proved cruelly short-lived, as the tidal gate at Rathlin slammed shot, and Cavatina and those about her went nowhere for five hours, whereas boats through the North Channel and into the less fiercely tidal waters of the Irish Sea were able to make progress, albeit at time very painfully slowly, and even then at very different speeds.

Thus another new name from Cork has come to the fore, but this is a Kinsale boat, Finbarr O’Regan’s J/109 Artful Dodjer, currently lying second to head a complete line of Cork boats as the Grand Soleil Nieulargo (Denis & Annamarie Murphy, RCYC) is now third with 42 miles to sail, while the astonishing two-handed Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl (Cian McCarthy & Sam Hunt, KYC) is fourth with a very short indicated lead over SL Energies.

Finbarr O’Regan’s J/109 Artful Dodjer Photo: Afloat

However, although regular contender Rockabill VI (Paul O’Higgins, RIYC) is currently indicated at 12th in IRC overall as the fleet make south in increasingly light airs, she has only 37 miles still to race, but the wind pattern suggests that it will be a slow and frustrating haul to the finish.

Live Race Tracker & Data below