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Displaying items by tag: WIORA

Minister for Defence, Mr. Tony Killeen, T.D. visited the L.E. Aoife which was in Kilrush, Co. Clare, on Saturday as part of the festivities surrounding the West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association's (WIORA) Yacht Racing Championship.

The event was hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club of Ireland. Photos of the event on the Afloat gallery here.

Minister Killeen was welcomed on board by the Captain of the L.E. Aoife, Lieutenant Commander Michael Kennelly, who escorted the Minister on a tour of the ship and introduced the crew to him.

The ship, which was built at Verlome Shipyard near Cobh, recently celebrated 30 years service to the State and the Minister acknowledged the many achievements that the ship has had over the years.

Minister Killeen said "I am delighted to have the L.E. Aoife here in Kilrush and to have the opportunity to come on board and meet Lieutenant Commander Kennelly and the crew. I am very impressed to hear that the L.E Aoife has steamed a total of 525,000 nautical miles in her lifetime."

The Minister continued "I know that in 1985 the L.E. Aoife led the operation that found the flight recorder, the so called "black box" from the Air India disaster off the South West Coast. The 25th anniversary of this disaster was commemorated last week"

Concluding the Minister thanked the Captain and his crew for their excellent service and wished them continued success in the future. "I would like to thank the crew for their excellent service to their country. The contribution that they make in preventing illegal fishing and drug smuggling is invaluable to the State." the Minister said

Published in Navy

A second batch of photos from a windy WIORA series on the Shannon Estuary have been uploaded to the gallery by photographer Gareth Craig. Click HERE to see the action from the Royal Western Yacht Club.

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Published in Marine Photo

On the gallery are the latest images from Gareth Craig of Fotosail from the West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (WIORA) Championships being sailed on the Shannon Estuary. Click HERE to go the gallery.

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Published in Marine Photo
30th June 2010

All Clare for WIORA Start

The annual WIORA championships kick off today in sunny conditions at Kilrush Creek marina, hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club. PRO Alan Crosbie has a range of courses at his disposal, including a variation on the popular slalom course that rose to prominence at Cork Week 2008. Two races will be sailed per class per day.

Results and race reports will be posted on the RWYC website HERE, with Gareth Craig of Fotosail.com covering the photography.

Published in WIORA

The West of Ireland Offshore Racing Association (WIORA) is a membership-based association for promotion and development of cruiser racing and cruising on the West Coast of Ireland. For all the latest WIORA news click here.

The association provides and promotes an annual programme of events, Inshore, Offshore and Coastal for cruiser racing, working closely with the various clubs along the western seaboard.

We have an exciting programme of events for 2009 for you to look forward to which includes the Irish Cruiser Racing Association – National Cruiser Championships and the West Coast Championships being hosted by Tralee Bay Sailing Club in June and, if that wasn’t enough, the OneSails McWilliam West Coast Super League which has being growing in popularity and going from strength to strength.

Please feel free to contact a representative of the association for any further information, their contact details can be found here

Simon McGibney, Commodore

There is a space for Irish boating clubs and racing classes to use as their own bulletin board and forum for announcements and discussion. If you want to see a dedicated forum slot for your club or class, click here

Published in Classes & Assoc
Page 7 of 7

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