Sixteen entries are already signed up for next year's Round Ireland Race, the unprecedented level of interest is an indication that next year's 30th Anniversary event will be a bumper affair. Wicklow Sailing Club launched the 2010 race last night at a reception in Wicklow Gaol.
Commodore Charlie Kavanagh told the gathering it was seeking a title sponsor for the event and how the club had the ambition to turn the event into an international Offshore Classic on a par with the Fastnet, Sydney-Hobart, China Sea and Malta Middle Sea races.
Wicklow Tourism have come on board as Public Relations partner for the event. Kavanagh said, "By combining our resources, we can help to give county Wicklow a huge Tourism boost through the International profile engendered by our Offshore Classic event and also by the connections built up over the years in selling county Wicklow as an attractive tourism destination". www.wicklowtourism.ie
David McHugh of Tri-Line Sport is a Commercial Partner to help locate a Title Sponsor for the event. David learned his basic sailing skills in Wicklow Sailing Club and has represented Ireland in a number of classes, as well as having been Manager of the Leinster Rugby team. www.tri-line.ie
Wicklow Town Forum with Mayor Irene Winters assembled various local agencies for a meeting on Monday 2nd November to discuss putting a working group together to run a Festival, hopefully to piggy-back on the 2010 Round Ireland. Maria Moynihan Lee of Lets Do It Galway gave a well-received and professional presentation on their Volvo Ocean Race Stopover.
To mark the 30th race Afloat.ie are looking for participants from the first race 15 years ago to contribute to the Round Ireland forum with any stories, anecdotes and photos for our planned Summer feature.
More Round ireland 2010 forum posts here:
http://www.afloat.ie/forum/2-general-chat/1177-round-ireland-2010/http://www.afloat.ie/forum/25-icra-forum/1619-7th-annual-conference/#1628
More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:
Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review
Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture
A Round up of 80 stories on the 2010 Round Ireland Yacht Race