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Displaying items by tag: INO XXX

British race favourite James Neville – the Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club – and skipper of INO XXX is out of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race this evening after suffering 'hull delamination' off the County Kerry coast. 

The yacht produced early gains on the east coast right off the Wicklow startline on Saturday and was in the leading pack as the 47-boat fleet made the Fastnet Rock off West Cork on Sunday morning. 

All Sunday, the she had been vying with the Swiss canting keel Cookson 50 Kuka 3 as the leaders headed north into strong headwinds.

INO XXX was victorious earlier this month in the RORC Myth of Malham Race but while Neville may have been unbeatable in the Cowes-Eddystone-Solent 230-miler, the tough pounding Atlantic conditions this afternoon appear to have been too much for the HH42.

The Hudson/Hakes built 42’, a Judel/Vrolijk design, took line honours and first place in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race IRC One Class so she is no stranger to Irish waters. 

Race organisers Wicklow Sailing Club have confirmed the retirement of the Grand Prix yacht. INOXX42 is currently heading back along its track. See tracker below.

Published in Round Ireland

William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago