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Round Ireland Yacht 2024 Race Updates from Wicklow Sailing Club
Volvo Car up for grabs in Round Ireland Race
The Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race, one of the most challenging offshore races in the world, has become even more attractive to sailors with the announcement that there is a luxury Volvo car up for grabs for one lucky skipper.…
Kerry offshore sailor Damian Foxall, will be on the Musandam-Oman Sail, the Sultanate of Oman’s flagship trimaran, when it joins a small fleet of MOD70s at the start of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s classic Round Ireland Race on 18 June to kick off the European season.
French skipper Sidney Gavignet’s crew of Omani sailors are no strangers to the 700 mile Round Ireland race track having famously smashed the record in 2015 after completing the course in 40 hours, 51 minutes and 57 seconds, some four…
 Durward in Sheephaven in Donegal during her round Ireland cruise in 1961, with Mick Clarke and Colm MacLaverty on board. Although the Waverley hull design dates from 1902, Durward was built in 1948 with the Bermuda rig which was introduced to the class in 1935. She has now changed over to the original gunter rig, and is based with Ballyholme YC on Belfast Lough.
With May upon us, we’re into the season of Round Ireland record attempts in the smallest this or the widest that or the fastest other. So before anyone gets too excited, let’s put the record straight on “Small Boat Round…
Phaedo3 has the intention of setting a World Record Run to Plymouth
Round Ireland Yacht Race entry Phaedo3, one of three MOD70 entries into June's Irish offshore classic, have just set off from Bermuda with the intention of setting a World Record Run to Plymouth in the UK. Lloyd Thornburg has on…
She flies…..current Round Ireland Record Holder Musandam-Oman will be on the line for the start of the Volvo Round Ireland Race at Wicklow on June 18th – and this time Damian Foxall will be on board.
In precisely eight weeks’ time from this morning, adrenalin levels around Wicklow Harbour on Saturday June 18th will be rising as the final countdown begins to the start of the 19th Round Ireland Race. With new sponsorship for Wicklow Sailing…
Damian Foxall will be aboard Oman Sail for June's Round Ireland Race. Musandam – OmanSail holds the record for a circumnavigation of Ireland under sail
Ireland's top offshore sailor Damian Foxall, a Round the World Race winner, will compete in June's 2016 Volvo Round Ireland (VRI) Race from Wicklow. Kerryman Foxall will race on the MOD 70 Musandam – OmanSail, one of two of the fastest…
The Team INSS 1720 won DBSC's Spring Chicken Series
The Team INSS win in last weekend's 46–boat Dublin Bay Sailing Club Spring Chicken Series represented much more than just a win as it represented an important milestone in an offshore racing campaign. Look closer at the INSS 1720 crew…
Round Ireland Yacht Race
Two Round Ireland yacht race contenders are smashing records on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean this week, on the Antigua race circuit. And the Carribbean records come just days after a Dun Laoghaire sailor also set a new…
Round Ireland Yacht Race
The world record beating multihull skipper Lloyd Thornburg has entered his MOD70 Phaedo 3 in the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race. The boat is currently in Barbados for the Mount Gay Round Barbados Race. It is the second MOD70…
During the Autumn it was quietly announced that Wicklow Sailing Club had secured longterm sponsorship from Volvo Cars Ireland to support the biennial Round Ireland Yacht Race. This week, the new relationship put its head formally above the parapet with…
Round Ireland Yacht Race michael_boyd_RORC
Michael Boyd, the Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and current holder of the Commodore’s Cup, will return to compete in the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland race, marking the 20th anniversary of his win, with many of the same…
Round Ireland Yacht Race
Volvo Car Ireland has added June's Round Ireland Yacht Race to its Irish sailing sponsorships. The car brand adds the 700–mile offshore race to its existing sponsorship of Ireland's other Grand Prix biennial sailing events; Dun Laoghaire Regatta and Cork…
Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland Yacht Race organisers have announced that for the first time in the history of the event multihulls will be included when the 700–mile offshore classic sets sail next June. Already, a giant trimaran – similar…
#roundireland – American yachtsman George David, the owner of one of the world's fastest yachts, has his sights on the Round Ireland Yacht Race record and intends to compete in the 2016 Irish offshore race, according to Wicklow Sailing Club organisers. In a written…
Round Ireland Yacht Race
#roundsireland – The 2016 Round Ireland Yacht Race is scheduled to start from Wicklow Bay at 14:00 hrs on Saturday 18th June 2016 and organisers are seeking early interest. The Round Ireland is a biennial 704 mile circumnavigation of the…
round yacht Ireland race start_2014
#roundireland – The biennial Round Ireland Race from Wicklow is the jewel in Ireland's offshore racing crown. It may only have been established as recently as 1980, but now it is a classic, part of the RORC programme, and an…

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