Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Round Ireland Yacht 2024 Race Updates from Wicklow Sailing Club
Dillons return to FYC
#RoundIreland - Father-and-son duo Derek and Conor Dillon have been congratulated by Foynes Yacht Club after taking the two-handed category in this year's Round Ireland Yacht Race, writes Gerry Ryan. The Shannon Estuary team raced their Dehler 34, Big Deal,…
#roundireland14 – Can there be any ocean race of similar length that offers intrigue, excitement, drama, joy and despair to the same extent that the Round Ireland does?  What about the tight finish that saw only 7 minutes separating winner…
Round Ireland Yacht Race 2014 Review – Swings, Roundabouts & Big Dippers
RoundIreland14 – It has been a classic Round Ireland Race. Just about everything except a gale, and even then there was some gear-breaking wind in the latter stages. But mostly, the sun shone. Or at least, there was little or…
#roundireland14 – Richard Harris' Tanit, of the Serpent Yacht Club on the Clyde, has pipped Liam Shanahan's Ruth for the clubhouse lead in this year's incident-filled Round Ireland Race. Ruth looked all set to be the leader until a cruel…
#roundireland14 – Round Ireland races have many twists and turns before a winner can be declared and this one is living up to this reputation. Earlier this morning it looked like Ruth was going to romp home in a decent breeze…
#roundireland14 – In a dramatic change of fortune for the long time Round Ireland Race favourite Cavatina, Liam Shanhan's Ruth, a J/109 class yacht from the National Yacht Club, has taken over as the main contender for the overall prize in…
round ireland monster VO70
#roundireland14 – There were homecoming celebrations tonight for 2014 Round Ireland Race line honours winner David Ryan and his chartered Monster Projects Volvo 70 when they crossed the Wicklow finish. His clubhouse lead will, however, be shortlived, as light winds since last Saturday's…
#roundireland14 – Once again the smaller boats in the Round Ireland race are benefitting from the variations in weather along our coastline and those positioned on the north Donegal coast are enjoying a wild ride in near gale conditions.  Too…
#roundireland14 – Amazing Grace, the comeback kids of Round Ireland 2014, have retired following a broken boom sustained this morning off the County Donegal Coast. The 2013 Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Champions under County Kerry skipper Brian O'Sullivan had climbed…
#roundireland14 – The 2014 Round Ireland Race is approaching endgame as Monster Project enters the North Channel with less than 150 miles to go.  Half a country away to the west, the prospect of an increasing and following breeze overnight…
For the first time since the Round Ireland Race start on Saturday, Cavatina does not feature on the leaderboard. Not that Ian Hickey and his team have eased the pressure on his competitors, but it appears that a combination of…
#roundireland14 – The Yellowbrick race trackers installed on the Round Ireland fleet afford the armchair viewers the luxury of slow motion replays. As the wind headed the boats on the approach to the Galway coast some made the decision to…
It is rare enough that the west coast portion of the Round Ireland Race becomes an uphill slog but this year’s race seems set to be unusual in more ways than one.  As naviticians, or should that be tactigators, are…
ruth j109 round ireland
The bulk of the Round Ireland race fleet is fairly tightly bunched to the west of Loop Head in 10 to 12 knots of breeze from abaft the beam. Ian Hickey's Cavatina still leads IRC overall, but only four hours…
#roundireland – The leading yacht in the Round Ireland Yacht Race has just reached the halfway point and the fleet is now experiencing a modest east to southeast breeze. As has been the trend in this slow race, the larger…
round ireland fleet day 3
#roundireland – After an almost windless night on the southwest coast, dawn on day three finds the 2014 Round Ireland Race fleet occupying a relatively small portion of the ocean between the Fastnet and the Blasket Islands.  The slow progress…

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