Displaying items by tag: Inishtearaght Race
With just two weeks to go until the start of Kinsale Yacht Club's biennial Inishtearaght Race sponsored by the Matthews Centre, all of the boats that raced the 2022 edition are returning for another shot at offshore glory in the 280-miler along the Cork and Kerry coastline.
In addition to the local boats from Kinsale and Crosshaven (including the inaugural doublehanded race winner), this May 24th race will also feature visitors from Kilmore Quay (Prime Suspect), Tralee Bay (Mynx), and Waterford Harbour (Bjorn).
Of particular note is the return of the 2022 line honours winner skippered by Chris Power Smith, hailing from Dublin Bay's Royal St George Yacht Club.
The hardy ISORA competitor is back in top form after tackling the early season Viking Marine April Coastal Series on Dublin Bay and is warming up for June's Round Ireland Race, racing cross-channel to Wales in this weekend's 90-mile ISORA fixture before heading to the south coast.
Aurelia is one of the biggest entries in the Inistearaght Race, so there's a chance her Dun Laoghaire Harbour crew will make it back in time for the Rugby Champions Cup Final on Saturday; a deadline sure to please the keen Leinster supporters onboard.
Organisers will be using YBTrackers on all boats.
Link to the 2024 entry list is here
Notice of Race Now Available for Kinsale YC Inishtearaght Race 2024
The Notice of Race is now available for Kinsale Yacht Club’s Inishtearaght Race, once again generously sponsored by Matthews of Cork.
Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt on Cinnamon Girl won the race on IRC in 2022 and they have confirmed that they will be taking part again this year in the second edition.
The race starts on Friday 24 May and is approximately 240 nautical miles long, running along the coast of West Cork and Kerry to round Inishtearaght in the Blasket Islands and return to Kinsale.
One highlight of the race is the spectacular and varied scenery along the course.
In 2022 the fastest boat was Chris and Patanne Power Smith’s Aurelia with an elapsed time of one day, nine hours and 57 minutes.
The race has been timed to run about a month before the Round Ireland, so is perfectly suited as a shakedown race for any boats competing in that event.
SIs and the entry form will be available in due course from the KYC website.
Following a successful inaugural race in 2022, the date for the 2024 Kinsale Yacht Club Inishtearaght Race has been set to start on Friday, 24th May 2024.
The date has been set to be one month before the Round Ireland Race 2024 to give those competitors an opportunity to take part in a shorter shake-down race before the 700-mile circumnavigation on 22nd June.
The second Inishtearaght race starts in Kinsale and runs along the dramatic West Cork and Kerry coasts to round Inishtearaght and return to finish in Kinsale, a distance of around 240 nautical miles.
Inishtearaght is the westernmost of the Blasket Islands off the County Kerry coast.
"Competitors who took part in the 2022 race found it to be a really interesting course, and many commented that they were looking forward to doing the race again", Kinsale Yacht Club's Dave Cullinane told Afloat.
In 2022, line honours were taken by Aurelia (Chris & Patanne Power Smith) from the Royal St. George YC on Dublin Bay in a time of 33 hours 57 minutes.
The overall winners on IRC rating were Kinsale Sunfast 3330 double-handed duo Sam Hunt and Cian McCarthy.
Overall IRC and ECHO honours in Kinsale Yacht Club's inaugural Matthews Centre sponsored Inishtearaght Race went to double-handed duo Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt of the host club.
McCarthy and Hunt sailing the Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl finished with a corrected time of one day 12 hours 07 minutes and 26 seconds, some 20 minutes faster than line honours winner Chris Power Smith's full crewed J/122 Aurelia. (1:12:27:55 corr).
Third in the 240-miler on IRC was Denis Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo from Royal Cork Yacht Club which finished on 1:13:06:40 corrected.
As Afloat reported earlier, the Royal St. George J/122 Aurelia crew win the historic KYC Thullier Cup for the line honours win.
Full results in the six boat fleet here.
The next KYC Inishtearaght Race is scheduled for May 2024.
Royal St. George Yacht Club's 'Aurelia' is Line Honours Winner of Kinsale's Inishtearaght Race
Chris Power Smith's J/122 entry Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire was the line honours winner of the inaugural Inishtearaght Race, finishing at 9 pm on Saturday.
The only Dublin entry in the Kinsale Yacht Club offshore 240-mile race took just under 36 hours to complete the challenging course from Kinsale along the Cork and Kerry coast and back to the West Cork port.
"It was a tough race, big seas and big winds, but we were able for it", Chris Power Smith told Afloat after crossing the finish line.
Subject to official confirmation, the Dublin crew will lift one of Kinsale Yacht Club's most prestigious trophies, the Thullier Cup, which dates back to 1850, for their line honours achievement.
An enthusiastic Power Smith said that after the initial 'slog', the crew enjoyed 'champagne sailing', and the Dublin Bay sailors were already promising to return for the 2024 race.
Second home of the seven boat fleet was Cian McCarthy's double-handed Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl.
Full handicap IRC results are awaited
Great Start for Kinsale Yacht 'Chancer' in Inaugural Inishtearaght Offshore Race (Photo Gallery Update)
There were great starts for the host club's Elan 40 Chancer (Brian Carroll) and Denis Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo from Royal Cork in the inaugural Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale this morning in the brand new Irish offshore yacht race fixture along the Cork and Kerry coasts.
An entry of seven boats started a new chapter in West Cork offshore yacht racing just after 9 am when the small but competitive fleet crossed the Kinsale Yacht Club line.
The fleet, led by Chancer off the line, set out in 15-20 knot south-westerly conditions and light rain. Forecasts this morning indicate gusts to over 30-knots on the way to the Blasket Islands.
Unfortunately, the planned start using a Navy ship did not materialise due to the exigencies of the Naval Service but Club Race Officer Dave O'Sullivan got the fleet underway in a club vessel from the KYC's Charles fort startline inside Kinsale Harbour.
As Afloat previously reported, the course is approximately 240nm long and will run along the spectacular south coast, round Inistearaght island and back to Kinsale.
The first boats in the Matthews Centre sponsored event are expected home sometime on Saturday evening but as competitor Brian Carroll told Afloat in a podcast here, the fleet is expecting quite a lot of challenging upwind sailing today.
The Thuillier family have kindly allowed the oldest trophy in Kinsale YC to be presented as the line honours trophy for the race. The Thuillier Cup is 150 years old, having been originally presented by the Royal Enniskillen Fusiliers in 1871 and won by Michael Thuillier. The cup was presented to Kinsale YC by the Thuillier family to acknowledge the long tradition of yacht racing in Kinsale.