Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Commodore James Neville has confirmed he will be back in Irish waters again this season and racing his Solent-based HH42 INO XXX in June's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race.

As Afloat reported earlier, Neville and his crew embark on their first offshore since the 2021 Rolex Middle Sea Race this weekend at the season opener to France for the Cervantes Trophy.

RORC Commodore James Neville at the Fastnet Rock Photo: Courtesy RORC

“We are excited to get back racing, it has been a long break, but we have had time to focus on this year,” Neville said. “We will compete in the RORC series including the Round Ireland Race and culminating inshore with the IRC Europeans in Breskens.

The Hudson/Hakes built 42’, a Judel/Vrolijk design, and took line honours and first place in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race IRC One Class.

A top UK-based offshore racer will race this weekend's Cervantes Trophy with a strong Irish crew, which will heighten prospects of a potent Round Ireland Race entry in June.

In a crew list seen by Afloat for Dubliner Michael O'Donnell's UK based J/121 Darkwood leading Irish offshore sailors Kenny Rumball, Michael Boyd, Barry Hurley, and Conor Kinsella are on board for Saturday's 160nm offshore race from the Royal Squadron Line in Cowes across the English Channel bound for Le Havre.

As Afloat reported earlier, over 50 teams are expected at the oldest yacht club in France, Société des Regatés du Havre on Sunday. The race is the traditional opening domestic race of the RORC Season’s Points Championship.

Although there is no entry received so far by Wicklow Sailing Club for Darkwood in the biennial Irish offshore race, Afloat sources say the same crew will also compete in June's RORC's Myth of Malham race before positioning to Ireland for the June 18 circumnavigation.

Michael O'Donnell's J/121 Darkwood was the 2019 Royal Ocean Racing Club Channel Race winner Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

As previously reported, Royal Irish Yacht Club skipper Boyd leads the race for a Volvo Car prize in this year's edition of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race, but only three points separate the top four skippers overall.

The prize was to be decided after the 2020 edition of the offshore classic, but that edition was cancelled due to COVID.

According to the race rules, the skipper who has accumulated the best overall points' results on corrected time over the three Round Irelands 2016, 2018 and 2020 will be presented with a brand new Volvo V40 or equivalent at the prizegiving for the 2022 Race.

As Afloat reported back in 2020, the current leaderboard shows Dublin Bay sailor Michael Boyd, a Round Ireland stalwart, who sailed the J109 Jedi in the 2018 race and the Beneteau 44.7 Lisa in 2016 on 16 points overall. Royal Cork skipper Ian Hickey on Cavatina is next on 19 points and shares the same points with Rob Craigie from the Sunfast3600 Bellino and 2019 ISORA Champion Paul O'Higgins, the skipper of the JPK10.80 Rockabill VI, also on 19 points. 

Bob Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom of Howth Yacht Club is the latest entry into June's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow.

The 2021 Sovereign's Cup Coastal division winner - that also competed in last year's Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race -  is the 13th entry of an expected fleet of 60 for the 700-miler starting on June 18th. 

Other recent entries into the Category Two offshore fixture include Irish former round the world yacht, the Volvo 70 Green Dragon skippered by Enda O'Coineen and Conor Ferguson.

Also entered for the circuit is the first of the doublehanded International Class 40s, the Round Italy winners Andrea Fornaro sailing with Round Ireland speed record holder Pamela Lee of Greystones Harbour.

See the entry list here

 The hard work of Wicklow Sailing Club's 2022 Round Ireland Race committee is bearing fruit with the early entry for this summer's race of the new Class40 yacht Influence by Italian skipper Andrea Fornaro.

The VPLP design is the first such Class40 into the race since the 700-miler Irish ocean classic was added to the Class40 International calendar, just one of 25 world-class offshore fixtures on the list.

It's a feather in the cap for organiser Kyran O'Grady who has added the former Irish Volvo 70 Green Dragon last week for the Wicklow startline on June 18. 

It may well be that O'Grady's pioneering efforts at the Paris Boat Show in December 2018 and again earlier last month are finding favour on the continent.

Class40 Italian skipper Andrea Fornaro will race round Ireland

It brings the entry to 12 so far in a race where O'Grady expects over 60 boats given the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to COVID.

The accomplished Fornaro will have competed in April's RORC's Caribbean 600, and May's Normandy Channel Race before coming to Irish waters.

Fornaro is not the first Class40 to have completed the Irish course. As regular Afloat readers will recall, top Figaro sailor Nicolas Troussel in the Mach 40 Corum made a blistering start to the 2018 race. 

Class 40 is a monohull sailboat primarily used for short-handed offshore and coastal racing.

In other Round Ireland race entry news, French skipper Laurent Charmy has signed up the J111, SL Energies Groupe Fast Wave.

The Round Ireland Race is one of 25 world-class offshore fixtures to make it onto the 2022 International Class40 calendar.

Class 40 is a type of monohull sailboat primarily used for short-handed offshore and coastal racing. 

It may well be that SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race Organiser Kyran O'Grady's pioneering efforts at the Paris Boat Show in December 2018 and again earlier this month may yet bear fruit with a bumper international Round Ireland fleet.

The Wicklow race is also on the RORC calendar and as O'Grady is predicting, there is pent up demand for the 700-miler after the 2020 cancellation.

As regular Afloat readers will know, Class 40 are no strangers to Irish waters or Round Ireland itself over the years with top Figaro sailor Nicolas Troussel competing off Wicklow four years ago.

Ireland's varied sailing waters are proving a popular testing ground for the international Class 40 fleet and a burgeoning Irish Mini class too. Evidence of this was in the 2018 Round Ireland Race fleet where the top French double-handed sailing duo were in action. International stars Troussel and Mini Transat Winner Ian Lipinski teamed up to race the brand new Mach 40 'Corum'. They were not the only Class 40 on the Irish race track that year either as three other international entries also lined up.

The 2022 calendar is here

Class 40 Champion Antoine Carpentier crowned

Antoine Carpentier

Meanwhile, Antoine Carpentier (46), a native of South Brittany, has been crowned 2021 Class40 Champion, rounding off what has been a remarkable season. Having scored a number of victories and podium results over the years on the Class40 circuit, Antoine has now taken the overall title for the first time as skipper of his own project on his Mach40.4 Redman, taking over the mantle from 2019 Champions, the Franco-Italian team of Catherine Pourre / Pietro Luciani (the title was not awarded in 2020 due to the lack of races).

The Swiss team of Valentin Gautier - Simon Koster (Banque du Leman) finished second in the overall standings, ahead of third-placed Franco-British sailor Luke Berry (Lamotte Module Creation).

Online entry for the 704-nautical miles SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race will open at midday (UTC 1200) on Monday 24th January 2022 organisers at Wicklow Sailing Club have confirmed.

After cancelling the 2020 race due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 21st edition of this classic offshore event is being planned with relevant precautions in place to ensure a safe experience.

"We were anticipating a fleet of close to 80 boats when we had to cancel our 2020 plans," said Kryan O'Grady, Commodore of Wicklow Sailing Club. "Now that we are learning how to live with Covid-19, there is pent-up demand on top of a surge of interest in offshore racing so a strong turn-out is on the cards."

The course follows the traditional route first contested in 1980 that states "leave Ireland and its islands to starboard" while starting and finishing at the scenic port of Wicklow on the East coast of Ireland.

The Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) is working with Wicklow and fully supporting and promoting the race. ISORA have included the race in their 2022 schedule and will be preparing boats to qualify for the circumnavigation. ISORA will also be providing the tracker service to the race. 

Kryan O'Grady, Commodore of Wicklow Sailing Club

Berthing facilities at the pier and quays close to Wicklow Sailing Club's base will be available while the Royal Irish Yacht Club in nearby Dun Laoghaire will once again act as a second club base for registration and inspection.

The race itself offers both competition and personal achievement for boat owners and crews alike. Growing popularity with sail training centres has already seen many pre-entry enquiries.

Race-winning navigator from 2018 and 2004 Ian Moore has likened the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race as the "Mount Kilimanjaro of Sailing" - a bucket-list opportunity and one of the few full circumnavigation voyages of significant but achievable duration in the world.

"This is a unique race and special in many ways," said Michael Boyd, a regular competitor and past-Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club. "It's like a series of races within a race and always a twist or two.

"Aside from the racing, the course itself sails past spectacular coastlines as well as stages into the Atlantic before turning for inshore waters heading to the finishing line."

Starting at 1300 hrs on Saturday 18th June 2022, the event is also well-timed to allow completion of the race in good time to deliver to Crosshaven on the South coast for the biennial Cork Week and special celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Royal Cork YC, the world's oldest yacht club.

Round Ireland Race day at Wicklow Harbour

Entry will be open to IRC-rated yachts of at least 9.15m/30 feet overall and MOCRA-rated multihulls of 9.0m/29.53 feet with prizes awarded in a variety of categories including overall winner under IRC along with line honours trophies for first monohull and first multihull. Two-handed entries, Sailing school and Services entries will also be amongst the prizes.

Full details will be included in the official Notice of Race document that will be published in mid-December 2021.

The MGRS 34 Twenty Twenty, originally owned by Bangor man, Jimmy Mackey, lay unused in the river Liffey at Poolbeg, Dublin for about seven years and now, like another Humphrey's design, Juno, will have a new lease of life.

Rex Robinson, the new owner, has trusted the restoration to Kevin O'Neill in his repair shed at Kirkistown in County Down and by the end of September, this three-quarter tonner will be in Dun Laoghaire sailing out of the National Yacht Club.

MGRS 34 Twenty Twenty taken from the Liffey at Poolbeg and brought indoors for restoration

Four years ago, Kevin bought Juno, which had lain in Arklow for a long time, restored her, and is now based in Strangford Lough. She, too, had been owned by another Bangor man, Myles Lindsay.

Jimmy Mackey was the first owner of Twenty Twenty, which is said to have been one of the last off the production line. He sailed her enthusiastically for 14 years, including Cork and Bangor Weeks, a Round Ireland Race and four Round Isle of Man races. And he says of a return trip from Cork when he thought the predicted persistent 40-knot south-westerly was too good to miss for a fast passage home up the west coast; "It was the best sail of my life - she was doing 14 knots". Another great memory was when the late Peter Blake visited Ballyholme Yacht Club ahead of an event, and as part of the pre-publicity, sailed in Twenty-Twenty.

A 1992 newspaper cutting showing round the world yachtsman Sir Peter Blake on Twenty Twenty

In 1999, she was bought by David McNally and moored at Poolbeg but for the last seven years wasn't sailed.

Rex had stopped sailing about twenty years ago while his children were growing up. Sadly, he lost his wife Debbie late last year. He felt that if he had a boat and started sailing again, he could use it for fundraising for Lung Cancer Research. He will be setting up a Go Fund Me page with the aim of raising 10,000 euros for that charity and plans to focus on the next Round Ireland Race.

On deck looking aftOn deck looking forward

The name will be changed to Debbie R and the paintwork to shades of purple, which was Debbie's favourite colour. The mast and rigging will be replaced by Masts and Rigging of Duleek and a new bigger engine and up to date electronics installed.

Below decks on Twenty Twenty. A new bigger engine and up to date electronics are to be installed.

Rex looks on this venture enthusiastically "Having the boat restored allows me to give the boat a new lease of life while honouring my wife's memory".

And in an interesting twist to the story given to me by Fiona Hicks, one of the original Twenty Twenty crew, it is thought that Ian Adams, another crew member, hid a piece of Christmas Cake somewhere in the boat on the 1988 Round Ireland Race and claimed no one would ever find it! Maybe Kevin O'Neill will be the lucky one! It would certainly be a bit stale by now though.

Ballyholme's Ruan O’Tiarnaigh of Royal Ulster Yacht Club and Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough is the 44th entry into August's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race.

O'Tiarnaigh, originally of Sutton Dinghy Club on Dublin Bay, is a multi dinghy champion and former All Ireland Sailing champion but will swap a centreboard for a keel on August 22nd for his offshore bid in the IMX 38 eXcession for the 700-mile circuit from Wicklow

It is the second Belfast Lough entry for the biennial race and joins John Rtichie's Dufour 41, Mingulay.

Cian McCarthy's brand new Sunfast 3300 'Cinnamon Girl' from Kinsale Yacht Club is the latest entry into the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race in ten weeks time.

As regular Afloat readers will know, the recently arrived Kinsale-based 3300 supplied by MGM Boats is currently being worked up to speed in her home port in West Cork. And progress appears to be very good. Keen observers saw the boat hit full speed under spinnaker at the weekend when breezes topped 30-knots in flat seas of Kinsale Harbour.

Sunfast 3300

The new marque that got a special MGM Boats unveiling at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in March is now being widely tipped as the new Olympic keelboat doublehander for Paris 2024 but for the moment, at least, McCarthy is sailing with a four or five-man crew for the 700-mile Round Ireland.

Cian McCarthy's brand new Jeanneau Sunfast 3300 Photo: Afloat

The Sunfast 3300 has twin rudders Photo: Afloat

As Afloat sources recently previously revealed, this West Cork entry brings with it the prospect of a UK sistership entering the race too, in what would be a buoyant turnout for the Sunfast range if quarantine rules can be met.

The entry is the 44th and the third Kinsale boat for the ocean classic that has been rescheduled for August 22nd.

Class 40

It was some 11 years ago, when McCarthy launched his previous Cinnamon Girl, a Class 40 yacht, in preparation for the 2009 Route de Chocolat, a transatlantic race from France to Mexico as Afloat reported back then with photos here.

As Afloat's WMN Nixon reported at the weekend, Wicklow Sailing Club has confirmed that SSE Renewables will be the new title sponsor for the 704-mile Round Ireland Race that gets underway on Saturday 20th June 2020.

The biennial race is part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club Season’s Points Championship. 

First sailed in 1980, the non-stop handicap race regularly attracts crews from around the world and the current course IRC monohull record was set in 2016 by American George David on Rambler 88 in a time of 2 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes and 9 seconds.

The majority of competing crews entering the race are from around the world in addition to home-grown entries. Winner of the 2018 edition Niall Dowling from Dublin has confirmed his intention to enter the 2020 race.

Dowling's navigator Ian Moore, a leading international pro-sailor from Carrickfergus described the Round Ireland as "the Kilimanjaro of Sailing". Just completing the course itself is widely regarded as a personal achievement.

Wicklow Sailing Club and its team of volunteer organisers hope to increase entries from 55 boats to more than 60 for next year’s race and grow the race further in future editions.

SSE Renewables is currently developing a major expansion of the Arklow Bank Wind Park offshore wind energy project close to the starting-line of the race. The project represents an investment of up to €2 billion and when completed will be able to generate up to 800MW, powering over half a million Irish homes. 

The 2020 race will start from Wicklow Sailing Club on Ireland’s East Coast on Saturday 20th June 2020.