Galileo have reported in via Afloat's free crew podcasting solution (details HERE) to say that they are making good headway off Youghal in the Round Ireland Yacht Race. Things are getting tricky up front with the leaders trying to judge the layline for the Fastnet rock, the next turning point at which the true placings will be judged. Inis Mor still hugs the coast, with the boats further offshore throwing in several tacks, and Tonnere de Bresken's lead shortened to just under 11 miles.

Bernard & Laurent Guoy lead the standings after a full day's racing in the Round Ireland Yacht Race on corrected time in their boat Inis Mor, which is currently second on the water behind Tonnerre de Breskens. The Race Office has issued a provisional listings at midday, with Inis More leading overall and in class 1, with Eric Lisson's Cavatina ieading IRC 3, and both the cruisers class 4 and classics class 5. The Class 40 of Daft.com leads the double-handers.

Dutch entry Tonnere de Breskens has opened up a 13-mile gap on the chasers, and that is likely to widen if they can get cleanly around the Fastnet and into freer breeze that would allow them hoist spinnaker and begin a long downwind leg up the west coast. Another boat dying for some downwind action will be the Open 60 Spirit of Rosslare Europort, which is hurting in the light airs upwind and close hauled sailing to date, which forces them to sail big angles.

Inis Mor has taken an inshore line and may well lose some ground against the leading pack if forced to tack out, which is highly likely unless there is a major swing left. Following her line are a pack of three boats, Aquelina, Pride of Wicklow and Visit Malta Puma. 

Fujitsu is one of the few boats that may not have to put in any major maneoevres ahead of the Fastnet, having gone far offshore early on. It looks like they can now straight-line to the corner, which may allow them gain some good ground on the boats closer to the Cork/Kerry coast.They are currently placed eight on the water, but depending on angles, they may leapfrog ahead of Inis Mor and the three boats in pursuit of her when those boats tack out to clear the land.

We're keen to get comment and feedback on our forum thread started this morning HERE.

The race tracker is HERE, and the official site is HERE.

RESULTS:

Overall                                                 Inis Mor

IRC  1                                                 Inis Mor

IRC  2                                                 Lula Belle

IRC  3                                                 Cavatina

Class 4                  Cruisers                 Cavatina

Class 5                  Classics                 Cavatina

Class 6                  Sigma 38               Persistance

Class 7                 Two Handed         Daft.com

The leading group of the Round Ireland Yacht Race split overnight, with a group of three boats following Tonnerre de Breskens south. Open 60 Spirit of Rosslare Europort, the Class 40 Daft.com and the British military Archambault 40 Fujitsu all followed the track of Piet Vroon's boat out into open ocean, while Pride of Wicklow, Inis Mor, Aquelina and RORC boat of the year Visit Malta Puma stayed closer to shore. Vroon, however, is not on board his Dutch flyer, as reported in the Irish Times this morning he is undergoing hospital treatment in Dublin having fallen ill over the weekend.

In crow-flight terms to the next waypoint, those top eight boats are mixed and matched as they pass south of the mouth of Cork Harbour, but with the breeze predicted to go further left, the boats positioned slightly offshore may well be able to capitalise on a slightly freer angle with lifting breeze coming their way. The bulk of the fleet awoke this morning in sight of Hook Head with just eight knots of wind from a direction of 220 degrees, however that wind has now died further, leaving the peloton languising with speeds over ground around the three-knot mark.

Piet Vroon's Tonerre de Breskens has made the early running. Photo: Bob Bateman

The less racy designs suffered badly in the light upwind conditions around the south-east corner, having to tack through large angles and making little ground in the light airs. Michael Holland's heavy ketch Celtic Spirit is currently bringing up the rear, just shy of 55 miles behind the leader. 

Fastest boat at the start of the business day is the Open 60, Spirit of Rosslare Europort, making 10 knots at the moment as they ease away from upwind sailing. However, Alan McGettigan and crew have a lot of making up to do in handicap terms. They reported in this morning, saying: "Difficult first 20 hours as wind conditions are still light and we took the tactical decision to head East in search of breeze rather than hug the East coast on our journey south to the Tuskar Rock.

"We are currently approx. 26 miles south of Youghal heading due west to the Fastnet at an average speed of 10.4 knots"

Hannah White, sailing double-handed with Barry Hurley aboard Dinah, contacted Afloat via twitter this morning, saying: "All well with us, we have our main two-handed rivals in sight and are looking forward to cracking sheets up the west coast, although Barry left my tea bags in his car so things were a bit fractious when I realised I wouldn't have a cuppa for five days"

We're keen to get comment and feedback on our forum thread started this morning HERE.

The race tracker is HERE, and the official site is HERE. 

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture

With nearly ten hours gone, race favourites Tonnerre de Breskens lead the Conway Media Round Ireland Yacht Race as the leading pack leave the Tuskar Rock behind. Breskens was first around, with Frenchman Bernard Gouy in Inis Mor 3.8 miles adrift, and the youngsters in Pride of Wicklow chasing hard less than half a mile further back. The leaders have left the relative doldrums behind and the top ten are making an average of around 9.2 knots to the south. Breskens seem to be diving south, possibly in anticipation of a southerly shift during the night. 

As we check it, the top ten are 

1 Tonnerre

2 Inis Mor

3 Pride of Wicklow

4 Fujitsu

5 Visit Malta Puma

6 Aquelina

7 Daft.com

8 Spirit of Rosslare Europort

9 Bejaysus

10 Sailing West Intuition

The Daft.com team posted a podcast update as they rounded the Tuskar, listen in below, and visit the race tracker online HERE

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture

Sean Lemass and crew aboard Galileo were the first to report in via audioboo podcast this afternoon, reporting slow going off Brittas Bay, making just two knots COG in the Round Ireland Yacht Race.

Their podcast is below.

The going is still light, with buoy M5 off Ireland's south-east corner showing just 7 knots of wind from the south-east. Favourite Tonnerre de Breskens leads on the water comfortably, judging the shifts well down the Irish Sea, with Inis Mor in second and the youth crew of Pride of Wicklow lying third. 

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture

Afloat has enabled competitors in this year's Round Ireland to post their own podcasts on Afloat.ie, and the first two are already in.

Noel Davidson has posted a welcome post on behalf of Spirit of Rosslare Europort, and the Daft.com entry have done the same, heading out for a photo shoot en route to Wicklow.

If you want to do the same, simply download the free audioboo podcast app to your iPhone from the app store, and link it to the Afloat Round Ireland account. 

The account name is AfloatRoundIreland and the password is hellosailor.

Keep your podcasts to 45 seconds or so, and in the following format:

Hello, [sailor's name] here from the boat [boat name].

We're currently located [location details] and the conditions are [weather report]

Then give us a brief status report. A good way to keep it in the desired length is to restrict news to what went on during the last watch, or just tell us your most interesting news snippet.

Sign off, and hit 'publish' on your iPhone.

We'll do the rest, and your family will be able to see your podcasts appear on Afloat.ie almost immediately.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Team Daft Heading to Wicklow:

Spirit of Rosslare Europort Says Hello:

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture

With the Round Ireland Yacht Race starting on Sunday, we have an extended podcast for you including a look at the weather, interviews with competitors and news of a new Irish offshore race coming to western shores very soon.

Here at Afloat.ie we want to be able to connect Round Ireland sailors with the sailing community even while they're racing around Ireland (and all her rocks and islands). So we've set up a simple way for any competitor with an iPhone to submit mini-podcasts during the race.  Using your iPhone, log into the app store and search for the free app 'Audioboo'.

Once you have it downloaded, all you have to do to record mini podcasts and send them for publication on Afloat.ie is link it to our account.

The account name is AfloatRoundIreland and the password is hellosailor.

Once you've done that, all you need to do is give us a shout.

Keep your podcasts to 45 seconds or so, and in the following format:

Hello, [sailor's name] here from the boat [boat name].

We're currently located [location details] and the conditions are [weather report]

Then give us a brief status report. A good way to keep it in the desired length is to restrict news to what went on during the last watch, or just tell us your most interesting news snippet.

Sign off, and hit 'publish' on your iPhone.

We'll do the rest, and your family will be able to see your podcasts appear on Afloat.ie almost immediately.

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture

Rosslare Europort is to sponsor the largest challenger in the Round Ireland Yacht Race, an Open 60 that will have a good chance of taking line honours. The boat, chartered by a team of Dun Laoghaire sailors headed up by Alan McGettigan, will be fully crewed for the race with six sailors aboard, with solo sailor Steve White as skipper and will be assisted by former Figaro competitor Paul O'Riain. 

The sixty-footer was designed to compete in the Vendée Globe solo nonstop around the world race. The boat has already done three solo round the world races since it was launched in 1998. Two of these occasions were Vendée Globe races when it was sailed by one person who spent three months alone in what is referred to as “The Everest of Sailing”, the toughest and longest event in any sport.

The Spirit of Rosslare Europort and her current crew are finishing preparations. The boat will be skippered by Steve White, who is a well recognised round the world sailor having come 8^th in the last Vendée Globe Race, when only 11 out of 30 finished the 26,000 mile course.

Dublin based professional sailor Paul Ó Riain will be assisting Steve. Paul has competed in the Round Ireland Yacht Race twice as well as competing on the single handed Figaro circuit in France and crossing the Atlantic twice. Paul and Steve will be joined by four Dun Laoghaire based amateur sailors: Alan McGettigan, Peter O’Malley, Morgan Crowe and Declan Hayes.

The boat will be the only competitor in the Super Zero Class this year, and with the right weather conditions should come home the easy winner across the line. 

More details to follow on the campaign's Facebook Page.

One of the early entries to the ten boat double handed division is Mick Liddy and adventurer Mark Pollock in the much hyped Daft.com sponsored class 40 yacht. It is one of only a few sponsored entries in this year's Round Ireland Yacht race. The entry is generating publicity partly because of the sponsorship drive behind it but mainly because one half of the partnership is sailing blind and is tackling offshore sailing for the first time.

As if the race did not present enough obstacles of its own, Pollock will depend on his partner Air Corps pilot Liddy for the entire 700-mile voyage.

But this isn't the first visually impaired sailor into the race, two others precede him. Michael Beggs of Bangor, County Down and Martin McKeaver of Derry confronted tidal races, gale force winds and a rocky lee shore as part of a crew of eight in the 1996 race.

More on the Round Ireland Yacht Race:

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2010 Review

Round Ireland Yacht Race, Ireland's top offshore fixture