Kingstown to Queenstown 'K2Q' Race 2026

Gold Delivery: Pata Negra comes alongside the Royal Cork Yacht Club finish boat to collect the traditional celebratory beer after taking line honours in the 2026 Kingstown to Queenstown Race. Photo: Robert Bateman

Mojito Takes Provisional K2Q IRC Victory

4th July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

Welsh yacht Mojito emerged as the provisional overall IRC winner of the biennial Kingstown to Queenstown Race on Saturday after a demanding 175-nautical-mile passage from Dún Laoghaire to Cork Harbour. Provisional tracker results showed Mojito leading the IRC standings after…

New at the Helm: National Yacht Club sailor David Turner (centre at the wheel) skippered Aurelia in the Kingstown to Queenstown Race after owner Chris Power Smith was forced to withdraw through illness. Photo: Afloat.ie

Youth Crew Keeps Aurelia's K2Q Challenge Alive

4th July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

Aurelia's Kingstown to Queenstown Race challenge continues this weekend despite owner Chris Power Smith being ruled out through illness, with a youth-focused crew stepping aboard the Royal St George Yacht Club J/122 for the offshore classic. Power Smith, who is…

Closing In: The crew of Mojito hike out on Dublin Bay shortly after the start of the 2026 Kingstown to Queenstown Race from Dún Laoghaire. The Welsh yacht later moved into the provisional IRC lead as the fleet headed south. Photo: Afloat.ie

Mojito Takes IRC Lead as K2Q Fleet Closes on Cork Harbour

4th July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

Saturday 10 am - The race for overall honours in the biennial Kingstown to Queenstown Race tightened on Saturday morning as Mojito moved into the provisional IRC lead while El Syd continued to head the fleet on the water approaching…

Cork Week Revels in Re-framing Historic Events For Modern Use

4th July 2026 Cork Week

Time was when a disagreement arose about some ancient disputed event between people from England and those from Ireland, you could only expect two conclusions from the heat of the argument. Firstly, if our friends from across the water were…

Early Advantage: Tom Shanahan's J/109 Ruth powers south from Dún Laoghaire during the opening stages of the 2026 Kingstown to Queenstown Race. Three hours after the start, Ruth led the provisional IRC standings. Photo: Afloat.ie

El Syd Nails Start as K2Q Fleet Beats South

3rd July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

5pm - Friday Frank Whelan's El Syd produced another perfectly judged getaway from Dún Laoghaire on Friday, winning the start of the biennial ISORA Kingstown to Queenstown Race. Three hours into the 160-nautical-mile offshore contest, however, Andrew Hall's Pata Negra…

Scroll down for the 2024 K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race Tracker

'K2Q' Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race Tracker Here!

3rd July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

Scroll down for the 2026 K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race Tracker The 2024 staging of the biennial 160 K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race race got underway at 2pm on Friday, July 3rd. Follow the race on the…

Light Airs Ahead — Greystones yacht El Syd ghosts along during this year's Round Ireland Race. Similar light conditions are forecast for Friday evening's start of the ISORA Kingstown to Queenstown Race from Dun Laoghaire.

ISORA Kingstown to Queenstown Race Draws 12-Boat Fleet

2nd July 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

The 2026 Kingstown to Queenstown Race gets under way on Friday with a 12-boat fleet set to tackle the 160-nautical-mile offshore passage from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour. The race is a key fixture in the ISORA Championship and follows…

Southbound Challenge — Justin Burke's JPK 10.30 ReQuest, raced by Justin and his sons Nathan and Darren Burke, heads south for this week's 160-mile Kingstown to Queenstown Race from Dún Laoghaire to Cork before continuing on to Cork Week 2026.

ISORA Fleet Sets Course for Classic 'Kingstown to Queenstown' Race

30th June 2026 Fastnet 450 Race

The 2026 Musto ISORA Championship resumes this Friday with one of the series' classic fixtures as the fleet races from Dún Laoghaire to Cork in the 160-mile Kingstown to Queenstown (K2Q) Offshore Race. Race 13 of this year's championship starts…

Round Ireland Race 2026: Line Honours Up For Grabs?

21st March 2026 Round Ireland

The J/109 Outrajeous (Johnny & Suzy Murphy, Howth YC) is now posted in the latest entry list for June 20th’s Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. This makes her the form boat for the Irish entrants, as she was overall winner…

Irish Offshore Racing Already On A Roll For 2026

14th February 2026 ISORA

Mid-February is usually the time to come out of the winter torpor and start a week of focusing on the upcoming RORC Caribbean 600, with 2026’s edition getting away on Monday, 23rd February. But now we have the early arrival…

Forget post-war austerity. It is 16:30 hrs on the afternoon of Monday August 19th 1946 in the entrance to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, and the starters are getting away in a brisk nor'wester in the Royal Ocean Racing Club/Irish Cruising Club Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race, with (left to right) Lara (Kenneth Poland, RORC) a 1938 Robert Clark yawl from England, Harry Donegan Jnr's vintage Fife Clyde 50 Sybil from Cork, Erivale (Dr E G Greville RORC, a Robert Clark sloop from England and still hoisting her genoa), John B Kearney's own-designed-and-built 9-ton gaff yawl Mavis (NYC) of 1925, Col. Blondie Hasler's 30 Square Metre Tre Sang (RORC), Col. James Hollwey's 14-ton 1937 Scandinavian-built ketch Viking O (RIYC). Billy Mooney's 16-tn gaff ketch Aideen (ICC/RStGYC) Fred Shepherd design, built Tyrrell 1934, and Michael Sullivan's 14-ton Norman Dallimore-designed Marchwood Maid (Royal Munster YC). Missing from photo is the 72ft Robert Clark-designed 1939-built sloop Benbow, which was manoeuvring up-harbour, and started when the line was clear

"Forgotten" Dublin Bay To Cork Race Reveals Vitality Of First Post War Year Of 1946

17th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

In last weekend's Sailing on Saturday (July 13th) we tried to interweave the story of offshore racing development with the long history of racing offshore along the 160 miles from Dublin Bay to Cork. It's an event which has been…

The Shanahan family J/109 Ruth is sitting pretty in the IRC Overall winner position and first in Class 2 in the K2Q Race

National YC's Ruth Takes Back Lead And Keeps It In Fresher Finish For K2Q At Cork Harbour

13th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Two (Saturday) 1830 hrs - The sea breeze in Cork works by its own rules, but it doesn't necessarily suit the home fleet when it does so. In closing our earlier update on the Dublin Bay to Cork…

Opal Takes Line Honours in K2Q

13th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Two 1600 hrs Frank Whelan's impressive Elliott 57 Opal took line honours in the K2Q at the entrance to Cork Harbour at 15.43 hrs this (Saturday) afternoon, and it was a slow conclusion to an often slow 160-mile…

The youthful crew of J/109 Ruth, skippered by Tom Shanahan of the National Yacht Club who conquered the first cross-channel race of the ISORA season in May are in the running in the closing stages of the 2024 K2Q Dublin to Cork Race

Shanahan Family's J/109 Ruth In K2Q Reckoning

13th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Two Saturday 13:30 hrs: The Shanahan family's J/109 Ruth (National YC) has seldom been out of contention for a podium place in this stop-go Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race. And now, with the line honours leader, Frank…

Mark Thompson's J/97 Jac Y Do from Wales holds the handicap lead on the morning of day two of the K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race

K2Q Race Well On Move Again as Welsh J/97 Jac Y Do Holds Handicap Lead

13th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Two, Saturday at 08:30 hrs: After spending more time than they might have wished in the Tuskar Rock area during a dead period in the small hours, struggling with adverse tide and light winds, the K2Q fleet got…

George Radley III of Cobh at the helm of the veteran Holland 39 Imp at the start of the K2Q yesterday (Friday) in Dublin Bay

Living History in Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race

13th July 2024 W M Nixon

The idea of an offshore race from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour around the middle of July seems a no-brainer when you look at how sailing types spend their summers. Many cruiser-racers appear to move along that Leinster-to-Munster axis around…

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The Kingstown to Queenstown Yacht Race or 'K2Q', previously the Fastnet 450

The Organising Authority ("OA") are ISORA & SCORA in association with The National Yacht Club & The Royal Cork Yacht Club.

The Kingstown to Queenstown Race (K2Q Race) is a 260-mile offshore race that will start in Dun Laoghaire (formerly Kingstown), around the famous Fastnet Rock and finish in Cork Harbour at Cobh (formerly Queenstown).

The K2Q race follows from the successful inaugural 'Fastnet 450 Race' that ran in 2020 when Ireland was in the middle of the COVID Pandemic. It was run by the National Yacht Club, and the Royal cork Yacht Club were both celebrating significant anniversaries. The clubs combined forces to mark the 150th anniversary of the National Yacht Club and the 300th (Tricentenary) of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Of course, this race has some deeper roots. In 1860 the first-ever ocean yacht race on Irish Waters was held from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (now Cobh).

It is reported that the winner of the race was paid a prize of £15 at the time, and all competing boats got a bursary of 10/6 each. The first race winner was a Schooner Kingfisher owned by Cooper Penrose Esq. The race was held on July 14th 1860, and had sixteen boats racing.

In 2022, the winning boat will be awarded the first prize of a cheque for €15 mounted and framed and a Trophy provided by the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the oldest yacht club in the world.

The 2022 race will differ from the original course because it will be via the Fastnet Rock, so it is a c. 260m race, a race distance approved by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club as an AZAB qualifier.

A link to an Afloat article written by WM Nixon for some history on this original race is here.

The aim is to develop the race similarly to the Dun Laoghaire–Dingle Race that runs in alternate years.

Fastnet 450 in 2020

The South Coast of Ireland Racing Association, in association with the National Yacht Club on Dublin Bay and the Royal Cork Yacht Club in Cork, staged the first edition of this race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour via the Fastnet Rock on August 22nd 2020.

The IRC race started in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday, August 22nd 2020. It passed the Muglin, Tuscar, Conningbeg and Fastnet Lighthouses to Starboard before returning to Cork Harbour and passing the Cork Buoy to Port, finishing when Roches's Point bears due East. The course was specifically designed to be of sufficient length to qualify skippers and crew for the RORC Fastnet Race 2021.