Kingstown to Queenstown 'K2Q' Race 2024

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…

The remarkably varied fleet of 17 boats racing from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour in time-honoured style in the K2Q Race

Greystones Sailing Club's 'Opal' is Half Way There in K2Q Race To Cork

12th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day 1 21:30 hrs: Frank Whelan's Elliott 57 Opal is at the Tuskar Rock, leading the K2Q on the water at the halfway stage. But the fact that the big boat from Greystones is making only 3.6 knots over…

Under full sail, Frank Whelan's impressive-looking canting keel Elliott 57 Opal was on a tight reach to the first mark of the 160-mile K2Q course at the Muglins Rocks before the majority of the fleet had even made it past the Forty Foot bathing place on the south side of Dublin Bay

J125 Jackknife Leads Early Stage of K2Q Race With Fair Winds To Cork

12th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day 1 - Ireland's East Coast may have had grey skies late this morning, but the word is of sunshine in Cork. And as those Dublin Bay grey skies were driven on by a good working nor'east to north…

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

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

1st July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

Scroll down for the 2024 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 11 am on Friday, July 12th. Follow the race on…

The Belfast Lough water-ballasted JPK1030 is the latest addition to the 2024 Volvo Cork Week Class 1 competition

ISORA Leader 'Coquine' is Cork Bound in Friday's K2Q Race and Among Late Entries into Volvo Cork Week's IRC Fleet

11th July 2024 Cork Week

ISORA Series leader Coquine, the Belfast Lough water-ballasted JPK1030, is the latest addition to next week's 2024 Volvo Cork Week Class 1 competition. The yacht is one of several late entries into the 120-boat biennial Cork Harbour regatta, which begins…

Greystones Sailing Club's canting keeler Opal will be heading south in this Friday's (July 12th) Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (Cobh) Race that has attracted a quality fleet of offshore racers ahead of Volvo Cork Week Regatta in Cork Harbour starting on July 15th

Friday's 'K2Q' Builds a Quality Fleet for Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour Race as Sailing Instructions are Published

8th July 2024 Fastnet 450 Race

The "K2Q 2024 " Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (Cobh) Race sailing instructions have been published (downloadable below) as a quality fleet builds for the 160-miler this Friday (July 12th). Orgainsers ISORA and SCOR say entry remains open for the race, and last…

An under-25 Kinsale Yacht Club crew will take charge of Cian McCarthy's Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl for the

Twenty Entries and Counting for 'Tasty' K2Q Offshore Race

3rd July 2024 ISORA

SCORA, the South Coast Offshore Racing Association, says the "K2Q 2024 " Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) to Queenstown (Cobh) Race, run with ISORA, will start from Dublin on Friday Week, July 12, with FG at 11.a.m. "Sailing instructions are being finalised…

ISORA 2023 champion Rockabill VI off Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The 2024 ISORA calendar includes a July race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork

ISORA 2024 Season Highlights to Include July Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race

13th November 2023 ISORA

ISORA has published a draft schedule for its 2024 fixtures that starts on May 6th with an early coastal series on both sides of the Irish Sea. The first cross-channel race is May 11th with a Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli…

A moored start for a Royal Cork Yacht Club race in 1852. Nicholas Parker’s successful 10-ton cutter Gem would have been similar in size and appearance to the little boat on the right

Royal Cork Cruiser-Racer Dominates Dublin Bay Racing

3rd January 2023 Royal Cork YC

Looking back on the season of 2022, it has to be said that the East Coast keelboats had the edge on the Cork Harbour fleet in terms of national overall success in the majors, what with taking the best place…

The start of the 2022 K2Q race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork. The offshore race began on July 1, just a week after the Round Ireland Race had finished

ISORA and SCORA to Discuss Timing of Future K2Q Offshore Race

20th July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

Kinsale Yacht Club's second offshore race of the season indicates a south coast demand for this type of racing. Still, the absence of any Cork boats on July's K2Q 260 race course means organisers look set to alter the timing…

Mojito on the last day of Cork Week 2022, capturing the Coastal division prize. The winning Welsh J109 crew in action. from left to right are: Victoria Cox, Peter Dunlop, Anthony Doyle, Dave Jackson, Sammo Jones, Charlotte Greenhalgh, Mike Manzke, Nick Smith and Mark O’Connor

Welsh J109 Mojito is Crowned K2Q and Cork Week Coastal Class Champion

17th July 2022 Cork Week

A win for Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox's J109 Mojito in July's inaugural 260-mile K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork via Fastnet Race, followed by an overall win of the IRC Coastal Division of Volvo Cork Week, is a highlight of…

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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.