Kingstown to Queenstown 'K2Q' Race 2022

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…

K2Q260 winner - The J109 Mojito from North Wales

Welsh J109 'Mojito' Takes Inaugural 'K2Q 260' Race Victory

3rd July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

The inaugural K2Q 260-mile race from Dun Laoghaire via Fastnet Rock to Cork concluded on Sunday in Cork Harbour and was won on IRC by the J/109 Mojito (Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox). It was the first collaboration between the…

J109 Mojito (Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox) leads on IRC overall in the K2Q 260-mile race

Royal Cork's Nieulargo Wins K2Q 160, Mojito Leads K2Q 260 Race

3rd July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Three 0600 - Royal Cork's Nieulargo carried her advantage along the south coast on Saturday to win the K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork 160-mile race arriving back into her home port of Cork Harbour to be first in IRC…

Denis and Annamarie's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo leads the K2Q fleet on day two of the race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork

Royal Cork's 'Nieulargo' Leads K2Q fleet Along the South Coast of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race

2nd July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day Two 0830 - Now racing on her home waters of the south coast, Royal Cork's yacht of the year, Nieulargo, leads the IRC honours race into the second day of the K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork yacht race. Denis and…

Prime Suspect Retires from 'K2Q' Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race

1st July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

Today's Dun Laoghaire to Cork K2Q yacht race has had its first retiral with the withdrawal of the customised Mills 36, Prime Suspect. The Keith Mills skippered yacht was lying fourth in IRC 1 division when she quit the 260-mile race…

Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom from Howth steered by Olympic helmsman Mark Mansfield departs Dun Laoghaire on the K2Q Race

Howth's Samatom and Checkmate XX Swap Lead in 'K2Q' Race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork

1st July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

K2Q Day One 1730 - The two biggest yachts in the K2Q fleet - both from Howth - are in a tacking duel off the Wicklow and Wexford coasts this Friday afternoon. The Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race, which is…

Scroll down for the 2022 K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race Tracker

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

1st July 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

Scroll down for the 2022 K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race Tracker The 2022 staging of the biennial 160 and 260 mile–mile K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork Yacht Race race got underway at 11 am on Friday, June 1st. Follow…

Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom from Howth Yacht Club is racing from Dun Laoghaire to Cork

Howth Yacht Samatom Signs Up for Friday's 'K2Q' Offshore Race from Dun Laoghaire to Cork

29th June 2022 Fastnet 450 Race

Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom from Howth Yacht Club is the latest boat to sign-up to Ireland's newest offshore race starting this Friday, July 1st. The 'K2Q' or 'Kingstown to Queenstown Race' has just announced a novel two races…

First look - Andrew Hall's Welsh J125 Jackknife is among the entries for the inaugural K2Q race on July 1 from Dun Laoghaire to Cork Harbour

July's Dun Laoghaire to Cork 'K2Q' Offshore Yacht Race Will Provide Two Races in One

26th June 2022 ISORA

Just as the 2022 Round Ireland Race concludes at the end of June, a new Irish biennial offshore racing fixture between Dublin and Cork has launched with a start in five days' time, and a 'novel set up' to provide…

Simon Knowles' J/109 Indian has put in a gallant showing for Howth to take fourth overall in this year's only big offshore race, the Fastnet 450

Howth Yacht Club Flag Kept Flying in Cork by Simon Knowles & His Indian Braves in Fastnet 450

26th August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race

Ireland's sports organisations are taking a battering during the pandemic, and the operating model of sailing clubs, in particular, makes them especially vulnerable to a downturn in all activities afloat and ashore. Afloat.ie's W M Nixon wrote this piece yesterday…

History redeemed….the Royal Cork YC have been denied much of their Tricentennial Celebration during 2020, so it was a very special moment when Denis & Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo (RCYC) crossed the line at Roche's Point this (Monday) morning to win the Fastnet 450 Race

Fastnet 450: Nieulargo Wins, Aurelia Takes Line Honours, & Cinnamon Girl is Right There Despite it not Being Her Weather

25th August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race

Day 3, Monday, 1600 hrs: The demanding Fastnet 450 course kept crews working very hard indeed until the last couple of miles running in towards the finish in the entrance to Cork Harbour under the iconic Roche's Point Lighthouse this…

Royal St. George's line honours leader, Chris Power Smith's Aurelia at the Daunt Buoy at 0930 hours this morning on her way to the Cork Harbour finish of the inaugural Fastnet 450 Race

Nieulargo & Aurelia Fight Fastnet 450 All The Way Towards this Morning's Finish

24th August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race

Day 3, Monday, 0900hrs Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia may have had nearly two miles in hand on Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 when she led the Fastnet 450 fleet round the Fastnet Rock at 0040 hrs in…

The Dubois 40 Irish Independent with Tim Goodbody as lead helm rounds the Fastnet Rock in August 1987, on the way to overall victory in the Fastnet Race. Tonight, Tim's son Richard and grandson Max will be racing rounding the Rock as crewmembers on Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia in the Fastnet 450.

Nieulargo & Aurelia Struggle with "Wind Full of Holes" to be First at the Fastnet

23rd August 2020 Fastnet 450 Race

Day Two, Sunday, 2030hrs: After a stimulating day's sailing along the length of the south coast, turning to windward in very sailable breezes and enjoying more sunshine than much of the rest of Ireland, the leaders in the Fastnet 450 are…

Dunmore RNLI escorting the dismasted yacht Red Alert

Red Alert - Dunmore East RNLI Assist Dismasted Fastnet 450 Race Yacht 36 Miles Offshore

23rd August 2020 RNLI Lifeboats

At 7.26 am Dunmore East RNLI Lifeboat launched on service to assist a stricken yacht in the Fastnet 450 Race which had suffered a dismasting 36 miles South of Dunmore East on the County Waterford coast. On reaching the Greystones-based…

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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.