ISORA Fleet Sets Course for Classic Kingstown to Queenstown Race

29th June 2026

Afloat.ie Team

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 Credit: Afloat

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 at 1400 on Friday, 3 July, with IRC Classes 0, 1 and 2 getting away together from a start line west of Dún Laoghaire Harbour. The race is weighted at 1.2 in the overall championship, making it one of the more valuable scoring opportunities remaining this season.

The course takes the fleet south from Dublin Bay via Muglins, the ISORA Dublin Bay Virtual Mark, Tuskar Rock, the Barrels Cardinal Light and Conningbeg Light Buoy before finishing at the entrance to Cork Harbour at the E4 Cardinal. The offshore passage covers approximately 160 nautical miles.

Jointly organised by ISORA, SCORA, the National Yacht Club and the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the Kingstown to Queenstown Race dates back to 1860, making it one of the world's oldest offshore yacht races as Afloat reported here

The race follows the publication of the latest provisional championship standings, which include the Round Ireland Race and the recent Irish and Welsh Coastal Series events. Pata Negra heads the overall leaderboard ahead of ReQuest and Aurelia, with several leading contenders expected on the K2Q start line as the championship enters its second half.

Competitors will again carry YB trackers throughout the race, allowing followers to monitor the fleet's progress live as it makes its way down the Irish coast. The finish will be recorded automatically by the tracking system at Cork Harbour ahead of Cork Week Regatta at Royal Cork Yacht Club.

As with previous ISORA offshore races, competitors must comply with Traffic Separation Scheme regulations off Dublin Bay and Tuskar while navigating one of the busiest commercial shipping routes around the Irish coast.

With enhanced championship points available and only a handful of scoring races remaining, the Kingstown to Queenstown Race is expected to play an important role in shaping the overall standings before the series moves into its final phase.

Published in Fastnet 450 Race, ISORA

'K2Q' Dun Laoghaire to Cork Race Live Tracker 2026

Track the progress of the 160-mile K2Q Race (formerly known as the 'Fastnet 450 race') fleet on the live tracker and see all Afloat's K2Q Race coverage in one handy link here

Published in Fastnet 450 Race

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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.