2026 IRC European Championship Set for Poole Harbour

22nd August 2025

Afloat.ie Team

The start of the IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay in 2024 Credit: Afloat

The IRC European Championship will be held in Poole Harbour from 22-25 May 2026. This event follows the successful regatta staged in Dublin Bay in 2024 and this year in Corsica.

Andrew Pearce from Poole Regatta stated, “Hosting the IRC European Championship is a great opportunity for Poole.”

The championship will see racing across five areas. It includes the IRC Southern Area Championship, running from 23-25 May.

Various classes will compete, including VPRS and TP52, alongside a series of one-design classes.

Published in RORC IRC Europeans

Tagged under

IRC European Championship

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IRC Europeans Championships

Alternating between the North and the South of Europe (the Channel and the Mediterranean Sea), the IRC European Championship is a flagship event of the IRC season and typically aims to bring together more than 60 boats.

IRC is a World Sailing-recognised rating system and the principal yacht measurement system for the rating of racing yachts worldwide.

The event is open to all IRC-rated boats. Typically, it will consist of a minimum of four coastal or tactical races (coefficient 1) and a long coastal race (coefficient 2).

Following the inaugural championship as part of Cork Week in 2016, the event sailed in Marseille in 2017, Cowes in 2018, and San Remo in 2019; the event sailed in Hyères, France in 2021 before moving to Brekens, Holland, in 2022 and in Cannes, France last June.

The IRC rating rule is administered jointly by the RORC Rating Office in Lymington, UK and UNCL Centre de Calcul, Pôle Course du Yacht Club de France, in Paris, France.