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Round Ireland Yacht 2022 Race Updates from Wicklow Sailing Club
Sitting pretty - On her mooring in Cork Harbour in January 2022, the 1937-built classic Maybird became the oldest boat to complete the Round Ireland Race in 2018

Round Ireland Vintage Gaff Ketch Maybird Will Be Commemorated with New Trophy for June's Ocean Race

13th January 2022 Round Ireland
Darryl Hughes’ immaculately-restored 1937 43ft Tyrrell gaff ketch Maybird became both the oldest and the first gaff-rigged boat to complete the Round Ireland Race in 2018.  The historic yacht now moored in Cork Harbour on the Owenabue river is the…
ISORA's Andrew Hall skippered Lombard 46 Pata Negra competing at this week's RORC Transatlantic Race. The boat was entered for the 2018 Round Ireland and may yet enter for June's 2022 race

Round Ireland Yacht Race Entry Opens in Less than a Fortnight for June Ocean Classic

11th January 2022 Round Ireland
Entries open in less than a fortnight for the 2022 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race and there is considerable 'pent up' interest in the biennial ocean race classic that was last sailed in 2018. Wicklow Sailing Club organisers have…
The 2022 Round Ireland Notice of Race document has been published

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2022 Notice of Race is Published (Download Here!)

26th December 2021 Round Ireland
With entries scheduled to open on January 24 2022, the first formal document for the 2022 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race has been taken with the publication of the Notice Of Race document (downloadable below) by Wicklow Sailing Club organisers. The…
Keel failure - World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations will require keel inspection for Category 3 Offshore Races in 2022

Out-of-the Water Structural Yacht Inspection is New Rule for Category 3 Offshore Races in 2022

23rd December 2021 Offshore
Changes to the World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) coming into effect on January 1 2022, will mean an additional requirement for yachts taking part in races of Category 0 to Category 3. In 2022, Irish fixtures such as June's…
International stars French Nicolas Troussel and Mini Transat Winner Ian Lipinski off Wicklow Head in the 2018 Round Ireland Race

International Fleet Eyes Round Ireland Race as Wicklow Classic Makes Class40 2022 Calendar

20th December 2021 Round Ireland
The Round Ireland Race is one of 25 world-class offshore fixtures to make it onto the 2022 International Class40 calendar. Class 40 is a type of monohull sailboat primarily used for short-handed offshore and coastal racing.  It may well be…
Round Ireland Yacht Race Organiser Kyran O'Grady (left) on stage at the UNCL Conference at the Paris Boat Show with UNCL past President Phillippe Serenon, the conference compere.

Wicklow Sailing Club Promote 2022 Round Ireland Yacht Race at France's UNCL Conference

19th December 2021 Round Ireland
Wicklow Sailing Club was in France earlier this month to promote June's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race. Wicklow Commodore Kyran O'Grady was welcomed by The Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL) President Anne de Bagneaux-Savatier to speak to…
Entry for the 704-mile SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race opens in January

Round Ireland Race 2022: Countdown to January's Online Entry

9th December 2021 Round Ireland
Online entry for the 704-nautical miles SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race will open at midday (UTC 1200) on Monday 24th January 2022 organisers at Wicklow Sailing Club have confirmed. After cancelling the 2020 race due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the…
A Jac de Ridder-designed High Tension 36 to the One Ton Rule. The late Johnny Morris took line honours in the first Round Ireland Race in 1980, racing sister-ship Force Tension

John Morris 1933-2021

9th November 2021 ISORA
At first light on Saturday 5th July 1980 off Wicklow, Johnny Morris of Pwllheli - who has died aged 88 - secured himself a permanent place in the story of offshore racing. In command of Force Tension, a One Tonner…
WSC President Sadie Phelan (second right) with (left to right) Liam Coyne, WSC Commodore Hal Fitzgerald, and Wicklow's own Brian Flahive after the Club had conferred Honorary Membership on Liam & Brian following their overall victory in four classes in the 2014 RORC Seven Stars Round Britain & Ireland Race with the First 36.7 Lula Belle.

Sadie Phelan 1950-2021

3rd May 2021 Round Ireland
The sudden death of Sadie Phelan after a short illness has been a matter of great regret and sadness in Wicklow and beyond in Ireland, and in a wider world which shared her enthusiastically pursued interests. She was an active…
The late Sadie Phelan, long-serving President of Wicklow Sailing Club, with WSC Round Ireland Race Chairman Peter Shearer while monitoring the 2014 Race

Wicklow Sailing Club President Sadie Phelan RIP

28th April 2021 Round Ireland
With great regret we record the death today (Wednesday) of Sadie Phelan, President of Wicklow Sailing Club since 2011, and a longtime and tireless voluntary worker on behalf of WSC and sailing generally, particularly with the biennial Round Ireland Race.…
Denis Doyle’s new Crosshaven-built Moonduster makes her debut off Cork in 1981, the year after the first Round Ireland Race was sailed from Wicklow. The following year, when her owner was already 62 with a lifetime of offshore racing experience and success behind him, he brought Moonduster to Wicklow for the new biennial Round Ireland event, and remained loyal to it for the rest of his long sailing career

Round Ireland Refunds? The Doyler Would Tell Them to Keep Entry Fee for 2022’s Race

31st July 2020 W M Nixon
“What would The Doyler do?” That was the question we asked here when writing with resigned sadness on 11th April about the pandemic-induced two-month postponement - from 20th June - of the Wicklow start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland…
The 2018 Round Ireland Race start off Wicklow. August's 2020 race has been cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns

Wicklow Sailing Club Cancels Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020

27th July 2020 Round Ireland
In a decision which will resonate with the national and international sailing community, and following intensive meetings all day, organisers Wicklow Sailing Club in concert with their many stakeholders have decided at 1845hrs today (Monday) that the circumstances of the…
Conor Fogerty and Susan Glenny will race a foiling Figaro 3 yacht in next month's Round Ireland Race from Wicklow

Fogerty & Glenny Announce 'Total Produce' Double-Handed Round Ireland Entry

26th July 2020 Round Ireland
Irish offshore sailors Conor Fogerty and Susan Glenny have announced their two-handed entry into next month's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race from Wicklow. The 704 nautical mile Round Ireland was postponed in June due to COVID-19 and is now…
Irish JPK10.80 Rockabill VI - French sisterships have performed well in Cherbourg's 400-mile Dhream Cup, boosting hopes of more success for the design at next month's Round Ireland Race in which Rockabill VI will compete

Do France's Drheam Cup Results Provide Round Ireland Performance Insights?

23rd July 2020 Round Ireland
Looking ahead to next month's Round Ireland Yacht Race, last weekend's French Drheam Cup that proved so successful for Tom Dolan in the Figaro Duo class also provided offshore pundits with plenty of results to pore over. The Cherbourg fixture,…
MOD70 Powerplay - capable of speeds of 40 knots

Giant MOD 70 Trimaran 'Powerplay' Enters Round Ireland Yacht Race Bringing Entries to 50 So Far

23rd July 2020 Round Ireland
A new Round Ireland Race record speed time is in prospect with the entry of a MOD70 trimaran into the 21st edition of the race from Wicklow. There is no doubting the appeal of August's classic Irish offshore with the…
Class 40s racing in the 2018 Dhream Cup

French Class 40s Eyeing Round Ireland To Complete Reduced European Trophy

10th July 2020 Round Ireland
Hopes are high within the Class 40 fleet that a reduced European Trophy will be confirmed — if there is enough participation for at least two out of the three races on the calendar. Alongside the classic Normandy Channel Race…

Round Ireland Yacht Race Information

The Round Ireland Yacht Race is Ireland's classic offshore yacht race starts from Wicklow Sailing Club (WSC) and is organised jointly with the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and the Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC). This page details the very latest updates from the 2008 race onwards including the race schedule, yacht entries and the all-important race updates from around the 704-mile course. Keep up to date with the Round Ireland Yacht Race here on this one handy reference page.

2020 Round Ireland Race

The 2020 race, the 21st edition, was the first race to be rescheduled then cancelled.

Following Government restrictions over COVID-19, a decision on the whether or not the 2020 race can be held was made on April 9 2020 to reschedule the race to Saturday, August 22nd. On July 27th, the race was regrettably cancelled due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19.

Because of COVID-19, the race had to have a virtual launch party at the Royal Irish Yacht Club for its 21st edition. 

In spite of the pandemic, however, a record entry was in prospect for 2020 with 50 boats entered with four weeks to go to the race start. The race was also going big on size and variety to make good on a pre-race prediction that the fleet could reach 60. An Irish offshore selection trial also looked set to be a component part of the 2020 race.

The rescheduling of the race to a news date emphasises the race's national significance, according to Afloat here

FAQs

704 nautical miles, 810 miles or 1304 kilometres

3171 kilometres is the estimate of Ireland's coastline by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

SSE Renewables are the sponsors of the 2020 Round Ireland Race.

Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London and The Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dublin.

Off Wicklow Harbour on Saturday, August 22nd 2020

Monohulls 1300 hrs and Multihulls 13.10 hrs

Leave Ireland and all its islands (excluding Rockall) to starboard.

It depends on the boat. The elapsed record time for the race is under 40 hours but most boats take five or six days to complete the course.

The Race Tracker is https://afloat.ie/sail/events/round-ireland/item/25789-round-ireland-yacht-race-tracker-2016-here.

The idea of a race around Ireland began in 1975 with a double-handed race starting and finishing in Bangor organised by Ballyholme Yacht Club with stopovers in Crosshaven and Killybegs. That race only had four entries. In 1980 Michael Jones put forward the idea of a non-stop race and was held in that year from Wicklow Sailing Club. Sixteen pioneers entered that race with Brian Coad’s Raasay of Melfort returning home after six days at sea to win the inaugural race. Read the first Round Ireland Yacht Race 1980 Sailing Instructions here

 

The Round Ireland race record of 38 h 37 min 7 s is held by MOD-70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail and was set in June 2016.

George David’s Rambler 88 (USA) holds the fastest monohull race time of two days two hours 24 minutes and 9 seconds set in the 2016 race.

William Power's 45ft Olivia undertook a round Ireland cruise in September 1860

 

Richard Hayes completed his solo epic round Ireland voyage in September 2018 in a 14-foot Laser dinghy. The voyage had seen him log a total of 1,324 sea miles (2,452 kilometres) in 54 sailing days. in 1961, the Belfast Lough Waverly Durward crewed by Kevin and Colm MacLaverty and Mick Clarke went around Ireland in three-and-a-half weeks becoming the smallest keelboat ever to go round. While neither of these achievements occurred as part of the race they are part of Round Ireland sailing history

© Afloat 2020

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At A Glance – Round Ireland Yacht Race 2022

Race start: Off Wicklow Harbour date to be announced, June 18 2022

There will be separate starts for monohulls and multihulls.

Race course:  leave Ireland and all its islands (excluding Rockall) to starboard.

Race distance: is approximately 704 nautical miles or 1304 kilometres.

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