The Round Britain & Ireland Race will return in August 2026, marking 50 years since the Royal Ocean Racing Club first staged the event.
The 1,800-nautical-mile non-stop race starts and finishes in Cowes and is held once every four years.
The 1,800 mile course
For many offshore sailors, it is a defining test. For some, it has proved career-changing.
The race forms part of the wider RORC programme and sits alongside the Season’s Points Championship as a flagship offshore challenge.
Few sailors illustrate its impact more clearly than Vendée Globe finisher Ollie Heer.
In 2018, Heer skippered Giles Redpath’s Lombard 46 Pata Negra (now the 2025 ISORA champion) to overall IRC victory. He was 30 years old.
“That race was the door opener,” Heer says. “That’s where everything really started.”
The win led to Heer becoming boat captain for Alex Thomson’s IMOCA Hugo Boss. In 2025, he completed the Vendée Globe in 99 days and is now preparing a new foiling IMOCA for 2028.
Heer describes the west coast of Ireland as a turning point. “That’s where it becomes proper offshore sailing,” he says. “Atlantic swell, higher speeds, and no margin for error.”
The race shifts rapidly from ocean sailing to complex coastal navigation. Cape Wrath, tidal gates and North Sea weather systems demand constant judgement.
Richard Palmer echoes that view.
“There’s no let-up,” he says. “You’re constantly balancing speed against staying in the game.”
In 2022, Palmer and Rupert Holmes won overall IRC honours racing double-handed aboard the JPK 1010 Jangada.
Richard Palmer & Rupert Holmes celebrate 2022 Round Britain & Ireland Race Photo: James Tomlinson
Their victory was decided by just seven minutes on corrected time after nearly two weeks at sea.
“The finish was dramatic,” Palmer says, “but it was really about hundreds of small decisions made all the way around.”
Light winds and fleet compression defined that edition. Competitors could track each other on AIS from tens of miles away.
Following the win, Jangada went on to claim the RORC Season’s Points Championship and Yacht of the Year.
Palmer and Holmes are now racing the Globe40 Round the World Race.
Speaking by satellite from the Bass Strait in December 2025, Palmer said the Round Britain & Ireland Race still shaped his thinking.
“You’re constantly managing physical and mental endurance,” he says. “That’s something the race teaches very clearly.”
At 1,800 miles, the event demands more than survival.
“It’s performance sailing from start to finish,” Heer explains. “Over that distance, things will break. The question is whether you’re ready for it.”
Preparation is critical.
“Do the miles early,” Palmer says. “Avoid last-minute changes. Efficiency reduces breakages.”
Crew management is equally important. Fatigue builds, conditions change and mistakes carry consequences.
“You need people who stay sharp when it’s uncomfortable,” Heer says.
The race also delivers moments of perspective. Passing remote headlands, long northern days and fleeting celebrations at sea.
“Those moments stay with you,” Palmer says.
The 2026 edition will be open to monohulls and multihulls under IRC and MOCRA, as well as IMOCA and Class40 entries.
The race starts on Sunday, 9 August 2026.
First run in 1976, the Round Britain & Ireland Race is widely regarded as one of offshore sailing’s toughest examinations.
For Heer, its importance is simple. “If you love offshore sailing, you have to be on the start line.”
Ollie Heer finished the the 2025 Vendée Globe Photo: PKC Media
