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Day 6: Fair Winds Again for Round Ireland Fleet as Baraka GP’s Performance is Set in Fresh Perspective

5th July 2018
Motley crew. The team who brought overall victory Round Ireland victory to Baraka GP – seen here sweeping past Dublin Bay yesterday morning – included a significant totally amateur element, and their “crew livery” certainly seems to support this fact Motley crew. The team who brought overall victory Round Ireland victory to Baraka GP – seen here sweeping past Dublin Bay yesterday morning – included a significant totally amateur element, and their “crew livery” certainly seems to support this fact Credit: John Sheehy RStGYC

The fair winds from the northwest, which late last night and early this morning were spreading slowly through the latter half of the Round Ireland fleet off Donegal and then Antrim, now cover the entire remaining race area writes W M Nixon. The best of the breeze is in the North Channel, but with the tides ebbing north there until late morning, progress is unspectacular but it is at least progress, in contrast to the total frustration of the earlier part of last night.

Meanwhile, up front and among those already finished, we gladly make a thorough re-appraisal of our assessment of Niall Dowling’s all-conquering Ker 43 Baraka GP – line honours and likely overall IRC winner - as having been a thoroughly professional job. Not so.

Yet when you remember that on Tuesday night the Volvo 60 Libertalia Team Jolokia had got to within a dozen miles of Baraka in the northern part of the North Channel, yet by Wednesday lunchtime Baraka was in Wicklow and well finished with Line Honours with 90 miles now between her and Jolokia, it’s understandable that the whole performance shone through as being professional levels of the highest standards.

baraka at kish2 1Baraka off the Kish during her remarkable progress yesterday morning down in a light breze the Irish Sea. The way her sails are set up to deal wkth a hyper-close reach merits the closest study. Photo John Sheehy RStGYC

And certainly navigator/tactician Ian Moore is one of the world’s very best professionals. But aboard Baraka GP, his shipmates included three total amateurs including skipper Niall Dowling, and while the boat was an impressive performer, her mixed crew had to deal with at least as many sail and gear problems as anyone else.

They’d also to cope with the fact that at one stage off the North Coast of Mayo, they were shown as being in a seemingly irredeemable 24th overall. And while she may indeed have been set up for maximum performance in hyper-close reaching conditions as she came in past the Kish yesterday morning, the crew photos show a somewhat motley bunch without that unmistakable professional sheen, as do their line honours celebrations in Wicklow.

Baraka GP crew2Baraka’s crew celebrations in Wicklow were in best amateur style

Baraka RIYCBaraka GP back at the Royal Irish YC in Dun Laoghaire yesterday evening - during the Round Ireland Race, she’d had to cope with gear and sail problems like everyone else. Photo: Afloat.ie

So we very happily re-instate Baraka GP with honour as being in the “Real” Round Ireland Race as much as everyone else, and now we watch with interest to see if her huge theoretical IRC Handicap lead is going to withstand the fact that Nicolas Pasternak’s two-handed JPK 10.10 Jaasap is coming down the Irish Sea in purposeful style, and for a while was back in second place overall on the IRC progress sheets.

However, with the stronger area of wind moving away to the east in the Irish Sea, Jaasap is shown at only 5.4 knots and still has 64 miles to sail, whereas Chris Power Smith’s Aurelia is back into provisional second at 5.9 knots with 12 miles to the finish, so she should be well finished by lunchtime in company with the British army entrant, the X41 team Fujitsu skippered by Donal Ryan of Howth. But this still leaves Baraka GP with a very comfortable margin for the overall win.

Yet these IRC provisional timings are sometimes about as useful as opinion polls in assessing the outcome of a General Election. In other words, the only timings that will really matter are the final and official results.

Towards the back end of the fleet the two little Mini 6.5s Port of Galway (Yannick Lemonnier) and the Mayo boat Blackshell Farm (Louis Mulloy) were having a close race of it last night as the new wind brought them bustling in round Malin Head.

But a cheerful phone call last night from Cathal Clarke who’s with Yannick aboard Port of Galway appears to have de-activated their Yellowbrick Tracker, so all we know for now is that Blackshell has got past Fair Head against the last of the adverse tide, and as of 11am her speed shot up to 10 knots as the new fair tide started to do its stuff. The between the two of them is crucial, as the first to finish will be the smallest boat ever to have sailed round Ireland non-stop.

Yannick lemonnier Mini650 4517Yannick Lemonnier in his leading Mini 650 is on target to be the first to finish in the smallest boat ever to have sailed round Ireland non-stop Photo: Afloat.ie

And just as this update is being posted, a call from Cathal Clarke tells us that Port of Galway is 13 miles ahead of Blackshell, but they have work to do as she is only making good 7.6 knots.

Race Tracker and leaderboard here

Published in Round Ireland

Round Ireland Yacht Race Live Tracker 2024

Track the progress of the 2024 Wicklow Sailing Club Round Ireland Race fleet on the live tracker above and see all Afloat's Round Ireland Race coverage in one handy link here

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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

At A Glance – Round Ireland Yacht Race 2024

Race start: Off Wicklow Harbour on Saturday, June 22 2024

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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