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Enter the (Green) Dragon - O'Coineen Signs Up Volvo 70 for June's Round Ireland Race

4th February 2022
The Round Ireland campaign for the VOR 70 Green Dragon will be is a joint entry from O’Coineen and Conor Ferguson. The boat is entered as both a Galway Bay Sailing Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club entry
The Round Ireland campaign for the VOR 70 Green Dragon will be a joint entry from Enda O’Coineen and Conor Ferguson. The boat is entered as both a Galway Bay Sailing Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club entry

Enter the Dragon. Enda O'Coineen, the Galway man behind the Irish entry in the 2008/9 Volvo Ocean Race is back behind the wheel of the Volvo 70 as the 12th entry into June's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race.

It's not Green Dragon's first circuit of Ireland either, the Galway Bay yacht was the biggest and fastest of the 38-boat fleet in the 2012 edition of the race.

A year ago, under Johannes Schwarz’s Green Dragon crossed the finish line of the 7th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race in an elapsed time of 9 days, 18 hours, 53 mins and 40 secs to win the IMA Trophy to take monohull Line Honours in the race.

Enda O'Coineen - co-skipper of the Volvo 70 Green Dragon in June's Round Ireland RaceEnda O'Coineen - will co-skipper the Volvo 70 Green Dragon in June's Round Ireland Race from Wicklow Sailing Club

The Round Ireland campaign for Green Dragon will be is a joint entry from O’Coineen and Conor Ferguson. The boat is entered as both a Galway Bay Sailing Club and Royal Irish Yacht Club entry.

As regular Afloat readers will know, the original VOR team was captained by Ian Walker and finished the race in fifth place overall (from six starters) scoring 63 points. The boat was designed by Reichel Pugh and built by McConaghy Boats.

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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