The 2021 Fastnet Race winner Sunrise from Plymouth will compete in June's Round Ireland Race adding to the international competition of the 21st edition of Irelands' top offshore race.
Responding to a question from the audience, Sunrise skipper Tom Kneen told ICRA conference delegates in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday he was '95% sure' he would contest the biennial Irish 700-miler in 14 weeks.
The Devon-based skipper said current plans include the Round Ireland and the new Baltic Race this summer.
Kneen was a guest speaker at the National Yacht Club hosted event, where he gave an inspirational but very down-to-earth account of his rise to the top of the International Offshore scene.
Currently the world's most successful offshore racing owner-skipper, Kneen's JPK 11.80 Sunshine was RORC Champion in 2020, Fastnet Race winner 2021 and Middle Sea Race winner as well by any standards of reasonable fairness. Either way, she was the highly-acclaimed RORC Boat of the Year in 2021, and already this year, she has kept up the pace by winning her class in the RORC Caribbean 600 in February, so she becomes the boat to beat this June off Wicklow.
Also at Saturday's ICRA Conference was Round Ireland Race organiser Kyran O'Grady, predicting a solid fleet on June 18th. The Irish race is now on the ISORA, UNCL, RORC and Class 40 international calendars.