The J/109 Outrajeous (Johnny & Suzy Murphy, Howth YC) is now posted in the latest entry list for June 20th’s Round Ireland Race from Wicklow. This makes her the form boat for the Irish entrants, as she was overall winner of last year’s “Round Ireland Lite”, the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race, and finished the 2025 season garlanded with many other honours.

Despite that, Outrajeous didn’t figure as either of the Irish Cruiser-Racing Association’s two Boats of the Year 2025, which were the Dwyer family’s charismatic 1976-vintage classic Farr Half Tonner Swuzzlebubble for IRC, and Pat Tanner’s Tony Castro-designed 37-year-old Three Quarter Tonner Bateleur88 under ECHO, both of them from Cork.

Johnny Murphy (centre) with an all-Ireland crew after winning the Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race.

ONE-DESIGNS FOR DUBLIN, CRUISERS FOR CORK

The reality is that Cork has tended to be in the ascendant in the ICRA yearly champion boat listings over the years. This may reflect the fact that inshore One Design racing is the historically outstanding characteristic of sailing in the Greater Dublin area (since 1887, wouldn’t you know), whereas in Cork Harbour, with its Centuries-long tradition of cruising westward as high summer settles in (since 1720 at least), they place greater emphasis on providing worthwhile handicapped cruiser-racing

Thus as 2025 moves into history with its much-celebrated Centenary of the Fastnet Race, the world now knows that it was Harry Donegan of Cork with his 17-ton gaff cutter Gull who provided the one Irish boat in the “First Fleet” of seven that raced round the Fastnet in 1925.

Harry Donegan’s Gull (left) racing in a mixed “cruiser” fleet in Cork Harbour in 1939. Photo: RCYC

DUBLIN BAY IN FASTNET RACE SINCE 1947

It wasn’t until 1947 – with the staging of the last Fastnet Race to sail the original course to The Rock from Ryde Pier, leaving the Isle of Wight to starboard – that Dublin finally provided an entry with Billy Mooney’s Fred Shepherd-designed 16-ton gaff ketch Aideen, which in some ways belied her origins.

For despite her traditional rig, she’d been Tyrrell of Arklow-built as recently as 1934. And though to some she looked like a motor-sailer, she was no slouch, particularly with Billy Mooney or one of his sons - Jimmy and Bobby - on the helm, and duly won her Fastnet 47 class.

Blast from the past. Billy Mooney’s ketch Aideen doing duty as Committee Boat at Howth Regatta 1935. Despite her gaff ketch rig, she won her class in the 1947 Fastnet Race. Photo: HYC

A TRULY OFFSHORE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR IRELAND?

Either way, today’s situation - with cruiser-racing offshore and inshore proliferating on all of Ireland’s coastlines - is very different from the “sport for the few” which characterised the offshore racing programme back in the day. Thus you can’t help but wonder if a top scorer could not be extracted from a special selection of all the results to provide an Irish Offshore Championship which really does take all its points from true offshore racing.

"a truly Irish Offshore Championship is an idea that should be explored"

In looking to this year’s programme, for instance, we can see three events which would automatically feature in an Irish Offshore Championship. They’d be the Kinsale YC Inishtearacht Skelligs Race to southwest Ireland and back, starting May 29th with new sponsors Cantor Fitzgerald, the Round Ireland from Wicklow on June 20th, and the K2Q, the Kingstown to Queenstown aka the Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour, on Friday July 3rd - the daddy of them all, as it was first sailed in 1860.

It’s that 166-year-old K2Q which most encourages the feeling that a truly Irish Offshore Championship is an idea that should be explored. Yet much and all as we feel a special affinity for our compact little island in St Patrick’s Week of all weeks, we’ve pointed out to ourselves and others from time to time that any offshore racing programme is all about areas of sea.

The Lombard 46 Pata Negra was Irish Sea Champion 2025.

Consequently, far from swinging in behind the idea of an Irish Offshore Champion, we maybe should be encouraging setups like that provided by the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association, whose current champion is the Hall family’s Lombard 46 Pata Negra from Pwllheli, while the title for 2024 was held by Paul O’Higgins’ 10.80 Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish YC.

HONOURABLE ADDICTION

But the Round Ireland is so iconic that it rises above local and national loyalties, and produces a new mutation in sailors of both sexes. This the Round Ireland Addict, who gets twitchy if he or she doesn’t get their biennial fix of racing round Ireland. As the first identifiable one was Denis Doyle of Cork with Moonduster - the most sane of men with the most beautiful of boats - it’s an addiction to be displayed with honour.

The magnificent Moonduster – Denis Doyle’s Crosshaven-built Frers 51 “made addiction respectable”.

So in looking at the current state of the Round Ireland entry list, while we may indeed now put the burden of being the Irish form boat on Outrajeous, the competition for Line Honours is still wide open, as we can think of several biggies that could be wheeled out on the principal that it is a matter of getting the mostest there the fastest.

VENOMOUSLY HIGH BAR

That said, the fact that Graeme Wilson’s powerful Carroll Marine 60 Venomous is in and paid up at Entry No. 15 sets the “mostest” bar quite high, as she’s a good dozen feet longer than the next boat in line as far as size goes.

With two Class40s now in the mix, brisk reaching conditions might set them up for a good race, but in mixed conditions, Chris Power Smith’s enthusiastically-raced J/122 Aurelia (Royal St George YC) is currently looking potent (they’re already training in Dublin Bay), but that’s in a fleet currently of 30 boats, with limited representation above 45ft.

However, Gery Trentesaux’s Ker-designed Sydney GTS 43 Long Courrier from France punches way above her weight, while in the Two-Handed division, Rob Craigie’s champion Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, with RORC Commodore Deb Fish as crew, sets local two-handers a formidable challenge.

Cinnamon Girl from Kinsale will be contesting the Two-handed Division with RORC Champion Bellino.

Either way, it’s a strong entry list with a week of March still to run, and the sudden arrival of a very premature dose of high summer will surely encourage others to join it, while the rest of us will be glad enough just to avoid Mad March Hare syndrome.

ROUND IRELAND ENTRY LIST on Saturday, March 21st (source: Wicklow Sailing Club)