Thursday 07:30 hrs – Veteran French skipper Gery Trentesaux on his newly-acquired Pogo RC Courrier Pogo, with his crew including Ireland’s Figaro-winning Tom Dolan, has had a real night on the tiles in the 2026 Round Ireland Race, zapping through the North Channel. But a group of highly competitive boats close astern of him missed the cut at the Rathlin tidal gate, and eleven very good boats ended up stuck off that awkward island, and going nowhere for four hours.
Currently, Pogo Courrier is off Kilkeel, which is close north of the entrance to Carlingford Lough, and she has been making 9 knots and better at times in a broadly easterly airflow. Ahead of her in towards Kilkeel and in close company are the two Greystones boats, Pamela Lee’s Class40 #Empowher and Frank Whelan’s Sydney 43 El Syd, with Cork’s Mark Mansfield aboard the latter fast-going boat that is learning to live with a punitive rating.
CAUGHT IN STRONGEST FOUL TIDE
As Johnny & Suzie Murphy’s J/109 Outrajeous was one of the many boats that got caught at the north end of the North Channel, she no longer has even the faintest chance of toppling the Botin 56 Khumbu from her overall win, but she still lies 3rd Overall on IRC and first in Class 4.
Outrajeous is currently in an east-west line of boats off Carnlough on the mid-Antrim east coast, her neighbours including the likes of Mike Evans J 112e The Big Picture, the two-handed Sunrise 3600 Bellino being raced two-handed by RORC Commodore Deb Fish and Rob Craigie, and the JPG 10.80 Loinnir Gir with the combined Lough Ree/Kinsale crew.
Waiting Game — Sunrise drifts beneath Fair Head on a glassy sea as her sails hang limp in near-calm conditions. Light winds and tidal gates proved decisive throughout the 2026 Round Ireland Race. File photo: Chris Power Smith
900 MILES SAILED FOR 700 MILE COURSE
It’s interesting to note that current overall leader, the already-finished Botin 56 Khumbu, is now registered as having sailed 900 miles in order to win the 704-mil course. On the Atlantic coast, it certainly was necessary to range far out to sea (sometimes in fog) in search of wind, and during the four hour hang-up way back the Tuskar Rock, she also covered many extra miles searching for a tidal breakthrough, but getting nowhere.
IRC Overall is currently 1st Khumbu, 2nd Courrier Pogo, 3rd Outrajeous, 4th Pata Negra, 5th Bellino, 6th Lionnir Girl, 7th El Syd, 8th Big Picture, and 9th Keith Millar’s Mills 36 Prime Suspect from Kilmore Quay.
Closing Fast — Sam Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra powers away from the start of the 2026 Round Ireland Race. The Pwllheli yacht climbed the IRC leaderboard steadily and looked set to improve again on the final leg. File photo: Afloat
PATA NEGRA’S RISING PROSPECTS
Sam Hall from Pwllheli with the Lombard 46 Pata Negra has been having an increasingly good race as the miles went by, and may well have moved up the rankings by the finish today. Meanwhile the lowest-rated boat in the fleet, Ian Hickey’s former winner the Granada 38 Cavatina, got stuck in her own private calms to the west of County Clare and has retired back to Dingle, while John Treanor’s NMD 43 Cristina got on the wrong side of the North Channel tide pattern, and has retired into Bangor.
Tracker Stop — Race tracker data on Thursday morning shows John Treanor's NMD 43 Cristina berthed in Bangor Marina on Belfast Lough after retiring from the 2026 Round Ireland Race. Image: YB Tracker
