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Round Ireland Yacht 2022 Race Updates from Wicklow Sailing Club
The coolest stage for an awards ceremony…..George David’s Rambler 88 comes astern close in off the Wicklow pierheads immediately after finishing in a new record time to claim mono-hull line honours, the mono-hull round Ireland open record, the Volvo Round Ireland Race mono-hull record, and – eventually – 1st Overall IRC in the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016. Just stepped aboard amongst Rambler’s rugged crew are Theo Phelan and David Ryan of Wicklow SC with a jeroboam of Astoria. After this informal yet effective ceremony, when Rambler 88 sailed north back to Dun Laoghaire she took a group of Wicklow schoolchildren with her for the sail of a lifetime

Volvo Round Ireland 2016: A Sailing Race Of Four Parts, Four Coasts & Four Seasons

25th June 2016 Round Ireland
At 704 miles long, with a course along coastlines of almost infinite variety, the Round Ireland Race was always a complex event for post-race analysis even when fleets amounted to only three dozen or so. But for 2016 in the…
George David’s world-famous maxi yacht Rambler 88 has completed a unique treble of Round Ireland wins

Rambler 88 Declared Overall Handicap Winner in Round Ireland Race

24th June 2016 Round Ireland
American businessman George David’s world-famous maxi yacht Rambler 88 completed a unique treble of Round Ireland wins this morning when he was officially declared the outright winner of the 2016 Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race. On Monday, David also broke the monohull…
This afternoon at Wicklow Harbour, commercial activity has returned with a ship in port, while the Volvo Round Ireland crews of the Sunfast 3600 Bellino and her sister-ship Bam (third in Class 3) and the vintage Swan 47 Sarabande (first in Class 2) tidy their vessels and think about having a shower.

Welcome Breeze Today For Round Ireland 2016

23rd June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 5 2000 While last night may have been eminently forgettable for racing, with its frustratingly light airs in the Irish Sea writes W M Nixon, today has brought a southerly breeze which freshened through midday. In combination with the ebb…
41 knots was the top speed hit by the MOD70 Concise 10 in this week's circumnavigation of Ireland. Watch the eight min team video below

MOD70 Round Ireland Video By Concise 10

23rd June 2016 Round Ireland
Sit down, strap yourself in and get ready to experience the rollercoaster ride that was the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016. Here's the MOD70 Concise 10's video take of their epic circumnavigation in one day 14 hours and 44 minutes.…
Kenneth Rumball with the Reflex 38 Lynx of the Irish National Sailing School in Dun Laoghaire has made a particularly good job of coming through the North Channel and the Irish Sea, and is now among those off the Wicklow coast facing the struggle to the pier head finish.

Round Ireland Race 2016 Is Seeing Final Stages Sailed In Slow Motion – If There Is Motion At All

23rd June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 5 1000 We took our leave of the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016 yesterday evening with RORC Commodore Michael Boyd of the Royal Irish Yacht Club aboard his First 44.7 Lisa off Dublin Bay with her racing prospects becoming…
How about one of these to shake up your local club racing? Despite being in the Two-Handed Division, Patrice Carpentier’s Sunfast 3200 GROUPE 5 currently has the overall lead on all the boats still racing in the Volvo Round Ireland race 2016.

Up–Down Round Ireland Race Sees Battle Of The Bulge

22nd June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 4 1800 An intriguing Round Ireland Race tussle has been taking place this afternoon and evening along Ireland’s most easterly coastline where County Down bulges out towards both Galloway in Scotland and the Isle of Man in the middle…
The French Teasing Machine crew sailed back into Wicklow this morning

Mind The Gap – Round Ireland Race 2016 Is Now A Race Of Two Fleets

22nd June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 5 1000: With Eric de Turckheim’s beautifully-sailed A13 Teasing Machine finally finished in Wicklow at 0859 this morning to retain her second overall in IRC in the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016 writes W M Nixon, the current outstanding…
Inishtrahull did very definitely serve up a little bit of local calm, and then some, this evening

Round Ireland Race Parking Lot At Inishtrahull

21st June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 4 2100: The lonely island of Inishtrahull beyond Malin Head marks the most northerly point of the Volvo Round Ireland Race writes W M Nixon. Or rather, some unmarked rocks strung out beyond Inishtrahull are the ultimate marks of…
The Father and son team of Derek and Conor Dillon have retired to Fenit in County Kerry

Foynes Yacht Big Deal is 14th Round Ireland Race Retiral

21st June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 4 2000: The latest retiral from the 64–boat Volvo Round Ireland Race fleet is the two handed Foynes Yacht Club entry Big Deal. The Father and son team of Derek and Conor Dillon retired in to port of Fenit in…
Patrice Carpentier’s Sunfast 3200 Groupe 5 from France is putting in a fantastic showing and now leads Michel Kleinjan’s Open 40 Roaring Forty 2 in the two handed division

Irish Boats Dominate Class 3 In Round Ireland Race 2016

21st June 2016 Round Ireland
Irish sailing was well represented in the sprint of the MOD 70s to new records yesterday in the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016, with Damian Foxall on board the first-to-finish Musandam-Oman, while Justin Slattery was only minutes away aboard Phaedo…
Paul O’Higgins’ JPK 10.80 Rockabill IV was four miles past Tory Island at noon, and she may make gains on those ahead, as she won’t start to feel the adverse tide until she gets to Inishtrahull

High Noon & High Water In The North Channel As Battle Of The Tides Takes Over Round Ireland Race 2016

21st June 2016 Round Ireland
Day four noon: They talk of tidal gates at various stages of the Volvo Round Ireland Race, but in those narrow seas between Ireland and Scotland which are the North Channel, for smaller craft the tides can be a complete…
Pegasus of Northumberland showing what she can do when conditions are right. Yet in the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016, the hugely experienced crew of Teasing Machine have managed to stay ahead of her, and are still in front as they approach Tory Island.

Long Run On A Long Coastline – Volvo Round Ireland Race Continues Along The West Coast

20th June 2016 Round Ireland
Day3 2030 Today has seen surfeit of drama at Wicklow writes W M Nixon, and all of it with a happy ending. The new day dawned to find the three MOD 70s had finished the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016…
Rambler 88 finished the Round Ireland Race today to set a new monohull record

American Yacht Rambler 88 Sets New Round Ireland Monohull Record & New Race Record

20th June 2016 Round Ireland Speed Record
The progress of George David’s Rambler 88 down the North Channel and the Irish Sea today has been remorseless, with the big silver boat ticking off waypoints like an express train closely on schedule writes W M Nixon. With the…
Paul O’Higgins new Rockabill VI, skippered by Mark Pettit, has been going well, as she lies sixth overall.

Tougher Trading Terms For The Smaller Boats In The Volvo Round Ireland

20th June 2016 Round Ireland
Day 3 15.30: The smaller boats in the Volvo Round Ireland had a stressful time last night and through this morning off the southwest coast writes W M Nixon. With the veering and fading wind around them putting the bigger…
Here she comes – Rambler 88 passes Larne off the Antrim coast near 'The Maidens' rocks at 6.30am this morning. See video below

Rambler 88 On Track For New Round Ireland Monohull Record

20th June 2016 Round Ireland Speed Record
Day 3 1200hrs You lose a major record on one side of the Atlantic one day, so you simply establish a new one on the other side of the ocean the next afternoon. That’s the way it is with the irrepressible…
Dawn of a great new era. Damian Foxall (left) and Sidney Gavignet (centre) and their shipmates from Musandan-Oman in he early morning in Wicklow today after taking line honours in the Volvo Round Ireland Race 2016 and shattering the boats’s own Round Ireland Record established in May 2015.

OmanSail MOD70 Crew Celebrate Beating Their Own Round Ireland Speed Sailing Record

20th June 2016 Round Ireland Speed Record
Arriving back in Wicklow Bay, after a thrilling contest with the other MOD70s, Phaedo and Concise, for most of the 700 nautical Volvo Round Ireland mile course, Sidney Gavignet’s crew were exhausted but exhilarated by their victory and the new…

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

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At A Glance – Round Ireland Yacht Race 2022

Race start: Off Wicklow Harbour date to be announced, June 18 2022

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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