Saturday's Lyver Trophy Race Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire Offshore Race marks the arrival of competitors from across the Irish Sea for next week's big one, the 350-boat Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. 

With a declared entry of 18 boats, the weekend fleet includes the reigning ISORA champion, the J109 Mojito from Pwllheli Sailing Club in North Wales.

The race starts at 9 am, and early forecasts indicate strong westerly winds for a windward leg across the Irish Sea, with the final course to be confirmed on Friday.

The JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club Photo: Afloat

In collaboration with Irish Sea clubs, the race is organised by Liverpool Yacht Club & Royal Dee Yacht Club with the assistance of the National Yacht Club and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA).

The race counts as race 12 of the 2023 Musto ISORA Offshore Race series and the Royal Dee Offshore Championship Series.

Entries for the RORC Lyver Race

As ISORA's Peter Ryan explains, "The race is also the first of five races in the Royal Dee Offshore Championship series, with the four coastal races in next week's VDLR".

The race is a qualifying race for August's Fastnet Race. Winners will be eligible for RORC medallions.

"As well as the Lyver Trophy, the winner will be presented with an ISORA trophy. The prizegiving is to take place at the ISORA dinner in November, Ryan told Afloat.

The National Yacht Club's Sunfast 3600 Searcher Photo: Afloat

"Separate entries are not required for the Championship series. As there will be no discards, the boats that compete in all five races are the only boats that can win. The winner of the series will receive a trophy at the VDLR prizegiving. RDYC prizes will be presented to 2nd and 3rd place in the series", he says.

Alan Hannon's Coquine after rounding the Ailsa Craig, is an entry in the Lyver race. Photo: Hammy Baker

"There are no day prizes in the VDLR, but as part of the RDYC offshore series, there will be day-class prizes for boats in the VDLR coastal class. These will be presented every evening in the NYC, " Ryan adds.

The Commodore of the Royal Dee Yacht Club, Alastair Soane, has announced that “Jack Ryan Whiskey” is to sponsor the Royal Dee Yacht Club Irish Sea Offshore Championship that starts with the “Lyver Race” from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire this Friday, 30th June 2017 with two J109s vying for the ISORA series lead.

Heading into the Lyver Race, the seventh race in the ISORA series, “Mojito” is leading the series ahead of “Jedi” by approximately 50 points. While these two boats appear to be well ahead of the remainder of the fleet, the high scoring system, when taken with discards and race weightings, can make dramatic changes to the positions. The Lyver Race carries a weighting of 1.3, the highest weighting of any race in the series and therefore will have a significant effect on the scoring.

Jedi, the INSS Sailing School J109 entry is second overall in ISORA Photo: Afloat.ie

Nine of the twelve leading boats will be taking part in the Lyver race. However, many of them will be heading south later in the season to take part in the Fastnet Race and will not be competing in the later races. All is left to fight for and things will be a lot clearer on Saturday evening.

The ISORA Championship consist of the cumulative results from five offshore and coastal races, the Lyver Race and the four coastal races in the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As there are no discards, the championship is open to all boats taking part in these races.

Prize giving will take place after each race for all class winners in both IRC and ECHO and Overall prizes will take place at the VDLR Main prize giving in the RStGYC.

Jack Ryan Whiskey, the family-owned independent finisher and bottler of premium Single Malt Irish Whiskey, won a Gold medal for their 12 Year Old, and recently a Silver medal for The Bourdega 15 Year Old - at the 2017 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The whiskey is also associated with the famous Ryan’s Beggars Bush public house in Haddington Road, Dublin and. as regular readers will no doubt be aware there are strong connections to a leading ISORA sailor too. 

For more information on this whiskey brand click here.