With one week to go to its first race of the new summer season, the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) has launched its 2025 Musto Offshore and Coastal Championships at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
ISORA Chief Peter Ryan used the occasion to salute the continued support of sponsors, including the sailing clothing brand Musto.
"Musto's title sponsorship support is a mainstay of ISORA, and we look forward to working with them and Viking Marine again in 2025", Ryan told Afloat.
The first Irish coastal race will start at 11.00 on Saturday, April 5th and finish off Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay. The course will be selected to provide a three—to four-hour race.
Among the confirmed boats are the two J109s, the defending ISORA Musto champion Ruth, skippered by Tom Shanahan from Dun Laoghaire and Simon Knowles's Indian from Howth.
Paul O'Higgins' 2023 championship-winning JPK10.80 Rockabill VI from the Royal Irish Yacht Club will again be challenged by a smaller JPK 10.30 when the 2025 ISORA Viking Marine Coastal Series gets underway. Coquine, a JPK 1030 design from the JPK yard in France – a not-so-little sister – to the O'Higgins' vessel, will join the ISORA fray again from Belfast Lough under skipper Alan Hannon.
Also returning is the 2024 Inistearaght Race champion, Chris Power Smith's J122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club.
2025 programme
The 2025 programme is built around a busy racing calendar and is aimed to provide a full series of coastal races in Ireland and Wales.
Publication of the programme followed a bid to address declining participation in coastal and offshore races and a comprehensive review of ISORA's race schedule and management practices.
The 'Offshore Series has been designed to provide a challenging series with various ports and a complexity of courses.
As regular Afloat readers know, last November's agm also heard calls for clear safety protocols amid liability concerns.
Ryan says the main influencing events which helped ISORA shape the final programme are:
- IRC Welsh Nationals Championship 2nd to 4th May 2025
- Howth Regatta - 31st May 2025
- D2D: 11th June 2025
- Sovereign’s Cup - ICRA Nationals 25th – 28th June
- VDLR Regatta – 10th – 13th July 2025
The 2025 calendar still strongly emphasises its coastal series, but there are four races instead of the traditional six.
"I’m hoping we can attract a good fleet, as three of the four races are part of the Vincent Farrell Trophy Series, which takes place in April," Ryan said.
But a notable absence has already been signalled, with the Howth First 50 Checkmate XX, co-skippered by Dave Cullen and Nigel Biggs, currently in the Solent.
