Mid-February is usually the time to come out of the winter torpor and start a week of focusing on the upcoming RORC Caribbean 600, with 2026’s edition getting away on Monday, 23rd February. But now we have the early arrival of some seriously heavy metal – hundred footers and whatever - for next week’s four-day RORC Nelson’s Cup series (its fourth staging) in and around Antigua, starting Tuesday, February 19th and concluding Friday, February 20th.
That might make for a tight schedule with the majority who plan to go on to do the 600. For although you may be racing in sunshine across a warm blue sea, those Caribbean breezes pack a punch, and there’ll be enough power in them to cause any collision or gear breakage to provide as much work for boat-fixers as something similar happening off Wicklow Head after the start of the Round Ireland Race, albeit in rather different climatic conditions.
PWLLHELI GAIN INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS
But we mustn’t let the over-powering glamour of the prospect of the super-biggies distract us from the fact that here we are, only just at the middle of February, yet already there are two clubs within the Irish offshore racing ambit that have achieved impressive international honours in 2026.
Pwllheli Sailing Club were on the podium twice over after success in the RORC Transatlantic Race in January. Sam & Andrew Hall’s rare bird, the skinny J/125 Jackknife - she has only 15 sister-ships - did a double by winning her class and then taking third overall.
Rare bird. Only 16 of the skinny-style J/125s were built, but Andrew and Sam Hall of Pwllheli reckoned this miniature “Transpac sled” would add an interesting twist to their ocean racing experience.
There’s a certain timelessness to Jackknife’s sparse style, as the boat was designed by Rod Johnstone way back in 1997. But despite the super-slim J/125 being some people’s dream boat, the market wanted more accommodation in a 41 footer.
GALWAY DOES IT IN STYLE
And then with very little advance fanfare on January 31st, a mostly Galway Bay SC crew from Connacht, led by Ronan Considine and Aodhan FitzGerald with the chartered Mumm 30 Nagini, went forth for the 33rd staging of the 360-mile Aramex Dubai-Muscat Race, sailing down the Gulf along the edge of the Iranian war zone, and made the best of difficult conditions to win overall on IRC.
Nagini’s win was a classic case of “Keep The Boat Moving No Matter What”, and Ronan Considine was particularly generous in his praise of Ruairc O’Tuarisc’s ability to do this for four hours non-stop off the Omani coast, when some other crew members were reckoning it was completely and utterly flat.
The sweeping overall victory by the Connacht crew on Nagini in the Dubai-Muscat Race is causing a worldwide re-think on the necessity for neatly-matching crew uniforms.
THE DAY LOOKS BRIGHTER
One first overall, two firsts in class, and one third overall – suddenly, the day looks brighter. And the background to this sort of “everyman, everyboat” achievement was given extra zoomph when the report on Irish Sea Offshore Racing Chairman Peter Ryan’s presentation to last weekend’s ICRA conference went with the theme that ISORA will be closely monitoring the results of no less than 19 different coastal and offshore races during the 2026 season.
The programme, provisionally posted back in November, deserves re-appraisal in the light of recent achievements. It reminds us again that Chairman Peter Ryan of the National YC in Dun Laoghaire, with ISORA Secretary Stephen Tudor of Pwllheli and their helpers, are dealing with a continually evolving situation in which cruiser-racing – for want of a better term – can mean so many different things.
Despite his home base being this 1835-founded lake club, former Lough Derg YC Commodore John Leech is the new Commodore of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association
Different places, too. The ascent by former ICRA Commodore Denis Byrne to become the 44th Admiral of the Royal Cork YC meant that former Lough Derg YC Commodore John Leech took over the senior role in ICRA, the first time a lake sailor has been in the top role. It’s a timely reminder that in recent years the increasing cruiser-racer fleets on the lakes need a valid yet affordable handicapping system, but in the meantime the ISORA programme sticks with salt water:
ISORA 2026 – Race Schedule
| Race No. | Date | Ireland | Wales | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01CW1 | 4th April (Sat) | Welsh Coastal Series 1 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 | |
| 02CI1 | 11th April (Sat) | Irish Coastal Series 1 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 | |
| 03CW2 | 18th April (Sat) | Welsh Coastal Series 2 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 | |
| 04CI2 | 25th April (Sat) | Irish Coastal Series 2 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 | |
| 05CW3 | 2nd May (Sat) | Welsh Coastal Series 3 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 | |
| 06O1 | 9th May (Sat) | Dun Laoghaire – Holyhead - 55 miles Start 08.00hrs | 1.1 | |
| 07O2 | 23rd May (Sat) | Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire 55 miles Start 08.00hrs | 1.1 | |
| 08O3 | 5th June (Fri) | Midnight Race. Liverpool to Douglas {Qualifier for Round Ireland} | 1.2 | |
| 09O4 | 7th June (Sun) | Douglas to Dun Laoghaire | 1.2 | |
| 10O5 | 20th June | Round Ireland (World Sailing Category 2) | 1.2 | |
| 11CI3/12CW4 | 27th June (Sat) | Irish Coastal Series 3 of 5 - 3hrs (in association with RIYC) | Welsh Coastal Series 4 of 5 - 3hrs | 0.7 |
| 13O6 | 3rd July (Fri) | K2Q - Dun Laoghaire - Cork | 1.2 | |
| 14O7 | 25th July (Sat) | ISORA Offshore Race (Pwllheli to TBD) Details to be Confirmed. | 1.2 | |
| 15CI4/16CW5 | 8th August (Sat) | Irish Coastal Series 4 of 5 - 3hrs | Welsh Coastal Series 5 of (Long Race) | 0.7 |
| 17CI5N | 21st Aug. | Irish Coastal Series Night Race 5 of 5 - 4hrs | 0.9 | |
| 18O8 | 29th August (Sat) | Dun Laoghaire – Pwllheli 75 miles | 1.2 | |
| 19O9 | 12th Sept. (Sat) | Pwllheli – Kish Light - Dun Laoghaire - James Eadie – 75 miles First Start 07.30hrs | 1.3 |
CHALLENGE OF CREATING A BALANCED PROGRAMME
Knowing that the Scottish Series at Tarbert on Loch Fyne is from 22nd – 25th May, while WIORA is at Fenit on Tralee Bay from 1st to 4th July as part of TBSC’s 70th Anniversary celebrations, the business of fitting a balanced programme around these pillars in a Cork Week year (6th-10th July) will take a bit of doing, but we note that ISORA cleverly keeps up the pressure by giving extra weight to the points for the final race, the James C Eadie Cup cross-channel to Dun Laoghaire on September.
At the end of it all, the Wolf’s Head Trophy “for the Top Dog”, presented in 1977 by Royal Dee YC Commodore David Pearson of the Frenesi syndicate, provides us with list of championship winners that makes for intriguing reading as it shows that boats from each side of the Channel tended to share the honours, then in the middle the Welsh were dominant, but in recent years the Irish have been getting their act together again, though it is still Wales 30 to the 17 of Ireland, based on 47 seasons as two were missed during the Pandemic
- 2025 - Pata Negra - Andrew & Sam Hall
- 2024 - Ruth - Shanahan Family
- 2023 - Rockabill - Paul O'Higgins
- 2022 - Mojito - Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox
- 2021 - Not awarded (Pandemic)
- 2020 - Not awarded (Pandemic)
- 2019 - Rockabill VI - Paul O'Higgins
- 2018 - Mojito - Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox
- 2017 - Mojito - Peter Dunlop & Vicky Cox
- 2016 - Sgrech - Stephen Tudor
- 2015 - Ruth - Liam Shanahan
- 2014 - Ruth - Liam Shanahan
- 2013 – Sgrech – Stephen Tudor
- 2012 – Sgrech – Stephen Tudor
- 2011 - Raging Bull – Matt Davis
- 2010 - Raging Bull – Matt Davis
- 2009 – Tsunami – Vincent Farrell
- 2008 – Galileo – Tennyson, Lemass & Kelliher
- 2007 - Gums 'n' Roses - John & Guy Rose
- 2006 - Gums 'n' Roses - John & Guy Rose
- 2005 - Galileo - NYC
- 2004 - Trinculo - HYC
- 2003 - Gums 'n' Roses - John & Guy Rose
- 2002 - Jackhammer - A Hall
- 2001 - Sigmagic - R Dobson
- 2000 - Sigmagic - R Dobson
- 1999 - Keep on Smiling - J T Little
- 1998 - Keep on Smiling - J T Little
- 1997 - Corwynt Cymru III - GF Evans
- 1996 - Jackhammer - A Hall
- 1995 - Jackhammer - A Hall
- 1994 - Megalopolis - U Taylor
- 1993 - Megalopolis - U Taylor
- 1992 - Grenade - HS & CS Morris
- 1991 - Megalopolis UC Taylor & N Biggs
- 1990 - Scenario Encore - A Fitton
- 1989 - Decibel - J Marrow, J Reynolds & P Watson
- 1988 - Checkmate - JM Biggs
- 1987 - Canterbury - AJ Vernon
- 1986 - Banga Wanga - CM Hill
- 1985 - Glider - L Kertesz
- 1984 - Demelza - N Maguire
- 1983 - Rapparee II - B Kelly
- 1982 - Rapparee II - B Kelly
- 1981 - Rapparee II - B Kelly
- 1980 - Swuzzlebubble -WB Lyster
- 1979 - Sundancer - GR Haggas
- 1978 - Dai Mouse III - DWT Hague
- 1977 - Jublilee Race - 'Andromeda' AL Stead
“Top Dog” – every winning of the Wolf’s Head Trophy is at least a chapter in itself.
HISTORY AT EVERY TURN
Running a list of Wolf’s Head winners and issuing the ISORA programme of recognised races for 2026 makes for an intoxicating mix of present and future, as some of those races go back a very long time indeed, with “Cross-Channel Matches” preceding the completion of Holyhead Harbour in 1883.
BOUND FOR BEAUMARIS
Before then, the fleet from Dublin Bay could head for the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club at Beaumaris on the Anglesey shore at the north end of the Menai Straits, and there was a time when the Royal Mersey Yacht Club at Birkenhead was of major national significance, reflecting the citizens of Liverpool’s reputation in the middle of the 19th Century for being “strenuous in commerce”.
This 1888 Royal Alfred YC “Channel Match” from Dublin Bay was able to use the new harbour at Holyhead for a sheltered finish port.
Yet in that ISORA programme, the most senior race from the Mersey is the Midnight Race to the Isle of Man on the 5th June, which officially dates back to 1907 but must surely have earlier stagings, while on the Irish side the most undoubtedly senior is the K2Q on Friday July 3rd.
The Kingstown to Queenstown – or Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour -was first raced in 1860 at the instigation of the octogenarian Admiral of the Royal Cork YC, Thomas French, and was sailed again in 1861 and 1862, with the first winning skipper being the amateur Henry O’Bryen.
It has had a chequered history since, with other Irish Sea ports putting in a claim to take their turn as the start point, while there are those who have further messed it about by insisting that it take in the Fastnet Rock.
But there’s an attractive historic simplicity about making it Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour, and that was the course sailed when he fleet headed for Cork Week in 2024, with the Shanahan family’s win with their J/109 Ruth contributed mightily to their taking of the 2024 Wolf’s Head award. That made for history every which way.
The Shanahan family’s victory with the J/109 Ruth in the 2024 K2Q was continuing an offshore racing tradition going back 164 years Photo: Afloat
