As preparations continue for the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race's new start date on August 22nd, there is speculation that the postponement could play into the hands of the Irish offshore race with a larger than normal French entry as the international Class 40 fleet eye the late summer fixture.
There are no additional French yachts registered so far for the 700-miler but it is understood the cancellation of Class 40s Transatlantic race due to COVID-19 in May has led the French sailors to look further afield for racing this year.
Class 40 is a type of monohull sailboat primarily used for short-handed offshore and coastal racing.
It may well be that Round Ireland Race Organiser Kyran O'Grady's pioneering efforts at the Paris Boat Show last December may yet bear fruit with a bumper international Round Ireland fleet.
As regular Afloat readers will know, Class 40 are no strangers to Irish waters or Round Ireland itself over the years with top Figaro sailor Nicolas Troussel competing off Wicklow two years ago.
Ireland's varied sailing waters are proving a popular testing ground for the international Class 40 fleet and a burgeoning Irish Mini class too. Evidence of this was in the 2018 Round Ireland Race fleet where the top French double-handed sailing duo were in action. International stars Troussel and Mini Transat Winner Ian Lipinski have teamed up to race the brand new Mach 40 'Corum'. They're not the only Class 40 on the Irish race track that year either as three other international entries also lined up.
What's more a fleet of Class 40s called to the Wexford coast in the 2018 Normandy Channel Race when the fleet rounded the Tuskar Rock and not without incident.
As well as French interest a number of British Class 40s are also looking at the Wicklow race, according to an Afloat source.
It all bodes well so far for August's Round Ireland, a race that could also get a domestic boost with the imprimatur of the GAA, according to Afloat's W M Nixon.
