The Round Ireland Race is one of 25 world-class offshore fixtures to make it onto the 2022 International Class40 calendar.
Class 40 is a type of monohull sailboat primarily used for short-handed offshore and coastal racing.
It may well be that SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race Organiser Kyran O'Grady's pioneering efforts at the Paris Boat Show in December 2018 and again earlier this month may yet bear fruit with a bumper international Round Ireland fleet.
The Wicklow race is also on the RORC calendar and as O'Grady is predicting, there is pent up demand for the 700-miler after the 2020 cancellation.
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 four 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 teamed up to race the brand new Mach 40 'Corum'. They were not the only Class 40 on the Irish race track that year either as three other international entries also lined up.
The 2022 calendar is here
Class 40 Champion Antoine Carpentier crowned
Antoine Carpentier
Meanwhile, Antoine Carpentier (46), a native of South Brittany, has been crowned 2021 Class40 Champion, rounding off what has been a remarkable season. Having scored a number of victories and podium results over the years on the Class40 circuit, Antoine has now taken the overall title for the first time as skipper of his own project on his Mach40.4 Redman, taking over the mantle from 2019 Champions, the Franco-Italian team of Catherine Pourre / Pietro Luciani (the title was not awarded in 2020 due to the lack of races).
The Swiss team of Valentin Gautier - Simon Koster (Banque du Leman) finished second in the overall standings, ahead of third-placed Franco-British sailor Luke Berry (Lamotte Module Creation).
