The SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race is an incredibly well-renowned race for most who are involved in sailing in any respect. Happening only once every two years, it is a very prestigious event steeped in history.

The gruelling 704-nautical-mile race is renowned for its extremely varied and tough conditions. There are some very tricky and taxing tactical decisions to be made throughout the four-to-five-day race.

As if the challenge of a Round Ireland wasn’t enough in itself, attempting to do it as a full U25 crew in a foiling Figaro 3 is an even greater challenge.

But this is exactly what an ambitious crew of four lads from Dublin are in the process of preparing to do, with the aim to be the first boat to complete the race with a fully U25 crew.

Lorcan Tighe, Andrew Irvin, Ronan Mooney and Cian Crowe have a lot of sailing and yachting experience across a broad range of both yachts and dinghies. They are all dinghy, keelboat and powerboat instructors and have been heavily involved in sailing in Dun Laoghaire for some years now.

The idea initially came about over a Christmas pint, as many good ideas do! With the Round Ireland being in June, this didn’t leave a huge amount of time to organise a campaign and get a crew and boat together.

They began scouring online resources for boats for charter in Ireland and the UK, quickly coming across some high-calibre boats but for incredibly expensive charter fees.

Lorcan Tighe, Andrew Irvin, Ronan Mooney and Cian Crowe are getting to grips with the Figaro 3 with mentorship from the Offshore Racing Academy

After a month or so researching and contacting different charter companies, they got in contact with the Offshore Racing Academy, run by Kenneth Rumball.

The aim of the academy is to make offshore sailing a more accessible discipline for all. After an initial meeting it became apparent the amount of work that this campaign would require, but they were never discouraged or put out by this.

Following some further discussion with Kenneth, it was clear that chartering a Figaro 3 from the academy in France was the way to go. The superior performance of the Figaro 3, coupled with the fact it would require less financing and also include mentorship from the academy, made the decision to go with the Figaro a no-brainer.

The academy provides much more than just a charter boat for the charters; there is constant discussion and conversation in the lead up to the charter about preparations and logistics.

With the academy well established in France now, they provide invaluable insights into the running of a campaign, what it will take to get to the start line in June and race competitively around the island.

The campaign, however, is not cheap. Financing is required for everything including the charter fee itself, food, safety equipment and logistics but to name a few aspects.

Sponsors Luzern Technology Solutions, MGM Boats and KM Cycles have been very generous with contributions to the U25 campaign.

If you would have an interest in supporting the team in any way at all, you can contact at [email protected]. or click on the go fund me page here