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Displaying items by tag: Tour de BelleIle

Dun Laoghaire offshore sailor Kenny Rumball has won his class in the Tour de Belle-Ile Race onboard the Open 7.50m 'Cool Runnings'.

Rumball, the owner/operator of the Irish National Sailing School in Dun Laoghaire, was crewing onboard the Jochem Visser skippered yacht with Thorkild Juncker and Tom Whitburn. Rumball told Afloat.ie he found the big 500–boat French race fleet 'hard to comprehend'. See vid above. 

The Tour de Belle-Ile is a sailing event created in 2008 and open to all sailing yachts measuring 6,50 metres or more, and is the French equivalent of the UK's Round the Island Race.

The Tour de Belle-Ile is around 41 nautical miles: starting from the middle of the bay of Quiberon (Brittany, France), rounding of Belle Île leaving the island to port and returning to the departure/finish line. 

A month ago, Rumball finished sixth overall at Spi Ouest regatta in western France, on the same boat. 

Published in Offshore

About J/80 Sailing

Easy to handle the J/80 is said to be less intimidating, safer and better suited for sailing offshore than other modern sport boats. 

It even has a full-length V-berth and 12-foot-long cockpit.

Thanks to its combination of stability, speed, durability, low maintenance and age-friendly deck layout, the J/80 has proved to be a great club boat around Irish yacht clubs with fleets popular in Dublin on both sides of the Bay at Howth and Dun Laoghaire. 

The key to a racing keelboat is that it holds the attention and interest of many types of sailors, young and old.  The J80 does it all, with thrilling 15-knot rides under spinnaker or relaxed sunset cruises with mainsail only. 

The Irish J/80 Class Association was formed in 2017 to represent owners, sailors, associated clubs and to help develop J/80 racing in Ireland.