Is most “ocean racing” today really oceanic? Does “offshore racing” really involve going truly offshore? Are boats touted as being “cruiser-racers” ever really used for genuine cruising? And are sailing enthusiasts who like to think of themselves as being devoted adherents of some - or indeed all - of the above, surely tending to over-egg the cake more than somewhat, in order to cut a bit of a dash and enhance a reputation for seagoing toughness when they get together to socialise with other sailing enthusiasts?

It’s an effect which is accentuated when such dedicated matelots are meeting within earshot of civilians at mid-week. And it’s much more prevalent in England or Scotland or France, where many sailors live at some considerable distance from their boats, whereas in Ireland, we’d tend to regard such a situation as plain silly.

Be that as it may, in the profoundly English rural depths of the Cotswolds, there are so many weekend sailors living in the area that they felt such a need for mid-week get-togethers that they formed the Chipping Norton Yacht Club. It would meet at least once a week (and may still do so) in some totally non-nautical pub (the Pug & Ferret perhaps) in order to talk boats, and the members tended to wear their sailing clothes – or outfits, or whatever you want to call our unmistakably salty gear – at these gatherings, and chat with increasing volume about the past weekend’s experiences, and the excitements to come.

Far from the sea in the Cotswolds, clear definitions of “offshore” and “ocean” come with added significance Photo: Saffron Blaze/Wikimedia

Thus any non-sailing country-living typically straw-chewing hedge fund manager or venture capitalist doing a spot of ear-wigging nearby would be increasingly impressed by the frequent use of the word “rawk”, particularly once he or she had cottoned on to the fact that it meant RORC. For its use implied that the weather–beaten speaker had just returned from a weekend’s rugged participation in some major event staged from the South Coast by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

THE AURA OF GREAT OCEAN SAILING LEGENDS

Yes indeed, the use of “ocean” implies regularly taking on the risk-laden deep sea challenges faced by Slocum and O’Brien and Chichester and Knox-Johnston and Tabarly on a daily basis. Whereas the reality has been a cross-channel summertime sprint to northern France, and no greater risk than some allergic reaction to an over-indulgence in fruits de mer and calvados.

Don’t get me wrong. The Royal Ocean Racing Club does indeed stage some genuinely trans-oceanic events in its busy calendar. But the use of “Ocean” in the blanket title of a distinguished organisation which will begin celebrating its Centenary in just 26 months time tends to muddy the waters as to our meaning for various terms in defining non-inshore racing.

SIT-REPS FROM ISORA AND ICRA

Last weekend’s publication of what we might interpret as Situation Papers, from both the Irish Cruiser-Racer Association and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association, underlined the increasingly blurred borders, and the fact that the racing of boats with a lid – “truck racing” as dinghy sailors call it until they get involved – is going through one of its inevitable upheavals, as people’s changing commitments and societal and family expectations interact dynamically with a complex sport which is always quietly changing in itself.

Peter Ryan of Dun Laoghaire, Chairman of ISORA, at the helm on Mojito during the 2013 Fastnet Race

Thus names and categories which might have been completely appropriate fifty or even twenty years ago have become almost misleading in recreational sailing today, and inevitably produce an adverse reaction in those traditionalists who take the basis of their definitions from the great days of commercial sail, when “ocean-going” and “offshore” and “coasting” had clear legal meaning, and straightforward significance.

COMPLYING WITH THE DEFINITIONS OF THE DAYS OF SAIL

Consequently, when Dublin Bay’s Corinthian-emphasising Royal Alfred Yacht Club ran one of its regular races from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead in the late 1800s, it would be described as a Cross-Channel Match. No casual use of “offshore” or “ocean” there. But that said, when the ultra-pioneering 1860 race from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour was staged, it was promoted and reported as “The Ocean Race”, a name which has such a zing to it that years later, the annual Cork Harbour to Kinsale Race for cruisers and Cork Harbour One Designs on the August Bank Holiday Weekend became known as “The Ocean Race”.

The start of a Royal Alfred YC cross-channel “match race” from Dublin Bay to Holyhead in 1888

Cork Harbour ODs dominate the start of the “Ocean Race” from Cork to Kinsale in the 1940s – the two cruisers are Michael Sullivan’s Marchwood Maid (left) and possibly Denis Doyle’s ex-6 Metre Vaara. Photo: RCYC

So in the midst of these confusing angles and interpretations, let us grasp what is tangible. The ICRA report of its many prize-winners – topped by Mike & Richie Evans with their J/99 Snapshot – reveals that 109 boats were eligible for the title. And those of us who raced with ISORA in its first defining decade in the 1970s will recall that in its peak years its annual championship – based on a minimum of seven genuinely offshore races – was contested by 107 boats.

ISORA boats in Howth in 1978 at the end of the James C Eadie Cup Race from Abersoch were (left to right) a North Sea 31 designed by Holman & Pye, a Sadler 25, the J/24 Pathfinder (Philip Watson), the S&s 40 Dai Mouse III (David Hague, now Sunstone), the McGruer yawl Frenesi, and the High Tension 36 Force Tension, skippered by Johnny Morris and line honours winner of the first Round Ireland race in 1980. Photo: W M Nixon

Thus ICRA is now – and has been for several years – accommodating the sport of a fleet of boats comparable to ISORA at its height. Yet when ICRA was first mooted in 2002 by Fintan Cairns of Dun Laoghaire and the late Jim Donegan of Cork in a meeting at the notably ecumenical location of the Granville Hotel in Waterford, there were many – this writer included – who felt that an association of potentially offshore sailing boats based entirely around a land-mass would be unhelpful for the development of a sport in which the enthusiastic use of definably offshore waters was surely essential.

But the ICRA promoters made the point that inshore cruiser-racing - right up to regatta level - was the fastest-growing area of interest in Irish sailing. And its adherents – particularly those who had no wish to go far offshore and most particularly had no wish to spend nights racing at sea – were a very significant sector of the sport, a sector which urgently needed meaningful representation in a dedicated national Ireland-oriented organization, rather than solely by some sea area-based setup.

With ICRA, you certainly do get to race round the Fastnet, but it’s at Calves Week out of Schull. In winning form aboard 2022 ICRA Boat of the Year Snapshot, it’s Des Flood on the trim, Richie Evans on the tiller, and Mike Evans reading the runes. 

TWO CORRECT YET OPPOSING POINTS OF VIEW

Both points of view were right. ICRA has become such a central part of the Irish sailing scene that it is difficult to imagine the contemporary world afloat without it, with its enthusiastic committee playing a key role in giving day-racing cruiser-racer sailors - with their prestigious annual regatta-style National Championship and season-long series for the “Boat of the Year” - a major role in the bigger picture.

And the growth of ICRA in turn has accelerated the decline in numbers of those prepared to dedicate themselves to the traditional offshore pattern of an extended weekend – sometimes a very extended weekend - with its time-consuming deliveries and crew-location logistics challenges, and all in order to race just one classic offshore race.

But ISORA itself is continually mutating in order to accommodate new trends in its members’ enthusiasms. Last weekend’s convivial prize-giving and celebration in the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire of its Golden Jubilee may have saluted memories of great Irish Sea offshore races of times past, and the special flavour of competitive nights at sea. Yet a straw poll indicated a preference for more coastal races, with the double implication that no nights are going to be spent at sea, and the race will end comfortably back at the home port.

And though the deservedly-lauded overall champion, the J/109 Mojito (Vicky Cox & Peter Dunlop, Pwllheli SC) has achieved honours in serious offshore events as various as the Fastnet Race, the Round Ireland, and the Dun Laoghaire-Dingle, she is equally at home at the front of the fleet in a regatta in Tremadog Bay.

This blurring of roles is further emphasized – in what was a very good year for J Boats – by the J/99 Snapshot’s taking of the ICRA “Boat of the Year” title in the same year as she won the “Best Irish” with a very close second in her first major offshore event, the Round Ireland.

Snapshot gliding to a seemingly effortless overall class win in the Beshoff Motors Autumn League 2022 at Howth, one of the many successes which contributed to her becoming ICRA “Boat of the Year”.

Until then, Snapshot had seemed the regatta boat par excellence. And though Richie Evans had sailed a couple of Round Irelands, his co-owning brother Mike hadn’t done any. Their approach to the challenge of the big one seemed to be to regard the round Ireland as a string of full-on day races with some brief but intensive June night contests in between. It certainly worked. Their impressive closing in on the winner’s lead in the last dozen miles, leaving all other opposition in their wake, was sailed with the dedication and energy of a crew who might have stepped fresh on board only that morning.

YOUNG TURKS AND SENIOR SAILORS HAVE DIFFERENT PRIORITIES

With this blurring of distinctions between long-established categories, we find other divides emerging, and some seem to relate to age and professionalism. The more senior sailors enjoy a one-race-per-day event, with an attractive coastal element. They tend to think that the excitement of just one heart-rate-accelerating start sequence in each daily programme is quite enough to be going along with, and they reckon a coastal course, with its scenery and the chance of some cunning work with tides, is what cruiser-racing should be all about.

But the Young Turks and the Pros want longer races to be kept away from coastal influences, and they’d happily charge into at least two starts every day, and more if it can be arranged. As for the senior sailors’ lack of enthusiasm for one damned windward-leeward course after another, it’s something the Young Turks and the Pros don’t understand at all – they’re gladiators when all is said and done, they can’t get enough of confrontation and very direct competition.

Classic offshore racing – a cross channel ISORA race gets under way from Dublin Bay. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

And then of course there are still those who think that the only authentic competitive use of a cruiser-racer is a straightforward passage race from one port to another, with your proper social duties fulfilled at start and finish. It may be more time-consuming in the long run, but it has an attractive simplicity in planning and purpose.

FACING UP TO 2023

In looking at the diversity of all this with its new interpretations, it’s fascinating to see how the different organisations are facing up to the season of 2023. ICRA will not hold its annual conference under Commodore Dave Cullen until the 4th March next year, but that’s perfectly reasonable as it has been known for a long time that the ICRA Nationals 2023 will be staged at Howth from 1st to 3rd September 2023, and other events contributing to the “Boat of the Year” award are date-dependent on the clubs and organisations running them.

But ISORA with its cross-channel membership faces a much greater diary challenge, and the preliminary draft of the 2023 programme was in circulation before the Golden Jubilee party. No matter how you look at it, it’s quite a complicated document, and it’s interesting to note that there’s the likelihood of a northern element being involved once more through the Royal Ulster Yacht Club. 

The ISORA Draft Programme for 2023 reflects the demands made on a cross-channel organisation

Back in the hugely ambitious first season of 1972, Chairman Dickie Richardson was heading an ISORA organisation whose events took in venues all the way from Scotland to Dunmore East, using both sides of the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George’s Channel in addition to the Isle of Man.

Despite the many events available, as the season drew to a close, northern skipper Dickie Brown with his own-built 35ft Ruffian may have been topping the Class 1 points table, but he was still one race short of the necessary seven with no more events scheduled for the North Channel. So he brought Ruffian to Holyhead to race the southern section’s final event, from Holyhead round Rockabill to Dun Laoghaire, and I was press-ganged to join in Holyhead to make up numbers in a motley crew for this final overnight dash.

Northern star – John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II (RUYC) racing to he class win in the Wave regatta at Howth at the beginning of June. Photo: Annraoi Blaney

The foredeck was being run by two legends of northern sailing, Victor Fusco and Colin Gleadhill – who were both well into their 50s, but well on top of the job nevertheless. This was just as well, as the first leg was a screaming spinnaker reach in a sou’wester, conditions in which Ruffian was unbeatable - if you could only hold onto her. But when you couldn’t as a long squall arrived, it was up to our seniors to snap the spinnaker in and then set it again as soon as possible, which they did very well, and so much better than most men half their age that when we arrived in Dun Laoghaire, the only boat ahead of us was Paddy Donegan’s lovely little 36ft Robb yawl Casquet from Skerries winning Class 3, but then her division had sailed direct, and didn’t have to make the long haul up to Rockabill and back.

Other Class I boats began to arrive in with the Class 2 winner, Bill Cuffe-Smith’s Mark 2 Arpege Leemara from Howth, successfully among them. But nobody challenged Ruffian’s lead and she took the race and the overall title, as did Leemara in Class 2 and Casquet in that race in Class 3, so we were quite the little Winner’s Enclosure that cold morning rafted against the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire.

Winners in Dun Laoghaire at the end of 1972’s first ISORA season were (left to right) Leemara (Bill Cuffe-Smith, Howth YC), Ruffian (Dick & Billy Brown, Royal Ulster YC), and Casquet (Paddy Donegan, Skerries SC). Photo: W M Nixon

Thus while ICRA and ISORA have to keep moving the goal posts in order to accommodate the changing patterns of “offshore” and “cruiser-racing”, it’s good to know that ISORA now also looks north again, where John Minnis’s A35 Final Call II is the Ruffian de nos jours. Offshore and cruiser racing formats may be changing, but the sport and the spirit and the camaraderie are as vibrant as ever.

ISORA will double its coastal races in 2023, the offshore body heard at last Saturday's AGM in the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The move comes after a straw poll of all skippers voted in favour of more coastal racing on both sides of the Irish Sea. 

Bringing together crews from across Ireland, Wales and the UK, the meeting was held amid a weekend of golden jubilee celebrations for ISORA.

Saturday night featured a Dinner and Prizegiving at the NYC, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the offshore racing association (1972 to 2022).

As Afloat previously reported, Welsh yachts claimed the top two places overall in the 2022 ISORA Series.

A win for Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox's J109 Mojito in the final cross-channel race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire in September saw the crew also seize overall ISORA honours and lift the Wolf Head's Trophy. 

ISORA Golden Jubilee Dinner and Prizegiving photo gallery by GP Photo

23 races for 2023

Seven offshore and eight coastal races will be held in Dun Laoghaire and Pwllheli next year, where only four were held at each port in 2022.

This gives a total of 23 races for 2023 in a draft programme (see below), with the best five races of a yacht's series counting for points for the overall Wolf's Head Trophy.

60% of 48 skippers polled favoured more coastal races. The poll also saw 30% happy with the status quo and 10% favouring more offshore races. 

The fact crews had to take an extra day off work for the delivery of boats for offshore races was not favoured, the poll confirmed.

It is proposed the season will start on April 15th with a 35-mile coastal race, a fixture that will be repeated weekly until May 6th, when the first of seven offshore will race from Dun Laoghaire - Pwllheli and then a cross-channel return race on May 20th.

Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race

A season highlight is the Volvo Dun Laoghaire to Dingle Race (D2D) on June 7th, leading into the Royal Dee Offshore Championships as part of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta on July 9th, where four VDLR coastal races and July 1st's Holyhead - Dun Laoghaire Lyver race from will comprise the championship.

Another initiative of the 2023 ISORA calendar is a move that will see the fleet head North in a tie-in with Belfast Lough's Royal Ulster Yacht Club on August 5th. 

'Talk is cheap...'

ISORA Chief Peter Ryan cautions, however,  that while the plan looks good on paper, the reality on the water can often be different with some of 2022's fixtures bedevilled by some low turnouts, especially later in the season.

"Talk is cheap. Getting the boats to the start line is difficult. This season most races had 20-plus entries, but it is difficult getting more than 12 to the line", Ryan told Afloat.

Bearing in mind that 2022 was a big year for offshore racing that featured Grand Prix events like the Round Ireland Race in June and July's inaugural K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cobh Race, there was always going to be pressure on crews. 

"Poor offshore race conditions did not help. There was crew exhaustion before the end of the season", Ryan says in response to the turnouts.  

Ryan reports that some key boats running for the overall Wolfs Head Trophy could not field a team for the season's last race.

Ryan is also worried some regular boats may be going up for sale or have been sold, which could be a further setback to ISORA numbers.

The ISORA Committee believe there was 'excellent momentum gained at the AGM' and has issued a draft 2023 Race Schedule below and wait for further feedback.

ISORA draft 2023 Race Schedule

In this its Golden Jubilee Season, the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association lived up to its reputation of the points championship being contested right up to the final race. It was the immaculately-prepared J/109 Mojito (Vicky Cox & Peter Dunlop) from Pwllheli which came in from offstage in the concluding and historic James C Eadie Cup, snatching the 2022 Championship and the Wolf’s head Trophy with it.

For the enthsiastically and skillfully raced Mojito, it was another significant prize in a good season – she won her class in Cork Week 2022 in July.

Welsh yachts have claimed the top two places overall in the 2022 ISORA Series that came to a dramatic close off Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Saturday evening.

A win for Peter Dunlop and Vicky Cox's J109 Mojito in the final cross-channel race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire saw the crew also seize overall ISORA honours and lift the Wolf Head's Trophy. 

As Afloat reported previously, the results of Saturday's final race of the Musto ISORA Series determined the 2022 overall champion for offshore racing's prestigious Wolf's Head Trophy.

Andrew Hall's J125 Jackknife from Pwhelli was in pole position after 14 races, with her best scores amounting to 510.9.

But in Saturday's final 11-boat James Eadie Trophy Race from Pwllheli in North Wales across the Irish Sea to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a distance of 80 miles, it was Hall's Pwllheli clubmates in Mojito that won in a time of 13 hours, 35 minutes and 57 seconds to be first in IRC overall even though the larger Jackknife was the line honours winner in a time of 12 hours and 52 minutes.

Andrew Hall's J125 Jackknife from Pwhelli Photo: Afloat

Overall, the class one yacht Mojito ended the season on  520.6 points from Hall's Class zero entry on 510.9. Third was Howth Grand Soleil 44, Samatom on 501.4.

There had been doubt as to whether the race would sail from Pwhelli on Saturday due to the passing of Queen Elizabeth. As a mark of respect, competitors flew a black flag above the class flag on the backstay.

It completes a stand-out season for the Mojito team. They won July's inaugural 260-mile K2Q Dun Laoghaire to Cork via Fastnet Race, followed by an overall win of the IRC Coastal Division of Volvo Cork Week. 

More on the Mojito 2022 campaign here

The Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association (ISORA) final race will proceed on Saturday, and competing yachts will fly a black flag following Queen Elizabeth's death.

ISORA says it is 'not possible' to set another date for the 80-mile race from Pwhelli in North Wales to Dun Laoghaire on Dublin Bay.

The race results will determine the 2022 overall champion for offshore racing's prestigious Wolf's Head Trophy.

ISORA expressed its condolences to the Royal family in a statement:

"ISORA learnt with great sadness of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II earlier today and pass our sincere condolences to the Royal Family.

The Organising Authority has received requests for guidance from competitors on the status of the concluding race of the ISORA 2022 Series, the James Eadie Race, scheduled for Saturday, 10th September.

The Organising Authority had to take into consideration that competitors will travel from great distances to take part in this race, and delivery times for competing yachts can be more than 15 hours.

It is not possible to set another date for this race, so a postponement would necessitate the cancellation of the race.

The Organising Authority have listened to guidance and advice and has decided that it is in the best interest of the sport for the scheduled race from Pwllheli to Dun Laoghaire to continue.

As a mark of respect, competitors will fly a black flag above the class flag on the backstay."

As Afloat reported earlier, Andrew Hall's J125 Jackknife from Pwhelli is in pole position after 14 races, with her best scores amounting to 510.9. 

RYANI

In Northern Ireland,  the RYANI Youth Championships, due to take place this weekend, have been cancelled as a mark of respect. 

The results of Saturday's final race of the Musto ISORA Series will determine the 2022 overall champion for offshore racing's prestigious Wolf’s Head Trophy.

Andrew Hall’s J125 Jackknife from Pwhelli is in pole position after 14 races, with her best scores amounting to 510.9.

The final race is the James Eadie Trophy Race from Pwllheli in North Wales across the Irish Sea to Dun Laoghaire Harbour, a distance of 80 miles.

Jackknife is closely followed by Robert Rendell’s Grand Soleil 44, Samatom with 501.4, Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop's J109 Mojito with 489.4, then 2021 Champion JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Paul O'Higgins) with 482.1.

ISORA's Wolf's Head Trophy

The best five scores of the season are to count.

Robert Rendell’s Grand Soleil 44, Samatom Photo: Afloat

Vicky Cox and Peter Dunlop's J109 Mojito Photo: Afloat

JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Paul O'Higgins) Photo: Afloat

Class results on Saturday will also be concluded on Saturday night for Class 0, Class 1 and Class 2 at an end-of-season pow-wow at the National Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

Champion JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI skippered by Paul O'Higgins completed Friday night's ISORA points-weighted night race off Dun Laoghaire Harbour in a time of four hours and ten minutes. 

Light airs on Dublin Bay frustrated a number of competitors who retired, according to the race tracker. 

Provisional results show the Royal Irish's Rockabill VI with the gun in line honours, IRC Zero and IRC overall.

The race tracker shows Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom second in line honours and IRC Zero.

As reported earlier by Afloat, an ISORA Welsh night race will be held this evening.

This weekend's two night races on either side of the Irish Sea at Dun Laoghaire and Pwhelli have produced a good combined offshore turnout for the last race of ISORA's Viking Marine coastal series 2022. 

From a Dublin entry of 16 for tonight's 24-mile race,(sponsored by Jack Ryan Whiskey), ISORA Chairman Peter Ryan admits, however, the final nine boat turnout is 'disappointing' from an Irish point of view.

While numbers may be down, the quality at Dun Laoghaire remains high with key contenders for the overall ISORA Wolfs Head Trophy all coming to the startline for tonight's staggered start from 2000hrs. (Class 2 - 20.00 and Class 1& 0 - 20.30)

As previously reported by Afloat, after winning the 24-miler a fortnight ago, Bob Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom now leads the Coastal Series with just tonight's higher-scoring night race to go.

Two Dun Laoghaire yachts, Brendan Coghlan's Sunfast 3600 YoYo and Paul O'Higgin's JPK 10.80 Rockabill remain in the hunt for the coastal prize.

Dun Laoghaire Coastal Night Race

Ryan is setting an intercept line at East Kish and due south, in case he has to shorten the Dun Laoghaire race.

The Dun Laoghaire course of 24 miles approx

The usual full finish YB intercept will be set at the finish.

The Course will be:

• Usual Dun Laoghaire start at Dun Laoghaire Outfall Buoy 53 18.404N 6 8.348W
• ISORA Dublin ISORA Virtual (P) N53 17.110 W6 00.100
• North Kish (S) 53 18.560N 5 56.423W
• East Kish (S) 53 14.343N 5 53.595W
• Muglins (P) 53 16.515N 6 4.550W
• Usual Dun Laoghaire Finish between the pier heads. 53 18.145N 6 7.619W

The night race in Pwllheli is tomorrow and the entries are below. Download the supplementary Sailing Instructions below. 

ICRA Coastal Class champion Samatom (Robert Rendell) was the winner of yesterday's ISORA Coastal Race off Dun Laoghaire.

Three potent Jeanneau Sunfast 3600s were among the nine-boat fleet that contested Saturday's 24-mile ISORA coastal race along the Dublin and Wicklow coastline, but none could beat the Grand Soleil 44. 

The race was the 11th Race in the Musto ISORA 2022 series and also the third race of the Viking Marine Coastal Series.

For the second time this season, a technical glitch in the YB Tracker set-up showed the winner being other than the Howth Grand Soleil. Organisers told Afloat the matter is being investigated. 

After winning the 24-miler, Rendell now leads the Coastal Series with one race to go; a higher-scoring night race.

Top Welsh J109 Mojto is in chasing Samatom for the Viking Marine ISORA Coastal top prize Photo: Afloat

Two Dun Laoghaire yachts, Brendan Coghlan's Sunfast 3600 YoYo and Paul O'Higgin's JPK 10.80 Rockabill remain in the hunt for the coastal prize.

Andrew Hall's J/125 Jackknife from Wales tops the ISORA leaderboard Photo: Afloat

The 2022 ISORA overall table (below) now shows Andrew Hall's J/125 Jackknife leading and being chased by Samaton, the J109 Mojito and Rockabill.

Three Jeanneau Sunfast 3600s are among the nine-boat fleet that will contest Saturday's 24-mile ISORA coastal race along the Dublin and Wicklow coastline.

With an eye on current light wind forecasts, race organisers have stated the course may be shortened off Bray in County Wicklow.

This race is the 11th Race in the Musto ISORA 2022 series and also the third race of the Viking Marine Coastal Series.

John O'Gorman's 3600 Hot Cookie and Pete Smyth's Searcher, both from the National Yacht Club, will be joined by Royal St. George Yacht Club's Yoyo (Brendan Coghlan).

Also racing is Howth Yacht Club ICRA coastal champion 2022, Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44, Samatom. 

The forecast is for northerly winds of six knots at 0955 start time with the hope of a sea breeze later

Entries for the 11th race in the Musto ISORA 2022 series and also the third race of the Viking Marine Coastal Series

The course will be at ISORA's usual Dun Laoghaire start line at Dun Laoghaire Outfall Buoy and then to: 

• ISORA Dublin Virtual (P) N53 17.110 W6 00.100
• North Kish (S) 53 18.560N 5 56.423W
• East Kish (S) 53 14.343N 5 53.595W
• Bray Outfall (S) 53 13.254N 6 4.485W
• Muglins (P) 53 16.515N 6 4.550W
• Usual Dun Laoghaire Finish between the pier heads. 53 18.145N 6 7.619W

The course for the 11th race in the Musto ISORA 2022 series and also the third race of the Viking Marine Coastal Series

The time limit is 17.00