A competitive eight boat fleet is building in Kinsale for the inaugural Matthews Inishtearaght Race taking place in less than a month's time.
The race, promoted as an 'ideal shakedown race' for boats entering June's Round Ireland Race, has attracted top Dublin J/122 Aurelia from the Royal St. George Yacht Club.
Having only narrowly missed out on overall Round Ireland race victory previously, Chris Power Smith's potent ISORA entry is showing the depth of the Dun Laoghaire crew's ambitions by taking on the new Kinsale offshore challenge.
As Afloat already reported, the race will take the fleet along the coast of West Cork and Kerry, around Inishtearaght and return to finish in Kinsale.
The starting times are planned so that boats would stand the best chance of rounding the island in daylight.
The race was formally launched last December by KYC Commodore Matthias Hellstern. The first race will be sponsored by Matthews of Cork.
The course will be approximately 240nm long and will run along the spectacular coast of West Cork and Kerry, round Inistearaght and back to Kinsale.
KYC Inishtearaght Race Current Entry List (April 24th)
Boat Name |
Owner/Help |
Boat Type |
Club |
Blue Oyster |
Noel Colman |
Oyster 37 |
Royal Cork YC |
Cinnamon Girl |
Cian McCarthy |
Sunfast 3300 |
Kinsale YC |
Mynx |
Kenneth Cunnane |
Swan 46 |
Tralee Bay SC |
Chancer |
Carroll Bros |
Elan 40 |
Kinsale YC |
White Tiger |
Tony O’Brien |
First 44.7 |
Kinsale YC |
Aurelia |
Chris & Patanne Power Smith |
J/122 |
Royal St.George YC, RORC |
Humdinger |
John Conlon |
Jeanneau Sunfast 37 |
Arklow SC |
Meridian |
Tom Roche |
Salona 45 |
Kinsale YC |
Sailing Instructions for the race will be available shortly.
The inaugural Matthews Inishtearaght Race takes place on Friday 20th May with FG 08.55hrs