Royal Cork Yacht Club to Host Special Dinner as RORC Celebrates 100 Years in 2025

10th December 2024

Afloat.ie Team

The Rolex Fastnet Race will be the pinnacle of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's centenary racing season in 2025 Credit: Arthur Daniel

In 2025, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) proudly marks its centenary, celebrating 100 years of passion, innovation, and commitment to yachting and offshore racing. The RORC Centenary events are a vibrant programme of first-class racing and superb social occasions. An exclusive range of merchandise has also been specially designed to mark this historic milestone.

“The 2025 season promises not only exhilarating racing, but also exceptional social events at our elegant RORC St James’s Clubhouse in London, and the beautifully transformed RORC Cowes Clubhouse on the Isle of Wight,” said RORC Commodore Deb Fish. “We invite everyone to join us to enjoy this amazing season – a fitting tribute to a century of excellence in offshore racing.”

The Royal Ocean Racing Club will be marking its centenary in 2025. The London Clubhouse Photo: Matt Dickens

A landmark season of RORC Racing

The 2025 racing season promises to be an extraordinary celebration with over 10,000 miles of ocean racing, featuring prestigious events across three continents:

January: The 3,000-mile RORC Transatlantic Race launches the season from Lanzarote, bound for the spice island of Grenada.
February: The electrifying RORC Caribbean 600 challenges sailors with a high-speed dash around 11 stunning Caribbean islands.
April and onwards: The RORC European offshore calendar begins with the continuation of the 16-race RORC Season’s Points Championship, the world’s largest offshore racing series.
June: The historic West-East Transatlantic Race, with origins dating back to the 19th century, embarks from the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island, destined for Cowes.
July: The Rolex Fastnet Race, celebrating its 100th anniversary, will captivate the sailing world, serving as the pinnacle of the season and the dramatic finale for the highly anticipated return of the Admiral’s Cup.
September: The RORC season of racing out of Cowes concludes with the Salcombe Gin RORC Centenary Race and the Offshore Double Handed World Championship. Outstanding events, cementing 2025 as a year memorable year.

Global celebrations and exclusive keepsakes

With RORC Members worldwide, the Royal Ocean Racing Club is organising centenary celebrations internationally. The Royal Ocean Racing Club will also be unveiling an exclusive collection of merchandise and keepsakes to collect and commemorate the RORC Centenary.

Global Celebrations: Hosted by long-standing associated yacht clubs and RORC Members, formal dinners to celebrate the centenary are organised across four continents. Locations include the RORC Cowes Clubhouse, The New York Yacht Club, the Royal Cork Yacht Club, the Yacht Club de France, Amsterdam, Hamburg, The Box Plymouth, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, the Royal Malta Yacht Club, and the CYC of Australia.

Dinners to celebrate the RORC centenary will be held around the world Photo: Rich Bowen

RORC Centenary Book: An expert account of the evolution of the Club, exploring significant milestones over the past 25 years, and will follow on from Ian Dear’s book, which covered in detail the history of the Club up to 2000.

Photographic Exhibition: Featuring important documents and rare photographs depicting the evolution of the Club over 10 decades.

Centenary Merchandise: Featuring a range of RORC Centenary keepsakes.

Published in RORC

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Royal Ocean Racing Club

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THE RORC:

Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) became famous for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral's Cup. It organises an annual series of domestic offshore races from its base in Cowes as well as inshore regattas including the RORC Easter Challenge and the IRC European Championship (includes the Commodores' Cup) in the Solent
The RORC works with other yacht clubs to promote their offshore races and provides marketing and organisational support. The RORC Caribbean 600, based in Antigua and the first offshore race in the Caribbean, has been an instant success. The 10th edition took place in February 2018. The RORC extended its organisational expertise by creating the RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada, the first of which was in November 2014
The club is based in St James' Place, London, but after a merger with The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes now boasts a superb clubhouse facility at the entrance to Cowes Harbour and a membership of over 4,000

At A Glance – RORC

RORC Race Enquiries:

Royal Ocean Racing Club T: +44 (0) 1983 295144 E: [email protected] W: http://www.rorc.org/

Royal Ocean Racing Club:

20 St James's Place, London SW1A 1NN, Tel: 020 7493 2248 E: [email protected]

2026 RORC Key dates

Key RORC 2026 dates extracted from the programme:

January–February 2026
• 11 January – RORC Transatlantic Race (Lanzarote to Antigua)
• February (dates vary) – Nelson’s Cup, Antigua
• 23 February – RORC Caribbean 600

May 2026
• 2 May – Cervantes Trophy Race (Cowes to Le Havre)
• 15 May – North Sea Race
• 22–25 May – IRC European Championships, International Poole Regatta
• 23 May – Myth of Malham Race
• 30 May – De Guingand Bowl Race

June 2026
• 12 June – Morgan Cup (Cowes to Dartmouth)
• 20 June – Round Ireland Race (Wicklow)

July 2026
• 3 July – Cowes–Dinard–Saint Malo Race
• 25 July – Channel Race

August 2026
• 8 August – Baltic Sea Race (Helsinki)
• 9 August – Round Britain and Ireland Race (Cowes)
• 26–29 August – IRC National Championship (Dartmouth)

September 2026
• 4 September – Cherbourg Race

October 2026
• 17 October – Rolex Middle Sea Race (counts towards 2027 championship)