RORC Launches 2025 Centenary Season with New Races and Mandatory Tracking!

20th December 2024

Afloat.ie Team

The 2024 RORC Morgan Cup start Credit: Paul Wyeth

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has published the 2025 Notice of Race, unveiling a thrilling programme of races for its centenary year. Highlights include the RORC Transatlantic Race, the RORC Caribbean 600, the Transatlantic Race 2025 (West-East), the Rolex Fastnet Race, and the much-anticipated return of the Admiral’s Cup.

The season features the RORC Season’s Points Championship, the world’s largest offshore racing series, with well over 600 boats expected to participate in the 16-race programme.

2025 RORC Notice of Race: View here

Mandatory Satellite Tracking for 2025 RORC Races

YB Trackers Photo: Arthur Daniel

Beginning with the Cervantes Trophy Race on May 3rd 2025, all offshore races organised by the RORC will require mandatory satellite tracking. This new measure will enhance race fans’ experience, providing real-time updates on boat positions as the race unfolds. Additionally, the RORC Race Team will benefit from improved logistics, particularly at the start and finish of each race, ensuring smoother operations and better fleet management.

The RORC has partnered with YB Tracking to offer competitors the YB trackers at a very affordable subsidised cost of £199 +VAT. The RORC will cover all data costs for tracking during its races, and the trackers come with a five-year warranty, making them a very cost-effective solution for competitors.

There is a six-week lead time for the trackers, so please email [email protected] as soon as possible. You will receive an individual discount coupon with a code which you can then use on the YB website to order the tracker.

RORC Racing Manager, Steve Cole emphasised other benefits of tracking, saying: “We know that thousands of people tune into our races and additional tracking will be really popular with race fans. The trackers will also enhance the integrity of the sport by ensuring fair racing and compliance with designated routes and exclusion zones. RORC already has first-class safety regulations in place and the trackers will only add to that.”

Introducing the 2025 Cowes Offshore Series for Assuage Trophies

New to the 2025 centenary season, the Cowes Offshore Series Photo: Paul Wyeth

New to the 2025 centenary season, the Cowes Offshore Series is an exciting addition to the RORC Season’s Points Championship. This mini-series is designed for boats in each IRC Class, with the best five race results (excluding the Rolex Fastnet Race) counting towards the overall score for the series.

Running from early May to September, the Cowes Offshore Series includes the Cervantes Trophy, De Guingand Bowl, Myth of Malham, Morgan Cup, Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, Channel Race, and Cherbourg Race.

The Cowes Offshore Series is designed for teams who may not have the time or resources to travel further afield, the series offers a unique opportunity to race in top-tier events, all starting from Cowes.

Published in RORC

Tagged under

RORC

About The Author

Afloat.ie Team

Email The Author

Afloat.ie is Ireland's dedicated marine journalism team.

Have you got a story for our reporters? Email us here.

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven't put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full-time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.

You might also want to read...

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)