Royal Irish's Chimaera Wins Welsh IRC Title to Cap Successful 2026 Season

6th September 2026

Afloat.ie Team

Welsh Crown: Barry Cunningham’s Royal Irish Yacht Club J/109 Chimaera, pictured in a file photo, has added the Welsh IRC 1 title at Pwllheli to a successful 2026 campaign that included Cork Week and Taste of Greystones victories Credit: Afloat

Barry Cunningham’s Royal Irish Yacht Club J/109 Chimaera has won IRC 1 at the Welsh IRC National Championship at Pwllheli, completing a notable late-season sequence of victories following her successes at Cork Week and Greystones.

The Dublin Bay yacht emerged on top after nine races in North Wales, winning four races and recording another three second places to finish with 13 points after one discard.

South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club’s Impetuous, sailed by Crompton, Hodges and Miller, finished just two points behind on 15, with clubmate David Lean’s Jackpot third on 23 points.

Chimaera’s championship included victories in races two, six, seven and eight. Her other counting scores were third, second, second and second, while a fourth in the final race was discarded.

Overall championship honours went to IRC 2 winner Eazi Tiger, owned by Adam Kyffin and Jon Oliver, which was crowned Overall Welsh National Champion across the two IRC divisions.

Four Wins Give Chimaera Welsh Crown

The result continues an impressive summer for Cunningham and his J/109, which won IRC 1 and the ICRA Class 1 national title at Cork Week in July taking seven victories from eight starts. Chimaera was also awarded the Prince of Wales Cup after producing the best IRC performance across the fleet in the Cork Harbour Race.

That was followed at the end of August by another double success closer to home at the BJ Marine Taste of Greystones Regatta.

Welsh winners: Barry Cunningham (fourth from left) and the Chimaera crew celebrate their IRC 1 victory at the 2026 Welsh IRC National Championship prizegiving in Pwllheli

As Afloat reported, Chimaera overturned an opening-day third place with a second and a win on the Sunday to claim Class One on tie-break from Frank Whelan’s Ker 43 El Syd. She also won ORC 1, again on tie-break, after beating El Syd by 51 seconds on corrected time in the deciding race.

The Welsh championship therefore gives the Royal Irish campaign another significant result just a week after Greystones and two months after its dominant Cork Week performance.

Eazi Tiger Crowned Overall Welsh IRC Champion

While Chimaera took the IRC 1 title, Eazi Tiger, owned by Adam Kyffin and Jon Oliver, was crowned Overall Welsh National Champion across the two IRC classes.

Eazi Tiger dominated IRC 2, winning six of the nine races and finishing the championship on ten points after discard, nine points clear of second-placed Daydream Believer.

Both IRC divisions completed nine races with one discard, with eight boats competing in each fleet. The published results remain provisional as of 14:33 on Sunday, 6 September.

IRC 1 top three: Chimaera (Barry Cunningham, Royal Irish YC) 13 pts; Impetuous (Crompton/Hodges/Miller, SCYC) 15; Jackpot (David Lean, SCYC) 23.

IRC 2 top three: Eazi Tiger (Adam Kyffin/Jon Oliver) 10 pts; Daydream Believer (Laura Fitzgerald) 21; Katabatic (Mark Willis) 22.

Race Results

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Published in RORC, J109

Published in RORC

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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)