The Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, which raced around Ireland double-handed in June before taking Dublin and Cork sailors on the 1,805-mile Round Britain and Ireland Race, has completed its 2026 campaign by winning the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Season’s Points Championship for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.

Rob Craigie’s Bellino, racing through the season with RORC Commodore Deb Fish as co-skipper, retained the Jazz Trophy as IRC Overall champion and also won IRC Three and the IRC Two-Handed championship.

The result follows a season in which the British yacht developed a particularly strong connection to Ireland.

Championship Charge: Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino has retained the Jazz Trophy as RORC IRC Overall champion, completing a fourth consecutive Season’s Points Championship victory. Photo: Paul Wyeth

As Afloat reported after June’s Round Ireland Race, Craigie and Fish raced Bellino double-handed around the 704-nautical-mile course, finishing seventh overall under IRC and winning the Two-Handed division.

Bellino's Irish links grew further for August’s RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race when Dublin sailor Nicole Hemeryck and Cork’s Joe Griffiths joined Craigie and Fish for the four-person campaign.

Afloat previewed the Irish pair’s selection, noting that both were graduates of RORC’s Griffin Pathway programme. Hemeryck had also won the Felix Scheder-Bieschin Memorial Trophy as Best Female Griffin Sailor at the 2025 RORC Annual Awards.

Bellino Battles On After Boom Break

Their Round Britain and Ireland challenge was hit when Bellino broke its boom and had to race the final 200 miles without a mainsail.

Despite the damage, Hemeryck and Griffiths helped Bellino reach Cowes and take a podium place in IRC Two, as Afloat reported following the finish.

Irish Connection: Bellino crew Nicole Hemeryck of Dublin and Joe Griffiths of Cork celebrate with Rob Craigie and Deb Fish after completing the 1,805-mile Round Britain and Ireland Race despite breaking the yacht’s boom. Photo: RORC

The Round Britain and Ireland Race was one of the centrepieces of a wide-ranging RORC season which began with the 2025 Rolex Middle Sea Race and concluded with September’s Nautical Cloud Cherbourg Race.

A total of 341 boats competed during the championship, with racing taking place across waters including the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean, English Channel, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Bellino’s championship campaign included overall victory in the light-weather Myth of Malham Race, while Craigie and Fish also finished third overall, first in IRC Three and first in IRC Two-Handed in the Cowes-Dinard-St Malo Race.

Fourth Consecutive Jazz Trophy

Bellino ultimately finished ahead of Ian Hoddle and Willow Bland’s Sun Fast 3300 Sky Business - Game On, with the Army Sailing Association’s Fujitsu British Soldier third overall.

In the individual divisions, Olivier Magré’s Mach 50 Palanad 4 won IRC Zero, Trevor Middleton’s JPK 1180 Black Sheep took IRC One and RORC Vice Commodore Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog topped IRC Two.

Season Standout: Olivier Magré’s Mach 50 Palanad 4 won the 2026 IRC Zero title after a campaign that included overall victory in the 3,000-mile RORC Transatlantic Race. Photo: James Tomlinson

Bellino won IRC Three as well as the overall championship, while Inka Luhrs and Richard Bretherton’s Sun Fast 3200 Zanzibar won IRC Four. Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 also topped IRC Two-Handed ahead of Game On and Gavin Howe’s Tigris.

Peter Coote’s Dazcat 1295 Slinky Malinki won the MOCRA championship, while Greg Leonard’s Swift took the Class40 title.

The next RORC Season’s Points Championship starts with the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October and builds towards a 2027 programme that includes the return of the Rolex Fastnet Race and the 25th edition of the Admiral’s Cup.