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John Malone & Emmet Sheridan of Lough Ree YC are “Sailors of the Month (Offshore)” for May

2nd June 2026
Atlantic Edge — John Malone and Emmet Sheridan aboard JPK 1030 Loinnir during the 2026 Cantor Fitzgerald Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale, where the Lough Ree YC crew secured overall victory in one of Ireland’s toughest offshore challenges.
Atlantic Edge — John Malone and Emmet Sheridan aboard JPK 1030 Loinnir during the 2026 Cantor Fitzgerald Inishtearaght Race from Kinsale, where the Lough Ree YC crew secured overall victory in one of Ireland’s toughest offshore challenges Credit: Robert Bateman

It says much about the busily-compressed early season programme of 2026 that we can make a realistic award for Sailors of the Month (Offshore) for racing on the deep seas during May. Yet thanks to Kinsale YC’s biennial Cantor Fitzgerald Inishtearaght race finishing neatly in time on Sunday, May 31st, we have a real result for a very real offshore challenge.

Anyone who has ever sailed in the seas around the most westerly Blasket Islands will know this is a formidable bit of ocean. Yet 21 boats set out from Kinsale to sail through this decidedly grown-up area, insouciantly using the group’s lighthouse island of Inishtearacht as a handy turning mark. And when the results were tabulated, it was John Malone and Emmet Sheridan of Lough Ree Yacht Club with their crew on the JPK 1030 Loinnir who had done best to be worthy “Sailors of the Month (Offshore)” for May 2026.        

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