The famous Round Ireland Yacht Race starts tomorrow at 13:00. The 704nm race starts from Wicklow, goes clockwise round Ireland and back to Wicklow, leaving all islands, except for Rockall, to starboard.

It is a true test of boats and crews as they usually experience all points of sail and all weathers during the race. It has regularly been known to have a storm at one point in the race, only to experience no wind and strong foul tides a few miles further on. It is not unusual for a good proportion of the fleet to retire as a result.

Pwllheli sailing club regularly has members competing in the race and this year is no exception, with Stephen Goddard on his First 36, ‘Faenol’, Paul Kitteringham and team on Elan 350, ‘Finally’, Chris Miles with J111 ‘Jezebel’, all competing along with Andrew and Sam Hall, this year racing  their Lombard 46, ‘Pata Negra’.

The race, typically takes between 3 to 6 days but as bigger faster boats enter, race records are continuously being broken. Our teams can be watched using the Yellow brick tracker app or on the round Ireland website SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2024 – A Real Offshore Challenge

Best of luck to all our skippers and crews.

Fair winds and safe sailing.