BMW ROUND IRELAND YACHT RACE KICKS OFF THIS WEEKEND

Issued 20 June 2008

The BMW Round Ireland Yacht Race will take place in Co. Wicklow this Saturday, 21st June. Organised by Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Ocean Racing club, the race will be sailed under the Racing Rules of Sailing 2005 – 2008.

The race itself will begin at Wicklow Town and is a distance of 704nm. The Round Ireland is Ireland's premier offshore yacht race, and the second longest race in the Royal Ocean Racing Club calendar. The first race took place in 1980 with only thirteen boats. Since then, held biannually, the fleet has grown steadily, attracting a record 60 entrants from all over Ireland and the British Isles in 1992.

There are four classes in IRC in which boats and their crews can compete, including a Classic Class for the Michael Jones Trophy, classes for Sigma, ISORA, IRM, a Team Prize. 2004 saw the launch of the "Two-handed Class" which has introduced a new level of competition for the more extreme sailor. In the past, boats competing have ranged from an 84-footer former "round the world" maxi, to club boats one third the size, with all shades in between.

The bigger boats compete for top honours and for the race record, which is held by Colm Barrington who skippered Jeep Cherokee to victory in 1998 in a time of 76 hours 23 minutes and 57 seconds, breaking the previous record by a massive eight hours. The 2004 winner was a 32' one off design built in Ireland for Eamon Crosbie called Calyx Voice and Data ("Voodoo Chile") and the 2006 Race was won by a previous winner, Eric Liddels' "Cavatina" (2002), a Grenada 38 classic GRP yacht.