Dun Laoghaire Harbour is Centre Stage in London's Royal Ocean Racing Club 2024 Calendar

 

Dun Laoghaire Harbour will move centre-stage in the Royal Ocean Racing Club calendar in 2024 when the club's European IRC Championships will be held for the first time in Dún Laoghaire by the Royal Irish Yacht Club.

It will be part of RORC's Season's Points Championship, which is the world's largest offshore racing series. Last year, 9223 sailors raced in an astounding variety of 729 offshore certified boats.

The 2024 RORC Season’s Points Championship is already underway; the first points-scoring race was the Rolex Middle Sea Race held in October. Class winners for the RORC Season are decided by the best five race results over the season which ends in September 2024. The overall win for the Jazz Trophy goes to the boat with the most points from all of the scoring races.

The next two scoring races are the RORC Transatlantic Race and the RORC Caribbean 600. After that, all the RORC Season's Points Championship races are held in Northern Europe with the vast majority starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, Cowes.

During 2024, the Royal Ocean Racing Club is organising or assisting with four inshore racing events. The RORC Easter Challenge, The GBR IRC National Championships, The Vice Admiral’s Cup and the IRC European Championships. All of the inshore regattas will feature multiple races per day on technical windward leeward racecourses or longer inshore races.

RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole and the RORC Race Team are excited about the 2024 Season. “Despite 2024 not being a ‘Fastnet Year’, the RORC Race Team are preparing and planning for a very busy season with 16 offshore races and four inshore regattas, including the IRC National and European Championships,” commented Steve Cole. “The RORC Cowes Clubhouse is undergoing a major redevelopment this winter and unfortunately will not be ready for the Easter Challenge. However, thanks to the support of the Royal Yacht Squadron, the post-race debriefings will take place in the RYS pavilion. Once the RORC Clubhouse and its purpose-designed building is ready, it will also become home to the RORC Race Office, as well as a superb venue for Club Members and their guests to enjoy social events. The RORC has always co-operated with other yacht clubs and we will be giving full support to the championship regattas in Poole and Dublin.”