DATE: Friday 8th – Sunday 10th September
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
Organised by the Royal Southampton Yacht Club and RORC
The IRC Double Handed National Championship will again be run from the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Cowes Clubhouse. Comprising windward-leeward courses, short passage races and, this year, the Nab Tower Race, the competition will again challenge the full range of competitor’s shorthanded sailing skills.
DATE: Saturday 15th – Sunday 16th July
COURSE: Solent
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
The RORC Telegraph Bowl will see the gathering of the XOD fleets from Cowes, Hamble, Itchenor, Lymington, Parkstone and Yarmouth for two days of extremely close racing, 106 years after they first raced as a class, the XOD, at 21ft, is one of the smaller keelboats to sail in the Solent, but was designed to specifically cope with these waters’ short, steep chop.
DATE: Saturday 8th – Saturday 15th June
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
After being held in Cork in 2016, the IRC Europeans will move to Marseille for three days of racing, organised jointly by the Société Nautique de Marseille, Yacht Club de la Pointe Rouge and UNCL. The Marseille bay, with its string of islands standing as protective sentries, is famed for its year-round sunshine as well as for hosting regular championships.
DATE: Wednesday 5th – Sunday 9th July
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
After being held in Cork in 2016, the IRC Europeans will move to Marseille for three days of racing, organised jointly by the Société Nautique de Marseille, Yacht Club de la Pointe Rouge and UNCL. The Marseille bay, with its string of islands standing as protective sentries, is famed for its year-round sunshine as well as for hosting regular championships.
DATE: Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th June
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
From modern lightweight planing yachts to evergreen designs of the 1970s and 80s, the IRC rule brings them all together for three days of intense racing. With courses varying from windward-leewards to round the cans and the possibility of reaching or downwind starts, any boat can have its day.
DATE: Saturday 17th – Sunday 18th June
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
New for 2017, this weekend regatta will provide the opportunity for all boats that are one of the metre classes, or based on the metre classes, to compete together in a six race series.
DATE: Friday 19th – Sunday 21st May
COURSE: N/A
DISTANCE (nm): N/A
The Solent based, inshore regatta (primarily for One Design Classes) brings together six classes for three days of intense, close racing across two courses. From the ultra-modern FAST40+ and HP30 classes to hugely refitted and modified IOR Quarter Tonners, competition is notoriously fierce.
DATE: Thursday 9th October
COURSE: Dubai, UAE – Muscat, Oman
DISTANCE (nm): 360
Organised by the United Arab Emirates Sailing and Rowing Federation
Having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016, the 2017 race departs Dubai, passes through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman and on to the finish at Muscat, Oman.
DATE: Saturday 21st October
COURSE: Valletta, Strait of Messina, Stromboli, Pantelleria, Lampedusa, Valletta.
DISTANCE (nm): 608
Organised by the Royal Malta Yacht Club
The Rolex Middle Sea Race has one of the most spectacular courses of all the classic offshore races.
DATE: Wednesday 18th October
COURSE: Victoria (HK) – Nha Trang
DISTANCE (nm): 673
Organised by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.
First run in 1996, then biennially since 2004, this year will mark the eighth edition of this, the longest Category 1 offshore race in Asia. A challenging, predominantly downwind and fast passage to Nha Trang, on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, the race has once again been recognised as a qualifying race for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.
The RORC was founded in 1925 to encourage long distance yacht racing and the design, building and navigation of sailing vessels in which speed and seaworthiness are combined. Today the club encourages ocean, long distance and other forms of yacht racing and yachting activity.
