DATE: Friday 1st September
COURSE: Cowes – Cherbourg
DISTANCE (nm): 75
The Cherbourg Race is the last of the UK-based races of the RORC Season’s Points Championship and is very often the decider for the class winners. The race can be won and lost in the escape from the Solent, in the strong tides on the approach to Cherbourg and finally on the last mile along the inside of the breakwater of the Grande Rade.
DATE: Sunday 6th August
COURSE: Cowes – Fastnet Rock – Bishop Rock - Plymouth
DISTANCE (nm): 605
Started in 1925 when seven yachts set sail from Ryde to the Fastnet Rock to arrive in Plymouth, the infamous post-race dinner heralded the foundation of the Ocean Racing Club. Today the Rolex Fastnet Race is the most popular of the world’s classic 600 mile offshore races, attracting a diverse, international fleet of IRC yachts and grand prix classes such as the IMOCA 60s, Class40s and the MOCRA-rated multihulls.
DATE: Saturday 22nd July
COURSE: Cowes – Solent finish, around marks
DISTANCE (nm): 24-36 hours
The final RORC qualifier before the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Channel Race was originally the second ‘ocean race’, established by the Ocean Racing Club in 1928. In those days the race was aimed towards smaller boats and the course included the Cherbourg Breakwater.
DATE: Friday 7th July
COURSE: Cowes – Casquets – Les Hanois - St Malo
DISTANCE (nm): 151
One of the oldest races in the RORC calendar, the Cowes-Dinard-St Malo has its origins in a pre World War I race from Cowes to St Malo bay and the winner still receives, the original trophy – the magnificent King Edward VII Cup, which dates from 1906.
DATE: Friday 30th June
COURSE: Holyhead – Dun Laoghaire
DISTANCE (nm): 100
Organised by the Liverpool Yacht Club.
This biennial race is excellent for those based on the west coast of the UK or in Ireland, to get some miles under their belts towards their qualification for the Rolex Fastnet Race.
DATE: Friday 9th June
COURSE: Cowes - Guernsey
DISTANCE (nm): 110 - 160
Once again, the Morgan Cup will return to the picturesque harbour of St Peter Port in Guernsey. The race is challenging: After starting from Cowes, competitors must negotiate the Casquets, north of Alderney, followed by the rocky west coast of Guernsey and the Les Hanois Lighthouse on the exposed south western tip of the island.
DATE: Tuesday 30th May
COURSE: Harwich – Scheveningen via marks
DISTANCE (nm): 181
Hosted by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club in their fabulous new clubhouse, the North Sea Race starts outside Harwich and meanders around the Galloper wind farm before heading north to Smith’s Knoll Buoy and across to the famous sailing city of the Hague and the Scheveningen Yacht Club.
DATE: Friday 6th June
COURSE: Burnham - Oostende
DISTANCE (nm): 120
Organised by the East Anglian Offshore Association.
The start and finish of this long-established race change biennially and this year the start will be from Burnham-on-Crouch.
DATE: Saturday 27th May
COURSE: Cowes – Eddystone Lighthouse – Solent finish
DISTANCE (nm): 256
The race around Eddystone Lighthouse is one of the most popular in a Rolex Fastnet Race year, mirroring, as it does, the start and first 130nm miles of the season’s main event. Taking in some of the most challenging and perplexing tidal gates, this race provides essential practice for those with ambitions of winning the blue ribbon event in August.
DATE: Saturday 13th May
COURSE: Cowes – Marks - Solent
DISTANCE (nm): 110-160
Presented to the club by ‘Buster’ (Vice Commodore 1957-1959) and Mrs De Guingand, the Bowl goes to the winner of the annual race bearing their name. This will head east from the Royal Yacht Squadron line, rounding marks and waypoints, and taking in the headlands of the central English Channel, before returning to the Solent to finish.
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.
