DATE: Saturday 24th November
COURSE: Lanzarote - Grenada
DISTANCE (nm): 2995
The fifth edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race takes the competitors through the islands of the Canaries, with their reputation for large acceleration zones and big waves, beforeheading out across the Atlantic Ocean to a finish off Quarantine Point on the east coast of Grenada
DATE: Sunday 8th July
COURSE: Hamilton, Bermuda – United Kingdom to port – Hamburg/Cuxhaven, Germany
DISTANCE (nm): 3,500
Entries are open for the first ever race crossing the Atlantic Ocean twice: the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta.
West: November 25th 2017 Lanzarote (Canary Island) – Grenada, incorporating the RORC Transatlantic Race
East: July 8th 2018 Bermuda – Hamburg (GER)
DATE: Friday 7th September
COURSE: Cowes – Cherbourg
DISTANCE (nm): 80
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: Saturday 28th July
COURSE: Cowes – Solent finish, around marks
DISTANCE (nm): 24-36 hours
Often forgotten is that the Channel Race is one of the Club’s oldest events, designed by the Ocean Racing Club (as it was then) in 1928 to be the second ‘ocean race’ after the Fastnet.
DATE: Sunday 12th August
COURSE: Cowes – around Britain and Ireland - Cowes
DISTANCE (nm): 1805
This quadrennial race is probably the most challenging of all RORC offshores - the equivalent of three Fastnets.
DATE: Friday 13th 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 22nd June
COURSE: Cowes - Guernsey
DISTANCE (nm): 110 - 160
This year's Morgan Cup race will finish in the beautiful harbour of Dartmouth and, so as not to reproduce another 'Myth of Malham' race course, a mid-channel virtual 'box' will be used to provide some variety and different tactical challenges.
DATE: Friday 18th - Sunday 20th May
SCHEDULE: Up to four races a day
This event held in the Solent is designed for class racing and closely banded IRC Rating classes with a mixture of windward/leeward and round the cans races. A social programme will be based at the RORC Cowes clubhouse. Among the classes expected in 2018 are Impala, SB20, Quarter Ton and Diam 24OD.
DATE: Saturday 26th May
COURSE: Cowes – Eddystone Lighthouse – Solent finish
DISTANCE (nm): 230 - 256
The race around Eddystone Lighthouse is typically the most popular in Rolex Fastnet years, mirroring the first 130nm miles of the season's main event.
DATE: Saturday 9th - Saturday 16th June
SCHEDULE: Ten races over eight days
For its third ever edition, following Cork and Marseille, the IRC Europeans visit Cowes replacing our normal IRC Nationals. European Championship competitors will also be able to form their own three boat teams to race simultaneously for the Commodores' Cup.
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.
