The Round Ireland Yacht Race is Ireland’s premier offshore yacht race and is held every two years by Wicklow Sailing Club in association with the Royal Irish Yacht Club and Royal Ocean Racing Club.
In 1980 Michael Jones put forward the idea of a non-stop race and was held in that year from Wicklow Sailing Club.
[2] The outright Round Ireland race record of 38 h 37 min 7 s is held by MOD-70 trimaran Musandam-Oman Sail and was set in June 2016.
[3] The previous record (65 h 48 min 47 s) was held by Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard set in 2008, a race dominated by gale-force winds, the 100 foot super maxi knocked over 10 hours off the previous race record, set in 1998 by Colm Barrington's Jeep Cherokee.
All three boats broke the previous record of 40 h 51 min 57 s also set by Musandam-Oman Sail in 2015 ,[4] which had replaced the long-standing 1993 record of 44 h 42 min 20 s set by Steve Fossett's 60 foot trimaran Lakota.