Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland

The RORC Round Britain and Ireland has evolved from a race with stops along the way when it started in 1976 to a challenging 1805 nm non-stop marathon offshore race, a true marathon of epic proportions.

The quadrennial race is probably the most challenging of all RORC offshore, includes sailing up the Irish coast, rounding the Shetland Islands, the shoals, and hazards of the North Sea and the world’s business shipping lanes at Dover before the final beat back to Cowes. Roughly three times longer than the Rolex Fastnet Race, the course sends the competing teams around a myriad of headlands with tidal strategies. Coupled with the notorious British and Irish weather, the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race is arguably the toughest pro-am race in the world. Every team that completes the challenge rightly deserves the admiration of any offshore sailor.

At least half of the crew must have completed a minimum of 500 miles offshore racing within 18 months of the race start, including the skipper. Every crew member must also have experience of sailing a boat offshore and be prepared to encounter heavy weather.

In 2014 the conditions demanded a change to an anti-clockwise lap, resulting in several new records. In 2018 Pata Negra won the race overall.