ISORA - Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association
ISORA (Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association) is the Association that has been running offshore yacht racing on the Irish Sea since 1971. The Association is run in conjunction with all the leading yacht clubs on the east coast of Ireland and on the west coast of Wales and England and the Isle of Man.
ISORA will run ten races as part of their “ISORA Offshore Racing Series 2014″. They will consist of traditional offshore races of distances from 50 to 100 miles and long day and night inshore races of under 50 miles.
The inshore races are run in conjunction with the Royal Alfred Yacht Club.
We are pleased to announce that the Dun Laoghaire to Pwllheli feeder race to the Spinlock IRC Welsh Championships 
in August is being sponsored by KONA. Information about KONA (lynx metmAsts) can be obtained by clicking the HERE. ISORA feels that this association with KONA will help further promote its offshore racing to a wider audience and will greatly help in attracting more new boats to its offshore race series. We are actively seeking sponsors of the others races.
The ISORA race schedule has been set to tie up with other popular racing events such as the ICRA (Irish Cruiser Racing Association) Nationals in Dún Laoghaire in June and the Spinlock IRC Welsh Championships in Pwllheli in August. The Round Ireland race also takes place this season. The race schedule has also been set to allow any boat to qualify for this race by taking part in the ISORA races earlier in the season.
The high point of the ISORA calendar is the Midnight Race run in conjunction with Liverpool Yacht Club and the Royal Dee Yacht Club. This year sees the fleet in Liverpool to start the Midnight Race to the Isle of Man on the Friday evening and, after and evening socialising in Douglas, an onward race to Dun Laoghaire starting on the Sunday. It is hoped that this offshore racing weekend with be well supported.
To ensure a better spread of prizes, ISORA has again a Silver Fleet for those boats that may not be high specification racing machines or who take a more Corinthian approach to offshore racing. The list of boats who qualify for the fleet will be selected immediately prior to the first race. It is also hoped to run a team series this season. 
In the past the winning of the team series was the ultimate prize – The Victoria Cup. An inshore series is also planned where boats who only take part in the inshore races can compete is a series.
While offshore racing can be difficult at times, it is very rewarding for all those who take part. There is great camaraderie among all the boats and crew that take part in the races, resulting in a great social scene in the host clubs before and after racing.
If you are a boat owner and are thinking of entering or you are interesting in crewing on an offshore boat, we would love to hear from you. You can contact me by email at
For any further information on ISORA contact me directly at
We hope to see you on the start line of our “ISORA Offshore Racing Series 2014″.
Peter Ryan,
Chairman
