Cork300: Lots to sea and do
Sailing communities from as far as Hong Kong and Australia will be docking into Cork next year as the yacht club in Crosshaven celebrates 300 years in existence.
Said to be the oldest yacht club in the world, the Royal Cork Yacht Club will celebrate its 300th anniversary with an exciting series of events on and off the water across Cork Harbour, called Cork300.
The Royal Cork Yacht Club has also just received confirmation that Charles, Prince of Wales, has donated a specially commissioned trophy for a race from Cowes in the UK to Cork to celebrate the Royal Cork Yacht Club’s tricentenary celebrations and the relationship that exists between the two countries and sailing communities.
The trophy will be awarded to the line honours winner of the Morgan Cup race in 2020, which forms part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Season Points Championship and starts from the historical Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes.
Chairman of Cork300, Colin Morehead said: “Everyone, everywhere around the world, is invited to join in the celebrations and be part of the Cork300 crew. We have a really exciting events series planned with lots of more news to announce over the coming months. We are especially delighted to hear of His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales’ support this week. This truly is an honour.
“Cork300 will promote community, international friendship, sustainability and the role of sailing worldwide. We want to inspire and motivate future generations to sail and we hope to leave a legacy for sailing and Cork Harbour, Ireland’s maritime haven, into the future.”
The Cork300 summer celebrations, which will be preceded by several other events including European Maritime Day and Seafest in May, will centre on three lead events. These are the great gathering of cruising yachtsmen and yachts from around the world in July, three championship weeks of competitive dinghy sailing in August, and The Club At Home Regatta for all fleets, also in August.
Highlights over the summer include an eye-catching Classic Yacht Regatta, the historic Kingstown/Queenstown feeder race from Dun Laoghaire to Cobh, the world-famous annual Volvo Cork Week Regatta, an international powerboat championship festival which will take place in Ireland for the first time, a gathering of naval ships in Cork city and more.
An Tánaiste Simon Coveney TD said: “Cork300 is a momentous event for the Cork region. In my view, it will be the most significant maritime event in Ireland in our lifetime. Cork300 is already attracting significant international interest and will firmly position Cork as a maritime haven and must visit destination for anyone involved in sailing worldwide.”