YM CELTIC TRIANGLE
YM Celtic Triangle Race 31st May to 11th June 2026 [TBC]
The club was delighted to revive the iconic Yachting Monthly Falmouth Triangle Race in June 2025 and is now bringing it back in 2026, returning it to its biennial schedule.
Forty plus years after its inception in 1984 it is now known as the Yachting Monthly Celtic Triangle Race. The three-legged course takes short-handed boats on a total distance of approximately 620nm, from Falmouth to Kinsale, then a long-haul from Kinsale to Tréguier and finally Tréguier to Falmouth. Stop-overs in Kinsale and Tréguier are an attractive feature of the race.
The first leg starts on the Pendennis line. After skirting the Scilly and Lands End Traffic Separation Schemes boats self-finish at the Bulman South Cardinal Buoy at the entrance to Kinsale.
The leg to Tréguier starts at the Bulman buoy, via the Fastnet Rock and ends at Basse Crublent Pillar Buoy near the entrance to the Le Jaudy River. After self-finishing, boats motor some 8nm up the river to the marina at Tréguier.
Boats return down-river for the final leg which starts at Petit Pen ar Guezec buoy and finishes on the Pendennis line.
HISTORY
(Acknowledgement: A History of the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club 1871 to 2012 by Andrew Pool)
Originally known as the Falmouth Triangle, the race was conceived by the club as an adjunct to the quadrennial Azores and Back (AZAB) ocean race launched in 1975. It was unveiled at the 1983 AZAB prize-giving at the Southampton Boat Show. The specification was for a shorter version of AZAB to be undertaken within a fortnight’s holiday span. The race came to the attention of Yachting Monthly which had been thinking along similar lines so the two organisations agreed to run the race together, the editor at the time writing:
“We believe this type of sailing, that is short-handed, long-distance in a competitive environment, fosters the development of new equipment and techniques that will be of benefit to all yachtsman. It also provides the opportunity for cruising yachtsmen to assess themselves and their yachts on passages longer than they might normally undertake, again under the pressure of being in a race”.
The inaugural course was from Falmouth to Crosshaven in Eire, then to Morgat on the Britany coast, and, finally, returning to Falmouth. Twenty-seven entries included twelve club members.
Yachting Monthly agreed to promote the second race, in 1986. As promoter, YM moved the 1986 race to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club by whom it was run very successfully up to 2018. The 2020 race fell foul of Covid and the 2022 race attracted too few entries to be viable. No attempt was made to run the race in 2024.
2025 EDITION; YM Celtic Triangle
In the autumn of 2024 approaches were received from the UK Double-Handed Offshore Series (UKDHOS) and the Solo Offshore Racing Club (SORC) to revive the race for 2025. Yachting Monthly and the Royal Torbay both gave their blessing and pledged support. The Planning period was shorter than normal for an event such as this but with contacts established in both Kinsale and Tréguier, and a determined effort things fell into place. The Notice of Race (NoR) was published, and entries commenced at the beginning of February. Expressions of interest had been coming in since word got around the the event was to be revived!
The 2025 Yachting Monthly Celtic Triangle Race took place between Sunday 8th June and Friday 20th June when it concluded with a prize-giving back in Falmouth.
The race is subject to World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) Category 3 with Category 2 Liferaft.
Entrants are divided into three IRC classes based on rating bands, with separate prizes for solo and double-handed boats. For all classes there have “Corinthian” prizes for those that have not raced solo or double-handed before.
Both UKDHOS and SORC included the race in their respective series.
The Kinsale to Tréguier leg was also be a qualifier for the 2027 edition of AZAB.
