YACHTING MONTHLY TRIANGLE RACE
The Yachting Monthly Triangle Race 2025
The club is delighted to be planning to revive the iconic Yachting Monthly Falmouth Triangle Race in June 2025, forty-one years after its inception in 1984. The three-legged course takes short-handed boats from Falmouth to Kinsale, a distance of approximately 190nm, then a long-haul from Kinsale to Tréguier (300nm), and finally Tréguier to Falmouth (110nm). 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. In past races the Kinsale Gas Fields were required to be avoided but, after running out of gas in 2020, all traces of the various rigs and structures have been removed.
The leg to Tréguier starts at the Bulman buoy 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.
Each boat will carry a YB GPS tracker to enable progress to be followed from ashore. It is expected that positions will be displayed on the big screen at the club while boats are at sea.
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
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 Triangle Race for 2025. Yachting Monthly and the Royal Torbay both gave their blessing and pledged support. Planning is well-advanced with contacts established in both Kinsale and Tréguier. It is planned to publish the Notice of Race (NoR), and commence taking entries, at the beginning of January. In the meantime, expressions of interest are strongly encouraged via the link below.
The 2025 Yachting Monthly Triangle Race is planned to start from Falmouth on Sunday 8th June and will conclude with a prize-giving back in Falmouth on Friday 20th June.
It is currently envisaged that the race will be subject to World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations (OSR) Category 3 with Category 2 Liferaft.
Entrants will be divided into three IRC classes based on rating bands. There will be separate prizes for solo and double-handed boats. For all classes there will be “Corinthian” prizes for those that have not raced solo or double-handed before.
Both UKDHOS and SORC have committed to including the race in their respective series.
The Kinsale – Tréguier leg will also be a qualifier for the 2027 edition of AZAB.
