Yacht race stopover a boon for Galway tourism

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Next year’s tourist season will be in for a major early bonanza with the arrival of the largest fleet of racing yachts ever to descend on Galway.

Galway Port has been selected as a stopover port for The Round Britain and Ireland Race in May 2022, with over 40 boats expected to compete in one of the world’s toughest offshore races.

Galway is the first port of call for the 120 sailors during their 21-day odyssey across 1,805 nautical miles. They will be joined by repair crews, family and friends on the 48-hour stopover.

Spokesperson Olga Scully said Galway is the only compulsory stop along the route where all the boats can meet up as they traverse the two islands. Starting in Plymouth, the race continues onto Lerwick, and Blyth before crews head for the finishing line back in Plymouth.

“It’s only been announced but I’d hope we’d be speaking to various parties to see what we can do to make this a really special occasion. You don’t know what could come out of it,” she said.

“It’s only 48 hours so it won’t be as big as the Volvo Ocean Race but it will be a really sociable event and will bring a strong boost to hotels, pubs and restaurants.”
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