The Yachting Monthly
Celtic Triangle Race

Report from Ian Braham of "Haven KJ Enigma"

Ian Braham takes on the Celtic Trangle Race

This is a race of three legs…

1 ~ Falmouth to Kinsale, Ireland
2 ~ Kinsale to Tréguier, France
3 ~ Tréguier back to Falmouth

The race was for single and double handed yachts, and the total distance was 600 nm. 33 yachts took part, spread across three classes, with 23 double handed and 10 single handed. Unlike previous iterations, the event was included in the calendars of both the Solo Offshore Racing Club (SORC) and the Double Handed Offshore Series (DHOS), resulting in a good proportion of the fleet being specialist single and double handed yachts. These included Sunfast 3200s (8!), Sunfast 3300s and JPK 1030s. However, this is a race for all and many of the participants for more typical cruiser/racers such as a Maxi 1100, First 40.7 and Arcona 370, with out-and-out cruisers also taking part. In terms of World Sailing – Special Offshore Regulations, it is classed as a Category 3 event, plus some requirements from Category 2, such as life raft and yacht construction standards.

Ian Braham was sailing as co-skipper with Dave Butters on his JPK 1010, “Joy”, which is ideal for a double-handed offshore race like the Triangle. “Joy” was one of 13 entries in Class 2, which mostly consisted of yachts from SORC and DHOS, including 8 Sunfast 3200s.

Several sailboats, yachts, and a dinghy docked at a marina with houses and greenery in the background under cloudy skies.

Fleet in Kinsale, with the escort Flemming 55 motor yacht “Summer Breeze”

The first leg to Crosshaven started as a beat in light conditions until Lands End. Most crews elected to pass north of the Traffic Separation System (TSS), with some cutting the corner, passing inside the Longships lighthouse. Wind increased on this leg to around 16 knots as night fell. Once clear of the TSS, yachts turned towards Ireland, on a fast fetch in a building breeze which reached 24 knots at times. First to finish was the Dutch entry “Il Corvo”, JPK 1030, with “Joy” finishing 3rd on elapsed time. However, on IRC corrected time, “Joy” won the leg overall by over 9 minutes from “Sunfire” (Sunfast 3200 R2), with “Il Corvo” relegated to 3rd overall.

Several sailboats and a colorful dinghy with decorated sails and flags are docked closely together in the marina.

"Joy" sandwiched between 2 JPK 1030s in Kinsale

After a very enjoyable stay in Kinsale (which included dinner at the Kinsale Yacht Club, a historical tour of the town and a Ghost Tour!), the fleet set off on 300 nm leg 2 to Tregier. This involved rounding a virtual mark south of Kinsale, which extended the course length to 300nm, so that it would count as a qualifier for the 2027 Azores and Back Race (AZAB).

Once round the virtual mark, yachts set off on brisk beat towards the Isles of Scilly, with a shift to the south turning this into a fetch as the night progressed. Again the Scilly’s TSSs were noted as course exclusions and so crews navigated either around the top and down towards Bishop’s Rock, or around the south of the TSS. Once into the Channel, the major decision was whether to stay north or to take a more direct southerly route. They took the more northern route and gained on “Sunfire”, which had rounded Bishops Rock ahead. The long spinnaker run in light conditions filled at lunchtime on day 2, making for a very tight reach into the finish at Tregier. “Joy” finished 1st in Class 2 and 2nd overall to the Class 1 yacht, “Il Corvo”. With the wind dying, the last yacht finished the next day, over 25 hours later.

The hospitality provided in Tregier was outstanding and included the crews following the town pipe band while parading through the town to the church square. It wasn’t all fun though, as “Joy” had sustained damage their Code Zero on Leg 2 and needed to make a temporary repair, with materials donated from other yachts in the fleet. This took Dave and Ian about 7 hours and although the result was not at all pretty, it held when used for about 1.5 hours at the start of Leg 3.

People work on a large dinghy sail laid out on grass, with boats, cars, and a marina in the background.

Code Zero repairs in Tregier.

Two men stand by a waterfront with a dinghy, trophy, and bottle between them; buildings and water in the background.

Dave and Ian at the Prizegiving.

Leg 3 was started in thick fog, which cleared within an hour, providing crews with a fast reach under Code Zero, which later freed to allow spinnakers to be set. “Joy” finished 3rd in Class 2 and 3rd overall. Overall, Dave and Ian onboard “Joy” were 1st in Class 2, 2nd overall across all three classes and also won the Ancient Mariners Trophy (top performance by a crew with a combined age of over 120 years)!

The Yachting Monthly Celtic Triangle Race, while now featuring some faster, more specialised short-handed yachts, still retains its character as a fun if competitive event, featuring 3 very welcoming venues. The Royal Cornwall Yacht Club is considering running the event again next year and if so, it is definitely a race worth doing.

For more details of the 2025 event: YM Triangle 2025 | The Royal Cornwall Yacht Club – Falmouth

Class results: Sailwave results for The Yachting Monthly Celtic Triangle at Falmouth; Kinsale; Tréguier 2025

Overall Results: YMCT25 Overall rank by aggregate corrected time

About Ian Braham, owner and skipper of “Haven KJ Enigma”

Ian started sailing as a boy, first in Heron dinghies and later in Enterprises. He started yacht racing in his late teens, crewing in local races on the Sussex coast. Ian bought his first “yacht”, a UFO 27, at the age of 25, which he raced regularly, including numerous cross channel races and in inshore regattas such as Cowes Week. Probably the most adventurous exploit in “High Flyer” was to sail her two-handed to Cork in the 1994 Triangle Race, (which took 3 days and 4 hours!). A period of dinghy racing followed in his early 30’s, in Fireballs, while also chartering yachts for events such as Cowes Week. The highlight of this was winning the 40 boat Sunsail Sunfast 36 fleet in Cowes Week in 1999 and in doing so, winning holidays in the Caribbean for the crew!

Ian purchased “Enigma”, a 1992 MG 346 designed by Tony Castro, in 2004. Over the intervening years, Ian has raced “Enigma” in Cowes Week 10 times, with class wins in 5 of these, including winning the overall regatta trophy for yachts (Black Group) in 2008. Ian has also competed in every Round the Island Race run since 2004 in “Enigma”, with several class wins recorded over the years.

In 2023, Ian and fellow crewmate Pete Eyre, took on the challenging Azores and Back Race (AZAB), a Category 1 ocean yacht race consisting of two legs, each spanning 1,170 nautical miles. Read more about this epic race and how they got on, here.

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