Cherbourg Race (with JOG)

Date: 4 September 2026

Location: Cowes, France

Organizer: Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC)

The Cherbourg Race closes the UK leg of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's season. Starting off Cowes on 4 September 2026, the fleet races about 75 miles across the Channel to Cherbourg, and it is the final qualifying race for the 2026 RORC Season's Points Championship, which gives the results an edge for crews chasing series positions. The race is run together with the Junior Offshore Group, whose fleet of smaller offshore boats shares the course, so the entry spans modest cruiser-racers to grand prix RORC machines. As Channel races go it is a classic one-way passage: tide gates leaving the Solent, an open-water crossing, and a finish into Cherbourg's enormous artificial harbour, followed by the customary French welcome ashore. It also counts toward the Cowes Offshore Racing Series, now in its second year. For many crews it doubles as the last offshore of the summer before the boats head for winter berths.

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