Irish Match Racing National Championship Series 2026

The 2026 Match Racing National Championships Series is set to showcase the best of match racing talent across the nation. Scheduled to take place over several weekends in 2026, this series aims to promote competitive sailing while fostering the discipline of match racing from the ground up. In each qualifying event, teams will compete in a round-robin format leading to knockout rounds, followed by finals racing. Each qualifying event has applied to be a World Sailing Grade 4 event meaning that skippers will receive a world sailing ranking following the event.

While each is a stand alone event run by each host club, results will go towards a skippers qualification into the Grade 3 Irish Match Racing National Championships this September.

don’t miss your chance to be part of the action and crown the next national champion!

How to Qualify for Nationals:

Up to 10 skippers will receive invitations, based on the following selection criteria:

  1. Most recent IMRA National Champion

  2. Current Student Champion

  3. Winner and runner up of qualifier 1, 2 & 3. If a skipper finishing 1st or 2nd has already received an invitation, the invite shall be extended to the next placed skipper at the event and so on

  4. Next top placed skipper on the Qualifier leaderboard outlined in section 8.2 Series Scoring

  5. 1 Wild card given at the discretion of IMRA

How to sail in a Qualifier:

The Qualifier events are listed below and under the Events tab of the Website.

  • Read the NOR to understand the boats and Team numbers needed for each qualifier.

  • Submit a request for invitation BEFORE the deadline outlined in the NOR

  • once you receive your invitation, you must complete the entry form and submit payment before the deadline outlined on the invitation to secure your spot!

  • Spots to the qualifier events will be given in the following order:

    1. Irish Skippers who have not competed in any qualifier will be given priority

    2. Invites will then be given to skippers of any Nationality based on when the request was submitted (First come first serve). 

    3. One entry for the OA of the Event (Excluding any teams from the OA who have already Michael Conway

      Mairead Ni Cheallachain an invitation)

Skippers must fill in the Request for Invitation form for each event

Current Series Results
Summary Block
This block has no content yet. Items you add to the page connected to this block will display here.
Events

Upcoming Qualifiers

 Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Irish Match Racing National Championships!

    Up to 12 invites will be issued for the IMRA National Championships in September 2025.

    Invites will be extended to skippers in the following order:

    1. Most recent IMRA National Champion

    2. The current Student Champion

    3. Winners of qualifier 1, 2, 3 & 4

    4. The next top 2 Skippers on the Qualifier Leaderboard

    5. 2 Wild cards given at the discretion of IMRA

  • Everyone! There is no need to have done any previous match racing events or have an existing ranking. The goal of qualifiers is to get people match racing.

  • In order to ensure equitable access to qualifying events we ask that Skippers fill in a Request for Invitation form. From there IMRA will decide on invites for each qualifier based in the following order: 

    1. Irish Skippers who have not competed in any qualifier will be given priority

    2. Invites will then be given based on when the request was submitted (First come first serve). 

    3. One entry will be reserved for each Host Club

  • The cost for each event is detailed in the Series Notice of Race

Please reach out if you have any questions or if you would be interested in including an event at your club to be part of next years qualifier series!

If you have any queries about the 2025 Series please do not hesitate to contact us