This early May Bank Holiday weekend is the date for one of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s most celebrated races. An impressive RORC fleet will gather off Cowes, IOW for the Myth of Malham Race with multiple starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line from 9 a.m. on Saturday 04 May. The first 100 miles of the race mirrors the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race and spectators can watch the action unfold from Cowes Parade and along the shore of the Western Solent.

The 235-mile race is one of the most gruelling, but also most popular races in the RORC calendar. After starting of the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, the course takes the boats along the strategically challenging headlines of the South Coast of England. The fleet head for the Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth. After rounding the lighthouse, the fleet turn back for a finish at North Head buoy, just outside the Solent. Typically, the race is a windward leeward with a tough beat out and a rapid downwind leg to the finish.

A huge variety of sailors and boats will be competing for IRC Class Trophies as well as overall victory for the Myth of Malham Cup.

Myth of Malham Race Entry List

The holder of the Myth of Malham Cup is Eric de Turckheim’s French NMD54 Teasing Machine, which is defending as the highest rated boat in IRC Zero. An international fleet is entered for the big boat class including the De Graaf Family’s Dutch Ker 43 Baraka GP, Sascha Schmid’s German Open 45 Atlantix Express, and Mark Emerson’s British A13 Phosphorus II.

Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

Class winners from the 2023 RORC Season’s Points Championship will be returning to RORC Racing for the Myth of Malham Race. Notably IRC Two champion, Ross Applebey’s Scarlet Oyster, and Tim Goodhew’s Sun Fast 3200 Cora, racing with Kelvin Matthews, who are IRC Three and Two-Handed Champions from last year.

Sun Fast 3200 Cora will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

The reigning overall RORC Season’s Points Champion Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino will be racing two-handed with RORC Commodore Deb Fish.

Sun Fast 3600 Bellino will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham RacePhoto: Paul Wyeth

At least 21 teams will be competing in the Myth of Malham Race in IRC Two-Handed including last year’s class winner Sam White’s JPK 1080 Mzungu! , which will once again be racing with Sam North. Like many of the teams in the race, Mzungu! is a corinthian entry. Sam White is an airline pilot from the Isle of Wight and Sam North is an events and conference organiser in London.

JPK 1080 Mzungu! will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

Sam White describes the lure of the Myth of Malham Race: “With six tidal gates and early season unstable weather conditions, the race offers a great challenge,” explained Sam. “Early season the difference between the sea temperature and the land is quite marked, so day and night effects can have quite an impact on the gradient wind. Working out a happy balance between wind strategy and tidal strategy can prove tricky but is key to success.

As a double handed boat one of the challenges of this race is managing rest. The race isn’t long enough to be able to settle into a watch routine and yet it isn’t short enough to ‘push on through’ despite the temptation. Being tired and cold are a certainly in this race but with Sam North catering, being hungry is definitely not on the cards!

Sam White & Sam North will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

"Many people never understand the appeal of spending a long weekend in the English Channel pushing yourself to the limit, getting through emotional highs and lows and having to perform when you are at your lowest ebb. But after the race, when you are back at work, you are totally consumed with the desire to be back out there, doing it again!” Concluded Sam White.

The Myth of Malham Race is named after one of the Club’s most celebrated yachts and sailors. Former RORC Commodore John Illingworth’s Myth of Malham won the Fastnet Race twice in succession (1947 and 1949) and was part of the victorious British Admiral’s Cup Team in 1957.

Blue Spinnakers of Sun Fast 30 ODs Cap Sela & Cap Polaris that will compete in the 2024 RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

This year’s Myth of Malham Race will feature two of RORC’s Griffin Youth Teams making their debut race on RORC chartered Sun Fast 30 ODs. Rosie Hill will skipper Cap Sela and Charlie Muldoon will skipper Cap Polaris.

RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole reported glorious conditions for the Cervantes Trophy race start off the Squadron Line with 14 knots from the north west giving a fast downwind sail through the Western Solent. The 110-mile race to Le Havre was all off the breeze in Spring sunshine. However, south of the Isle of Wight, the wind faded, causing the fleet to compress. The wind picked up mid-channel to provide thrilling close finishes right through the IRC Classes.

The overall winner of the RORC Cervantes Trophy Race after IRC time correction was Trevor Middleton’s Sun Fast 3600 Black Sheep. Second overall was Ian Hoddle’s Sun Fast 3300 Game On, racing with Ollie Wyatt. Game On was also the winner in IRC Two Handed. Third overall and second in IRC Two Handed was Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, racing with RORC Commodore Deb Fish.

Black Sheep’s Skipper Jake Carter commented about winning The Cervantes Trophy. “After a good start, we settled in for a great spinnaker run down the Western Solent,” commented Jake. “After the Needles we gybed inshore, keeping the kite flying, while other boats stayed on west with Code Zeros. This paid initially but the wind went east and the offshore boats gained back on us. When the wind died down, we had one of those dis-heartening moments when we stopped and everyone else kept going, but on Black Sheep our heads didn’t go down. At the end of the race, we got further east than the competition, the tide had changed and we were not fighting it as much. We made a late gain there for sure.”

Congratulations to all of the class winners for the Cervantes Trophy Race including Philippe Benaben’s Sun Fast 3200 Platypus, Samuel Duménil’s JPK 960 Casamyas and Didier Bouillard’s Dazcat 1295 Minor Swing. Gilles Fournier & Corinne Migraine’s J/133 Pintia won their class, taking Line Honours into their home Port Le Havre.

A13 Phosphorous II competing in the 2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy race from Cowes to Le Havre Photo: Paul Wyeth

In IRC Zero, Mark Emerson’s A13 Phosphorus II took the win from Clipper Event’s Ambitious, skippered by Guy Waites. In IRC One, Gilles Fournier & Corinne Migraine’s J/133 Pintia won their class. Second was Richard Powell’s First 40 Rogan Josh, ahead of Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog.

Sun Fast 3300 Game On competing in the 2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy race from Cowes to Le Havre Photo: Paul Wyeth

In a 17-strong IRC Two-Handed fleet, Game On’s victory was very close. The reigning RORC Season’s Points Champion Bellino was under four minutes behind after IRC time correction. Simon Toms’s Sun Fast 3300 Zephyr, racing with Josh Dawson had an even closer battle for third. Winning by just nine seconds after IRC time correction from Gareth Edmondson’s JPK 1030 Insert Coin, racing with Ian Turnbull.

Game On’s Ian Hoddle was delighted to win his first RORC race of the season in IRC Two-Handed. “Ollie (Wyatt) and I are very pleased with result,” commented Ian. “ It was a tough race, especially as the weather didn’t correlate with any of our weather files until the end. I would say the defining decision was staying in a middle lane from the Needles for the shut downs off the island. The fleet closer to St Cath’s got hit hard and we increased our lead. We stayed close to the rhumb line as we crossed the Channel and stayed in a lead group including Pintia. I think we had good tactics and we are very pleased with our boat speed and manoeuvres.

In Hindsight, our only mistake was staying with our Code Zero in the final 15 miles. Blacksheep were on our tail and then popped up a kite and got ahead of us. We had a close fight with Bellino across the Channel but managed to pull away. As always, it’s never over until the line; Bellino came in very fast at the end (probably with spinnaker) and closed the gap.”

Sun Fast 3600 Bellino competing in the 2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy race from Cowes to Le Havre Photo: Paul Wyeth

In IRC Three, Philippe Benaben’s Sun Fast 3200 Platypus based in Le Havre was the victor. Jean-Lin Flipo’s J/99 Yalla! from Cherbourg was second. Francois Tirveilliot’s Sun Fast 3200 Aldebaran from Deauville was third. In IRC Four the winner was Samuel Duménil Casamyas from Le Havre.

Sun Fast 30 OD Cap Sela competing in the 2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy race from Cowes to Le Havre Photo: Paul Wyeth

Joseph’s Griffiths (second from left) from Baltimore Sailing Club in West Cork is part of RORC's Griffin programme and is pictured with other Griffin crew before the start of the Cervantes Trophy Race

The Royal Ocean Racing Club has chartered two Sun Fast 30 One Designs for the 2024 season, which will be raced by youth sailors as the RORC Griffin Teams. 300 sailors aged 18 to 30 applied. After Selections Weekends and further coaching, two selected Griffin Teams took part in the Cervantes Trophy Race. Cap Polaris, co-skippered by Charlotte Schneider & Joe Walters and Cap Sela, co-skippered by Rosie Hill & Matt Beecher. Both Griffin Teams completed the race with Cap Polaris the first Griffin Team to finish.

Sun Fast 30 OD Cap Polaris competing in the 2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy race from Cowes to Le Havre Photo: Paul Wyeth

Charlotte Schneider commented after the race: “The biggest challenge was definitely dealing with the prevailing weather conditions,” commented Charlotte. “Many hours went into preparing the navigation and we had a plan. But you learn that plans have to change quickly on the water when the wind comes from a completely different direction than expected. This was the first time we have sailed the boat in light wind, so we had to learn how to get the best speed during the race. Now we definitely know more! I think we can be satisfied with the result and we positioned ourselves well with the other Sun Fast 30 ODs.”

The 2024 Cervantes Trophy race fleet under spinnaker Photo: Paul Wyeth

The next RORC offshore race will be the Myth of Malham starting from Cowes on the 4th of May. The 230-mile race around the Eddystone Lighthouse and back mirrors the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race. The Myth of Malham Race is the fifth race of the RORC Season’s Points Championship, the world's largest offshore racing series with trophies and races dating back over 100 years. The series includes the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race on June 22nd.

2024 RORC Cervantes Trophy Race Results

More than 50 entries have been confirmed so far for the fifth edition of the Drheam Cup, which will take place from 11-21 July 2024 between Cherbourg-en Cotentin and La Trinité-sur-Mer in north-western France.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, 11 classes — including for the first time the new Sun Fast 30 one design — will take part in the event, the second race in the IRC Two-Handed European Championship, with all results also counting towards the RORC Championship.

In addition, the race will be part of the 2024 European Trophy, along with the Spi Ouest-France, Armen Race and CIC Normandy Channel Race.

“To date, 54 entries have been confirmed, which is very promising,” says Jacques Civilise, founder and organiser of the race. “We expect a large fleet, which will be different to precious editions, due to a very busy race calendar this year.

“We will probably not see some boats that have attended previous editions, the IMOCAs for example, which will be just back from the New York Vendée-Les Sables d’Olonne race and will be going back to their home ports for work before the Vendée Globe, or some of the Class40, who will be finishing the Transat Québec-Saint-Malo or the Figaro Bénéteau 3, who will be on the Tour Voile.”

Several Class40 racers will attend, however, notably the winner of the 2022 edition, Xavier Macaire, who has spoken about his attachment to the Drheam Cup.

“I have made a habit of including the race in my programme, because I love the atmosphere and organisers. This year, it is particularly important to me to defend my title”, says the skipper of Groupe SNEF, who will battle it out in the dynamic 40-foot monohull class with Nicolas Jossier (La Manche Évidence Nautique), the Normandy entrepreneur Alexandre Le Gallais (Trim Control) and two newcomers in Class40, former Mini sailors Louis Mayaud (Belco) and Nicolas Guibal (NG Grand Large).

The majority of the fleet will be made up of IRC, with a large proportion of two-handed IRC entries (26 to date). Another noteworthy fact is that half of the entries are from abroad, with 10 nationalities represented, including many British sailors.

“We are incredible satisfied to welcome so many crews from abroad; it fits fully into the Drheam Cup/Grand Prix de France de Course au Large’s DNA, which is a race open to all,” Civilise says.

“It rewards our hard work in developing the race internationally. Thanks to our friends at the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), the race will not only be written into the RORC calendar, it will also be part of the RORC Championship, meaning points will count towards the season’s rankings.”

The Drheam Cup is listed in the Manche/Atlantique IRC Championship 2024 programme run by the racing division of the Yacht Club de France, the Multi 2000 class (several boats including Jess, skippered by Gilles Buekenhout and Rayon Vert, skippered by Oren Nataf are already entered) and the Figaro Bénéteau class.

Last but not least, for the first time it will welcome a fleet of Sun Fast 30 one designs, the new prototypes designed by VPLP Design and built by Multiplast and Jeanneau, which will then meet again in September in Lorient for the mixed Double-handed World Offshore Championships. A fleet of ready-to-race boats is available for hire from Cap Regatta.

In addition, the first classic yacht has officially entered the race, the 1938 FIFE design Merry Dancer, owned by Vincent Delaroche, chairman and CEO of Cast Software.

Suffice it to say, the 2024 edition fleet — in which organisers are hoping to also welcome Ultims on the DC1500 course designed for them — is shaping up to be particularly rich in terms of the variety of boats on the water, with the mix of professionals and amateurs that has contributed to its success since 2016.

For more details see the Drheam Cup website HERE.

Baltimore Sailing Club’s Joseph Griffiths will be joining the two Northern Ireland youth sailors selected for the Griffin Project 2024.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Griffin Project is a Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) initiatve which gives young sailors the opportunity to try offshore sailing, learn best practices for yachting and improve their overall crewmanship.

As part of the project, Griffiths will receive coaching from world-class sailors such as Dee Caffari, Shirley Robertson, Steve Hayles and Ian Walker as one of an exclusive club of 20 sailors selected across the UK and Ireland, including Emma McKnight from Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Daniel Corbett from County Antrim Yacht Club.

Munster Technological University, where the West Cork sailor is an undergraduate studying architectural technology, said: “Joseph has displayed a great attitude and ability to be a good team player ashore and afloat and we are delighted he is getting this exciting opportunity.”

With the RORC’s new Griffin Project for training young sailors recently launched in a blaze of publicity, there have been the usual demands that something similar should be delivered for Ireland. But Sailing on Saturday would suggest that, over the years, the Irish offshore sailing and cruiser-racing communities have done well in creating junior and trainee pathways which function within the relatively scattered nature of our offshore racing centres.

For people from Ireland’s most remote sailing areas, it may seem that there is already an excessive focus of offshore racing attention on the Cork-Kinsale and Greater Dublin powerhouses. But these two big centres are physically very separate – they’re 120 awkward-to-sail sea miles apart. They seldom function in a co-ordinated way. And our second tier regions, such as (1) West Cork on the Baltimore/Schull link, (2) the Shannon Estuary including Tralee Bay, (3) all of Galway Bay with Clew Bay, and (4) Sligo with Mullaghmore and increasingly Killybegs, they all have their own local pride and claim to a place in the offshore and cruiser-racing sun.

GLOBAL RORC?

The RORC may be promoting itself globally with the second RORC Baltic Race in Finnish waters this summer, which brings the bonus of strengthening the Club’s own IRC measurement system in an area where the rival ORC has been on manoeuvres in recent years. Another battle line was the Sydney-Hobart Race, where the organisers have re-affirmed they’re holding firm to IRC. But the reality is that much of the Club’s active people power and boat numbers are to be found in a narrow segment of the English Channel, maybe best called the Hot Spot.

OFFSHORE RACING’S INTERNATIONAL HOT SPOT

The Hot Spot is an area bounded to the north by the Solent, and to the south by the coast of northeast Brittany going on into the Cotentin Peninsula around Cherbourg. Fully expanded yet still very neat, the relevant coastal edges are Poole to Chichester on the English side, and Dinard/St Malo to Le Havre on the French coast.

The Hot Spot. The international concentration of sailors, boats and major competitions in this single section of the English Channel (or La Manche if you prefer) is unrivalled. All of the popular RORC Cowes-St Malo Race takes place within it. As for the Fastnet Race, while it still may go round the same Irish rock, nevertheless it now starts at Cowes and finishes at Cherbourg

It is a reality most directly expressed in the colossally popular RORC Cowes-St Malo Race each July, yet it also emerges with Big Daddy, the biennial RORC Fastnet Race. This may scoop round our own Irish Fastnet Rock, but where originally it started heading eastward off Ryde IOW, and finished at Plymouth, it now starts in Cowes heading westward, and ends in Cherbourg heading east, ultimately because these arrangements best suit the greatest number of boats and crews.

The biggest Local Derby of them all – idyllic conditions for the RORC’s St Malo Race. Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Consequently we find ourselves facing the Centenary of the Fastnet Race coming up in 2025 with our own Fastnet Rock itself the only remaining specific feature of the first race in 1925, which started eastward out of the Solent at Ryde, and finished at Plymouth in Devon

Ireland’s Fastnet Rock is the only surviving fixture of the course of the original Fastnet Race as its Centenary approaches in 2025

FOLLOWING THE NUMBERS

But as the Rick Morris research group on the best location for staging the ICRA Nationals concluded early in 2019, it makes sense to go where the numbers are already to be found. That can’t be done quite so simply in Ireland, yet in the Hot Spot the fleets are simply queuing up to stage their majors on the Solent from the time-honoured starting line of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes, while offshore racers stream away across Channel to some nearby and useful French port practically every summer weekend.

THE GRIFFIN PROJECT

The Griffin Project 2024 reflects this intense focus, for although it allocated 20 places out of a group of 300 applicants recruited “globally”, with two of the successful contenders – after some distinctly tough sailing tests during March - being from Northern Ireland. They are Emma McKnight from Whiterock on Strangford Lough and Daniel Corbett from Whitehead on Belfast Lough. But for the rolling out of the Griffin Project, the focus is definitely on the Channel Hotspot, with the training being largely from Cowes and the Solent on the four French-supplied JenneauSun Fast 30 ODs, hot out of the package yet re-cyclable with it.

It culminates in the RORC Cowes-St Malo Race on 5th July, with the four Griffin Project boats each allocated celebrity sailor instructors in the form of Dee Cafari, Shirley Robertson, Ian Walker and Steve Hayles.

REALITY TV?

Inevitably there’s an element of Reality TV here - it is all so very 21st Century in its intense focus on one “metropolitan” area, its use of celebrities and their star power, and its utilization of all communication techniques on a constant basis. In Ireland by contrast, what others might think to be an overly local focus, we see as reasonably acknowledging the existence of several hubs of national sailing pride.

LOCAL PRIDE

Our great classic, the biennial Round Ireland Race going clockwise, will always be a Wicklow thing. As for the likewise biennial Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, its popular and catchy short title of D2D says everything about where it simply must happen. Then there’s the new regular on the block, the Inishtearaght Race from and back to Kinsale - that will always have the Blaskets and Kinsale stamped on it. You can only race round the Aran Islands from Galway Bay Sailing Club – anything else is impossible to contemplate. And it’s unthinkable that the Ailsa Craig Race should be anything other than something that starts and finishes with the Royal Ulster YC line in Bangor on Belfast Lough.

Inishtearaght is the lighthouse island in the Blaskets Group, a spooky place whose mystique adds to the challenge of the race round it from Kinsale.

But when your fleets are mainly and very numerously located in that mid-section of the English Channel centred on the Solent-Cherbourg axis, there’s immediate focus. While it may be one of the worlds busiest shipping areas, it’s tops in the sailing numbers game, and it facilitates the offshore sport of the greatest number with most convenience.

RORC TOP THE NUMBERS GAME

Then too, the RORC online has more than 40,000-plus regular followers, so in all we are dealing with a neat setup within which resources can be readily released to fund and function what is – with just four boats – quite a modest venture when set against the extended RORC fleet in the area.

Yet here in Ireland , the strength and weakness of our sailing is in local pride. Everybody has to do their own thing in their own place, and while most would admit that Dun Laoghaire is the main centre through weight of numbers, the other significant focal points have their own strengths in places where, over the years, the successful offshore racing skippers have devised their own means of identifying emerging talent with crew potential as it manifests itself in the neighbourhood’s One-Design keelboat and dinghy fleets.

The Dublin Bay 24s, designed by Alfred Mylne, successfully served as a local One Design at Dun Laoghaire, a winner in RORC races, a successful fast cruiser, and a very effective bridge between the dinghy sailors of Dun Laoghaire and the world of offshore racing

In its day – which lasted from 1947 to 2004 – the Dublin Bay 24ft OD class provided a bridge of sorts from keen beginner to useful offshore crew. The waterfront clubs provided facilities for the university sailing clubs and their fleets, mostly of Fireflies, and canny DB24 owner/skippers kept more than a benevolent eye on how well the talent was doing in the dinghies before arranging that a fly be cast over them to bring in as DB24 crew.

Whoops…youthful experimentation with the Martin brothers’ DB24 Adastra in a punchy gust coming round the Dun Laoghaire pierhead

This all reached a sort of peak in 1963 when Stephen O’Mara’s DB24 Fenestra RIYC, amateur-skippered by Arthur Odbert, won overall in the stormy RORC Irish Sea Race with some student sailors in her crew. And other DB24s such as Ninian Falkiner’s Euphanzel and Rory O’Hanlon’s Harmony regularly drew on the pool of college sailors in Dun Laoghaire for offshore racing and distance cruising at a time when the Dun Laoghaire sailing community was more compact.

When the Dun Laoghaire sailing community was more compact – everyone shared in the celebration of the DB 24s’ Golden Jubilee in 1997. Photo: W M Nixon

It was a system which worked well in its informal way, but with changing times and greater numbers, a more structured approach was needed. The J/24 seemed to provide a useful answer for an offshore beginner boat after Philip Watson with the J/24 Pathfinder II won his class championship in the closely contended ISORA Championship of 1978.

But then the mayhem of the storm-battered 1979 Fastnet Race saw stability/ballast requirements becoming more rigorous, and the J/24 failed to meet the new standard – something the Cork J/24 fleet could have told them, as they’d already experienced something of a wipeout in heavy weather off the Old Head of Kinsale.

J/24 BASIS OF U25 SCHEME

Yet the J/24 provides so much in other ways that it became the basis of the U25 training project promoted by ICRA Chairman Nobby Reilly and initially developed at his home club of Howth. As the programme has developed, other clubs have adopted it with the most recent success being the Headcase International Campaign drawing a crew from nationwide sources, and the Kinsailor Project out of Kinsale.

Success for the ICRA U25 Project – the J/24 Headcase is race leader in the J/24 Euros at Howth in 2022

Ironically at Howth where it started, their keelboat training is now centred around a flotilla of J/80s which apparently are eligible for an IRC Certificate, but there has been no evidence of people queuing up to race them offshore.

Whatever, this has been generally done in a quiet way without the nationwide razzmatazz of the Griffin Project, for the reality is that for successful implementation of projects like this, there needs to be at least one central professional manager/bos’un/instructor and several possibly part-time associate coaches. And of course the upward move from coastal sailing to the offshore game in terms of the boat’s arrangements can be a costly business.

Thus although a very long time back, in the early 1970s, the original Asgard in her sail raining role did sterling work in providing offshore experience in a boat of comparable size to the general offshore racing fleets, it was with the growth of sailing schools that a more clearly-defined route became clear.

GLENANS IRELAND CONTRIBUTION

With Glenans Ireland from 1972 onwards at bases along the Atlantic seaboard, fresh talents like Tom Dolan began to emerge, and then the leading East Coast sailing schools in Dun Laoghaire began to offer the genuine RORC experience, though even the Round Ireland Race can be quite an organisational challenge for a fully-accredited boat from a sailing school.

Sensational. The Irish National Sailing School’s J/109 Jedi, skippered by Kenneth Rumball, makes a perfect Fastnet Race start.

Beyond that, the extra logistics of a Fastnet Race campaign from Ireland have meant that while Kenneth Rumball - of the Irish National Sailing School - has had just one very successful but extremely energy-consuming involvement in the Fastnet Race with the school’s J/109 Jedi, Ronan O Siochru’s Irish Offshore Sailing with the well-tested Sun Fast 37 Desert Star has become such a regular and often successful Fastnet contender that they’d probably get a a concerned phone call from RORC if their name didn’t show up on the entry list.

Regular contender. Irish Offshore Sailing’s Sunfast 37 Desert Star is a regular in the offshore racing scene

Desert Star’s crew with their trophy after Fastnet Race success

But with the sailing school Round Ireland and Fastnet Race packages, you get the feeling that boxes are being ticked. As in: Next year, we’ll tick off the Kilimanjiro climb. That’s not really what the ICRA U25 and RORC Griffin Project promoters are hoping to inspire, even if it is the way of life of many folk nowadays.

LIFELONG COMMITMENT

What the local club and ICRA U25 idealists hope for is the encouragement of the beginning of a lifelong commitment to sailing generally and offshore racing in particular. In titling it the Griffin Project, the RORC are harking back to a time when participation in the regular RORC programme was done with an almost religious devotion, with demand for crew places demand that the RORC was able at one time to support the campaigning of two club yachts, Griffin I and Griffin II.

Griffin I was donated to the club in 1945 by one H West in honour of his recently-deceased co-owner, the sometimes rather odd Commander George Martin. Martin had been the founding Commodore (in Plymouth in 1925) of the Ocean Racing Club, (subsequently the RORC), after he’d won the first Fastnet Race (an event he personally promoted) in his magnificent Le Havre pilot cutter Jolie Brise.

Griffin I was a mixed blessing, as she was 44ft of transom-sterned tradition, a gaff-rigged sloop admittedly without bowsprit, but definitely harking back, despite being built as recently as 1938. But in the post-war austerity, she was one answer to a shortage of crew places for keen newbies. This became so pressing that having won the 1951 Fastnet Race with his Charles A Nicholson-designed Yeoman of 1950 vintage, the great Owen Aisher got together with a subsequent owner to donate the boat to the RORC to become Griffin II, and for a while they ran both boats to cater for would-be offshore racers.

There’s an abundance of history and Crosshaven interest in this image from Cowes Week 1950. On the right is Owen Aisher’s Charles A Nicholson-designed 48ft Yeoman, which went on to be the overall winner of the 1951 Fastnet Race, and subsequently became the RORC Club Yacht Griffin II. At centre is the International 8 Metre Christina, later owned in Cork by Perry Goodbody, and now in Canada. And on the left is the Sandy Balfour-designed, Berthon-built sloop Northele, now based in Crosshaven and fully restored to prime Classic standard by the craftsmen there for locally-based owners Anthony & Sally O’Leary nee Aisher – she is Owen Aisher’s grand-daughter.

Since then, there has been a succession of RORC-owned-and-run Griffins reflecting changing boat development and sailing styles. So although other organisations have provided One Design offshore racing of some type over the years, the fresh spin put on it by the Griffin Project, with all the oomph of the RORC behind it, might well be seen in future as the real breakthrough.

TRUE ORIGINS OF OCEAN RACING

Meanwhile, with the recent Centenary of the Bermuda Race-organising Cruising Club of America, and now these memories of George Martin and the first Griffin, we found the recent monsoon conditions ideal for brooding about the real organisational origins of offshore and ocean racing as we know it today. If really cornered, we’d suggest it’s neck and neck between the Royal Cork Yacht Club and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Go figure.

Northern Ireland youth sailors Emma McKnight from Strangford Lough Yacht Club and Daniel Corbett from County Antrim Yacht Club are among just 20 across the UK selected for the Griffin Project 2024.

The Griffin Project is a Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) initiatve which gives young sailors the opportunity to try offshore sailing, learn best practises for yachting and improve their overall crewmanship.

As part of the project, Emma (25) and Daniel (18) will receive coaching from world-class sailors such as Dee Caffari, Shirley Robertson, Steve Hayles and Ian Walker.

They will also be given opportunities to put what they have learnt into practice in races such as Cowes to Saint-Malo. This will inevitably contribute to their development as sailors in challenging and at times unfamiliar environments.

Selection for the Griffin Project was hugely competitive. Over 300 sailors from around the world applied to be part of the project, as previously reported on Afloat.ie, but only 20 were ultimately successful.

For more on Emma and Daniel and the Griffin Project, see the RYA website HERE.

The second edition of the Baltic Sea Race will start in Helsinki, Finland, on 27 July 2024.

This new 635nm offshore race is attracting a diverse range of boats eager to take on a new challenge, racing to win The Baltic Trophy for the best corrected time under IRC.

Passion for the sea is ever present in Finland’s capital, Helsinki, with centuries of seafaring tradition. The sea is prominently featured in Finland’s folklore and literature; the Finns are fanatical about the Baltic Sea. The Roschier Baltic Sea Race is organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club and supported by the City of Helsinki, as well as the major yacht clubs and racing organisations in Finland: Nyländska Jaktklubben (NJK), Finnish Offshore Racing Association (AMP), Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK), FINIRC and the Xtra Stærk Ocean Racing Society.

Carkeek 52 Rán Photo: Tim Wright

Niklas Zennstrom’s Carkeek 52 Rán (SWE) is confirmed for the 635-mile Roschier Baltic Sea Race. Zennstrom hails from Sweden and will also race in the 350-mile Gotland Runt, which takes place three weeks before the Roschier Baltic Sea Race. The two races provide a thousand miles of offshore racing in the Baltic summer.

One of Rán’s main competitors will be Infiniti 52 Tulikettu (FIN). One of the world’s most advanced grand-prix racing yachts, Tulikettu sports DSS side-foils and all carbon-fibre build. Team Tulikettu’s primary goal is to be the first all-Finnish crew to win RORC’s important offshore races.

Arto Linnervuo Photo: Pepe Korteniemi

“The Roschier Baltic Sea Race is unique, a new experience for many sailors from overseas,” commented Tulikettu’s Finnish owner Arto Linnervuo. “Teams will experience racing on a new course which goes around three lighthouses. There are plenty of affects from the land, and as we saw in 2022, the gradient wind can be anything from really light to strong. The race is attracting professional teams racing high performance boats and also the amateur teams racing production yachts, the race is really important to promote racing in The Baltic. In Finland there is a huge amount of passion for sailing, and I am sure everyone who races this year, will feel that embrace!”

The final day of the RORC Easter Challenge produced yet another variation in conditions with a medium-strong easterly breeze piping up to nearly 20 knots. The sturdy easterly going tide, built during the day, to create classic Solent chop. 

After two intensive coaching days from Mason King’s team ably assisted by North Sails, the focus moved to putting the lessons learnt into practice and literally win the Easter Chocolates. Every class winner was decided in the very last race, producing a thrilling climax to the regatta.

Class winners receiving RORC recycled Keepers were Mills 39 Team Hero on Zero II skippered by James Gair, Ed Mockridge’s JPK 1010 Elaine Again, and Lance Adams’ Cape 31 Katabatic.

Team Hero on Zero II Photo: Paul Wyeth

Cape 31 Katabatic Photo: Paul Wyeth

JPK 1010 Elaine Again Photo: Paul Wyeth

RORC Vice Commodore Richard Palmer welcomed all the teams to the RORC Easter Challenge Prizegiving. Richard thanked the RORC race team for their excellent organisation and also the Royal Yacht Squadron for hosting all the teams at The Pavilion, while the RORC Clubhouse was under construction. Richard Palmer started the customary Easter Egg Toss with every team getting in the chocolates on Easter Sunday.

For the final day of racing, PRO Stuart Childerley and the RORC team set up a windward leeward course between The Brambles Bank and the North Channel for two tactical races. This was followed by a round the cans race, at every point of sail, with a finish towards Cowes for the RORC Easter Challenge Prize Giving.

Congratulations to Easter Sunday race winners: Giovanni Belgrano’s Giles 39 Classic Whooper, Ben Pritchard’s Cape 31 Akheilos, The Army Sailing Association’s Sun Fast 3600 Fujitsu British Soldier skippered by Henry Foster, Ian Watkins’ Fareast 28 Mako, Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog, and Lance Adams’ Cape 31 Katabatic.

Mills 39 Team Hero on Zero II Photo: Paul Wyeth

IRC TWO

Mills 39 Team Hero on Zero II won the regatta by a single point. J/122 Bulldog won the last race but after the discard came in that was not enough. Sun Fast 3600 British Soldier was third by just two points.

“We cleaned up all the mistakes we had on the first two days and by the last day we were on it,” commented Zero II tactician Guy Sherbourne. “We knew we had to stay in touch with Bulldog and it came down to just the one point. We had some really great information from Ian Walker, we took that on board and we got our trim to where it was supposed to be. Those little incremental pieces of advice make the difference, it is where we got our speed from.”

JPK 1010 Elaine Again Photo: Paul Wyeth 

IRC THREE

JPK 1010 Elaine Again was the most consistent team at the regatta, scoring all podium race finishes to win the class by two points. John Smart’s J/109 Jukebox was just two points behind in second. Giovanni Belgrano’s Giles 39 Classic Whooper won the last three races to finish third by just two points.

“Before the regatta the main aim was to get the boat and the crew dialled in,” commented Elaine Again’s Ed Mockeridge. “ We have a new J1 and we got that out on Saturday, which was very useful. The crew have been together for a long time but we wanted to check that we are as quick as we were, as this is the first inshore regatta for us since last summer. We had excellent competition from Jukebox and Whooper and this has been a really good regatta to kick start our season, we have the Warsash Spring Champs in three weeks’ time and we will be at the IRC Nationals in Poole later this year.”

Cape 31 Katabatic Photo: Paul Wyeth 

CAPE 31

The Cape 31 Class went right to the wire, Katabatic eventually taking the regatta win by winning the final race by just eight seconds after IRC time correction. Simon Perry’s Jiraffe won the first three races but was pipped to first in class by a single point. Ben Prichard’s Akheilos scored two race wins to finish the regatta in third.

“More than half our crew are new this year, there are a lot of things we have been working on so this training regatta is a great event to try them out,” commented Katabatic’s Lance Adams. “We have found a number of areas that can be improved, which is important and the whole point of coming to the regatta. When we go training, we can really sort out manoeuvres but you don’t have the intensity of a start line and boat-on-boat, moding, all that kind of stuff. Those are the key areas that you can get by coming to the RORC Easter Regatta – all boats should do it really, it is so beneficial for the rest of the year, this has been a tough battle”
This year’s RORC Easter Challenge featured many new teams using the training regatta to kick start their programmes including Jonny Hewat & Lucian Stone’s Cape 31 Narwhal, the Royal Navy Sailing Association’s Corby 29 Cutlass, Alain Waha’s J/99 Further West, Julian James’ A31 Thunderbault, and Max Walker’s Sun Fast 3600 Elysium IV.

Grieg City Academy's Cote skippered by Kai Hockley Photo: Paul Wyeth 

The Royal Ocean Racing Club was delighted to see more young sailors than in previous years including the Greig City Academy racing Quarter Tonner Cote. RORC Treasurer Derek Shakespeare's J/122 Bulldog had seven crew in their twenties and on windy Easter Friday, when it was too much for the Quarter Tonner Cote to race, Bulldog invited two of the Cote team on board to race.

J/122 Bulldog with Richard Palmer Photo: Paul Wyeth 

“It keeps me young!” commented Derek Shakespeare about his youth crew. “I have been very lucky to put together a crew of fantastically talented youngsters that race around the cans and go offshore and we all love it. They bring huge enthusiasm and energy and hopefully they are learning a lot as well. The RORC have been running the Griffin Youth Project since the 1940s.In recent years we have seen a real drive. The Club has put more money into the programme and Griffin Chair Jim Driver has produced a really well-organised campaign. The Club has had huge interest with 300 sailors under 30 applying for the Griffin Project. Other Club Members are also encouraging you such as Gavin Howe and James Harayda. Youth is the future of our sport. We have to get them on board and give them a chance to learn and have a good time with friends of their own age.”

RORC Easter Challenge Results below

It was all change on Saturday, the second day of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge. The big breeze on the first day had moderated to a light southerly of about ten knots, and Spring sunshine had broken through the clouds.

Off Lee-on-Solent, PRO Stuart Childerley and the RORC team set three short, energy-sapping, windward leeward races for all classes. Race Four, the last race of the day, had the novelty of a downwind start. Hitting the ‘B’ of the bang for race starts and finding clear air were the keys to a good performance. With race legs of about half a mile, it was rush hour on the race course. Boat-on-boat tactics came into play, as did nailing the manoeuvres, especially at mark roundings.

In lighter conditions, the complexity of The Solent’s tides were a big factor. A strong easterly tide was present for the morning, changing on the ebb to a complex tidal stream around midday. By the end of the day’s racing, a strong westerly tide, set tacticians a new set of puzzles.

Congratulations to today’s race winners: Ed Mockridge’s JPK 1010 Elaine Again, The Army Sailing Association’s Sun Fast 3600 Fujitsu British Soldier skippered by Henry Foster, John Smart’s J/109 Jukebox, Simon Perry’s Cape 31 Jiraffe, Blanshard & Smith’s Ker 36 Skermisher, Lance Adams’ Cape 31 Katabatic, and Mills 39 Team Hero on Zero II, skippered by James Gair.

After racing a video debrief was held at the Royal Yacht Squadron Pavilion. The coaching team presented to a full turn-out of competitors eager to learn. Below are some of the key takeaways. North Sails UK General Manager Ian Walker - Golden Nuggets.

Wind speed transition - When the breeze goes from 6 to10 knots, the crew need to change from weight in board, or to leeward, to getting weight onto the high side. trimmers have to change the shape of the sails in the puffs and lulls.

Avoid the layline - If you take the boat all the way to the layline you can get tacked onto. it is better, in most cases, to tack before the layline, letting other boats go beyond you. You can then double tack and put them in your dirt.

Think about the tide - Today, light airs and big tide changed the laylines. This affected where to start and also the approach to mark roundings.

Positioning on the race track – when it’s light, clear air is really important for speed. There will be a lot of disturbed air in the middle of the course, especially if there are three fleets like today. You have to be bold and choose a side, going up the middle rarely works. Often both sides can pay, but choosing the right side for positive wind shifts and good pressure is the key.

Tacking in light airs – the crew need to think about moving their weight, staying on the old side to induce heel and then moving over together as a unit. This will help the driver as shifting weight together will aid the boat through head to wind, meaning less movement of the rudder.

Trim Set Up – Think about your trim through the tack, easing before the helm goes over just a few inches, will keep the boat speed up through the turn. After the turn, counting the speed build before sheeting on will accelerate the boat after the tack.

The 2024 RORC Easter Challenge got underway in ‘sporty’ conditions on Good Friday with strong gusty conditions in the Eastern Solent.

The first European fixture of the Royal Ocean Racing Club 2024 programme is billed as a training regatta with Mason King’s coaching team strengthened by support from Ian Walker from North Sails and veteran charter boat skipper Andy Middleton. Rules on outside assistance are relaxed, allowing top coaches to aid competitors in kick starting their season.

Cape 31 Katabatic on day one of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge on the Solent Photo: Paul Wyeth 

PRO Stuart Childerley set one race for the opening day for all classes with a Spring Tide going west for the duration.

Congratulations to today’s race winners in the IRC Classes: Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog, John Smart’s J/109 Jukebox, and Simon Perry’s Cape 31 Jiraffe.

Giles 39 Classic Whooper on day one of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge on the Solent Photo: Paul Wyeth 

Race One was held in brilliant sunshine with a stiff wind from SSW gusting well over 20 knots. A course of six legs from every point of sail, tested boat handling plus the ability to judge lay lines in a building cross-tide. After racing, a video debrief was held at the Royal Yacht Squadron Pavilion. The coaching team presented to a full turn-out of competitors eager to learn.

“For the majority of the crews racing at the RORC Easter Challenge, this was an opportunity to sail together as a team for the first time since the winter lay-off," commented Mason King. “In 25 knots of wind and at the start of the season, the important areas to focus on are boat handling and that is positively affected by good crew organisation and communication. Teamwork is all important for getting the manoeuvres right but we did see a number of boats spinning out today, especially when gybing.”

North Sails' Ian Walker on day one of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge on the Solent Photo: Paul Wyeth 

Ian Walker, UK General Manager for North Sails was out on the water in a coaching role. Ian is a double Olympic medallist and winning skipper of the Volvo Ocean Race, but also coached Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton for the Yngling gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games.

RORC Easter Challenge Debrief after day one of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge on the Solent Photo: Paul Wyeth 

Ian Walker commented at the debrief. “For teams that are just getting the boats and themselves back on the water, that was a pretty tough day. However, teams that got out there have made progress, not just for this regatta but for the season ahead.”

Just some of Ian’s ‘golden nuggets’ at the video debrief:

“When it’s windy it is hard to accelerate at the start because if you bear away, you haven’t got the righting moment to gain speed, you have to stay high so you don’t fall over. In terms of sail set up, It was gusty and shifty, so a forgiving trim set up is what you want. You need to get rid of the heeling moment with twist in the sail, especially at the top but not the whole sail as you need to be able to point.”

“The wind was shifty today, so you probably don’t want to get too near lay lines upwind, because the chances are that it is not going to stay lifted on one tack or the other all the way to the mark. It is probably better to stay in the middle of the course and play the shifts.”

Ker 36 Skermisher on day one of the 2024 RORC Easter Challenge on the Solent Photo: Paul Wyeth 

“Downwind, calling the gusts was very important, and the team needs to react. Just coming down five degrees is a simple solution, but you have to have a crew member calling the gusts and emphasising the big bullets of pressure.”

Racing continues at the RORC Easter Challenge tomorrow, Saturday 30 March.