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.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has announced the return of its Easter Challenge, a much anticipated event that kick-starts the racing season for many teams. The training regatta, which has been running for over 20 years, offers an excellent opportunity for world-class coaching that is complimentary for all entrants. 

RORC Racing Manager, Steve Cole, said, “The overall aim of the RORC Easter Challenge is to improve the performance of any team, regardless of their skill level. We want the sailors to gain from it, and the coaches have been chosen especially with that in mind. The RORC Race Team will split the fleets into IRC classes, but for this regatta, we also try to put boats together that have similar training requirements. This makes the best use of the coaches at the regatta. The coaching system is very interactive.”

Leading the coaching team is Mason King, supported by Ian Walker and North Sails experts, who provide on-water coaching, as well as video debriefs after racing on Friday and Saturday. World Sailing Rules on outside assistance are relaxed, so for no additional cost to all the teams, hand-picked coaches provide pin-point assistance to get crews of any level up to speed. 

The regatta will take place over three days from Easter Friday to Easter Sunday in The Solent, with courses designed to practice boat handling and performance over a range of sailing angles. This creates various options in sail choice, racing mode, plus deck and rig set up, all under the watchful eye of experts who will offer help to improve performance.

In addition to the racing, a competitor WhatsApp group will be active throughout the RORC Easter Challenge, providing information about the intentions of the Race Committee, while also serving as a two-way channel for competitors to request coaching advice during racing.

This year's regatta is supported by the Royal Yacht Squadron, with competitors welcome to The Pavilion on the Squadron lawn throughout the event and for video debriefs. The RORC Easter Challenge awards traditional prizes of Easter Eggs, but the real winners are all the sailors, improving every aspect of yacht racing ability at a safe and friendly regatta.

London's Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has announced Dun Laoghaire as the venue for its IRC European Championships in 2024.

While a host club has yet to be named, RORC's provisional programme 2024 says the eighth championship edition will be held in September on Dublin Bay.

Alternating between the North and the South of Europe (the Channel and the Mediterranean Sea), the IRC European Championship is a flagship event of the 2024 IRC season and typically aims to bring together more than 60 boats.

The event is open to all IRC-rated boats. Typically, it will consist of a minimum of four coastal or tactical races (coefficient 1) and a long coastal race (coefficient 2). 

Following the inaugural championship as part of  Cork Week in 2016, the event sailed in Marseille in 2017, Cowes in 2018, and San Remo in 2019; the event sailed in Hyères, France in 2021 before moving to Brekens, Holland, in 2022 and in Cannes, France last June.

A screenshot of part of RORC's provisional programme for 2024 showing Dun Laoghaire as the IRC Euros venue in its last event of the season

At the end of the week, a trophy rewarding the leaders of each IRC Class will be awarded, as well as a Special Trophy for the first in the overall ranking who will be crowned European IRC Champion.

See RORC's provisional programme for 2024 here

Royal Ocean Racing Club member, and aspiring Vendee Globe Sailor, James Harayda is just 25 years old and already a two-time British Double Handed National Champion, racing with teammate Dee Caffari on Sun Fast 3300 Gentoo.

In 2022, racing in the IMOCA Class, James Harayda completed the 3,600nm Route Du Rhum solo race. As the youngest skipper, Harayda came 14th in a world-class fleet of 38 boats.

James has an astonishing season planned for 2023, including racing his IMOCA Gentoo Sailing Team double-handed in the RORC Myth of Malham, Morgan Cup and the Rolex Fastnet Race. James will be competing in the full IMOCA Globe series, including, the Bermuda 1000, Défi-Azimut, Transat Jacques Vabre, and the Retour a La Base.

In 2024, James will take on his first 'Everest of Ocean Racing', the 2024 Vendée Globe.

Listen into his RORC talk below

The 2021 Royal Ocean Racing Club Annual Dinner and Prize Giving was held to celebrate a spectacular season of racing. Dubbed the RORC Oscars, over 300 attendees enjoyed a cocktail reception and a three-course gourmet dinner. A glittering array of prestigious prizes were presented to the season’s winners in The Ballroom of the 5-Star InterContinental London Park Lane.

More than 4,000 sailors from around the world, racing in a dazzling variety of 400 boats, took part in the 2021 RORC Season's Points Championship. The world's largest offshore racing series comprised 11 testing races, each with its own coveted prizes.

During dinner, the main stage lit up for the awards ceremony and RORC CEO Jeremy Wilton introduced guest speaker and RORC member Pip Hare to the stage. Pip’s IMOCA 60 Medallia was also one of the winners, being awarded the Dennis P Miller Memorial Trophy for the best British Overseas Yacht. A magnificent result in the 2020-2021 Vendée Globe, saw Pip become the first British skipper to finish the premier solo round the world race. Pip’s 20-minute presentation was warmly received by the RORC members and guests.

“Getting to the start line of the Vendée Globe is the most difficult goal of all and I have many people in this Club to say a big thank you for getting me there,” commented Hare.

RORC member and guests speaker Pip Hare was awarded the Dennis P Miller Memorial Trophy for the best British Overseas Yacht for her magnificent result in the Vendée Globe on IMOCA Medallia Photo: Rich Bowen

Sunrise win IRC Overall + Yacht of the Year 2021

RORC Commodore James Neville, assisted by RORC Racing Manager Chris Stone, welcomed the trophy winners to the stage; each one receiving tumultuous applause from the audience. There was a standing ovation for the overall winner of the 2021 RORC Season's Points Championship, Tom Kneen’s JPK 1180 Sunrise. The team received a huge haul of prizes including the Jazz Trophy for winning IRC Overall and the Somerset Memorial Trophy for RORC Yacht of the Year.

Sunrise’s victorious season is unprecedented in the 21-year history of the Championship. Winning the RORC Season’s Points Championship by 133 points, including overall wins under IRC in the East Coast Race and the Morgan Cup. The zenith of Sunrise’s success came when Tom Kneen became the first British skipper to win the Rolex Fastnet Race since 2003.

“This really is unbelievable,” commented Kneen. “The Sunrise team is a very unique group of people that has done something quite astonishing. Collecting all this silverware in front of this special crowd makes you start to comprehend what we have achieved. The reality is that this will not sink in for a while. This season is beyond our dreams; everything went really well for us and you have to be lucky as well as good. I think we have proven that you don’t need to be wealthy as we are a fairly small budget boat with a young crew. This achievement is through hard work and commitment. Our biggest challenge right now is to keep it going and it is very hard to imagine what next. We can do amazing things with this team and the platform we have created.”

“This really is unbelievable,” commented Tom Kneen after collecting all the silverware at the RORC Annual Dinner and prizegiving for the the winners in the 2021 RORC Season's Points Championship. “Sunrise is a very unique group of people that has done something quite astonishing. Photo Paul Wyeth

The zenith of Sunrise’s success came when Tom Kneen became the first British skipper since 2003 to win the Rolex Fastnet Race Photo Paul Wyeth

Tala win IRC Zero Overall

Retaining the Europeans Cup for the best yacht in IRC Zero was David Collins’ Botin IRC 52 Tala. A fantastic season included winning IRC Zero for the Rolex Fastnet Race. Tala left the UK at the start of November and sailed to Puerto Calero, Lanzarote for the start of the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race. The 3,000 nautical mile race across the Atlantic Ocean to Camper and Nicholsons’ Port Louis Marina, Grenada starts on 8th January 2022 with a record entry of world-class boats.

“We have been improving Tala after every race; she is now a lot dryer than she was!” commented Collins. “Tala has the capability to win races, sending this boat is huge fun and we hope to get that opportunity. When it gets really gnarly, we know we will need to preserve the boat. Nobody in the team is under any illusions, we are taking a racing car rallying. I have never raced across the Atlantic before and if we get the tradewinds and all goes well we should finish in under 10 days.”

A fantastic season for David Collins' team onboard his Botin IRC 52, Tala, winning the Europeans Cup for IRC Zero overall in the Season’s Points Championship and taking home two Assuage Tankards for their performance in the Myth of Malham and Castle Rock Race Photo Rich Bowen

Bellino win IRC Two-Handed & IRC Three Overall

2021 was a victorious year for Rob Craigie racing his Sun Fast 3600 Bellino with Deb Fish. Bellino won IRC Three with 93 entries, as well as IRC Two-Handed with 80 entries.

“I love sailing with Deb and it is really good to win this year, especially as we couldn’t sail last year with the pandemic. We have been building on what we have done for many years and this is the first time we have won IRC Three. Given the quality of the fleet this year, that is very special,” commented Craigie.

Deb Fish added that many younger teams are coming into the IRC Two-Handed Class: “Many of the younger sailors come from a dinghy background and that is scary for us because they can get to a good standard very quickly. They have the advantage of youth where they don’t get as tired doing 60 tacks. Once they get the experience, they become a very potent force.”

Rob Craigie racing his Sun Fast 3600 Bellino with Deb Fish won IRC Three with 93 entries, as well as IRC Two-Handed with 80 entries Photo: Rich Bowen

RORC Admiral Mike Greville also presented a special award to Eddie Warden Owen, marking the finale of 12 years at the helm of the Royal Ocean Racing Club as Chief Executive Officer. Eddie was awarded life membership of the Club and a gift of a special dossier of his articles produced for Seahorse Magazine.

Eddie Warden Owen - Awarded lifetime membership of the RORC for his work over 12 years at the helm of the Royal Ocean Racing Club as Chief Executive Officer Photo: Rich Bowen

After the prize-giving, guests partied to a live set from rock and pop cover band 4 to the Floor. 

Racing for the 2022 RORC Season's Points Championship continues on January 8th with the RORC Transatlantic Race. The exciting RORC Season, which started with the Rolex Middle Sea Race, includes the RORC Caribbean 600, the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race, and the inaugural RORC Baltic Sea Race. 

The Royal Ocean Racing Club, in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA) and the Yacht Club de France, expect a record entry for the 2022 RORC Transatlantic Race. From the mighty Comanche to the miniscule Jangada, 29 teams from all over the world make up an extraordinary entry list. A world class fleet of multihulls and monohulls are scheduled to start the RORC Transatlantic Race on the 8th of January 2022 from Puerto Calero, Lanzarote.

The 3,000 nautical-mile race across the Atlantic to Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada, has two major prizes for the monohulls. The overall winner, after IRC time correction, will win the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy. The IMA Transatlantic Trophy will be awarded for Monohull Line Honours. The star-studded entry list of racing yachts includes teams from Austria, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States of America.

Current entry list is here

The firm favourite for Monohull Line Honours is the 100 ft (33 m) canting keel maxi Comanche (CAY), skippered by Mitch Booth. Comanche holds the Monohull West-East Transatlantic sailing record (Ambrose Light - Lizard Point. 5d 14h 21m 25s) and has taken Monohull Line Honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race, the RORC Caribbean 600, the Rolex Sydney Hobart, the Transpac and the Rolex Middle Sea Race.

Skipper Mitch Booth confirms that Comanche will be aiming to set a new race record for the RORC Transatlantic Race, which was set in 2018 by Pier Luigi Loro Piana's Supermaxi My Song (10d 05h 47m 11s).

“We are looking forward to it; this is what Comanche was made for and the RORC Caribbean 600 is on the programme as well,” commented Mitch Booth. “The RORC Transatlantic is a perfect race for Comanche - a perfect length with a reaching course. It is an iconic race and setting a new race record is one of the challenges we are aiming for. Setting a race record doesn’t allow you to choose the right weather window and the current race record is fast – but it’s beatable. We have a couple of the My Song crew in our team and we are looking forward to having a crack at it; that’s the name of the game!”

Given the high number of performance yachts entered for the 2022 edition, a fierce battle is expected for overall victory after IRC time correction for the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy.

HYPR embarks on her rounding of the volcanic island of Stromboli in the recent Middle Sea Race © ROLEX/Kurt Arrigo

A significant number of out-and-out ocean racers will race across the Atlantic, including Jens Lindner at the helm of the turbo charged Volvo 70 HYPR and Bouwe Bekking with Volvo 70 L4 Trifork . Gerwin Jansen will skipper the VO65 Sisi (AUT), raced by the Austrian Ocean Race Project. Richard Tolkien’s Open 60 Rosalba (GBR) and Jean-Pierre Dreau’s Mylius 60 Lady First III (FRA) will also be on the start line in Lanzarote.

For Stefan Jentzsch and his team racing Black Pearl, (GER) the RORC Transatlantic Race is unfinished business. The brand-new IRC 56 retired with a broken bowsprit in 2021. New to the race, and fresh from a third in class for the Middle Sea Race, will be Maximilian Klink’s new Botin 52 Caro (GER). The RORC Transatlantic Race will also mark the debut for Arto Linnervuo’s Infiniti 52 Tulikettu (FIN).

David Collins' Botin IRC 52 Tala (GBR), winner of IRC Zero in the Fastnet Race, left the UK in early November to sail all the way to Lanzarote. “The RORC Transatlantic Race is a big undertaking for Tala,” commented Pete Redmond. “The boat is specifically set up for offshore and we have been working on improving the water ingress especially for this race. We have no doubt that we will have a bit on. It should be a lot of fun, but ask me that again in Grenada after about 11 days!”

The RORC Transatlantic Race - a big undertaking for Tala which has been set up for long offshore racing in the 3,000nm transatlantic race to Grenada © ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

A number of highly competitive yachts under 50ft (15.24m) will be in action for the RORC Transatlantic Race. The Lombard 46 Pata Negra (GBR) was second overall in the 2019 race. Now under the ownership of Andrew Hall, Pata Negra will be taking part in its second RORC Transatlantic Race.

Ross Applebey’s Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster (GBR) has been a proven winner racing with the RORC on both sides of the Atlantic. However, this will be Scarlet Oyster’s RORC Transatlantic Race debut. “I am a proud RORC member and having won class in the ARC 10 times and overall five times, it feels right to take on a bigger challenge,” commented Ross Applebey. “Looking at the strength of the entrants this will be a hard race to win but we will score well for the RORC Season’s Points Championship.”

Newcomers for the RORC Transatlantic Race include Mark Emerson’s A13 Phosphorous II (GBR) which has been in fine form this year. Christopher Daniel’s J/122 Juno (GBR) will be racing with a crew of family and friends. French teams will be racing with highly experienced crews including Dominique Tian’s Ker 46 Tonnerre de Glen (FRA) from Marseille and Jacques Pelletier Milon 41, L'Ange de Milon (FRA), class winner for the 2019 Fastnet Race, as well as several classic yachts; Baptiste Garnier's Eugenia V, Remy Gerin's Faiaoahe and Alain Moatti's beautiful fife ketch Sumurun.

Ross Applebey's Scarlet Oyster - 'Taking on a bigger challenge' in the highly competitive RORC Transatlantic Race © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com

Several classic yachts will be competing in the RORC Transatlantic race, including Alain Moatti's beautiful fife ketch Sumurun © Sumurun

The smallest yacht in the current entry list, both in terms of water-line length and crew, is Richard Palmer’s JPK 10.10 Jangada, which will be racing in IRC Two-Handed with Jeremy Waitt as co-skipper. This will be the third RORC Transatlantic Race for Jangada, including an overall victory under IRC in 2019. Jangada was in fine form for last month’s Middle Sea Race, winning IRC Two-Handed in feisty conditions.

“This will be the second race for the season and the ambition is to win the RORC Season’s Points Championship overall, which has never been done by a Two-Handed team,” commented Richard Palmer. “For our RORC Transatlantic Race win in 2019, the weather gods were in our favour, but the championship series was thwarted by the pandemic. This year, even getting to the start line is logistically challenging. However, once the starting gun fires the nerves and anxiety fall away, you are just in race mode.”

The first Two-Handed winners of the spectacular RORC Transatlantic Trophy in the 2019 race - Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada will return for the 2022 edition with Jeremy Waitt as co-skipper © Arthur Daniel/RORC

The Royal Ocean Racing Club Season’s Points Championship continues with the Channel Race, which will start on Saturday, July 24th from the RYS Line, Cowes. 80 boats have entered the non-stop overnight race with the majority of the fleet expected to finish the race in about 24 hours. The Channel Race is the ninth race of the RORC Season’s Points Championship with an international fleet racing under IRC and Class40 Rules. The Channel Race is the final RORC race before the main event of the season, the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race.

Favourites for Line Honours and the Hugh Astor Trophy will be racing in IRC Zero. David Collins' Botin IRC 52 Tala took line honours and IRC Zero for the Channel Race in 2019. Eric de Turckheim’s NMYD54 Teasing Machine, second in 2019, will be Tala’s main opposition. Lance Shepherd’s Volvo Open 70 Telefonica Black and Ross Hobson’s Open 50 Pegasus Of Northumberland, will hope for strong reaching conditions to be first to cross the finish line. Jean Pierre Dreau’s Mylius 60 Lady First 3 will be racing with his team from Marseille, France. 

Greg Leonard’s Kite and Manic skippered by Brian Thompson will duel for Class40 honours. Photo: Rick Tomlinson

Michael O’Donnell’s J/121 Darkwood Photo: Paul Wyeth

IRC ONE

Michael O’Donnell’s J/121 Darkwood leads IRC One for the 2021 RORC Season’s Points Championship and is a contender for the overall title. Darkwood will be defending the Channel Challenge Cup, as overall winners in 2019. Ed Fishwick’s GP42 Redshift is second in class for the 2021 season, and with a good result in the Channel Race, could take the lead from Darkwood. RORC Commodore James Neville, racing HH42 Ino XXX, will be in a confident mood after winning the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race overall. Mark Emerson’s A13 Phosphorus II, and Andrew Hall’s Lombard 46 Pata Negra, will both be racing and looking to improve their points tally for the season. The Tall Ships Youth Trust has two entries. The 72ft Challenger Yachts will be skippered by Michael Miller and Sue Geary. Teams from overseas include, Jacques Pelletier’s French Milon 41 L'Ange De Milon, winner of IRC One in the 2019 Rolex Fastnet, and Steven Verstraete’s Belgian Sydney 43 Morpheus.

Thomas Kneen’s JPK 1180 Sunrise Photo: Rick Tomlinson

IRC TWO

The overall leader of the 2021 RORC Season’s Points Championship will be racing. Thomas Kneen’s JPK 1180 Sunrise is the clear leader by over 100 points. However, Ed Bell’s JPK 1180 Dawn Treader has scored one less race for the season and is very likely to close the gap after the Channel Race. The same mathematics is true for Ross Applebey’s Scarlet Oyster. Five Beneteau First 40s will be in action including three entries from Sailing Logic: Lancelot II sailed by James Davies, Merlin sailed by Simon Zavad with CSORC, and Arthur sailed by Jim Bennett. Promocean’s First 40 Hoeoca Sfida and Susan Glenny’s First 40 Olympia's Tigress will also be in the mix. Teams from the Netherlands, both racing Two-Handed are J/122e Moana, sailed by Frans van Cappelle & Michelle Witsenburg and JPK 1180 Il Corvo, sailed by Roeland Franssens & Astrid de Vin. Benedikt Clauberg’s Swiss First 47.7 Kali will be taking part in their sixth RORC race of the season.

Gavin Howe's Sun Fast 3600 Tigris Photo: Paul Wyeth

IRC THREE

23 teams are expected to be racing in IRC Three, including many teams racing Two-Handed. Fully crewed entries include Trevor Middleton’s Sun Fast 3600 Black Sheep. Skippered by Jake Carter, Black Sheep is the leading fully crewed team in IRC Three. Five fully crewed J/109s will continue their close rivalry for the season. Kevin Armstrong’s Jazzy Jellyfish is leading the J/109s for 2021 ahead of Mojo Risin' skippered by Rob Cotterill.

IRC TWO-HANDED

28 teams are entered racing Two-Handed, the majority racing in IRC Three and Four, the top two double handers for the season so far will be in action. Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, racing with Deb Fish, is less than ten points ahead of James Harayda’s Sun Fast 3300 Gentoo, racing with Dee Caffari. Two Sun Fast 3600s are battling for third for the season. Gavin Howe’s Tigris, racing with Maggie Adamson, is 13 points ahead of Nick Martin’s Diablo, racing with Calanach Finlayson. Two-Handed teams from France include Max Mesnil & Hugo Feydit racing J/99 Axe Sail, and Gilles Courbon & David Guyonvarch racing First Class 10 Shortgood.

Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After Photo: James Tomlinson

IRC FOUR

Sun Fast 3200 Cora sailed Two-Handed by Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews is leading the class for the season. Cora will be looking to hold off a spirited challenge for the series from Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After, also sailed Two-Handed with Louise Clayton. 20 teams are entered in IRC Four including Gavin Doyle’s Irish Corby 25 Duff Lite and Pierre Legoupil’s French classic Le Loup Rouge Of Cmn.

Yachts taking part in the Channel Race will start to gather off Cowes Parade from around 1000 on Saturday 24th July. The full entry list and AIS tracking link can be found at https://yb.tl/channel2021 and also via smartphones with the YB App. 

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has announced Jeremy Wilton as the new Chief Executive of the London and Cowes based Club from 6th April 2021. He will take over the leadership and development role of one of the world’s most influential yacht clubs from Eddie Warden Owen, who has helped shape the success of the Club through its international offshore racing programme for the past 12 years.

“We look forward to welcoming Jeremy who has an excellent understanding of leading membership-based clubs and a proven record of delivering strong financial and commercial results,” says RORC Commodore, James Neville of the new CEO, soon to head the 4,000-strong worldwide membership.

“Having held senior leadership positions in the world of rugby, where he spent over seven years working at Bath Rugby and Wasps, as well as over a decade at Whitbread PLC and founded and developed a marketing communications agency, we are certain that Jeremy’s experience and vision will be a huge asset, ensuring that the RORC is in a strong position as it nears the Club’s centenary in 2025,” continues Commodore Neville.

“I understand what it means to be part of a successful culture and together with the RORC Committee, management and staff, I am determined to continue the Club’s evolution and make it the best it possibly can,” says incoming CEO Wilton of his new role.

Talking of the Club and the sport of sailing coming out of the current epidemic, Wilton comments: “It is clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a massive effect on business practices and social life in London and the sailing programme and clubhouse in Cowes and as we emerge from the pandemic we are going to have our challenges, but with these will bring exciting opportunities and new avenues for innovation.”

Wilton is no stranger to the world of sailing. During his time at Whitbread PLC, he oversaw and developed a sponsorship portfolio that covered two Whitbread Round the World Races, and having been introduced to sailing at a young age, it has featured heavily throughout his life, both in Australia and the UK.

Starting in dinghies of various shapes and sizes and graduating to offshore racing. He has competed in the Fastnet, Sydney to Coffs Harbour and nearly all of the RORC’s long-distance races; numerous Cowes Week regattas, and narrowly missed out on representing Great Britain in the Admiral’s Cup.

Warden Owen will step down from the overall running of the RORC in April, but will continue to work on delivering the Club’s flagship event – the 49th Rolex Fastnet Race starting from Cowes, UK on Sunday 8th August and finishing for the first time in Cherbourg, France.

Joining this prestigious Club at a significant time, both in terms of shaping the way forward and ensuring it remains in high revere is something Wilton relishes: “It is a privilege and honour to be appointed as the new CEO of RORC. I am looking forward to guiding the Club into a new era and to be part of the team that will chart the next chapter of this esteemed Club’s history.”

On the fifth day of the RORC Transatlantic Race, all of the competing yachts are fully offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Life on board will have found a rhythm to the corkscrew motion of surfing downwind for days on end. Oren Nataf’s Multi50 Trimaran Rayon Vert, skippered by Alex Pella is leading the fleet and they will be celebrating having crossed the halfway mark in the 2,735-mile race from Lanzarote to the Caribbean. Rayon Vert’s skipper Pella is very much at home in the Atlantic. The Spaniard has won both the Route du Rhum and the Transat Jacques Vabre.

Olivier Magre’s Class40 Palanad 3 is the leading monohull, 18 miles ahead of Johannes Schwarz’s Volvo 70 Green Dragon. The leading boats in the RORC Transatlantic Race are hundreds of miles south of the rhumb line. High pressure has pushed the ENE trade winds further south and the front runners have raced the additional miles to hook into the bigger breeze to maximise their velocity made good (VMG).

Third in the monohulls is Antoine Carpentier’s Class40 Redman; currently, 114 miles behind Palanad 3 when they contacted the RORC Race Team: “Everything is going well. We have solved a problem with our starboard rudder and everything is working normally. We spent most of the nights gybing and changing sails. Now the weather is better- it’s a good time to get back in the kitchen.”

Palanad 3’s Olivier Magre commented via satellite link: “All is well onboard and much calmer than the first 48 hours. We did have an issue with the spinnaker when it fell completely into the water, but there is not too much damage and Luke (Berry) has been up the rig to untangle the halyards. The atmosphere on board is very good. We have to be careful of the squalls because the trade winds are quite active.”

The performance cruisers racing in IRC are positioned further north. For these boats the strategy for maximizing VMG has produced a different tactic. Racing further south does not improve their speed enough to warrant the extra miles. Benedikt Clauberg’s First 47.7 Kali and Sebastien Saulnier’s Sun Fast 3300 Moshimoshi maybe over 100 miles apart on the water, but they are both approximately 2,000 miles from the finish.

Sebastian from Moshimoshi reports that life is good on board and that racing across the Atlantic has magical moments, such as visits from tropical birds who are also making their migration!

As previously reported, the IRC56 Black Pearl retired on January 10th. Black Pearl’s bowsprit had broken just west of the Canary Islands. The crew sailed back to Lanzarote unassisted, arriving on January 12th. The team are disappointed, but safely ashore and received a warm welcome from Marina Puerto Calero.

After 12 years at the helm of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), Eddie Warden Owen has informed the club of his desire to step down as Chief Executive Officer in 2021. The identification of a replacement has already begun, and the intention is for Eddie to leave his role in October, at the earliest, to allow the club time to recruit and to ensure a smooth transition.

The RORC has undergone significant development under Eddie's leadership and continues to be recognised as one of the world's most influential yacht clubs, especially in the discipline of offshore sailing. "The time is right not only for the club, but for me personally. The period since joining the RORC in 2008 has seen great changes in both its structure and racing activities. There is always more to be done and this is the moment for a fresh pair of hands on the wheel. I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life once the transition is complete. I might even get to do more sailing!"

"Eddie's shoes will be hard to fill," said Commodore James Neville. "During his tenure as CEO the club has expanded its membership, as well as its physical footprint and racing programme. Most importantly, as we approach our centenary in 2025, the RORC is in a strong position to look forward and to continue its role within the sport."

Born in Wales, Eddie was introduced to sailing in the 1960s by his father, a shipwright and founding member of the Holyhead Sailing Club. Such was his passion and skill, that in the early 1970s he swapped a career in teaching PE for sailmaking and a stab at the Olympics. Thwarted in this latter ambition by the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, Eddie turned to racing bigger boats where his ability and achievements were quickly spotted and led to a series of Admiral's Cup campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s and, significantly, an introduction to match-racing, the world of the America's Cup and fully professional sailing.

After being part of six Cup campaigns, one in Fremantle, two in San Diego, two in Auckland and one in Valencia, between 1987 and 2007, Eddie was looking for a change in direction just as the RORC was looking for someone new to run the club. Eddie's profile, his knowledge of the sport, natural rapport with owners, crew and professionals, as well as an ability to open doors, made him the perfect fit.

Since joining the club, Eddie has overseen the merger with the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes giving the RORC a base on the south coast; the launch of RORC Caribbean 600 and RORC Transatlantic Race; the refurbishment of the London clubhouse in St James' and put the club's finances on a firm footing.

Eddie has also been responsible for the growth in entries and overall appeal of the club's signature event, the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Lifting the limits on entries to allow more Corinthian crews, while at the same time embracing the participation of professional classes, such as IMOCA 60s, Class 40s and grand prix multihulls, has enabled the race to flourish.

A desire to expand the fleet further led to the decision to move the finish of the 2021 and 2023 Rolex Fastnet Races to Cherbourg, which has the facilities and wherewithal to accommodate and host a fleet of over 350 yachts. It was a decision, however, that divided opinion at the London club and led to a vote of its members as Afloat reported here.

As one of the architects of this move, Eddie will continue to work with the event's partners in the lead-up and during the 2021 race to ensure its success.