#RORCSRBI - The Royal Ocean Racing Club has declared Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 51 Varuna (GER) as the overall winner under IRC of the 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race.

Race sponsors Sevenstar Yacht Transport have also awarded Jens Kellinghusen with a $20,000 voucher to ship Varuna to their selected destination worldwide, which will be used to transport the boat to Malta to take part in the Rolex Middle Sea Race, the final race of the RORC Season's Points Championship.

Although six yachts are still racing, none of them can better Varuna's corrected time racing under IRC.

Varuna has no powered winches and the tough conditions required tremendous physical exertion and long hours hiking out on the rail.

Kellinghusen was quick to praise his crew for their performance. "The weather conditions really suited Varuna," he said. "Our biggest competition was with the canting keel boats, which would have preferred reaching, but the downwind conditions towards the end were ideal for us.

"I am so happy for the crew as they all did a great job and the boat held together in some testing conditions. I am very pleased, this is the first time we have participated and we really enjoyed the race. We already use Sevenstar for transporting Varuna, so the $20,000 from the sponsors is very much appreciated."

Aside from team owner Kellinghusen, Varuna's winning crew comprised pit/boat captain Tim Daase from Wewelsfleth in Germany; runner Guenter Alajmo from Hamburg; navigator Guillermo Altadill from Barcelona; trimmers Luke Molloy from Brisbane, Australia and David Blass from Braunschweig, Germany; pit Fynn Terveer and drivers Jan Hilbert and Gunnar Knierim, all from Kiel in Germany; and bows Peter Knight from Guernsey, Christian Stoffers from Kiel and Alastair Sayers from Hobart, Tasmania.

At 9am BST this morning (Friday 22 August) the remaining six yachts racing in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race were experiencing downwind conditions in plenty of breeze.

Relentless on Jellyfish, the J/122 skippered by James George, was just 38 miles from the finish holding off a strong challenge from the Army Sailing Association's J/111 British Soldier, which is six miles behind the on-the-water leader. Both yachts were expected to finish this afternoon.

Saga, the Hanse 531 skippered by Peter Hopps, passed The Lizard at midnight. At as of 9am this morning, Saga was 30 miles from Portland Bill with 100 miles to go. Saga is expected to finish the race around midnight on Saturday 23 August.

Just after midnight last night, Ian Hoddle's Figaro II Rare passed Liam Coyne's First 36.7 Lula Belle, as the two-handed teams approached the Scilly Isles. As of this morning Rare and crew had extended their lead by 11 miles to lead on the water as the two yachts passed The Lizard.

However, after time correction, Lula Belle is still the leading the two-handed class by a considerable margin. Werner Landwehr's Figaro II, Dessert D'Alcyone, was 70 miles from the Scilly Isles, 300 miles from the finish.

Coyne, skipper of Lula Belle, contacted the Royal Ocean Racing Club in the early hours of this morning. The Irish pair of Coyne and Brian Flahive have been racing for 11 days surviving gale-force winds, but fatigue and gear failure is taking its toll.

Lula Belle's engine has failed to start, essential to charge their batteries, and the sails are showing signs of the battering they have received.

Without access to the fleet tracking player on the RORC website, Coyne was unaware that Rare was passing them, going by what he wrote from Lula Belle while at sea, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.