#Offshore - Alan Hannon’s Reichel-Pugh 45 Katsu has emerged best of the three Irish entrants at fifth overall in the 400-mile RORC Cowes-Wolf Rock-Ile d’Ouessant (Ushant)-St Malo Race, which started on Sunday 14 August in the Solent to round out Cowes Week 2016, and experienced a wide range of speeds for the diverse fleet of 45 boats, writes W M Nixon.

Line honours at the French port of St Malo, with its famous fortified harbour, were taken late on Monday afternoon by the MOD 70 trimaran Phaedo 3 (Lloyd Thornburg), with the current Round Ireland record holder managing to stay ahead of sister ship Concise (Ned Collier Wakefield).

But while the big trimarans were comfortably finished after only one night at sea, the easterly breeze was fading and the smaller tail-enders – including the 1976 Half Ton (when Harold Cudmore-skippered) World Champion Silver Shamrock (Stuart Greenfield) – were only finishing today, with the famous Shamrock finally crossing the line at 9:05 this morning, thereby ending up with four nights at sea before they could relax in hospitable St Malo.

So near and yet so far: the main part of the RORC fleet crowded on the race tracker in light airs off St Malo at 1830 yesterday evening as they struggled to finish the 400-mile race from Cowes via Wolf Rock and Ouessant

The vintage Swan 37 Xara (Jonathan Rolls), which had been overall leader at lunchtime Tuesday when she’d been down off Ouessant, finally completed at 3:24 this morning to register 22nd overall, while Silver Shamrock was 24th.

As expected here yesterday, it was Eric de Turckheim’s wonderful A13 Teasing Machine that won overall by a margin of 3 hours and 20 minutes from the German Ker 46 Shakti, a result which, when combined with her second overall in the Volvo Round Ireland back in June, will be making the Machine a challenger for the RORC Points Championship.

It was a good race for northerner Alan Hannon, as Katsu was fifth overall and by taking second in Class 1 astern of Teasing Machine, she was one place better than the  First 44.7 Lisa which, under Michael Boyd’s command, was one place ahead of her in the Round Ireland.

Michael Boyd, Commodore of the RORC, was meanwhile racing his new JPK 10.80 Audrey round Ushant, and in a private battle with the third Irish entry, Conor Fogerty’s Sunfast 3600 Bam!, Audrey was to have it by just 20 minutes to make them 9th and 11th overall respectively, while their placings in IRC 3 were 3rd and 4th.

Alan Hannon’s RP 45 Katsu shortly after the start of the Volvo Round Ireland Race at Wicklow in June, when she finished 4th overall

#Offshore - Take a classic GRP production-built offshore racer, well matured in years but still in basically good shape, and give her lots of TLC. Add a good wardrobe of new sails and other discretionary go-fast equipment. Then race her regularly with determination and skill, and every so often you’ll find you have a boat which, thanks to a sensibly low rating, can embarrass the new machines when conditions suit, writes W M Nixon.

Thus, in predicting the top ten favourites for the Volvo Round Ireland race in June, we included Richard Loftus’s vintage Swan 65 Desperado. The thinking was that, with strong winds forecast for the long slug along the South Coast, and with the marathon character of the race itself, a hefty big well-sailed classic Swan that provides comfort for her crew would do well in the long run.

Our thinking was right, but we picked the wrong ‘hefty big well-sailed classic Swan’. We should have plumped for Richard Mabley’s Swan 47 Sarabande, a fine boat that won Class 2, and would have done better overall (she was 15th) except that the hyper-calm just north of Rockabill saw her so stopped that she ended up pointing in the wrong direction. When the wind trickled back, it took so long to get steerage way on her again, and pointing towards Wicklow, that lighter zippier boats she’d been pacing with were now on the southern horizon.

In the current and rather intriguing 400-mile RORC Cowes-Wolf Rock-Ouessant-St Malo Race, which started on Sunday 14 August, the manageable sailing, and the regular slowbacks by adverse tide, have seen the low-rated oldies moving up the rankings.

The current overall leader on IRC is Jonathan Rolls Swan 38 Xara, which dates from the early 1970s. But quite how long Xara will remain in that overall lead is doubtful, as she’s currently struggling to round Ouessant while making just 1.7 knots over the ground. And second overall is Eric de Turckheim’s all-conquering A13 Teasing Machine, which is just 68 miles from the finish, and on course at 7.0 knots.

The tracker for the 400-mile RORC Cowes-Wolf Rock-Ouessant-St Malo Race at 1300hrs today (Tuesday)

Lying third is a real blast from the past, the 1976 Half Tonner Silver Shamrock (Stuart Greenfield). Winner of the Half Ton Worlds in 1976 under Harold Cudmore’s command, the 30ft Silver Shamrock (rating just 0.884) is closing in on Ouessant, but making a crisp 5.6 knots.

The three Irish boats in the race are RORC Commodore Michael Boyd’s JPK 10.80 Audrey (currently 14th overall and fifth in IRC 3), Conor Fogerty’s Sunfast 36 Bam (13th overall and fourth in IRC 3), and Alan Hannon’s Reichel Pugh 45 Katsou (17th overall in IRC and second in IRC 1).