Outrajeous Stays Ahead In IRC Euros Class 1 In "Stakhanovite Sailing"

14th September 2024

Johnny & Suzi Murphy's Outrajeous continues to lead class One after day three of the IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay Credit: Afloat

Those familiar with the story of the Soviet ultra-worker Alexei Grigoryevich Stakhanov may well wonder what connection a coal-mining workaholic could possibly have with yachting in Dublin Bay. But the word is that the competition in Class 1 for today (Saturday's) three races has been so intense and tendon-testing that Radox muscular pain-relieving powder is like gold dust on the Dun Laoghaire waterfront.

For sure, Johnny & Suzi Murphy's J/109 Outrajeous has come out of this "Stakhanovite Sailing" now seriously ahead, for after seven races at the Maples Group IRC European Championships they discard one of two seconds to come in overall well ahead of John Minnis's A 35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough by 7 points to 18.

Robin Young's J-Boat Jings from Scotland crosses John Minnis's A 35 Final Call II from Belfast Lough at the Maples Group IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

John Maybury's J/109 Joker 2 from the host club is third on 23, and Ben & Jono Shelley's Mocking-J from Scotland is fourth on 28, just one point ahead of Barry Cunningham's Chimaera (RIYC.

Ben & Jono Shelley's Mocking-J from Scotland competing at the Maples Group IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Sometimes the winning margins for Outrajeous have been marginal, but the occasional wafer thin win saw the slim margin in the right direction for the Howth YC crew, except for Race 6 when John Maybury's Joker 2 got ahead of the wafer by 15 seconds in the water, translating to 11 seconds on CT.

Alan Hannon's JPK 10.30 Coquine at the Maples Group IRC European Championships on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

That really is a Fibrillator Finish, but the Outrajeous gang have kept their cool. The overall impression is of them lengthening away by getting their nose in front early, and by just enough to leave the rest of the class fighting wastefully in their wake. Other boats like Donegal-based Alan Hannon's JPK 10.30 Coquine and Robin Young's J-Boat Jings from Scotland occasionally managed to emerge from the throat-cutting street-fighting throng, but only to get a better view of the Outrajeous stern.

Racing concludes on Sunday.

Race Results

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Published in RORC IRC Europeans, Royal Irish Yacht Club

Published in RORC IRC Europeans

Tagged under

IRC Euros

About The Author

WM Nixon

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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland for many years in print and online, and his work has appeared internationally in magazines and books. His own experience ranges from club sailing to international offshore events, and he has cruised extensively under sail, often in his own boats which have ranged in size from an 11ft dinghy to a 35ft cruiser-racer. He has also been involved in the administration of several sailing organisations.

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IRC Europeans Championships

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 IRC season and typically aims to bring together more than 60 boats.

IRC is a World Sailing-recognised rating system and the principal yacht measurement system for the rating of racing yachts worldwide.

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.

The IRC rating rule is administered jointly by the RORC Rating Office in Lymington, UK and UNCL Centre de Calcul, Pôle Course du Yacht Club de France, in Paris, France.