At 0800 UTC on the eighth day of the RORC Transatlantic Race, 17 boats are still racing in the Atlantic, with the first finishers in the monohull fleet expected on the 17th and 18th of January. The battle for the overall win under IRC and the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy is beginning to sizzle. There is a clear leader on the water, vying for the IMA Transatlantic Trophy; Volvo 70 I Love Poland (POL), skippered by Grzegorz Baranowski.
IRC Super Zero
I Love Poland leads the big boat class on the water and corrected time, but the all-Polish team have sailed 400 miles from the rhumb line with their bow pointing at Guyana in South America. IMOCA Canada Ocean Racing (CAN) raced Two-Handed by Scott Shawyer and Alan Roberts is 144 miles behind I Love Poland. The Swan 115 Jasi (SWE), skippered by Toby Clark is to the north of the rhumb line to Grenada. Johannes Schwarz’s Volvo 70 Green Dragon (skippered by Galway's Cathal Mahon) has just over 1000 miles to finish the race.
IRC Zero
The top three teams for the overall win after IRC are all in IRC Zero. Eric de Turckheim’s NMYD Teasing Machine (FRA) is 845nm from the finish and leading after corrected time. Botin 56 Black Pearl (GER), sailed by Stefan Jentzsch leads on the water, 806nm from the finish. Black Pearl is way south and Teasing Machine are covering from astern. As IRC is a fixed time correction rule, Teasing Machine know that if they can keep up with Black Pearl overall victory is a strong possibility. However, 47 miles away on Teasing Machine’s starboard quarter is Henri de Bokay’s Elliott 52 Rafale (GER). Rafale is very much in the hunt for Class and Overall Honours with 892 miles to the finish.
The top three teams for the overall win after IRC are all in IRC Zero. Eric de Turckheim’s NMYD Teasing Machine (FRA) is 845nm from the finish and leading after corrected time. Botin 56 Black Pearl (GER), sailed by Stefan Jentzsch and with Ireland's James Carroll on board leads on the water, 806nm from the finish. Black Pearl is way south and Teasing Machine are covering from astern. As IRC is a fixed time correction rule, Teasing Machine know that if they can keep up with Black Pearl overall victory is a strong possibility. However, 47 miles away on Teasing Machine’s starboard quarter is Henri de Bokay’s Elliott 52 Rafale (GER). Rafale is very much in the hunt for Class and Overall Honours with 892 miles to the finish.
Black Pearl’s navigator, Marc Lagesse contacted the RORC Media Team as they approached the halfway mark. “Black Pearl has raced 1,540 miles in 100 hours - 15.4 knots average; that tells you it’s been a fast trip with the speedo frequently in the 20 knot+ range. We are expecting things to cool down in the coming days, but not by much. We are having a few technical gremlins; while not effecting our performance, they are certainly annoying. Life onboard otherwise is good. We are suitable impressed by the performance of the other boats in our class. Despite best efforts, we can’t get away from them - Nice work guys!!”
