Dublin Bay's Welch on Warrior Won Leads in RORC Transatlantic Race

15th January 2024

Peter Fletcher from Australia, who was on board the winning yacht Privateer for the Irish D2D Race last year, at the helm of Pata Negra in this year's RORC Transatlantic Race

Peter Fletcher from Australia, who was on board th winning yacht Privateer for the D2D last year, at the helm of Pata Negra in this year's RORC Transatlantic Race Credit: Conor Corson

On day seven, after IRC time correction, the RORC Transatlantic Race race leader is Chris Sheehan’s PAC52 Warrior Won (USA) (with former Dublin Bay sailor Christy Welch onboard), approximately 200 miles behind the water leader Leopard (with Cork Harbour's Tom McWilliam on the crew).

The early race leader overall under IRC was Richard Fromentin’s JPK 1180 Cocody (FRA), which is now ranked second overall, 1,700 miles from Grenada. After seven days of racing, Warrior Won and Cocody are both in the running to lift the RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy.

Cocody is the furthest boat to the north; the JPK 1180 is highly manoeuvrable and the experienced team from Lorient, France will be using every shift to work south and stay in the pressure. The good news for Cocody is that the calm area of wind to the south of their position is expected to disappear and be replaced by strong tradewinds to slingshot Cocody towards Grenada. Warrior Won has raced a remarkable race so far; hanging onto the coattails of Leopard almost twice their length is nothing short of admirable. However, Warrior Won’s biggest threat to the overall win is Cocody. Tactically there is no way to influence the performance of Cocody hundreds of miles from their position. All Warrior Won can do is put their foot to the floor as skipper Chris Sheehan commented by satellite:

Chris Sheehan commented from Warrior Won by satellite:

Meanwhile, Ireland's Conor Corson on Pata Negra reported to Afloat that the "Transat is going okay so far; we have had a fairly traditional route. Head south till the butter melts and hang a right.

There were lots of snakes and ladders coming down the African coast, but as we entered Cape Verdes, we found a bit more steady breeze and started munching up the miles.

Complete drag race now with us, Dawn Treader and Sea-Nergy, all within about 30/40 miles of each other. It will be interesting to see how we all converge with Cocody, who have gone off on their own up north.

We have a good breeze at the moment (15-18 knots two) and are humming along nicely".

Published in RORC Transatlantic

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Published in RORC Transatlantic

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RORC Transatlantic Race

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