The annual Solo Offshore Racing Club's 'Channel Week' was held last week in a varying mix of conditions. Seven offshore legs over eight days took the fleet from the Solent to the Channel Islands, and on to three French ports, before crossing back to the Weymouth and finishing in the Solent. Conditions were challenging throughout the event, including everything from a 100m beat to Guernsey in 25+knts and spring tides, to a light airs run from Weymouth to the Solent on the final day.
The much travelled 'Dinah' owned and skippered by Barry Hurley from the Royal Irish Yacht Club put in a strong performance over the whole week, scoring no lower than 2nd in class in every race. Consistency proved key in the no discard series, with Hurley eventually finishing 1st in class and 3rd overall. Hurley commented, "It was a fantastic event, with long legs in difficult conditions, leading to very short stopovers to recover and carry out routine maintenance. Boat preparation was key with several entries suffering breakages along the way. In the end I needed a win on the last day to guarantee a win in class overall and I got a great start before making the most of the positive tide by gybing several times under full mainsail and symmetric spinnaker. My main rival chose the shorter straight line route, but thankfully the option of longer distance in more tide paid off in the end. I'm delighted with the result."
In a few weeks time on August 14th Barry will be joined again by his usual crew Andy Boyle, also of the Royal Irish Yacht Club, as they set off on the Rolex Fastnet Race double handed against a fleet of over 350 boats.
