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Displaying items by tag: prizes

The prizegiving for the Rolex Fastnet Race took place this evening at the historic Royal Citadel on Plymouth's famous Hoe.

Dating back to 1660s and standing on the site of the fort built in the time of Sir Francis Drake, the Royal Citadel over the centuries has been one of Britain's most important defences and today is the base for the 29 Commando Regiment of the Royal Artillery.

The main trophy for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Fastnet Challenge Cup, was awarded this year to Niklas Zennström's Rán and this was presented along with a Rolex Yachtmaster Chronometer. The Judel-Vrolijk designed 72-footer also won the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2009, making her the first back-to-back winner since Carina II in 1955/1957.

In addition, Rán won the Joe Powder Trophy for best corrected time at the Fastnet Rock, the Hong Kong Cup for first in IRC Zero, Erroll Bruce Cup for the first yacht home in IRC Zero.

Rán navigator Steve Hayles also won the Alf Loomis Trophy as the navigator of the yacht that wins IRC overall.

Mike Slade's 100 foot maxi ICAP Leopard picked up a large quantity of silverware including the Erivale Trophy for first yacht home in IRC Canting Keel; the Gesture Trophy for first overall in IRC Canting Keel; the Clarion Cup for the first British yacht home; the Kees van Dam Memorial Trophy for second in IRC Overall and the Royal Thames Yacht Club Spirit Cup for the first Royal Thames yacht home.

A magnum of champagne and a Rolex Yachtmaster chronometer was presented to Ian Walker's VO70 Abu Dhabi for the line honours win and set a new monohull record for the Rolex Fastnet Race of 1 day, 18 hours, 39 minutes, and 0 seconds.

The IRC class prizes included the West Mersea Yacht Club Trophy for first in IRC One to Nicolas Loday's Grand Soleil 43, Codiam; the Foxhound Cup for first in IRC Two to Rives Potts' McCurdy & Rhodes 48, Carina; the Favona Cup for first in IRC Three to Noel Racine's  JPK 10.10's, Foggy Dew; the Iolaire Cup for first in IRC Four to Jean Yves Chateau's Nicholson 33, Iromiguy.

The Brunskill Trophy for the best Two Handed boat overall and the Berrimilla Dog Bowl for the best two handed boat in IRC Four were awarded to Will Sayer and Matthew Glasgow and their Sigma 36, Elmarleen.

The Jolie Brise Cup for the first yacht home in IRC classes One to Four was won by Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens.

Yachts and Yachting Catamaran Trophy for the first multihull home was awarded to the 140 foot trimaran, Maxi Banque Populaire, which set a new multihull record time of 1 day, 8 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, while the MOCRA Musters Trophy for the first multihull home under 50 feet went to Will Claxton's 10m trimaran, Paradox and the MOCRA Crystal Trophy for the best multihull on corrected time under 50 feet went to Simon Baker's Dazcat D1150, Drama Queen.

The RORC IMOCA 60 Trophy for the first IMOCA 60 home went to Vincent Riou's, PRB, while the Philip Whitehead Trophy for first Class 40 home, for the second time running, was Initiatives - Alex Olivier, skippered by Tanguy de Lamotte.

A full Rolex Fastnet Race wrap-up report will be published tomorrow.

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Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U