Two of the favourites for the Round Ireland title topped out the RORC IRC overall listings last weekend at the Morgan Cup an overnighter to Cherbourg. The winning boat, Psipsina, was a double-handed entry sailed by Paddy Cronin and John Loden. They pipped Piet Vroon's Tonnerre de Breskens III for the overall trophy by just over two minutes on corrected time.
“I am totally gobsmacked,” admitted John Loden. “I have been racing Psipsina for 11 years and this is the biggest win by a country mile.”
Loden admitted that the falling breeze approaching Cherbourg was a decisive reason for the win and it went right to the wire. Psipsina beat Piet Vroon’s Ker 46,Tonnerre de Breskens 3, by just two minutes and thirteen seconds on corrected time to win the prestigious Morgan Cup.
The start didn’t go well for Psipsina, Loden and Cronin made a navigational error and nearly missed Trinity House buoy altogether but fortunately they managed to alter course, just in time. After that they hardly put a foot wrong.
“The majority of the fleet chose to go to the north shore in the Solent but we correctly chose to say island-side and enjoyed better breeze than our rivals,” explained Loden. “By the time we got to No Man’s Land Fort we were leading IRC Two on the water and going well. During Saturday we had a superb spinnaker run across the Channel,15 knots of steady breeze, warm air downwind sailing…terrific. One of the important factors in offshore racing is fatigue and we have never taken the macho approach of staying up when sleep is available and both of us got some rest during the day on Saturday which pays dividends.
By Saturday afternoon we were on our final approach to Cherbourg and paid great heed to the tide. Perhaps we were a little over cautious but we were going to make damn sure we were uptide and we worked hard to make this happen. As we approached the finish the wind died down to as little as 5-6 knots and we were headed. We used one of our secret weapons to make good our speed in these conditions; we have a very flat A5 which is designed as a storm sail downwind but it also doubles up as a very effective headsail in light air conditions closer to the wind.
We were pretty confident of the Class win and Paddy and I were enjoying a cold beer in the Yacht Club de Cherbourg when the RORC team told us the fantastic news. It is a moment I will treasure for a very long time.”
Piet Vroon’s Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens 3, won the Knightsbridge Cup for best yacht in IRC Zero and also took the RORC Salver for line honours by beating Tony Lawson’s Class 40, Concise 2, on the water. Peter Robson’s First 40.7, Playing Around Logic, took the Queensborough Cup for best yacht in IRC One. Matthias Kracht’s JPK 9.60, Ultreia! was best yacht in IRC Three, winning the Warsash Cup.
Ahead of the race, their third win in a row, Loden had said: "We had a very good reminder of what can happen if you lose your concentration in this game during the Cervantes Trophy Race. We got our approach to France all wrong and the resulting foul tide knocked us right down the pecking order. I have been racing short-handed for a few seasons now and I really enjoy the satisfaction of beating fully crewed boats. Also you learn so much when you have to do all of the work between just two of you. Probably the greatest pearl of wisdom I have learnt in short-handed racing is to take time to plan a manoeuvre, especially down wind. Gybe in haste; repent at leisure, would be a good way of summing it up."
Loden & Cronin now lead the double-handed standings, with Vroon leading RORC's overall IRC series.
IRC Morgan Cup Overall Results HERE.
