French teams dominated the 2016 RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, with seven classes and the overall win going to French teams. Ironically it was the multihull class, for many years dominated by the French, that Great Britain had its only victory.Tony Lawson's British MOD70 Concise 10, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield took multihull line honours in an elapsed time of 10 hours 32 minutes 50 seconds and was the winner after time correction.
Lionel Péan's Volvo 70, Sfs II took monohull line honours, in an elapsed time of 14 hours 33 minutes 03 seconds and after time correction was declared the overall winner. Although he grew up in La Rochelle, St Malo was home when Péan skippered L'Esprit d’Equipe to victory in the 1985 Whitbread Round the World Race.
“It is normal for us to take line honours, as we are the fastest boat but to win overall is very special for me and the crew” commented Lionel Péan. “It was a beat all the way to Guernsey with the wind getting up to about 20 knots and then the wind just died at the moment we needed to tack around the islands, so that was frustrating. However, the wind came back up to about 10 knots which was enough for us to finish at a good speed. It was great to be back in St Malo, with all the classic boats I remember from years ago. 30 years ago, almost to the day, we sailed into St Malo as winners of the Whitbread. For this race, Eric Sendra was on board, as he was for the Whitbread 30 years ago and Sébastien Audigan, who is incredible. However, most of the team are young and we are looking to build up a team for the 2020 Volvo Ocean Race.”
In IRC One, Jacques Pelletier's Milon 41 L'Ange De Milon was the winner, ahead of former RORC Commodore, Mike Greville, racing Ker 39, Erivale III. Alan Hannon's RP45 Katsu was third in class, putting his team up to second overall for the RORC Season's Points Championship. Nick Jones’s First 44.7 Lisa was fifth in class and still leads the series overall. The RORC Team of Katsu and Lisa also walked away with the John West Trophy for the best 2 boats from a club in IRC Overall.
In IRC Two, Gilles Fournier's J/133 Pintia, enjoyed their fourth class win of the season. Ross Applebey's Scarlet Oyster, returning to RORC action for the first time since the RORC Caribbean 600, finished just under two minutes behind Pintia after time correction to hold on to second. Herve Benic's French First 40 Iritis was third.
In IRC Three, Marc Alperovitch's JPK 10.80 Timeline, which will be representing France in the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup, was the victor. Arnaud Delamare and Eric Mordret's JPK 10.80 Dream Pearls was second but still retains the class lead for the championship.
Jean-Eudes Renier's JPK 10.80 Shaitan was third in IRC Three and the winner of IRC Two Handed Class after a terrific battle with Chris Frost and Elin Haf Davies J/120 Nunatak. The British pair crossed the finish line just in front of Shaitan but after time correction, the class win went to Jean-Eudes Renier's team. Chris Schram's J/120 Maverick was third having led both Shaitan and Nunatak for most of the race but sailed into a wind hole near |Les |Minquiers and watched the others sail around them.
In IRC Four, Noel Racine JPK 10.10 Foggy Dew was the runaway winner, taking line honours for the class and the corrected time win by several hours. Racine was very pleased with the win which he put down to their negotiation of the tricky tidal conditions at Les Casquets, wriggling through just before the wind dropped. Cooper & England's Dehler 38 Longue Pierre was second with Jonathan Rolls' Swan 38 Xara. Foggy Dew now leads IRC Four for the season.
Halvard Mabire's Class 40 Campagne De France completed the rout for France winning the Class 40 division. Adriaan van Oord Dutch team racing Moonpalace was second with Christophe Coatnoan's Partouche is third.
The RORC Season's Points Championship continues with the Channel Race starting on the 30th July from Cowes around marks with a Solent finish, the race will be between 100-140 miles.
