British yacht INO XXX which competes in the Round Ireland Race in less than a fortnight was victorious in this weekend's RORC Myth of Malham Race that featured a number of Irish crews. 

The Cowes-Eddystone-Solent 230nm started last Thursday and saw IRC SZ Zero winner Volvo 70, Telefonica Black, with Dublin Bay sailor Paul Bradley as part of the crew. 

Another tipped Round Ireland contender, Michael O'Donnell's J/121 Darkwood finished second in IRC One and eighth overall. Her Myth of Malham crew is largely the same as that racing the 700-mile Irish ocean classic and included Kenny Rumball, Michael Boyd, Barry Hurley, and Conor Kinsella.

68 teams on the downwind start for RORC Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

The overall winner racing under IRC for the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Myth of Malham Race was the British HH42 INO XXX, raced by the RORC Commodore James Neville. Niklas Zennström’s brand new Swedish CF-520 Rán 8 was second overall and took line honours in an elapsed time of just over 26 hours for the 230-mile course. Ed Bell’s British JPK 1180 Dawn Treader had an excellent race, placing third overall and winning IRC One.

 IRC SZ Zero winner - Dublin Bay sailor Paul Bradley (closest to camera) on the Volvo 70, Telefonica Black

The Myth of Malham Cup was given to the RORC by Captain John Illingworth in 1958 and is named after his famous boat, which won the 1947 and 1949 Fastnet Race. The race mirrors the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race. 68 teams from eight different nations took part in the 2022 edition of the Myth of Malham Race. An unusual downwind start got the fleet away at a fast pace out of the Solent. During the course of the race, the fleet experienced a huge range of conditions from 5-25 knots, and at times a significant sea state.

The start of the Myth of Malham Race was streamed live. Watch the recording with expert commentary from RYA Race Director, and Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper, Ian Walker below.

IRC Class Winners for the Myth of Malham Race

• IRC SZ Zero Volvo 70 Telefonica Black
• IRC 0 INO XXX
• IRC 1 JPK 1180 Dawn Treader
• IRC 2 & IRC Two-Handed JPK 1080 Mzungu!
• IRC 3 J/109 JAGO
• IRC 4 S&S 34 Morning After
  
  Full Results here 

Niklas Zennström’s brand new Swedish CF-520 Rán 8 was second overall and took line honours Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Quotes from the boats

James Neville HH42 INO XXX
“It was great to see so many boats out racing with the RORC making the most of the Jubilee Weekend!” exclaimed INO XXX’s James Neville. “The start was quite difficult, especially to hold a lane. We had to put a few gybes in to hold position on the South Side of the Solent. We were in good shape past The Needles, with tide under us, but it was a tight call getting passed The Shingles. The crucial decision at that point was that pretty much making Portland on one gybe, which gave us our fastest vmg. Rán can sail deeper than us, so they made more progress plus we had more foul tide to the Eddystone Lighthouse and Rán was two hours ahead of us. We knew that on IRC corrected they needed about four hours in the race and the boats behind us had tide with them and could fly Code Zeros with the wind shifting north. Rán did have to foot off as they were on a tighter angle, but INO goes well on a tight reach. The big decision for us was staying quite south on the return past Portland. We had good tide all the way to the Isle of Wight, and with the easterly coming in and tidal relief from the island, that was what did it for us. The wind died for the boats behind, and they had foul tide.”

Winner IRC 2 & IRC Two-Handed JPK 1080 Mzungu! sailed by Sam White & Sam North Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

For quite a few years, racing on a Sun Fast 3200, we couldn’t understand why we were not getting good results as we had been racing well. We realised we just didn’t have the boat speed,” commented Mzungu!‘s Sam White. “At the tail end of 2021 (in the Rolex Fastnet Race) we sort of fixed that problem, and now with our new boat (JPK 1080), we have the boat speed we desire. We are now trying to find that extra 5% to get onto the podium. We are now putting in a huge amount of prep. work including proper race brief and debrief via Zoom. All of this is paying off; to use an analogy, I feel like I am good carpenter but no longer using blunt chisels! For Sam (North) and I, the big one this season is the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland, which will be a different dynamic, very much a change of pace where we will need to make our downtime count, but we have a stable platform, and a good all-round boat.”

Mike Yates J/109 JAGO winner of IRC Three, racing Two-Handed with 19-year-old Hamish Pimm Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Mike Yates J/109 JAGO 

“We went deep south after leaving the Solent, because there was more pressure offshore,” commented JAGO’s Mike Yates. “We were never going to make Portland Bill before the tide would turn and we wanted to avoid Lyme Bay with a forecast of light winds. JAGO is a different type of boat to say a Sun Fast 3300, they have to sail hotter angles. JAGO doesn’t have to go quite as deep, so we gybed earlier to head back inshore. Coming back in Anvil Point was tricky. The wind was due to go west, and we had to be careful not to get headed. After Eddystone the breeze died just around Portland Bill, but there were bands of ten knots in it, so it was very snakes and ladders. We kept an eye on boats inshore and elected to stay offshore for better pressure. We tacked when the tide turned to get the lee bow effect. This was Hamish’s first Two-Handed offshore, he is JAGO’s inshore bowman, and he was absolutely brilliant!”

RORC Fleet after the start in the 2022 Myth of Malham Race Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Christina Wolfe, racing in IRC Two-Handed with husband Justin on Ruby Red, was the top Sun Fast 3300 with 14 racing.

“We are over the moon; it was just a great time! RORC racing is just incredible,” commented Christina who hails from Washington on the North Pacific Coast, USA. “We are very aware that there are some amazing sailors racing with RORC and it was a fantastic experience. Congratulations to Mzungu!, they had a great race. We got close to them, but they negotiated a tricky transition very well. This has been a huge opportunity to learn, especially as we plan to do the Rolex Fastnet next year. We will be returning to racing in the pacific this summer, but we will be back for the Double Handed Nationals in September.” 

RORC CEO Jeremy Wilton watched the start of the Myth of Malham from the Royal Squadron Line: “One thing that is great about the RORC Season’s Points Championship is the breadth of the boats we have racing, boats from 30ft to 70ft, both fully crewed and a large number of two-handed teams. What supports all that is our IRC Rating system, which is the best rating system for bringing all these boats together to race competitively.”

The Royal Ocean Racing Club RORC Season’s Points Championship continues with the 8th race of the series, the Morgan Cup Race. Starting from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line at 1800 BST on the 17th of June. The 110 to 160 mile race course will be finalised close to the race start. The final destination will be Dartmouth where a warm welcome awaits from the Royal Dart Yacht Club.