Thursday, September 14, 2017

J/133 Leads @ RORC Offshore Season Series!

J/133 sailing RORC Cherbourg Race2nd @ Cherbourg Race Clinches Overall!
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, in association with the Yacht Club de Cherbourg, and the Royal Yacht Squadron, the 75nm Cherbourg Race stared on Friday at 1850 and sent the fleet off on a straight shot across “La Manche” to Cherbourg, France.

The RORC Cherbourg Race is the penultimate race of the RORC Season's Points Championship, between the record-breaking entry for the Rolex Fastnet Race, and the highly acclaimed Rolex Middle Sea Race. The 75nm “sprint race” from Cowes to Cherbourg is the last of the UK-based races for the RORC Season’s Points Championship, and for many teams this was the swan-song for their 2017 racing season.

The 75-mile race featured a tight reach west out of the Solent, followed by a moonlit downwind sprint to Cherbourg across the English Channel.  The wind speed was up to about 20 knots from the northwest, boats were surfing towards a rising moon on starboard tack, just classic offshore racing. During the night, the wind speed decreased, and with a westerly going tide, the teams had to be careful not to heat up too much in the quest for speed, and end up too high at the finish.

In IRC Two, Gilles Fournier's French J/133 PINTIA, secured class victory for the season, which was decided by the best five results. Gilles Fournier is full of praise for their rivals: “Having such close racing with ‘Lisa’, has definitely improved our performance, and we have enjoyed every battle in every race. After the Fastnet, we met for lunch, and we both worked out the same mathematics.”  In the end, PINTIA beat their rival in all five of their highest scoring races- Cervantes, Myth of Malham, Cowes Dinard St Malo, Channel Race, & Fastnet Race. Finishing third place for the season was Andy Theobald’s J/122 R&W.  And, 5th place was Chris Daniel’s new J/122E JUNO! Not far off the pace was Chris Schram’s J/120 MAVERICK from The Netherlands, finishing 8th place.

At the Prize Giving held at the YC de Cherbourg, RORC Commodore, Michael Boyd, spoke on behalf of the competitors, thanking the club for their generous hospitality. The President of the YCC, Jean Le Carpentier, and RORC Racing Manager, Nick Elliott, officiated at the awards ceremony.  For more RORC Cherbourg Race & Series sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.