(Harwich, England)- Racing across the North Sea in May is not for the
faint-hearted. However 58 yachts were on the start line in Harwich,
England, on Saturday morning to race the RORC North Sea Race 210 miles
to the beautiful resort town of Scheveningen in The Netherlands. Cold
but bright sunny conditions prevailed with a moderate breeze, piping up
to close to a stiff breeze at times.Under IRC, Stan Fenton's J/105 FAY-J was just two minutes behind on corrected time IRC Overall and came out victorious in IRC Four. FAY-J races extensively on the East Coast of England and Stan was very happy with their result.
"It was a tiring race but we are delighted with our result," smiled Stan Fenton. "We went very well between Smith's Knoll and MSP, we were slightly south of the rhumb line rather than most of the other boats who went north, which meant we were in slightly more tide to start with but we could set our kite for about half the leg and I think that is where we made a lot of time up. We do a lot of racing on the East Coast, next up for us is the Haven series race from Shotley to Burnham-on-Crouch and then East Anglian Offshore Series, including The Haughton Cup, so it is a pretty full season."
What's remarkable is that in IRC Overall, J's took 7 of top 10!! And, in fact, J's took 9 of top 15 places! Just behind FAY-J was the J/122 JUNIQUE sailed double-handed by Chris Revelman, getting 3rd overall, 2nd in IRC2 class, Double handed 1st! Winning IRC 3 class and 4th overall was the J/109 YETI sailed by Paul van der Pol. Third in IRC 2 Class and 5th overall was the J/111 XCENTRIC RIPPER, sailed by the dynamic duo of John van der Starre & Robin Verhoef (yes, the "Batman & Robin" of Dutch sailing).
Filling out the rest of the top 15 in IRC Overall for J's were the following boats-
7th- J/109 CAPTAIN JACK- Vert Visser- 2nd IRC3 class
9th- J/105 DIABLO-J- Nick Martin- 4th in IRC3 class, Doublehanded 2nd
10th- J/105 HARPOEN- Harry Rek- 2nd IRC4 class
13th- J/133 ASSARAIN IV- Angus Bates- 2nd IRC One
15th- J/109 ARETHUSA- Kees Mijs- 5th IRC3 class
Many of the competitors taking part in the North Sea Race will also be racing in the Delta Lloyd North Sea Regatta during the Whitsunday weekend, from 25th to 28th May. Hundreds of boats compete in this, the biggest yacht, sportsboat, dinghy and catamaran regatta in Holland, including the yachts hoping to represent Benelux in the forthcoming Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup in July. For more RORC North Sea Race sailing information
