Good Show for J/122, J/109, J/105 & J/97!(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Season's Points Championship continues last weekend with the De Guingand Bowl Race, the fifth offshore race of the annual RORC offshore championship. Designed to last 24-36 hours, the De Guingand Bowl Race starts and finishes in The Solent and is a flexi-course allowing the Royal Ocean Racing Club to design a bespoke course.
"Without the constraint of finishing the race in a totally different location, we concentrate on the weather and tidal conditions to decide the course," explained RORC Racing Manager, Nick Elliott. "We try to get all of the fleet to finish the first beat in the same tidal vector, so as to avoid a tidal gate early in the race and that is often why we start the slower yachts first. After that, wherever possible, we try to set turning marks that give tactical options to yachts during the race although trying to predict exact wind speed and direction can be difficult. The race should last over 24 hours but the breeze looks to be going light on Sunday and we will probably factor that into the length of the course."
Clearly loving the random leg format and weather conditions were the fleet of J/Teams racing in the event. Taking IRC 2 Class honors and 5th IRC Overall was the J/122 RELENTLESS ON JELLYFISH skippered by James George and Chris Radford, winning their race by a significant margin over renowned French and English veterans on Figaro II’s, A40s and First 40s.
In IRC 3 Class, Nick Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J took second overall and also third in the IRC Double-handed class. Classmate Kevin Armstrong sailed his J/109 JAZZY JELLYFISH to third in IRC 3 Class and another J/109, Chris Palmer’s J-T’AIME took fifth in class.
The J/97 in IRC 4 Class also had a good showing, with Blair Forsyth’s HIGH JINKS taking third in class and sixth in the IRC Double-handed division.
At this juncture in the overall RORC Season Series, Nick Martin’s J/105 is lying 2nd in IRC Double class, 2nd in IRC 3 and 6th in IRC Overall. John Allison’s J/109 JUMBUCK is 3rd in IRC 3 Class (and 11th in IRC Overall), just in front of Armstrong’s J/109 JAZZY JELLYFISH in 5th (15th IRC Overall) and Palmer’s J-T’AIME in 6th (12th IRC Overall). Radford’s J/122 RELENTLESS ON JELLYFISH is 3rd in IRC 2 Class and 10th overall in IRC. As a result, J/Teams are five of the top 15 boats overall, an excellent performance at this early point in the season. For more RORC de Guingand Bowl sailing information
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