(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Over the Bank Holiday Weekend, a tense,
tactical and complex yacht race played out along the south coast of
England. 141 yachts, racing in the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Myth of
Malham Race, enjoyed a dress rehearsal for the start of this year's
famous Rolex Fastnet Race. The Western Solent was a magnificent sight
with over a hundred spinnakers flying, heading for the Eddystone
Lighthouse, off Plymouth Sound.A light gradient breeze from the north of just 5 knots was enhanced by a developing sea breeze causing erratic wind speed for the starters. Judging the line was extremely difficult but those that succeeded were rewarded with clear air and room to adjust heading, making the best use of the gusts. A windless trap off Lymington was the next hurdle to pass, before cracking sheets for a beam reach along the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, heading for the Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth Sound.
The complex tidal flow along the 229-mile coastal course was a crucial part of the race. Before sundown on the first day, the larger high performance yachts seemed to have the upper hand, enjoying an advantage of water line length in positive tide, as well as rig height and sail choice more suited to light airs reaching. However, several smaller yachts made the crucial tidal gate at Portland Bill to stay in touch with the larger rivals. During the first night and the second day, light airs persisted and with the high performance yachts not able to achieve planing speed, the smaller yachts were in with a chance of overall victory.
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yachts were racing in IRC Two and the winner by 12 minutes on corrected
time was Andy Theobald's J/122 R&W. "The J/122 is a new boat for
us and we are delighted with the boat speed, we chose to start on the
island shore and stay away from the carnage at the pin end and in clear
air we got away well. However, we knew we could not make Portland Bill
before the tide changed, so we stayed offshore and found plenty of
breeze, so it was a great start to the race. We did hit a big hole in
the wind off Lyme Bay, which was frustrating, but a pod of about a dozen
or so dolphins were all around us, we could hear their blow holes and
that cheered us up no-end, especially for Christine Allen, who was
taking part in her first offshore. The crew on R&W is a mixture of
the team from our previous Sigma 362 and people who work for my R&W
Civil Engineering business. It is really encouraging for newcomers to
offshore racing to do so well and see such a fantastic sight as dolphins
in the wild."In IRC 1, David Ballantyne’s J/133 JINGS took seventh in class. Amongst the massive fleet of 43 starters in IRC 3 Class were 20 J/Teams sailing both J/105s and J/109s— fully 50% of the class! Leading all IRC 3 J sailors home was Richard Palmer’s J/109 JANGADA TOO, taking 7th on IRC handicap. Literally, minutes behind them was Chris Palmer’s J/109 J’T’AIME in 8th. First J/105 was Simon Curwen’s VOADOR in 10th place.
There were thirty starters in the Two-handed class and the J/105s faired well there, too. Curwen’s VOADOR took those honors as well with a 6th in class followed by Nick Martin’s DIABLO-J. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth- http://www.pwpictures.com. For more RORC Myth of Malham Race sailing information
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