(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- A good mix of 89 British and French
yachts started the Royal Ocean Racing Club's De Guingand Bowl Race on
Friday evening, heading (eventually) to a sunny Cherbourg. The race
committee led by RORC Racing Manager Nick Elliott, set a 146-mile course
for the De Guingand Bowl Race. Starting between two committee boats,
east of Cowes, the fleet headed east out of the Solent past No Man's
Land Fort, Owers and Rampion Met Mast before returning to Owers then
past St.Catherine's Point. Along the south side of the Isle of Wight,
the fleet encountered a variety of wind conditions, on their way to the
Needles Fairway Buoy, before heading south to cross the English Channel.Said one of the top skippers in the race, “It was a great race with a beautiful start, we were under spinnaker all the way to Brighton. We had a good upwind course around the Isle of Wight to the Needles. This race did suit the smaller yachts, as most boats arrived in Cherbourg at maximum speed with the tide; but judging the tide in the Channel is very difficult as the wind can vary so much. The course was excellent for this race, perfect for the conditions."
The seven J/109s in IRC Three class had very tight racing amongst each other. Leading that fleet home was John Allison’s JUMBUCK finishing at 19:59:09 corrected time and taking 3rd in class, narrowly beating classmate David McGough’s JUST SO by just over one minute! Third J/109 and 5th in class was Chris Palmer’s J-T’AIME.
In the IRC Two-Handed class, it was Nick Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J posting yet another good finish, taking 4th in class and improving their RORC Overall Series standings in Two-handed.
Finally, in IRC One Class, it was David Ballantyne’s J/133 JINGS taking fourth in their class after a nice spinnaker reach home to Cherbourg.
After the race, an informal Prize Giving was held at the Yacht Club de Cherbourg attended by over 200 sailors. Bottles of Champagne were given to prize winners by RORC Commodore Michael Boyd. Racing for the RORC Season's Points Championship continues with the East Coast Race from Burnham to Ostend on the 12th June. For more RORC De Guingand Bowl sailing information
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