J/Crews Place in All Four Classes!(Cowes, United Kingdom)- The RORC Season Points Championship is the largest and arguably most competitive offshore yacht series in the world. Starting almost a year ago with the RORC Transatlantic Race, it consisted of 14 races where over 300 yachts from 15 different nations raced over 6,500 miles. The modern version of the championship is far from domestic as it includes the RORC Transatlantic Race, RORC Caribbean 600, Volvo Round Ireland Yacht Race, the brand new Ile d'Ouessant Race and Rolex Middle Sea Race.
The big winner amongst the J/tribe was Gilles Fournier’s beautiful J/133 PINTIA from France, winning the coveted Emily Verger Plate & Assuage Trophy for IRC 2 Class. Their season was one of the stand-out performances of the year, winning two races overall and topping IRC Class Two in the Cervantes Trophy Race and Myth of Malham where she had a tremendous side-by-side battle during the 230nm race with Lisa, this year's RORC Season's Points Champion. After IRC time correction, PINTIA won by just eight seconds after 38 hours of racing! The largely corinthian team, centered around family and friends from Le Havre, France, continued their winning streak throughout the season, achieving class wins in all five races in which they competed, with third overall being their lowest score!!
"We are a family boat," says Fournier. “PINTIA sails with my daughter Corinne Migraine, my grandson Victor, my two nephews Yan and Thomas Fournier and one of the best Master Laser sailors in the world, Daniel Devos. We are all from the Société des Régates du Havre and it is the best sailing school in France," exclaims Fournier.
What was remarkable about IRC 2 Class was that PINTIA’s performance was matched by six other J’s in the top thirteen! It was nearly a clean sweep of the top positions in class. Taking the silver was the Doublehanded duo of Elin Haf Davies and Chris Frost on their J/120 NUNATAK. Fourth was the Army Sailing Association’s J/111 BRITISH SOLDIER, fifth place went to another J/120- Chris Schram’s MAVERICK. Seventh went to Andy Theobald’s J/122 R&W, eleventh to another J/122- David Richards’ JOLLY JELLYFISH, and thirteenth went to Chris Daniel’s beautiful new J/122E JUNO!
In IRC 3 Class, it was another Doublehander that took fifth in class, Nick Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J and eighth was Chris Palmer’s J/109 J-T’AIME.
In IRC 4 Class, Robert Nelson’s J/105 BIGFOOT took third overall. Finally, in the Doublehanded Class, J/crews took four of the top seven! Leading the group was Davies & Frost’s J/120 NUNATAK in second overall, followed by Nelson’s J/105 BIGFOOT in fourth, Schram’s J/120 MAVERICK in sixth, and Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J in seventh.
RORC Overall- Top 25
The biggest brand presence in the Top 25 was J/Boats with six teams, with JPK second with five and Ker and Sunfast each with four. There were three J/teams in the Top 10 alone. Fourth overall was Robert Nelson’s J/105 BIGFOOT sailing in the Doublehanded Class. Fifth place went to the Army Sailing Association’s J/111 BRITISH SOLDIER. Eighth was Gilles Fournier’s French family crew on the J/133 PINTIA. Fourteenth place was Nick Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J, 21st was Chris Schram’s J/120 MAVERICK and 25th was Elin Haf Davies & Chris Frost’s J/120 NUNATAK (all of these last three were sailing Doublehanded, too!). For the RORC season's cumulative results
|
