J/133 Wins @ RORC De Guingand Bowl Race

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- This past weekend, the RORC held their fourth event in their season-long RORC Offshore Points Series, the De Guingand Bowl.  The race starts and finishes off the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line at Cowes, Isle of Wight.  The course picked for the fleet included a fair amount of fetching, reaching and running.  In fact, the intensity of competition is such that a good start can make all the difference, the first leg being a spinnaker run off the starting line. North Head was tough for a number of boats. At this point, the competition had all positioned themselves for the maximum tide running out of Portland. Some boats continued across to Swanage to see if the anticipated lift provided gains; and it worked to a tee. Those who did get there made the East Shingles Buoy without a tack and the wind freed enough that some boats even got the Code Zero aloft.  Another boat remarked that using their Code Zero on the leg back to St. Catherine's Point was the one part of the race where they made significant gains on their class.

In the end, the J/133s have done it again.  In the last race, the French J/133 PINTIA won IRC 1 Class and Overall.  In this race, a big shout out to Angus Bates’ J/133 ASSARAIN IV, “congratulations” to Angus and crew for winning IRC 1 Class!

Meanwhile, IRC 2 class saw Andy Theobald’s J/122 R&W take 2nd; while Elin Haf Davies & Chris Frost’s J/120 NUNATAK took 4th and Chris Daniel’s new J/122E JUNO took 5th place!

In the extremely competitive IRC Doublehanded fleet, it was Nick Martin’s J/105 DIABLO-J in 6th, followed by Elin Haf Davies & Chris Frost’s J/120 NUNATAK in 7th, Jerry Freeman’s J/105 JULIETTE in 9th and Robert Nelson’s J/105 BIGFOOT in 10th.

For the RORC Season Series, here is the big picture: in IRC 2 class the J/122 R&W is 2nd; in IRC 3 class the J/105 DIABLO-J is 5th, the J/109 JELENKO (Trevor Sainty) is 7th, and the J/105 JULIETTE is 8th; in IRC 4 class the J/105 BIGFOOT is 3rd; and in the IRC Doublehanded class, the J/105 DIABLO-J is 5th, the J/105 JULIETTE (Jerry Freeman) is 7th and the J/105 BIGFOOT is 9th.

Next race is the Myth of Malham Trophy Race, basically a “mini-Fastnet Race” that starts off the Squadron line in Cowes and heads west, turn around and head back for the finish- very much a coastal race with a number of “tidal gates” and shoreline breezes to take into consideration.  For more RORC de Guingand Bowl Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.