(Harwich, United Kingdom)- Here is the report from Sébastien de
Liedekerke, owner of the J/111 DJINNN about their recent experience
sailing the RORC East Coast Race:“The RORC East Coast Race 2017 was the third offshore race of the season for DJINN and her crew, starting from Burnham-on-Crouch near Harwich (Thames Estuary) and finishing in Oostende (Belgium), for a good 130 nautical miles of zig-zagging between the wind farms of the Southern North Sea.
DJINN had a good downwind start, crossing the line ahead of the IRC 1-2 fleet. The first three hours of racing, extracting ourselves progressively from River Crouch in very fluky winds and strong currents, were especially challenging and, as we missed a few gusts, two of our IRC 2 competitors managed to build a nice half-mile lead on us.
As
wind conditions stabilized, we started catching up on them and by
midnight we were in the lead again. With light Westerlies of 5-13kt,
flat water and a 100% reaching and broad-reaching course, the conditions
were ideal for DJINN and her crew to build progressively a significant
gap with key competitors and to finish largely ahead of the pack in
Oostende after 20 hours and 26 minutes of racing and despite dying winds
again...This was supposed to be "just" another Fastnet qualifier for our crew, with no one expecting anything special from it in terms of results, and yet... we ended up coming back home with some silverware ... a lot of silverware actually!
- Ailish Salver trophy for 1st yacht home (line honours)
- Blackwater Cup for 1st yacht in IRC 1-2 class
- Bob Stewart Trophy for 1st yacht in IRC overall
Fellow
J/Boats crew in the Race included the J/120 MAVERICK (Chris Schram, 7th
overall) sailing two-handed and the J/120 JAMEERAH (Simon Ruffles, 8th
overall) sailing fully crewed and preparing for Rolex Fastnet Race as
well.A big thanks and congratulations to the DJINN crew (Sebastien de Liedekerke, Sylvain Duprey, Andy Hoefig, Bertrand Lefebvre and Florence Hubert) for a wonderful three days of sailing to the UK & back! We cannot wait to gather again with the rest of the Fastnet gang (Sandra Gottcheiner, Yan Trouwen and Thibaud de Fraipont) for the RORC Channel Race in July, our next offshore challenge - and last preparatory race before Rolex Fastnet Race in August! Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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