(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- A strong line-up, ranging from TP52s, FAST40+s and Performance 40s, down to nimble HP30s and the cruiser-racers all took part for three days of intense competition at the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s IRC National Championship that was sailed on the Solent. It was an exciting event, in particular, for three J/teams that won 3 of the 4 classes! Here is how it all went down over the course of those three days.
Day One- Light winds, strong tides and shouting!
Despite a dismal light wind and strong tide forecast that had most crews preparing for an afternoon ashore, a light breeze built early in the afternoon, miraculously allowing the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s two race committees to lay on a full three race opening day.
As the rating rule jointly operated by the RORC and the Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL) in France, IRC seeks to create a level playing field between all kinds of boats. At this year’s IRC Nationals that was put to the test with a wide array from grand prix racers to cruisers, from brand new thoroughbreds to 80 years wooden classics, and in size from the two TP52s down to Quarter Tonners and HP30s.
Due to the high tides this weekend, the RORC divided the fleet in two so that the larger IRC 1, 2 and FAST40+ boats could race in deeper water in the western Solent while IRC 3 and 4 were sailing windward-leewards off Hill Head.
A particular feature of sailing in the western Solent was the powerful ebb tide. The consequences were particularly notable in race one, as it was causing difficult pile-ups and tricky maneuvering at the marks (e.g. the reason for the shouting of “water” everywhere). This was especially true at the top mark where the fleet arrived in strongest favorable current on port, directly into the path of boats looking to gybe set and get inshore, out of the foul tide. Because of largely tide-related incidents, the jury was sat late the first evening of the competition.
The largest class by far was IRC 2, including the entire Performance 40 fleet. After three races, two boats were tied at the top, including Stuart Sawyer’s J/122 BLACK DOG. Sawyer’s Falmouth-based BLACK DOG won the second two races and led IRC Two on countback.
“We were delighted, although somewhat shocked too! Hopefully, it will be a long evening so we can enjoy this as long as possible,” enthused Sawyer. This is his first IRC Nationals, although he has previously won the IRC South West Championship. “The IRC Nationals is a benchmark to see how we are doing as a Cornish boat. Other than our tactician, we are all Corinthians although this is our ninth season sailing together.”
As to today’s competition Sawyer continued: “The first race was tricky- we got caught out at the leeward mark and were about seven deep and got buried. In the second race, we had a really nice start and felt quite comfortable and managed to hold our lane quite well because we are one of the slower boats. It feels like we are threading the eye of a needle- being rolled from top and with someone higher below.”
Looking strong to recapture the IRC Nationals title was David Franks and his J/112E LEON; they were just one point off a perfect scoreline in IRC 3. Franks congratulated the race officials for getting in three races. “It was a pleasant surprise when the wind came in and then we got three races.” Perhaps equally surprising was recovering a second, the only blemish on their scoreline, despite being called OCS in race two. “We had a good recovery and a good first beat, which got us back into play. I have been racing too long to get too excited about the first day of a three day regatta. We are going well, but our competition might give us a thrashing tomorrow,” Franks concluded. Sitting in 3rd and 4th, respectively, behind LEON were two more J/112E sisterships; Bruce Huber’s XANABOO and James Chalmer’s HAPPY DAIZE.
The stand-out boat in IRC 4 was Chris Preston's J/109 JUBILEE posting a 1-2-1. However, hot on their tails was Nick and Adam Munday's J/97 INDULJENCE with 2-5-3 scoreline.
Day Two- Classic Solent Conditions
The second day saw conditions come good with a less severe tidal effect on the Solent due to a later kick-off time and a breeze that peaked at 16 knots. This allowed both race committees (IRC 3-4 run by the RORC racing team’s own Steve Cole and Stuart Childerley PRO for the larger classes) to run two windward-leewards, rounding off the afternoon with a longer round the cans race. The windward-leewards for the bigger boats were on the Brambles bank with the course for the smaller classes set further west.
While in some classes the leaderboard remains tight going into tomorrow’s final day, in others there are some exceptional, stand-out performances. The biggest and most competitive class– IRC 2- saw more tough battles around the tight race track. Overall Sawyer’s J/122 BLACK DOG continued to score well. A 1-4-2 for the day left them with a 15-point lead.
One point off having a perfect scoreline was the leader in IRC 3, Franks’ J/112E LEON, which today scored straight bullets, despite having one of her crew Medevac’d off with a head injury. Leon's six point lead is still vulnerable, but the dominance of the 2012 IRC National Champions is such that her J/112E sisterships, XANADOO and HAPPY DAIZE, are most likely to be left fighting for the remaining podium positions.
On a roll after his exemplary 1-2-1 yesterday was Preston’s J/109 JUBILEE. However, while they posted a third bullet today, they are facing increasing ferocious competition from defending IRC National Champion, Giovanni Belgrano’s and his 1939 vintage Laurent Giles-designed classic Whooper.
Preston admitted that their scoreline was let down today by a 7-5 in the opening windward-leewards. “We had a problem in the first race with a twisted kite, but we had really good starts all the way through. With a J/109, it is a problem when it is wind against tide, because the beats become very short and others are faster downwind. We got most of it right. We have a great crew and are having a great time. We had 2-3 knots more wind than yesterday. It made for lovely racing.”
Preston was pleased to observe that at this national championship for the RORC and UNCL’s jointly owned rating system, the standard of racing is noticeably higher than other events in which he typically competes.
Day Three- Exciting Finale
Sunday was the third in the three-day event where the race committees ventured out into the Solent uncertain of whether they would get racing in. The day started out grey, with sub-10 knot winds and drizzle, and yet two windward-leewards were held on the Hill Head plateau enabling PROs Stuart Childerley and Steve Cole to complete the full schedule on their respective courses.
In the end, after the mathematics were applied, it was Sawyer’s J/122 BLACK DOG that was determined to be the worthy recipient of this year’s IRC National Championship title- winning not just IRC 2 Class, but also IRC Performance 40 Class, and the overall IRC National Champion title!
“We haven’t sailed that much this year, so when we came up we said we’d be aiming for the top five and we’d be delighted by top three in our class. To win overall is incredible!” said Stuart Sawyer, his BLACK DOG also securing the Performance 40 prize. While the team has been sailing out of Falmouth on several boats for the last nine years, Sawyer admitted that they feel isolated racing in Cornwall. Previously they campaigned their J/111 around the Solent, but coming from Cornwall, this proved too difficult. So, according to Sawyer, he sold it and bought the J/122 “to take it easy. But then, after we won Dartmouth Royal Regatta last year we thought we had to come here to see how we’d do!”
Compared to racing in Falmouth, there was more of a chop than a swell to deal with on the Solent, but also the tides were far more complex. For the event, the regular crew was assisted by North Sails’ Shane Hughes, plus a copy of the Winning Tides book. “You are constantly having to change gears, but my crew has been amazing- I have never seen them hike harder,” said Sawyer who also paid tribute to the late J/Boats dealer and Solent racing guru Paul Heys. “The one person who would have loved to have seen this is Paul. He would have been so chuffed to see both a Cornish boat and a J/Boat do this.”
The closest competition for BLACK DOG’s overall IRC Nationals win came from David Franks’ J/112e LEON. Her otherwise perfect scoreline was broken twice today. Nevertheless, LEON won IRC 3 class by a convincing 9 pts margin. Their two J/112E sisterships, Huber’s XANADO and James Chalmer’s HAPPY DAIZE, took 3rd and 4th, respectively.
One of the tightest battles occurred in IRC 4. However, winning overall by five points with a consistent 2-2 in the finale was Christopher Preston’s J/109 JUBILEE. “It was great fun,” observed Preston. “We were very pessimistic about whether we’d all be racing at all today. But, then the wind came in and the race committee got it going at the right time and we had two very nice, interesting races with the turn of the tide in the second that made it tactically interesting. It was a much better day than we had dared hope.” As to why Jubilee won, Preston attributed it to being “well prepared with a good crew who sail well together. It helps being at the top end of the rating bracket with a boat that is extremely good and a wide envelope to windward. We had consistently good starts and boat speed that enabled us to use our tactics, which was a big advantage.” For more RORC IRC National Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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