RORC
Club page Getting closer – IRC/ORC World Championship
One submission that caught attention at ISAF’s recent annual conference was the request by the IRC Owners’ Association for IRC to hold its own world championship. Currently this right is reserved for only one of the two ISAF international rating rules, namely ORCi. While the ultimate intention was for IRC to have the same rights as ORC to hold a world championship, the detail in the submission was cleverly worded such that no one international system had an automatic right to hold a worlds. Notwithstanding the detail, it is the principle that was the issue here and, with over 7,000 current certifi- cates in 35 countries, IRC deserves every right to bring together its supporters for a globally recognised regatta which is usually called a world championship.
What eventually came out of all the politicking and corridor discussion was what I believe to be a very positive step forward: that IRC and ORC form a working party to find a way of having one world championship that represents both rating rules. The timeframe set for this was three years.
Now this could manifest itself in the form of using both rating rules to score the results, counting the points scored under each rule for
Ker 40+ Invictus, Stuart Whitehead’s Carkeek 40 Rebellionand Mike Bartholomew’s GP42 Tokoloshe, to add to the existing Ker 40s of Anthony O'Leary and Ed Broadway, the idea attracted attention and is now a reality thanks to the efforts of Rob Greenhalgh and Stuart Childerley. With new builds and some additional imports a fleet of 12 boats will contest the 2016 Fast 40+ circuit, which includes RORC’s Vice Admiral’s Cup and IRC Nationals, Cowes Week, a class national championship in September and the Hamble River Sailing Club Big Boat Championship in October.
Andrew Pearce will appear with a new Ker 40+ for the next Magnum campaign, James Neville has bought the HH 42 Oystercatcher XXX and Johnny Vincent is back with a second new Ker 40+ Pace. Exciting times on the Solent.
IRC European Championship
IRC will have its first European Championship during the 2016 Volvo Cork Week, hosted by the Royal Cork YC from 10 to 15 July. The event will provide a wide variety of conditions in the coastal waters around Cork and should be a good test for the boats and teams. Irish sailors are great supporters of IRC and so it is fitting that the first European Championship should be held there.
When RORC was approached by Royal Cork to host the event the response was positive and immediate. The timing of the IRC European Championship, in the middle of July, works well in relation to the IRC National Championship in June and as a precursor to the Brewin Dolphin Com- modores’ Cup between 23 and 30 July. The intention is for this event to be held at a different European location every year.
RORC Transatlantic Race
Three multihulls (two MOD 70s), three IRC- rated yachts and two Class 40s (skippered by Spanish offshore ace Gonzalo Botín and ex-F1 designer Mike Gascoigne) started the second RORC Transatlantic Race from Lan- zarote to Grenada; the small but competitive fleet ranging from 100 down to 40ft having enjoyed the hospitality of Marina Lanzarote close to the city centre of Arrecife, the island’s capital.
Luke Parkinson at work onboard RORC Yacht of the Year Azzam, skippered by Ian Walker, who also goes into the book as the first British skipper to win the Volvo Ocean Race. Later this year all seven VO65s built for the last race will return to the Persico yard for a major refit along with various new upgrades whose main focus is on improving security onboard
each race to decide the overall winner. This would encourage boats designed to IRC to enter the new event and allow the regatta itself to travel outside its current (ORC) stronghold of the Mediterranean and Baltic regions.
With development of the Universal Measurement System (boat passport) moving forward quickly, the idea has appeal and would also stop the typeforming we have seen in the past with the IMS rule, where boats had more internal ballast than lead in the keel – something that appeared to be creeping back into boats optimised for the last ORC Worlds.
Today’s world wants fast, fun, powerful boats, not boats designed to beat a rating rule; combining the two rules in this way may just be the way to achieve this. Hopefully the politics won’t stand in the way of commonsense.
Fast 40+ UK circuit
In discussion for some time has been the creation of a circuit specif- ically for planing 40-footers. With the arrival in the UK of Keith Mills’
Activities every night of the week in the run-up to the start created a good atmosphere among an eclectic bunch of pro- fessional and amateur sailors from all over the world. The Westerhall Rum party was a
particular favourite, which included copious amounts of rum, of course, plus the de-rigueur pink hat that Westerhall have chosen as their trademark colour.
Any thought that this might be a delivery race was scotched as the fleet approached the line for a downwind start with the Southern Wind 94 Windfallpowering across seconds after the gun… just beneath the smallest boat in the fleet, the Pogo 12.50 Aloha. Canadian Will Appold’s Swan 78 Valkyriewas close astern with Jean Paul Riviere’s Finot-Conq 100 Nomad IV unfurling its massive gennaker all within metres of each other.
Ten minutes later and the MOD 70s were flying towards the line at over 20kt with Concise’s skipper Ned Collier-Wakefield luffing Phaedoaway from the line as both unfurled their big gennakers, cross- ing the line overlapped with bragging rights just going to Concise. Across the Atlantic, however, Collier-Wakefield’s team will have to be at the very top of their game to hold off the more experienced Phaedo crew, led by Brian Thompson. Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
q SEAHORSE 55
MATT KNIGHTON
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