Au revoir, Michael Club page
RORC
On 20 November 2017 Michael Boyd’s vigorous term as commodore of the RORC came to an end. Michael’s application was formidable, spending his first year
getting to know every aspect of the club and the outside organisa- tions with which the RORC has strong relationships. His undoubted strengths were his people skills, creating harmony where previously there might have been discord, creating bonhomie where previously there was disaffection. Michael was well suited to the role of mediator in the wake of RORC’s merger with the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes, two very different organisations. He was an active racing commodore masterminding several
successful campaigns – first winning the 2014 Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup while vice-commodore then applying himself to all the RORC races including the Season Points Championships, RORC Caribbean 600, Rolex Fastnet and other events we support such as the Volvo Round Ireland Race and Rolex Middle Sea Race.
transatlantic races to and from the Caribbean, the RORC being central to the organisation of both races (with the German club bringing 11 boats to swell the fleet). The International Maxi Association are supporting the race and
provide a trophy that is awarded to the first monohull to complete the course. Three powerful maxi yachts are entered. The Southern- wind 96 Sorceresshas the waterline length but is very much a beau- tiful modern cruiser-racer, whereas CQS and Monster Project are power machines. All three are capable of beating the race record set in 2015 by Jean-Paul Riviere’s Nomad IV of 10d 7h. Ludde Ingvall is the skipper of the 98ft CQS and has thousands
of racing miles under his belt, notching up 15 transatlantic crossings; his most famous Transatlantic Race was in 1997 as skipper of Nicorette, breaking the 92-year record set in 1905 by Charlie Barr's Atlantic. ‘When you are a young kid dreaming of racing, the Transat- lantic Race is a very special one. ‘I have enjoyed them all; it is a historic
adventure. I feel very privileged to be doing this race,’ explains Ingvall. ‘For this one we have a rather young crew; many will be crossing the Atlantic for the first time… they are pretty excited!’ In stark contrast is the ubiquitous JPK
1010 Jangada, the smallest yacht in the fleet sailed by Richard Palmer and Rupert Holmes who have raced thousands of miles two-handed including the 2012 Two-Star and this year’s Fastnet. At just 33ft Jangada will take around 19 days to complete the 2,995nm course; and this is just the start of a massive 2018 programme. ‘Our focus is the RORC 2018 season
and we have 7,000 miles of racing planned, including the RORC Transat- lantic, RORC Caribbean 600, Round Ireland and Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland,’ says Palmer. ‘Reliability and consistency are crucial to this programme. Jangada is very well
Above: the mighty 100-foot Comanche of serial internet entrepreneur Jim Clark enjoying the reaching that makes up a good portion of the Caribbean 600 course… in between the eleven island roundings. John Burnie (left) was one of the local sailors who encouraged RORC into adding this ocean racing classic to the club’s portfolio
Michael also worked with others to create competitive campaigns, including with his good friend Nial Dowling, and for the last two seasons helped to mastermind two RORC champion ship wins with Nick and Suzi Jones and their First 44.7 Lisa, culminating in the boat receiving the 2017 Yacht of the Year Award. It was a fitting finale to a tenure of great endeavour, commitment and success.
Three-year (Caribbean) deal In late November 22 boats gathered at Marina Lanzarote outside the island capital Arrecife for the start of the fourth RORC Transat- lantic Race. The diverse fleet is bound for Camper & Nicholson’s Port Louis Marina, Grenada, recently confirmed as the destination for this race until 2020 after Grenada Tourism and Camper & Nicholson renewed their partnership with us for three more years. The Transatlantic Race is the first part of the Atlantic Anniversary Regatta, a joint venture between the NRV and the YCCS with two
66 SEAHORSE
maintained – we are always out to eliminate potential failure points.’ My view is that the overall winner is likely to come from the middle
of the fleet but as we know in a race of this length the weather can still dictate the result. Teasing Machine, Varuna and Outsider look the most competitive. The German boats, Jens Kellinghusen’s Varuna and Tilmar Hansen’s Outsider, have the most miles but the brand new 54-footer Teasing Machine of Eric de Turkheim from France showed good all-round performance to finish third overall in this year’s very windy Middle Sea Race.
10th anniversary At the time of writing 47 boats had entered the RORC Caribbean 600 with several previous winners making the journey back to enjoy a complex racecourse raced in great weather conditions. The winner of the inaugural race in 2009 Adrian Lee is bringing
back his Cookson 50 to contest this race 10 years on and will have another Cookson 50 in the hands of 2013 race winner Ron O’Hanley for competition. The 2011 overall winner and regular attendee of the race George David will be back with Rambler 88. This boat has twice been on the podium and maybe this year will give George a second victory. Two-time winner George Sakellaris is also back with the Maxi72
Proteus which won in 2016. George won the 2014 race as well on another Maxi72, Shockwave. We know Bella Mente(winner in 2015 and 2017) is busy with both a brand new Maxi72 and the America’s Cup but there are others… and entry is open for a while yet. Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
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TIM WRIGHT
EMMA LOUISE WYN JONES
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