Another (more orderly) sellout Club page
RORC
The message had obviously got through. We do have more space for boats and crews with our move to Cherbourg because the rush to enter this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race was of a more orderly fashion than in previous years. Registration opened at 10.00 on 12 January. One second after
10.00Juliett Romeobecame the first boat to stake a place, a J/122 belonging to Seitz Naber. There was then an initial rush with over 130 boats entered in the first two minutes and thereafter it was a steady stream of registrations… still with 400 boats signing up within the first hour. The average size of our current entries stands at 12.48m, lengths
spanning Australian Peter Harburg’s 31m Black Jack (first monohull home in the 2013 Fastnet Race as Esimit Europa II), to the smallest, David O’Shea’s Hustler SJ30 Freedom at 9m. The fleet ranges from the ultra-modern high-tech yachts sailed
by professional crew to traditional classic yachts of a bygone era. Among the former is George David’s Rambler 88, monohull line honours winner in the last two races and current holder of the monohull record up to the Fastnet Rock. Among the latter is one
rest of Europe had become so extreme in early January that the RORC committee decided that it would put not only RORC race team personnel and volunteers at risk but also the local population if we encouraged 200+ sailors, mostly from Europe and North America, to travel to Antigua. We did consider whether it was possible to run the race remotely, as we had done with our Transatlantic Race, but our biggest concern was whether it was ethically right for the RORC to be running the race under the current circumstances. We consulted those on the ground, and the government of Antigua
and Barbuda, to arrive at the decision which had to be made early as a number of boats were being shipped from Europe with crews booking flights and accommodation. We therefore could not wait until the beginning of February to see if the pandemic was subsiding. It was not an easy decision but we know it is the right one.
Pressing on As I write this eight boats from four countries are racing across the Atlantic in the seventh edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race. The fact that the race is taking place at all given the new health crisis sweeping Europe is due to the tenacity and commitment of the owners and skippers and the support that we once again received from Puerto Calero Marina and the Calero family as well as from the Real Club Náutico de Arrecife. With the UK in lockdown after a
second steep rise in virus cases, the RORC decided not to send any staff to Lanzarote and all the communication with competitors was done by FaceTime or Zoom. The sporting director of the Real Club Náutico de Arrecife, Manuel Torres, started the race in glorious sunshine with a northerly breeze blowing off the land at 16-20kt with gusts of 25kt and the fleet reaching off down the coast at good speed. A particularly wonderful sight when watched online from a very damp and gloomy locked-down (again) London. In the lead-up to the race over 20
Breeding like billy-o. Jeanneau’s Sunfast 3300 has been a big hit for the thriving two-handed community – both among the latest recruits and as the replacement of choice for many of the already experienced teams; this is Séb Saulnier and Christophe Affolter’s Moshimoshi at the start of the Transatlantic race. After years of dominating the two-handed divisions of offshore races Jean-Pierre Kelbert and JPK finally have a real fight on their hands. In the UK four or five of the fast Andrieu/Verdier designs have now become a regular sight out training on the Solent
of the top maxis of the 1960s: the breakthrough 78ft yawl Stormvogel, originally owned by Kees Bruynzeel, which won Fastnet line honours in 1961, subsequently repeating the feat in many of the classic ocean races across the planet. From a decade later is Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duick VI, the maxi yacht that France’s most famous sailor raced with a crew of 12 in the first Whitbread Round the World Race and who then, incredibly, sailed solo across the north Atlantic to victory in the very rough 1976 Observer Single- handed Transatlantic Race. In tiller-steered configuration... Even in the depths of winter with the pandemic still raging sailors
from 25 nations are confident that Covid will be under control by the start of the season and have their thoughts firmly fixed on getting out on the water and then competing in one of the world’s most challenging races.
Best efforts It was with a heavy heart and much disappointment that the club was forced to cancel the RORC Caribbean 600 five weeks before the start of the 2021 edition. The virus situation in the UK and the
SEAHORSE
boats had entered but, unsurprisingly, for virus-related reasons many had to pull out. However, the support of the remain- ing entries, determined to race to the Caribbean, felt like strong justification for delaying the start to January but then pressing ahead. The weather routeing also showed good trade wind conditions
very close to the Canary Islands which would make for a fast crossing with a high possibility of records being broken. Sadly a day into the race saw the first casualty with Stefan
Jentzsch’s brand new Botín 56 Black Pearl pulling out with a broken bowsprit. The lead was soon taken by two of the latest Mach 40.4 Class40 designs from the board of Sam Manuard with their char- acteristic scow bows pitch perfect for downwind trade wind sailing. In fact, Antoine Magre’s Palanad 3 and Antoine Carpentier’s Redman proved so quick off the wind that for a while they managed to give Oren Nataf’s 50 trimaran Rayon Vert a good run for its money as the fleet passed through the islands. Again it was public health reasons that caused us to move the
race finish from its original destination, the Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. After a spike in local Covid cases on the island the Grenada government cancelled all flights to and from Europe which forced our race management team to move the finish to Antigua. There are worse places to end a transatlantic crossing. Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
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JAMES MITCHELL
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