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Mind the foils… all the Ultims and most of the Imocas went out to the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre with extra crew to wind up the heavy mainsails and ensure their daily charges – the boats not the race crew – hit the line with everything as ready as possible. Most top Imoca and Ultim teams now boast a full-time payroll of 30-odd; even in the Class40 a permanent shore team of 3-4 is now common
No rest for the wicked
At the time of writing autumn has most definitely hit us, the hour has come off and we’ve just endured Storm Ciarán. In the Northern Hemisphere the schedule of major regattas was capped as usual by the Rolex Middle Sea Race. This year’s edition had a good number of RORC members competing, but last year’s overall winner, vice commodore Eric de Turckheim's Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine was already on a ship south for the Sydney Hobart, where Eric is hoping to add the Tattersall Cup to his 2023 trophy collection… which already includes our Transatlantic Race, a Class Zero win in the Caribbean 600 and overall winner in the Myth of Malham. The latest Middle Sea Race was a testament to everything that
is good about the IRC rule and confirms why virtually every major ocean race in the world now uses it. This year’s overall winner was the 93ft WallyBullitt… Yet just 24 seconds (sic) astern on corrected time was the Sun Fast 3300 Red Ruby, being (brilliantly) raced two-handed by Americans Christina and Justin Wolfe. Just before the Middle Sea Race, across the water in Italy there
was the Nastro Rosa series of regattas supported by the Marina Militare. The organisers had kindly offered RORC a yacht for the event – the events are raced in Figaro 3s – and we enjoyed some standout performances. In the Eurosaf Female Offshore European Championships Ellie Driver and Catherine Hunt won overall. Then shortly afterwards Ellie, now racing with George Kennedy, came second in the mixed doubles offshore worlds, with Maggie Adamson and Finlayson Calanach finishing third. However, across the pond in Antigua there was less happy news
when the Antigua Yacht Club marina complex in Falmouth Harbour was hit by lightning during a storm and burnt down. The good news is no one was hurt and it’s our understanding that the many bars, shops and restaurants are already rising phoenix-like from the ashes. We wish all affected businesses well in their recovery efforts. For those entering February’s Caribbean 600 and/or Nelson’s
Cup I can reassure you that by great good fortune the Antigua Yacht Club itself wasn’t affected and is operating as usual, so there is no issue with the running of the two events; I encourage you to get your entry in so you can celebrate with us the 15th anniversary of the Caribbean 600 – the Caribbean’s biggest offshore race. Meanwhile, the annual IRC Congress was hosted in Paris this year. One of the improvements to the system confirmed in France
68 SEAHORSE
is rating of the number of headsails – the underlying principle being to try to level things out a little between the big-budget professional campaigns and the Corinthian sailors who continue to make up the great bulk of the IRC fleet. But bear in mind also that this new rating factor – number of
headsails carried – may cause your rating to go down as well as up. As an example, a 10m yacht will see a minimal rating charge for, say, three or four headsails declared, while for a larger 15m boat that minimal level allows, say, four to five headsails. So plenty for the more typical IRC racer. As this is the Christmas edition of Seahorse I just wanted to
remind everyone that the London clubhouse will close after breakfast on Friday 22 December and reopen on Thursday 4 January 2024. At the Cowes clubhouse development continues apace with the goal to reopen in time for Easter 2024. January also brings the second event of the 2024 RORC Season’s
Points Championship, the Transatlantic Race, of which this will be the 10th edition. We have also published the NoR for the second edition of the
Nelson’s Cup in Antigua, held prior to the Caribbean 600 and includ- ing three days of inshore and coastal racing. Entries for the 600 itself close on Monday 22 January and for the Nelson’s Cup on Monday 12 February. Closer to home World Sailing has awarded the Offshore Double
Handed World Championships for the next three years –with a joint hosting agreement between the RORC, Lorient Grand Large, Yacht Club de France and CapRegatta (who will supply the SunFast 30 OD boats that this championship will be using). Even… closer to home, after 22 years in post, at the end of
October we said an immensely grateful farewell to RORC finance manager Anne Newton. Anne has done great service to the RORC over those many years and we wish her well in the next chapter of her life. As she is a proud South African I’m not going to mention how many times the result of the Rugby World Cup has been brought up! We welcome our new finance manager Simon Hamilton to the club. Finally, can I take this opportunity to wish all RORC members,
Seahorse readers and others a very happy, enjoyable Christmas. Jeremy Wilton, CEO
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JEAN-MARIE LIOT/ALEA
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