Time to get moving Club page
RORC
It is at this time of year that plans for the coming season that have been much discussed over the winter need to be locked in, with crew commitments firmed up and travel bookings secured. I have highlighted our race programme before so I won’t apologise for repeating myself as it is important to remind people what’s in store this season. No sooner are we back from the RORC Caribbean 600 than Easter
is upon us. The RORC Easter Challenge is the ‘coaching when racing’ regatta that RORC has run for over 20 years. Each year I encourage the not so racy boats to come and join the fun. Easter is a family occasion, I understand that. But the main coaching sessions are Friday and Saturday and the opportunity to access some top coaches both on and off the water to help you raise your game before the season starts is one I urge those who need it most (be honest) to consider. And there are Easter eggs to be won. This season has a lot of choice. The Royal Cork Yacht Club’s
300th anniversary is the stand-out event, and to encourage boats to travel to Ireland the RORC is running this year’s Morgan Cup,
Mixed Two-Handed Offshore World Championships (OWC) Qualification Since the RYA’s invitation went out, for competitors who want to compete in the Mixed Two-Handed Offshore World Championships, held in Malta in October at the same time as the Rolex Middle Sea Race, they have received 60 expressions of interest of whom 17 are women and 11 existing boat owners. Former Tornado Olympian Hugh Styles has been appointed as the RYA’s keelboat coach and will lead this project. Hugh is planning a training weekend at Royal Southern Yacht Club, expected to be confirmed as 7-8 March. The sole qualifier race for the Malta event will be an extended
Channel Race where the mixed double-handed crews start with the RORC Channel Race fleet, but then continue after the finish for an additional distance which will be set according to conditions.
Lift-off The British Keelboat League has gathered a lot of momentum since it started in 2016. It was an idea that was first tried out in Germany in 2013; short races, one-design boats, a standardised course and fleet racing competi- tion between the most prestigious sailing clubs in the country. All these ingredients combine to guarantee
racing that is fast and fun – it took off like wildfire and was soon capturing the attention of sailors in several other countries. Denmark became the first European country to adopt the format of a ‘National Sailing League’ along the lines of the German model and by 2019 no fewer than 21 nations all over the globe were running their own National Sailing Leagues. Jack Fenwick of the RYA is in charge of the
National Sailing League in Britain – called the British Keelboat League, which now incorporates a Women’s League and a Youth (under 25) League. The British Keelboat League is open to anyone who wants to represent a club and the team must include one man and one woman. The series now attracts clubs from across
Were reefing headsails a thing in 1939? Those who recall the 1965 S&S IMS steamroller Sunstone, trailing fleets in by hours in the 1990s before stepping onto the podium, will be relieved to know Giovanni Belgrano’s 1939 Laurent Giles design Whooper does not always have it her own way under IRC – though she has picked up some of the biggest inshore prizes in her time. Belgrano himself is now with Ineos Team UK after previous America’s Cups working as lead structural engineer with Emirates Team New Zealand
one of our Points Championship races, from Cowes to Cork. It also features an unusual midweek start so finishers arrive in time to join weekend celebrations and then return to the UK or race Cork Week – which includes the 2020 IRC Europeans. Every four years we organise L’Ile d’Ouessant (Ushant) Race
which starts the Sunday after Cowes Week from the Royal Yacht Squadron line, navigates the south coast to the Wolf Rock then across the Channel to a mark off Ushant to finish in St Malo. It has found increasing popularity, not least because it is a decent length (400nm) with a points factor of 1.3, plus it is a qualifier for the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021. The finish in St Malo also provides the opportunity to cruise the French coast thereafter. The last race of the RORC Championship has in recent years
been the Rolex Middle Sea Race, but this has now become the first race of the 2021 Points Championship, so September’s Cherbourg Race sprint now becomes the final race. As Cherbourg will be the home of the Rolex Fastnet Race for the next two editions a warm welcome and a season finale party to remember await.
SEAHORSE
the UK to regional events with the top teams qualifying for the final which last year was run by the Royal Thames YC in matched RS21 keel- boats. Twenty- two teams – from as far north as Dundee, as far west as Bristol and from Oulton Broad to the east – completed 42 races before declaring a deserving winner which was Grafham Water Sailing Club. In contrast to the winning club, a substantial, highly successful and large operation, runners-up Faversham Sailing Club
is tiny, based on a small lake outside Milton Keynes. The sailors of Faversham came within a whisker of winning the event overall. Another inland club, Ullswater Yacht Club, finished third. RORC has dabbled in the series over the years with the aim of
attracting more youth and female members and will be putting more effort into this year’s series as we believe it serves as a good introduction from dinghies to keelboat, and gives many sailors the chance of competing and improving their skills. We will be concen- trating on the women and youth teams and are looking within our membership for keen sailors to represent the club. Meanwhile, the German inventors have now gone one step further
and created a champion of champions competition, where the winners from each country sail against each other in the same format to find the winning club. It’s called the Sailing Champions League and in 2019 was won by the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, ahead of 2018 champions Norddeutscher Regatta Verein from Hamburg, Germany. Something to raise over your club bar perhaps? Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
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INGRID ABERY
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