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RORC Club page Truly classic


The Royal Malta Yacht Club is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Middle Sea Race and the RORC is proud of the part it has played in the history of the event.


The race was conceived by Alan Green who later became the secretary of the RORC. Alan trained as a measurer for the RORC so that when his day job took him to Malta he could double up and measure yachts for the local RORC handicap system. With the support of another English expat, Jimmy White, and local Royal Malta YC members Paul and John Ripard, this quartet persuaded the RMYC committee to run a race of 600 miles around Sicily in the autumn when the Mediterranean winds were stronger. The fol- lowing year (1969) the RORC committee was asked to recognise the Middle Sea Race as a qualifying race for membership which it did as long as the RORC had a supporting role in the race. Alan Green kept in close contact with the RMYC when he returned to the UK to join the permanent staff at the RORC and the relation- ship was key to establishing the event as one of the true ocean racing classics. Ever since the race has always run in association


This year’s race will also decide the winner of the RORC points championship as both the X-41 British Soldierand the JPK 1010 Jangada are competing and will start the final race of our 2018 offshore programme separated by just a few points overall. We wish all competitors a safe race and the Royal Malta Yacht Club the best of celebrations and another highly successful event.


Stones tickets… a cinch


At 1200 UTC on Monday 7 January 2019 registration for the next Rolex Fastnet Race will open to competitors. You can (should) enter the details of your yacht much sooner than that on Sailgate, RORC’s online entry system. Do it now as it saves a lot of time – once your yacht’s details are saved all that is needed is to press the entry button on the day for the Fastnet, as well as for any other race you may wish to do as part of the qualification process. As many will remember in January 2017 the limit of 340 IRC boats was reached in a little over four minutes… so make sure you register beforehand and are available – and online – at 1200 on the day. Priority is given to RORC members while places have also been reserved for boats who have entered the TR2019 – the west-to-east trans - atlantic feeder race from Newport to Cowes.


Get dredging


This one remains on the list… Niklas Zennströmʼs Judel-Vrolijk Maxi72 Ran V ploughs on to take her third Class 1 win in the Middle Sea Race during the windy 2014 edition – however, once again overall victory eluded the Rán team who could only manage 26th overall in spite of finishing barely two hours behind the 100-footer Esimit Europa of Jochen Schümann; soon afterwards a building breeze brought the mid-sized boats home to dominate the overall results before the wind dropped on the final evening leaving the minnows at sea for another night… Never an easy race


with the Royal Ocean Racing Club using the RORC’s IRC rating system to decide the overall winners.


The Middle Sea Race has long been a bucket list event, because of the amazing course around Sicily plus active volcanoes and changes in conditions from flat calm to spectacular thunderstorms, as well as the Mediterranean storms that are prevalent at this time of the year and can range from the unpleasant to the dangerous. Malta itself is also of course a very special island and the start inside Grand Harbour is totally different from anything else a sailor will experience. Another attraction is that this is a classic race that any well-prepared and well-sailed boat can win. Local knowledge is of less importance than for many other races, although the Messina Straits has to be experienced to understand its crazy nuances. Race entries have grown steadily over the past 10 years and this 50th anniversary will see the biggest fleet in the event’s history with 149 entries already received. Over the years the quality of the boats and sailors has improved as the race’s reputation has grown. George David set the current course record in 2007 in Rambler


90 and is back this year with the lighter, faster Rambler 88. Most recently the race has also welcomed multihulls and this year a strong fleet of fast trimarans have entered including two MOD 70s.


62 SEAHORSE


Thirty-four delegates from no fewer than 13 sailing nations descended upon the Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire in Ireland for the latest IRC congress where a comprehensive range of topics were addressed by the Policy Steering Group, the IRC Tech- nical Committee and the main IRC committee. Delegates came from Aus- tralia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, GBR, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, southeast Asia, Turkey and the USA and there were also rep- resentatives from RORC, UNCL, the Royal Yachting Association, Irish Sail- ing Association, International Maxi Association and the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association!


Reports received from IRC owners’ associations and rule authorities


around the world were both positive and informative. Inevitably much time was given to reviewing The Hague Offshore Sailing Worlds and the technical aspects of dual-scoring both IRC and ORC in a major event. A number of relatively minor IRC rule changes were approved for rig dimensions, rig factor, number of spinnakers and a few housekeeping items that will apply for 2019. The technical committee also reported about developments for IRC treatment of draft, the general treatment of boats of over 30.5m as well as of heavier cruisers and classics with low sail area and small spinnaker numbers. The treatment of draft is not being reviewed just because extremes of draft are becoming more numer- ous, but a wider review of this aspect of the rule is timely. This congress was also the final meeting for Peter Wykeham- Martin who has been chairman for eight years. He hands the baton to Irishman Michael Boyd, past commodore of RORC and an active IRC racer. Alp Doguoglu also stepped down as vice-chairman and is replaced by Belgian Carl Sabba. Alp has represented IRC at World Sailing and both he and Peter were thanked for much hard work. It was also confirmed that the 2019 IRC European Championship will be held in San Remo, Italy in June. Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO


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KURT ARRIGO


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