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And you’ve barely begun… this is Andrew Fennell’s elegant Shuttleworth-designed 39-footer Morpheus, still to clear the Needles at the windy start of this year’s Fastnet Race. First launched in 2019, this very tidy carbon/foam trimaran weighs just 2.2 tonnes and is primarily configured for fast cruising. And at 39ft long… Morpheus can be dismantled and then stored or transported in a pair of 40ft containers
Falling close to the tree
In last month’s piece I wrote about the contribution Sir Peter Harrison made in supporting sailing. Probably his biggest sailing project was his financial backing of the GBR Challenge for the 2002/03 America’s Cup, which was campaigned under our burgee. His skipper for that campaign was Ian Walker, now the RYA’s Director of Racing. The reason I mention this is not only is Ian an established and
very successful offshore racer, having won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2015, but he also won the Fastnet Race to add to his two Olympic silver medals. He also played a key role in Shirley Robertson’s gold medal success in the Yngling class in 2004 as her coach. On behalf of the club we would like to congratulate Ian, his support
team and all the Team GB sailing team on their Olympic success in Tokyo. They have been a true shining light for UK sailing and long may this continue under Ian’s guidance. This brings me on to the Olympics where for this Olympiad the
IOC had once again embraced several new events. For example, rock climbing: wasn’t the vertical wall fascinating to watch… and the speed the athletes went up the wall was amazing. Also the positive addition of more mixed events, like the mixed triathlon relay and the mixed 4x400m relay where there were different strategies of how you mixed up your athletes. Of course during the Tokyo Olympiad we also had World Sailing proposing to the IOC a stimulating new mixed two-handed offshore event for Paris 2024... but which fell at the final hurdle of the approvals process. This new event I felt ticked the box for diversity and inclusion, added a broader elite pathway and gave recognition to the important part offshore sailing plays in the sport globally. I’m aware that the IOC gave three areas they had concerns over: security of the field of play (the cost and could the French Navy manage it?); the expense of broadcasting; and the cost of the boats (no design had been decided by the time of the final decision…). However, World Sailing had responded to the IOC’s concerns
with good solid arguments, solutions to allay the IOC’s concerns around these areas – yet still the IOC turned down the event. This was, I feel, a real missed opportunity by the IOC for developing the sailing offering in the Olympics. I really hope that they revisit their decision for the Los Angeles Games in 2028. Closer to home we’ve had our Cowes-Dinard-St Malo Race where
we had a good turnout of 120 boats for the 150nm race. The historic race, which dates back to 1906, was won overall by our own commodore James Neville’s Ino XXX. James is the first RORC
SEAHORSE
commodore in office to win the King Edward VII Cup. Many congrat- ulations to the commodore and his crew! Also to our vice- commodore, Eric de Turckheim, who won Class Zero in his powerful Bernard Nivelt IRC design Teasing Machine. When you come to read this page the Rolex Fastnet Race will have
finished and I’m sure you will have seen the results. This was the 49th edition of the race and the first with the finish in Cherbourg. Without going over old ground, this was a huge decision for the club to move the finish of the world’s largest offshore race – I would hope that having experienced Cherbourg’s wonderful hospitality, together with the substantial infrastructure the town and region have put in place for the race’s arrival, the decision will have proved completely justified. The crews had everything chucked at them weather-wise and I
would like to congratulate every competitor who took part in this year’s edition. We had an outstanding fleet of boats of all shapes and sizes, from top professional crews to the Corinthian teams doing their first race. It’s this breadth of competitors among the more than 350 boats that took the start that makes the race unique. Congratulations to the crew on the mighty Ultime trimaran Maxi Edmond de Rothschild who were first to cross the finish line in Cherbourg after a light canter around the new 695nm course. The first monohull to finish was Scorpios, the new ClubSwan
125, which was sailed very well to stay well ahead of Rambler 88. Congratulations to everyone onboard Scorpios. And commiserations to George David and the crew of Rambler, forced to retire after passing the wrong side of the Fastnet Separation Zone. However, the ultimate prize of overall winner for the 49th edition
of the Fastnet Race went to Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise which also won IRC Two. This was an outstanding result and huge congratulations to Tom and his crew. Our final offshore race of the season – the new Castle Rock –
takes place on 10 September and we look forward to seeing all those who can make it on the starting line. Returning to matters ashore, the RORC London clubhouse will
be fully open from the beginning of September for accommodation, dinner and lunch, while our Cowes clubhouse is already fully open. We also have some new staff to welcome in Cowes: new head chef Ross Macintosh, sous chef Dylan Brown and finance officer David Purcell. I’m pleased to say our club is in excellent shape at both ends of the M3 motorway and beyond! Jeremy Wilton, CEO
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RICK TOMLINSON
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