IRM Class at Cork Week - Day 2

Rebel, the Farr 45 campaigned jointly by David Franks and Duncan Morris leads the IRM grand prix class at Cork Week after winning today for the second successive time.

In a gentle breeze 4-7 knots of breeze and overcast conditions Rebel was again smart out of the start line and was never crossed or headed by any of the other five Farr 45's, and reached the weather mark first time around ahead of the Farr 52 Bear of Britain, going on to win by nearly two minutes ahead of the well sailed Farr 40 2XL.

Adding to their third on the opening Harbour Race on Monday, 2XL lies second on the overall standings.

Rebel again showed they have pace in the light conditions. Sailing middle left on the first beat they stuck with the best pressure for most of the first leg. On the first downwind the chasing pack closed a little, but second time around the left paid for them again.

Race management left a little to be desired and there was an ongoing protest tonight from Peter Harrison's Farr 52 Chernikeeff. The race officer intimated on the VHF radio that he intended to shorten course for the class after the first lap but abandoned the idea because he later admitted, he could not access his 'S' flag, which was on a RIB somewhere else on the course area. Unfortunately Chernikeeff had already taken account of the information and were searching for a finish line. As a result of their protest they have been granted redress, but the crew were still not happy with the outcome.

In contrast Spinlock's Graham Sunderland, tactician on Rebel, was playing down their success to date: "It was very difficult and very soft at times and so we just stuck to our game plan which was not to get involved, no covering game, but to just try and sail our own race, which we pretty much managed to do." He reported, "We seem to have pretty good speed and just sailed in the better pressure as much as we could. We felt a little vulnerable at times, especially downwind. We set the rig up really loose and that seemed to work for us."

Babbalaas got back into the race a little more on the second beat but there was no way of stopping Rebel.

"I don't think we want to take too much from yesterday's race and even from today. Today we learned that we are quick upwind and possibly a little slow downwind, but there is still an awful lot of racing still to go."

Rebel has Quantum's Dave Lenz on mainsheet and, interestingly, the co-skippers share the driving. David Franks steers on the coastal races and Duncan Morris steers inshore.

"The owners are having a great time and I have to say that we are really enjoying racing IRM. You feel justified when you finish a race and the result reflects how well you have sailed. So many events we have done recently you feel like you sailed a good race and the result bears no relation to how well you sailed. IRM certainly throws up the closest racing."

The results today showed a good spread of boats in the top five with two Farr 45's, a Farr 40 and a Mumm 36 - Simon Henning's Alice - sharing out the overall honours.

Cork Week IRM Class Race 2 Results:

1 Farr 45, Rebel (Franks & Morris) 3:21.46
2 Farr 40, 2XL ( D Murrin) 3:23.43
3 Farr 45, Wolf (G Williams) 3:25.39
4 Mumm 36, Alice (S Henning) 3:26.56
5 Farr 45, Babbalaas (D McLean) 3:27.46