RORC Cherbourg Race - The Decider

Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens wins the RORC Cherbourg Race © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

The 2012 RORC Season's Points Championship came to a dramatic conclusion in Cherbourg in the early hours of Saturday morning. 278 yachts have competed in the ten race series, which was won overall by the smallest margin imaginable.

Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens, completed the 78-mile race to Cherbourg in less than eight hours to win the last race of the RORC Season's Points Championship. However, Laurent Gouy's Ker 39, Inis Mor, claimed fifth overall in the Cherbourg race to win the seven month series by a single place. If Inis Mor had come sixth, the championship would have gone to Tonnerre de Breskens for an unprecedented third season in a row.

Laurent Gouy explained about the atmosphere on board Inis Mor. "My father Bernard actually owns the boat and it was his birthday, so at midnight we all sang Happy Birthday to him in The Channel. Bernard has done every race except the Cowes Dinard and he was 69 during the race. It was a few hours after the finish that we knew we had won the season and it was a fantastic but a real surprise, we decided to race with the RORC this year to get better competition and we certainly got that. The battle with Tonnerre and Diablo-J was very close. We are very much looking forward to the RORC dinner, we will be there for sure, how could we not attend. Thank you to the RORC for a great season of racing."

"The Cherbourg Race didn't start well for us," admitted Piet Vroon. "We were over eager and with a downwind start we were early and had to go back, it didn't cost us much, maybe five minutes but we had to sail through the whole fleet to get into the lead. We had good wind through the night and on our approach to Cherbourg. We decided to just sail with nine rather than the usual twelve, as it looked like a light wind race and we couldn't have done any better. I was delighted to win the race and to finish first after starting last but to lose the championship by just one place was not so enjoyable! After hearing that Inis Mor had won, I was thinking about the season and maybe by competing at the IRC Nationals, Cork Week and Cowes Week, we took our minds away from this battle but I could not have asked any more from the crew, they have been magnificent all season."

Two former Commodores had an epic battle in IRC Two, Andrew McIrvine's First 40, La Réponse, won the race from Peter Rutter's Grand Soleil 43, Trustmarque Quokka, skippered by Philippe Falle. The two yachts enjoyed a close duel through the night with La Réponse crossing the line barely three minutes ahead to secure second place overall for the season.

In IRC Three Jean Pierre Kelbert and Pascal Loison's JPK 10.10, Leon, racing Two-Handed, took line honours and the win on corrected time. Nick Martin's fairy tale season came to an end racing his J/105, Diablo-J. A second place in the race secured the IRC Three and Two-Handed titles for the season and a magnificent third overall for the RORC Season's Points Championship. Diablo-J enjoyed a very close battle to Cherbourg with Christopher Palmer's J/109, J-T'Aime, which claimed third by just 13 seconds.

In IRC Four there was an emphatic win for Yacht club de Cherbourg's Figaro sailor, James Bruno. Racing his Sun Fast 3200, Le MC Do De Cherbourg, the local team took line honours for the class by over an hour. Jean Yves Chateau's Nicholson 33, Iromiguy, was second in the race and thereby securing second place overall for the season.

Whilst the RORC Season's Points Championship has come to a conclusion, many yachts that have competed in the championship will continue to race under IRC in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club including; the Rolex Middle Sea Race, The Raja Muda Selangor International Regatta and The ARC 2012.

The Channel Race and Cherbourg Race Prizegiving will be held at the London Clubhouse on Tuesday 4th September. The RORC Annual Dinner and Prizegiving will be held on the 10th November.

For more information go to www.rorc.org