Ster Wenn 5 wins RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race
by Louay Habib 15 Jul 2018 18:27 BST
15 July 2018
RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race © RORC / Paul Wyeth
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo and the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Pierre Sallenave's French X-442 Ster Wenn 5 has won the 2018 Cowes-Dinard-St Malo Race overall under IRC, winning the King Edward VII Cup dating back to 1906. On board were Pierre's two sons, just 13 and 15 years old, and all of the Ster Wenn 5 crew are friends and family. A RORC member since 1993, Pierre revealed the secret to their success was taking advice from one of the grandmasters of offshore sailing, Rolex Fastnet and RORC Commodores' Cup winner, Gery Trentesaux.
Dockside in St Malo, Pierre Sallenave commented: "I think this is my 30th race, I sailed it with my father many, many times, but this is the first year I have sailed without him, he is 81 and he couldn't come, but he was definitely with us in spirit and following on the tracker. My two sons were on board, Jerome and Arnaud are only 13 and 15, so to win this race is very special for us, the whole crew was fantastic. Before the race I spoke with Gery Trentesaux who gave us a very good tip. We went very far to the west of the course at The Casquets and found wind, when all of the other boats were sat in calm waters. Crossing the finish line was an amazing experience for all the crew, that will not be repeated very often, so we really appreciated that moment. We celebrated with an excellent dinner cooked by myself on board in St.Malo! Winning a big race with great sailors and celebrating with good food, that is what racing is all about."
Congratulations to all of the Class Winners: In IRC One, Maxime de Mareuil's Orange Mecanix2 corrected out to win ahead of RORC Commodore Steven Anderson's Cracklin Rosie, and Mark Emerson's Phosphorous II.
In IRC Two, Ster Wenn 5 was ahead of Gery Trentesaux's Courrier Recommande, and Patrice Vidon's J4f. In IRC Three, Ian Hoddle's Game On was the winner and the Two-Handed division, with Louis-Marie Dussere's Raging Bee 2 second in both classes.
Nicolas Gaumont-Prat's Philosophie IV was third in IRC Three and Pierre Aubert's Georgia was third in IRC Two-Handed and IRC Four. Noel Racine's Foggy Dew was the winner of IRC Four, Hugo Tardivel's Colombus Circle was second. Francois Corre's Friends and Lovers was the winner of the Multihull Class with Philippe Damour Red-Avel runner up.
The 2018 RORC Season's Points Championship continues with The Channel Race, starting on the RYS Line on Saturday 28 July.
For more information about the RORC Season's Points Championship: rorc.org