SORC Offshore Series Races 7 & 8: Cherbourg and back

by Nigel Colley 5 Sep 2018 11:48 BST 1-2 September 2018

Light airs did not detract from very close competition in the final two Offshore Series races, from the Solent to Cherbourg and back, with some close results and a maiden SORC win for Richard Clark on his Sun Fast 3200 "Fury".

We went in to the final two races with the series results wide open and all to go for. In the event it went to the final miles of the final race.

Simon Mitchell on Roxanne sums the weekend up....

Tide was a big factor yet again in this season's characteristic light winds.

The outward leg breeze was better than forecast and almost looked like holding until it dropped at dawn just a few miles from Cherbourg. As the sun came up tricky navigation choices in near-zero wind conditions defined the results. Well done to Richard on Fury for taking his first SORC win, and for Donald Macdonald on winning Class 2 in Rainmaker.

Nice relaxing day in Cherbourg and a very pleasant evening and dinner.

Unlucky for the class 2 boats that had the tidal door close on them on the return race and fair play to Paul on Oi Oi for sticking it out into the early hours, hasn't he got a home to go to?

I was working hard to keep the space between Fastrak and Roxanne down to a minimum, which left no time for Sunday afternoon napping, and finished just 1 minute & 5 seconds apart on corrected time...

Jerry got the routing bang on and nailed it home with a convincing win! Nikki Curwen on Voador caught up fast towards the end but could not quite get ahead of Roxanne or Fastrak.

A great finale to a great 2018 Offshore Series.

Now all 8 Offshore Series races are concluded and 3 discards applied, it is interesting to see just how close the results have been in this hotly contested series. In Class 1 Fastrak and Azora tied on points, with Fastrak winning the tie on count back. However, Azora gets her own back in the Overall results by finishing 2nd, beating Fastrak into 3rd place, but again equals the winner Oi Oi on points and loses on the the count back again! Maeva wins Class 2 beating Oi Oi and British Beagke into 2nd and 3rd place respectively, but finishes the overall results in 6th, behind Oi Oi and British Beagle! Fastrak, winner of Class 1, only finishes 3rd in the overall results. In the overalls only 2 points separate the top four boats.

Overall Results:

Pos	Yacht Name	Yacht Type	Skipper	Pts
Class 1
1st	Fastrak XI	Sun Fast 3200 R2	Nigel Colley	16
2nd	Azora	C&C 115	Steve Thomas	16
3rd	Voador	J‑105	Nicki Curwen	23
Class 2
1st	Maeva	Super Arlequin	Frederick Waniart	9
2nd	Oi Oi	Parker 275	Paul Reymond	11
3rd	British Beagle	Sigma 36	Charles Emmett	13
Overall ‑ Class 1 & 2 Combined
1st	Oi Oi	Parker 275	Paul Reymond	24
2nd	Azora	C&C 115	Steve Thomas	24
3rd	Fastrak XI	Sun Fast 3200 R2	Nigel Colley	25
4th	Voador	J‑105	Nicki Curwen	26
5th	British Beagle	Sigma 36	Charles Emmett	31
6th	Maeva	Super Arlequin	Frederick Waniart	33