Easter Cracker - The Red Funnel Easter Challenge

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club with the support of Red Funnel Ferries

With 80 confirmed entries for the Red Funnel Easter Challenge, the opening event of the RORC season looks set to be a real cracker. However, it is not just the number of entries that is impressive, but also the huge variety of yachts.

RORC offers a complete cross section of racing throughout the season and many competitors see the Red Funnel Easter Challenge as the opportunity to identify areas they need to tune up in order to have a successful year.

The changeable weather at this time of the year means a range of differing conditions throughout the weekend, as international tactical weather specialist Mike Broughton explains:-

“This Easter the Solent will be experiencing a really mixed bag of wind directions. On Friday there will be a weak occluded front South of Cowes. Skies will be overcast with a fair chance of rain and there should be light westerly winds of 8-12 knots.

Saturday should see a change in wind direction to easterlies, but this could change massively if a low pressure system over the Cherbourg Peninsular moves even slightly. Forecast wind speed will be less than 10 knots.

Sunday sees the low pressure system move off to the north east, roughly over Hamburg, with the wind moving to the north west and more of a gusty nature. The predicted wind speed will be in the 9-14 knot range and a weak front may arrive from the north west by the afternoon which could bring some showers.

In general, the competitors at the Red Funnel Easter Challenge should experience milder conditions than of late, with pleasant air temperatures but be warned, the sea temperature is still very cold at this time of year.”

In Class Super Zero there is a mouth-watering battle looming between three yachts of fifty feet or more:- Panthera is a second generation carbon fibre Transpac 52 and amongst the crew is America’s Cup and Round the World sailor, Guy Barron. Panthera has been undergoing an extensive refit on the Isle of Wight by Anthony Haines of Alpha Plus who commented: “We are really excited about her first event. The owner Benny Kelly will be helming her for the Red Funnel Easter Challenge. He has chartered some high performance yachts in the past but it is great for the sport to have a new owner coming onto the scene.”

However Panthera will have stiff opposition, especially from Ger O’Rourke’s canting keel Cookson 50 Chieftain. She won her Class in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Race and their plans for the season include the SevenStar Round Britain and Ireland Race. Also Kit Hobday’s Farr 52, Bear of Britain will be pushing hard on the course and is never easily overcome.

In IRM five Farr 45s are racing including Shaun Frohlich’s Exabyte 4 which currently leads the Raymarine Warsash Big Boat Spring Series; Creative Play the Farr 40 makes six boats racing under IRM.

Also well campaigned yachts such as Nick Lutte’s DK46 Shockwave and RORC Commodore David Aisher’s Yeoman of Hamble will be racing around tight Solent courses over three days. There are also three new boats racing at Easter - Denise and Conor Phelan’s Ker 37 Jump Juice; John Shepherd’s Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII and Mike Greville’s Ker 39 Erivale III.

Approximately 20 boats will be racing in IRC 1 which should make for some very busy start lines and will no doubt feature in Jim Saltonstall’s video debriefing. There are four Prima 38s and three Beneteau 40.7s who will without doubt be mixing it up at mark roundings. But this Class is a real cocktail of designs, ranging from the well campaigned Mumm 30 Asterix, owned by Louis Browne, to John Dean’s Swan 461 Lowly Worm enjoying their second season in the Solent. Edward Broadway’s Max Fun 35 Hooligan V is competing as well as two yachts brand new this year - Ian MacLean will be racing his Ker 36 Software Mistress with a crew consisting of work colleagues and pro-sailors of the ilk of Mike Broughton and top match racing yachtsman Ian Williams and Philip Wood’s Grand Soleil 43 Simply the Best is straight out of the bubble-wrap.

In IRC 2 about half of the fleet will be J109s, including Andrew Allen’s No Naked Flames. The unusual name is due to the crews affiliation with the gas industry and they were also sporting some very amusing T-shirts last year! Full of fun this crew may be but they are also in line for a Rolex Commodores’ Cup spot for Ireland. The class will also be complimented by a range of other popular cruiser racers including three HOD 35s including veteran campaigner Peter Schofield’s Zarafa .

Peter Rutter’s Elan 37 Quokka and Jim McGregor’s Elan 40 Flair IV will add another chapter to their on-going duel and Chris and Anna Neve will be racing No Doubt, a First 34.7 which is a Rolex Commodores’ Cup trialist.

The strength of IRC racing is exemplified by a huge variety of boats racing this Easter, from new high performance yachts to traditionally built boats and the competition will be just as hard in IRC 3. An interesting duel will be between Robin Holland’s Corafin and John Cowden’s Fresh Herring, both are Contessa 32s, a design that has been racing since 1971 and still extremely popular.

The Red Funnel Easter Challenge is set to be a fascinating event with some really eye catching new boats and a wide spectrum of yachts. The entries have eclipsed those of last year and something approaching 800 people will be competing at the event based in Cowes.

The stage is set for a great start to a busy year of RORC racing. To all competitors and spectators a very happy Easter from the Royal Ocean Racing Club!

List of Entries: