2021 RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race
by Louay Habib 12 Jul 10:26 BST
9-10 July 2021
- Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club
- Start Friday 9th July 2021
- Course: Cowes - Casquets - Les Hanois - St Malo
- Distance (nm): 151
Ino XXX wins the King Edward VII Cup
120 boats competed in the 2021 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race. The historic race which dates back to 1906, was won overall by RORC Commodore James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX. Ed Bell's JPK 1180 Dawn Treader was second and Ed Fishwick's GP42 Redshift was third. In the modern era, James Neville is the first RORC Commodore in office to win the King Edward VII Cup.
"Some amazing sailors have been Commodore of the RORC, so this is a proud achievement," commented James. "We got a fantastic start and held onto Teasing Machine up the Solent. It was a challenging race for the navigator Coriolan (Rousselle), especially to judge how far west we could go to hedge our bets with the tide. Then when the wind went very unstable, we stuck to our plan and cracked off for speed. The tactic worked as we were lifted to get ahead of Redshift. We are really happy about our performance because light winds beating is not really our best conditions, it is not what we are set up for, but we really played our hand very well."
Line Honours for the MOCRA Class was taken by Francis Joyon's IDEC. Line Honours for monohulls,and winner of IRC Zero, was Eric de Turckheim's NMYD54 Teasing Machine. Congratulations to all the class winners: Nicolas Jossier's Class40 La Manche #EvidenceNautique, Ed Bell's JPK 1180 Dawn Treader, Louis-Marie Dussere's JPK 1080 Raging-Bee", and Elizabeth Wallis' Albin Express, Expressly Forbidden.
Full results at www.rorc.org/racing/race-results/2021-results
By the morning of the race, 40 French and Dutch boats had sailed to Cowes to compete. On receiving YB Trackers delivered by RORC RIB, all of the overseas teams were delighted by the warm RORC welcome. The club was equally delighted that so many overseas sailors teams had made the effort in these unusual times.
The 150 nautical mile race started off the Squadron Line in brilliant sunshine and light airs. Race fans enjoyed a spectacular view from Cowes, as the majority of the fleet started on the island shore as the tide began to turn favourably to the west. A building south-westerly breeze arced up the boats in the Western Solent for an impressive send-off past The Needles and into the English Channel. Conditions offshore were extremely unstable, the prevailing wind was a light southerly, but the fleet experienced significant changes in wind strength and direction, which coupled with strong tide provided a complex conundrum. Managing the changing conditions was rewarded with a top performance.
MOCRA Class
Francis Joyon's IDEC and Yves Le Blevec's Ultim Actual, sailed by Ronan Dehayes, had an extraordinary dial up for the start of the race. The two giant trimarans circled each other match racing for position. Actual seemed to win the start, racing to windward of IDEC in a controlling position. IDEC was just ahead of Actual at The Needles and eventually pulled away. A westerly breeze kicked in as IDEC rounded the Casquets, ramping up the trimaran to over 20 knots of boat speed. IDEC took Multihull Line Honours and the win in the MOCRA Class. Andrew Fennell's Morpheus was the third to finish and second in the MOCRA Class. James Holder's Dazcat 1295 Slinky Malinki completed the MOCRA podium.
IRC One
RORC Commodore James Neville's HH42 Ino XXX and Ed Fishwick's GP42 Redshift had yet another close battle in IRC One. Ino XXX eventually winning the class by approximately five minutes after time correction. David Cummins' Ker 39 Rumbleflurg was the early leader but finished third in class, just ahead after time correction of Mark Emerson's A13 Phosphorus II.
For the RORC Season's Points Championship, Michael O'Donnell's J/121 Darkwood retains the class lead from Redshift. Andrew Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra is third.
IRC Two
Ed Bell's JPK 1180 Dawn Treader was the winner, scoring an impressive victory over Thomas Kneen's JPK 1180 Sunrise by nearly two hours after time correction. Dawn Treader was very close to winning the race overall, just over two minutes behind Ino XXX after time correction. Christopher Daniel's J/122e was third in IRC Three.
For the RORC Season's Points Championship, Sunrise is still the overall and IRC Two Class leader. Dawn Treader is second in both overall and class.
IRC Three
Louis-Marie Dussere's JPK 1080 Raging-Bee" was the first boat in class to finish and was the winner in IRC Three after time correction. Mike Yates' J/109 JAGO, racing Two-Handed with Eivind Bøymo-Malm, was second and Noel Racine's JPK 1030 Foggy Dew was third.
"I have always wanted to win class in the St Malo Race, but this is the first time I have achieved that," smiled Louis-Marie Dussere. "We know that Raging-Bee" is a good boat for upwind but so is the J/109 JAGO. Noel Racine (Foggy Dew) is a good friend ashore but a fantastic enemy offshore. So, we are really happy with this win, and it has been wonderful to race with the RORC again. At Les Hanois, I think we were about fifth, but the wind disappeared, and we had a re-start. Raging-Bee" put in a really good finish, and to be honest the wind stopped again just after we crossed the line. This was a great race against really good opposition."
For the RORC Season's Points Championship in IRC Three and IRC Two Handed, Rob Craigie's Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, racing with Deb Fish, is the new leader. James Harayda's Sun Fast 3300 Gentoo, racing with Dee Caffari, is second, and Gavin Howe's Sun Fast 3600 Tigris, racing with Maggie Adamson, is third.
IRC Two Handed
31 teams started the race in IRC Two Handed Elizabeth Wallis racing her Albin Express Expressly Forbidden with Bryn Phillips, revelled in the light upwind conditions to win by approximately seven minutes after IRC time correction from Mike Yates' J/109 JAGO. Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews, racing Sun Fast 3200 Cora was third. Elizabeth Wallis and Bryn Phillips are both under thirty and taking part in their first RORC race of the season. Expressly Forbidden, with an overall length of 25ft was the smallest boat in the race.
IRC Four
Expressly Forbidden was the winner with Cora second. Jonathan Rolls' Swan 38 Xara had an excellent race following on from the overall win for the De Guingand Bowl. Xara was third in class for the St Malo Race. The classic yawl Amokura, sailed by Paul Moxon & Steve Jones, was the last boat to finish the race. With great tenacity, the team did not waiver from their goal to finish the race, taking nearly two and a half days to complete the course.
For the RORC Season's Points Championship, Cora leads IRC Four by just over five points from Stuart Greenfield's S&S 34 Morning After with Xara third.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club Season's Points Championship continues with The Channel Race, scheduled to start on Saturday 24th July. For online entry and more information please visit www.rorc.org