J/Teams Sweep IRC Class in RORC De Guingand Bowl Race

( Cowes , Isle of Wight, England )- The fifth race of the RORC Season’s Points Championship is the De Guingand Bowl Race, scheduled to start at 09:30 BST on Saturday 14th May to the west, from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, Cowes . Fifty-seven teams were entered from at least nine different countries including Australia, Belgium, France , Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States.

With the wind speed varying from zephyrs to over 20 knots, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s De Guingand Bowl Race tested the international fleet right through the spectrum of skill sets. The RORC Race Team chose a diamond shape course of approximately 115nm with the Isle of Wight at its center. After racing the Western Solent and through Hurst Narrow, the fleet was set a rounding to the west of a Line of Longitude off Sandbanks. After leaving St Catherine’s Point to Port, the next waypoint was east of a Line of Longitude south of Littlehampton. Turning back towards The Solent , the course took the fleet to Starboard of the Nab Tower, to Port of No Man’s Land Fort, and a Race Finish at Mother Bank.

The start was in light upwind conditions, but as the fleet headed west, the breeze built, giving faster conditions through to Hurst Narrow. Managing the ‘change in gear’ was a key to best performance. Out of the lee of the Isle of Wight, the main strategic aim was not only finding the best breeze but also where to cross the line of latitude off Sandbanks. A pack of boats went for the North Channel, looking to pick up more breeze inshore. The majority of the fleet took a more direct southerly offshore route. The spread of the fleet at the line of latitude was over 5 miles but the YB AIS tracker revealed an advantage in staying inshore. For the leg to St. Catherine’s Point, the tide came more into the equation; tidal relief was along the island shore but required a boat to sail more miles to gain a tidal advantage. This proved to be a decisive section of the race, with boats going inshore making significant gains. Staying offshore south of the island proved to be a gain with lifting pressure towards the next waypoint. As the leading boats approached the line of latitude off Littlehampton, a frontal system arrived from the south. The wind was gusting to over 20 knots with distant rumbles of thunder and the associated light show. This change required forward planning for downwind sail choice, as well as the angle of attack for the finish.

Leading an unprecedented sweep of the podium by J/Teams in the thirteen-boat IRC One Division was Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 BULLDOG, he was followed by Laurent Charmy’s French J/111 SL ENERGIES GROUP FASTWAVE in second, and Michael O’Donnell J/121 DARKWOOD in third.

In the seventeen-boat IRC Three Division, Mike Yates & Mike Stannard’s J/109 JAGO grabbed the bronze medal, leading their other J/109 colleagues- Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN in 4th and Henry Wilson’s JOLLY JACK TAR in 6th.

The sixth race for the RORC Season’s Points Championship will be the North Sea Race, starting on the 27th of May, hosted by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club. The 181nm race starts outside Harwich and meanders around the Galloper wind farm before heading north to Smith’s Knoll Buoy and across to the famous sailing city of the Hague and the Scheveningen Yacht Club. For more RORC De Guingand Bowl Race sailing information