J/Teams Win Silver at 2026 RORC Cervantes Trophy Race

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The Royal Ocean Racing Club held the first of its summer-long series of offshore sailing- the Cervantes Trophy Race. Sailors were participating from across the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and elsewhere from around the world.

Starting off the classic Royal Yacht Squadron starting line off Cowes, the team started off in light airs, then raced down the Solent from Cowes to Le Havre, France on a 110.0nm race track. It was a light airs race, even when the fleet crossed the infamous “La Manche”, the English Channel. After the leading boats had made Le Havre, the breeze faded significantly across the Channel, hurting the smaller boats. Several J/Teams faired well in the race.

IRC 1 Division
This 13-boat fleet saw the two J/Teams vie for a podium position. In the end, they took two of the spots! This year, the Frenchman Francois Charles on his J/133 SUN HILL IV got the better of his erstwhile colleagues. SUN HILL IV took the silver medal, while Mike O’Donnell’s Irish crew aboard his J/121 DARKWOOD took the bronze medal. Of significance, was that both teams beat out the famous multi-RORC race winner Gerry Trenteseaux and his French team on the customized Sydney GTS 43 LONG COURRIER.

IRC 2 Division
In this 14-boat fleet, it was yet another J/133 that won silver! In this case, it was Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 British crew on CORAZON that took the silver medal! Then, past winner- Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 BULLDOG- was fifth place.

“BULLDOG had a very tidy race and we are delighted to win our class,” commented RORC Vice Commodore Shakespeare. “It was a tricky, mostly light airs race with a lot of variability, but the big strategic picture was that at some point the wind was going to shift south. We made the call to head south for that shift and, although others tacked mid-Channel and went east because that was the favored tack at the time, we stuck with our decision. The wind did not make it easy. It went right for quite a long time before eventually going left in the small hours of the morning. When we picked that shift up, we were able to point straight at the finish. There were moments of no wind, a horrible squall and plenty of rain, but the crew was great, the boat was good and everything worked well. It was a proper tactical and meteorological challenge, and a great first offshore race of the season.”

IRC 4 Division
In this enormous 27-boat fleet, the J/99s faired well. Finishing sixth was Tim Tolcher’s RAGING BULL and then eighth place was Mark Kendall’s JIRO.

For more RORC Cervantes Trophy Race sailing information
https://www.rorc.org/2026-race-programme