MeesPierson
Yachting IRC Championship 2004 – Day 3
Bear
of Britain were announced overall winners today
of the MeesPierson Yachting IRC Championship Trophy,
consolidating her lead in the series with 12 points
after competing in eight races over the three
day regatta. Racing consistently well in the Championship,
Jonathan and Lisa Goring’s J109 Jeronimo
were also awarded the Jackdaw Trophy at the overall
prizegiving ceremony held after racing today in
Cowes Yacht Haven.
It
was another exciting and challenging day out on
the water with racing taking place in the Western
Solent when predicted winds of around 250deg along
with heavy showers came true. The first race of
the day got underway in a strong easterly tide
with a 10knot breeze and a number of moveable
marks were laid to get the racing off to a good
start. With about 25-30deg of port end bias, the
boats were tempted down to the far end of the
line and were evenly distributed.
However,
around midday a vicious squall came through bringing
rain and winds gusting to over 30knots, causing
some problems out on the race course. By the last
race of the day, the tide had turned and several
more squalls came through causing Panther, the
Mumm36 in IRC1 to lose her mast on the last downwind
leg of the course. She broached into Passion who
carried her forestay away as they parted. She
was assisted by the Venturers Rescue Service and
another boat went to help recover the mast. A
medical emergency also occurred on board Leo Lady
in IRC3 after an crew member suffered an eye injury
caused by a shackle and they were aided by the
Hamble Lifeboat.
In
the first race for IRC0 Yes! was over the line
at the start but rapidly dipped back and did not
suffer a penalty with Flag ‘P’ flying.
The remainder of the class got away without incident
and I-Site managed a first place ahead of Bear
of Britain and El Gringo after a good race, however
the wind was then beginning to swing right causing
some bias on the line.
Racing
in IRC1, Magnum started close to the ODM taking
a 4th place in the race although the majority
of boats in the same class favoured the committee
boat end despite their being a 15deg bias on the
line to encourage boats out into the tide. Tundra
led their class in this race closely followed
by Tarka, Exabyte 2 and Magnum II.
The
smaller boats in the fleet in IRC2 and IRC3 bunched
up at the committee boat end of the line to keep
out of the fast running tide and most boats short
tacked up the mainland shore to keep out of the
tide. Jeronimo led the fleet in IRC2 followed
by Voodoo Chile and Civils with Flair but and
it was Software Mistress who had a good start
in IRC3 taking a 3rd position. However, Whooper
continued to consolidate her lead and stay ahead
of Exile.
A
thunder storm and heavy squalls in the last half
of the race with heavy rain and winds up to 31knots
caused a number of boats to experience difficulty
in the challenging conditions.
For
the last race in the Championship, the tide had
turned and the first boats set off in a gentle
leeward going tide. In IRC0 El Gringo seemed late
to the line but went on to take a good start as
they hoisted their genoa whilst crossing the start
line although only managed a 9th position with
Minx taking the lead followed by Bear, I-Site
and Exabyte III.
The
squall came through for IRC1 and there were two
boats over the line - Salvo and Shockwave. However,
they both make a rapid return to the start and
incurred a 20% penalty. Exabyte 2 finished in
1st place with close racing between Bare Knuckles,
Tundra and Magnum II.
In
IRC2 there was a general recall due to the majority
of the fleet misjudging the fast turning tide
and thus going over the line at the start. A ‘Z’
flag was flown giving a 20% penalty and all but
four boats were penalised. The class re-started
again at the end of the sequence and a Black flag
was hoisted giving a clear start. Quokka led their
class in this race with Capitali$m in 2nd place
and a 3rd for Voodoo Chile followed by Jeronimo.
With
the wind still swinging both ways, it was decided
to move the line for the remainder of the classes
and IRC3 completed the final race in extremely
squally conditions finishing in 25knots of wind
which was enough to cause several incident and
boats to struggle with their spinnakers. White
Mischief took a lead in the final race over Great
Scot II and Whooper in third place but it was
Whooper, Giovanni Belgrano’s Laurent Giles
design who took 1st place in class at the end
of the Championship, with White Mischief in 2nd
and Exile 3rd overall.
After
a great regatta and three days of highly competitive
racing for all the fleet, the RYA selectors for
the GBR team for the forthcoming Rolex Commodores’
Cup had seen the hopeful teams perform in a variety
of conditions which should help make their final
decision in the next few days.It was also a good
opportunity for the Irish team to compete against
their potential GBR competitors.
Meespierson
Yachting IRC Championship - Overall Class Results
Full
results can be found on: http://rorc.org/raceresults04/index.php
Bear
of Britain (Farr52) Kit Hobday/Tim Louis–
Overall Winners of the MeesPierson Yachting IRC
Championship Trophy
Jeronimo
(J109) Jonathan & Lisa Goring – Winners
of the Jackdaw Trophy
IRCSZ
& Z
1
Bear of Britain
2
Flying Glove
3
El Gringo
IRC1
1. Bare Knuckles
2.
Magnum II
3.
Exabyte 2
IRC2
1.
Jeronimo
2. Voodoo Chile
3. Quokkka
IRC3
1. Whooper
2. White Mischief
3. Exile
