Race Report RORC De Guingand Bowl Race - Start: Saturday 18 May - RYS Line, Cowes IOW - Course: Cowes-Around Marks (Approx. 110 NM)
The Royal Ocean Racing Club De Guingand Bowl Race was won by Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog with the best corrected time under IRC by just over seven minutes. Second overall and winner of Round One of the IRC Two Handed National Championship was Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews racing their Sun Fast 3200 Cora. Third overall, winning Line Honours and IRC Zero was Eric de Turckheim’s NMD 54 Teasing Machine. Congratulations to Nick Martin’s Sun Fast 3600 Diablo, racing with Ruaridh Wright, taking IRC Two and second in IRC Two-Handed.
“This was a really light tricky race,” commented RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole. “Concentration is key in light airs and crews having their heads out of the boat; seeing how other boats are doing and any other indications outside the boat to make the best of the conditions.”
The early morning start was benign with light wind, grey skies and mist right across the race course. However, the fleet enjoyed a spectacular sun rise and sunset and more breeze than forecast for the latter part of the race.
Racing in IRC One, Bulldog was the winner. Second was Sport Nautique Club’s Xp-44 Orange Mecanix 2. Third was Cameron Davis’ Farr 40 Espresso Martini II.
Winning Skipper on Bulldog for the race was James Burnett with a young crew including Freddie Parton as navigator.
“We knew that getting out of The Solent into breeze was going to be important and we achieved that,” commented Bulldog’s James Burnett. “One of the key areas to our success was getting the calls right on avoiding the light patches of wind and everyone was having a good look down the course for that. This is a really young crew but their concentration was really impressive as was their ability to work as a team. We focused on staying in touch with one of our big rivals Orange Mecanix and we managed to do that and win on IRC corrected time.”
“Just after East Shambles there was a huge storm cell,” added Bulldog’s navigator, Meteorological student Freddie Parton. “We got south of that and avoided a windless area that trapped a few boats. The only place we parked up and had to kedge was off Anvil Point. Tide also played a big part in this race, it was probably just a net negative affect for Bulldog, but for the last leg, it really helped us, as did the wind which shifted in our favour. We thought that would be the case and our angle let us lay the finish very well.”
The De Guingand Bowl Race was also Race One of the 2024 IRC Two Handed National Championship. Goodhew and Matthews racing Cora are defending champions and took Race One of the 2024 Championship by just over 11 minutes from Nick Martin’s Diablo. Third in IRC Two Handed by under three minutes was Dan Fellow’s Sun Fast 3300 Orbit racing with his son Zeb.
“This are the kind of conditions we love,” commented Cora’s Tim Goodhew. “Staying in good breeze and spotting changes in the wind are areas that we are good at. When it comes down to straight line speed we can lose out to our rivals because they are often longer faster boats. Having said all that, we got about 30 minutes sleep each this race, so it was very tiring against good competition, especially Diablo. One of our goals for the season is to retain the IRC Two Handed Nationals and we are half way there to achieving that.”
Nick Martin’s Diablo is back racing with a new rig after dismasting in the Rolex Fastnet Race and with a new crew, Ruaridh Wright. “It’s good to be back racing,” commented Nick Martin. “The new mast is as it was tuned by the riggers and it’s looking good, so we have not really played too much with the settings. Ruaridh is a really talented sailor and we were friends before so it’s been easy to get the teamwork going. Well done to Cora, they are always a hard team to beat, but we will be trying!”
Racing in IRC Two, Nick Martin’s Diablo was the winner. A close second was Trevor Middleton’s Sun Fast 3600 Black Sheep by less than three minutes. Dan Fellow’s Sun Fast 3300 Orbit was third in class by just four seconds. In IRC Three, Sun Fast 3200 Cora was the winner. Rob Cotterill’s J/109 Mojo Risin’ was second and Jean-Lin Flipo’s J/99 Yalla! was third.
Three Sun Fast 30 One Design raced in the De Guingand Bowl Race including two chartered to the RORC and raced by RORC Griffin Youth Squad sailors. Unfortunately for Charlie Muldoon’s team on Griffin 009, an engine problem forced the team to retire for safety reasons just as they took the lead against Griffin 007, skippered by Matt Beecher. Griffin 007 which was fully crewed had a close race with Kevin Armstrong’s Sun Fast 30 Cap Altair, racing Two-Handed with Joza Cic. In the final few miles of the race Griffin 007 passed Cap Altair to beat their rivals by 13 minutes.
The RORC Season’s Points Championship, the world’s largest offshore racing series continues with the Salcombe Gin Morgan Cup Race, starting from Cowes on Friday 7th June. The Salcombe Gin Morgan Cup Race is also the final race of the IRC Two-Handed National Championship.
Image: Cowes-Around Marks (Approx. 110 NM) © Rick Tomlinson/RORC