RORC Vice Admiral's Cup - 14-15 September 2024
Image: ROST Van Uden and Baraka GP © Paul Wyeth/RORC
The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Solent racing season came to a conclusion with the Vice Admiral’s Cup with two days of windward leeward and tight round the cans races. High pressure dominated the weather conditions, with early autumn sunshine providing brilliant sunshine. On Both days the racing schedule was delayed allowing a sea breeze to fill and it was worth the wait. Five superb races were run for all classes in up to 15 knots of wind.
Racing was incredibly close, especially in the Performance 40 and J/111 One Design Classes. In the Performance 40 Class, the IRC rating rule corrected out the multi-designs results to within seconds of race wins and podium places. The winner of the J/111 Class was decided in the final race. Congratulations to all of the class winners in the RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup: Ker 46 ROST Van Uden, Swan 45 Luna, J/111 Jitterbug, and J/109 Jeroboam.
In the big boat IRC GP Zero Class, the youth team racing Dutch Ker 46 ROST Van Uden scored a perfect five bullets. Second was Malcolm Offord’s TP52 Braveheart making their debut RORC race, and third by just a point, was the Family De Graaf’s Ker 43 Baraka GP.
“This is the last event of the season for ROST Van Uden to get more valuable hours on The Solent,” commented skipper Gerd-Jan Poortman, who will be skipper the youth team in the 2025 Admiral’s Cup, represent the Dutch Offshore Sailing Team. “The Vice Admiral’s Cup has been a great experience for the team. On top of the racing miles experience, they have been away from home as a team and we have spent time planning the winter optimisation for the boat.” Poortman, was just 22 when he was part of the Dutch team that won The Admiral’s Cup in 1999. “The 2025 Admiral’s Cup is a great opportunity for the young team to race against the best in the world and our goal is to create an upset through our motivation and training. How we perform at The Admiral’s Cup will be on all the teams CVs for the rest of their lives, we are all excited about the opportunity.” Gerd-Jan Poortman confirmed that ROST Van Uden will be back in The Solent next year, racing at the RORC Easter Challenge.
The Performance 40 Class was won by Tim Webb’s Swan 45 Luna by just two points from Seb Blair’s King 40 Cobra. Richard Powell’s First 40 Rogan Josh was third.
Tim Webb’s Swan 45 Luna comes from Lymington and has been racing both inshore and offshore with a corinthian crew. “An amazing weekend with perfect Solent racing,” commented Webb. “We have an interesting selection of boats in the Performance 40 Class and the fact that you are winning or losing by a matter of seconds is pretty amazing. You cannot lose your concentration for a moment, which is really exciting. Luna is a bit heavier than some of our rivals, so it is a big credit to the crew to come out on top in light to medium conditions.”
In the J/109 Class, Stephen Davis’ Jeroboam scored four race wins to win the class by three points from Rob Cotterill’s Mojo Risin’. Chris Burleigh’s Jybe Talkin’ was third.
The J/111 one-design class went right to the wire. Cornel Riklin’s Jitterbug was the winner by a single point from Tony & Sally Mack’s McFly. Louise Makin and Chris Jones’ JourneyMaker II was third.
Thank you to all the Race Team for organising a great regatta,” commented Jitterbug’s Cornel Riklin. “We had some incredibly close racing with a couple of races decided by one or two seconds and the whole class finishing within a minute or two.”
The stunning new RORC Cowes Clubhouse was race-central for the regatta and social activities. The VAC Supper at the RORC Cowes Dining Room was well-attended on the first night. After racing was done and dusted at the Vice Admiral’s Cup, crews enjoyed a replay of the Louis Vuitton Cup racing on the big screen in the RORC’s Fastnet Bar.