Image: Cape 31 Gelert © Paul Wyeth/RORC
23-25 June 2023
The Royal Ocean Racing Club IRC National Championships is all set this weekend for three days of multiple short course racing in the Solent. Four individual UK IRC Class champions, as well as the Overall UK IRC Champion will be awarded at the Prize Giving held at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse on Sunday 25th June. The RORC IRC National Championships was first held in 1999 and in over two decades of competition the overall win has been achieved by a huge variety of boats.
“To become the overall UK IRC Champion a team must first win its class, and predicting class winners is hard enough. Racing is always very competitive, especially after IRC time correction,” commented RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole. “Overall champions have been the latest hi-tech raceboats, timeless classics, and just about everything in between. There is always great anticipation for the IRC Nationals because winners will earn the title of National Champions. More often than not the overall winner, which is decided by a published formula, is not decided until the final race, adding to the excitement. All competitors, their friends and families will be made very welcome at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse during the regatta – may the best teams win!”
IRC One
Four high performance boats of totally different designs will be racing in the big boat IRC Class. Tony Langley’s TP52 Gladiator won IRC One in 2019 and was runner-up in 2020. Gladiator returns to RORC Racing as the scratch IRC boat for the Championships. A debutant boat for the Championship and to inshore racing will be RORC Commodore James Neville with his newly launched Carkeek 45 Ino Noir. Ian Atkins’ GP42 Dark ‘N’ Stormy was runner-up last year and will provide formidable competition. A young Dutch team led by Gerd-Jan Poortman will be racing Ker 46 ROST Van Uden, which will be looking to improve on third in last year’s championship. ROST Van Uden, like Ino Noir, will also be sharpening their skills for the Rolex Fastnet Race next month.
IRC Two
Ten teams, including six Cape 31s will be racing under IRC in the biggest class of the Championship. Two on form downwind flyers are James Howells’ Cowes-based Gelert, winner of three races at the RORC Vice Admiral’s Cup, and American owner/driver Sandra Askew’s Flying Jenny. Rob Bottomley’s Mat 12 Sailplane 3, skippered by Nick Jones should be the fastest in the class upwind. Entries in IRC Two include Johnathan Blanshard’s Ker 36 Skermisher, Sture Wikman’s MC31 Vitres and Rupert Morgan’s X-40 Xinska.
IRC Three
Adam Gosling’s JPK 1080 Yes! is the scratch boat for the class. Statistically, Gosling is the most successful skipper in the history of the event, having won class five times in various boats, all called Yes! (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2021). Yes! has the unusual distinction of a tie for the overall win in 2016 and last year came within 0.005 of a point of winning overall, so this year’s regatta can be deemed unfinished business for the Cowes-based team. Top competition within the class includes Howell & Newell’s A35 Arcus, 2020 overall IRC National Champion, and John Smart’s J/109 Jukebox, class runner up last year.
IRC Four
Giovanni Belgrano’s one-off 1939 classic Whooper will be hoping to emulate their overall win in 2017. Whooper is not the only classic at this year’s IRC National Championship, David Murrin’s 1955 sloop Cetaweyo is also from the design board of Laurent Giles. Simon Clifton’s A31 Aztec from the West Mersea YC will be in the mix, as will two Corby 29s; David Mallett’s Touchpaper and the RN Sailing Association’s Cutlass, skippered by Henry Wilson. Chris Baldwin’s Sun Fast 3200 Hair of the Dog is back racing after tenaciously completing the light airs Morgan Cup Race to Dartmouth last weekend. John Allen’s X-302 Antix is a multiple IRC regional champion and has the lowest IRC Rating of the regatta.