02-09 July 2023
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with l'UNCL Pôle Course du YCF and La Société Nautique de la Trinité sur mer, and Société Nautique de la baie de St Malo.
The inaugural IRC Two-Handed European championship will have 60 teams on the start line off the south Breton port of La Trinité sur Mer on Sunday July 2. The championship consists of 500 offshore miles across two challenging races, taking competitors first to Cowes, where there’s a two-day layover, then back across the English Channel to St Malo. A strong line-up of modern boats come from seven different countries, the majority are from France but also Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United States.
Among the 25 JPKs are nine 1030s, a pair of 1080s, a dozen of the older 1010s, plus a pair of the smaller 960s. The Sun Fast contingent includes eleven 3300s, ten of the older 3200s, plus a trio of 3600s. Among these are two of the most experienced and successful UK two-handed teams – Nick Martin on Diablo and Rob Craigie / Deb Fish on Bellino, who were second and third respectively in last year’s RORC Season’s Points Championship.
The entry list also includes a Grand Soleil 35, three J/99s and a J/97, the lowest rated boat in the fleet, a fraction lower than the JPK 960s. Overall the fleet includes an impressive amount of talent. The JPK 1030 Leon, for instance, is a well-known boat usually campaigned by Jean Pierre Kelbert, who took second place in the fiercely competitive double-handed division of the Arwen race earlier this year. Victor Bordes-Laridan has entered the boat in the event, fresh from winning the IRC fully-crewed IRC European Championship in Cannes at the beginning of June.
However, overall two-handed victory in the Armen race went to another JPK1030 that’s also competing in the Double-Handed IRC Europeans, Thomas Bonnier’s Juzzy. It will be fascinating to see how the duel between these two plays out. A third JPK 1030, Dutch entry Astrid de Vin’s Il Corvo, is also a strong contender. De Vin took overall victory, for example, in last year’s North Sea Race, sailing a JPK 1180 of the same name.
Didier Gaudoux has an equally enviable recent track record, having been overall winner under IRC for the 2017 Rolex Fastnet Race in his previous boat, a JND39. This year, racing with Erwan Tabarly, his semi-scow Manuard-Nivelt 35 Lann Ael 3 won the 58-strong double-handed division at Spi Ouest. Lorient based Jean Francois Cheriaux has also enjoyed a successful early season in his JPK 1010 Ad Hoc, winning the tactically challenging 250-plus mile Gascogne 45/5 race in a 73-strong fleet at the end of April.
In addition to Bellino and Diablo, there are also plenty of experienced and successful names among the British entries. These include two stand-out Sun Fast 3200s – Kate Cope’s well-travelled Purple Mist, plus Tim Goodhew and Kelvin Matthews on Cora. The latter took overall victory in the 2022 UK Double-Handed Series, while Cope notched up thousands of miles over the winter competing in the RORC Transat and Caribbean 600 races.
Among the British Sun Fast 3300s are Jim Driver’s Chilli Pepper, which finished third in the double-handed class of last year’s RORC Season’s Points and fifth overall, racing mostly with daughter Ellie. She will be joining him again for the La Trinité - Cowes leg, and will stay on for Cowes - St Malo, when Jim will be replaced by Alaric Bates, who did the same race with Ellie last year. After a period campaigning a Class40, Ian Hoddle has made a return to the shorthanded IRC scene and is entered with his new Sun Fast 3300 GameOn!
Both races are classics in the RORC calendar that test a wide range of skills, yet both can be completed with only one week out of the office. At 350 miles La Trinité - Cowes is by far the longest of the two, though both have significant navigational challenges that require complex tactical decisions.
Last year, after a short fetch from the start to the bottom of the Quiberon peninsula the fleet short tacked west against a strong tide, dodging the many rocks, with big gains available to the boats who managed this aspect well and avoided going unnecessarily far offshore. Power-reaching along the south Brittany coast overnight, weaving through the famed Iles de Glénans in the early hours, gave a chance for some of the newer designs to stretch their legs and gain a useful advantage before negotiating the tidal gates of the Raz de Sein and Chanel du Four. There's potential here for a wide mix of conditions, with wind against tide giving awkward steep seas accompanied by awe inspiring breaking waves over shoals and in the strongest tidal races. On the other hand, the myriad of islands off the Chanel du Four offer plenty of opportunity to seek relief from a foul tide.
Competitors will then enjoy a couple of days in Cowes before a Friday afternoon start for the 150 mile Cowes Dinard St Malo race. This heads west out of the Solent, before crossing the English Channel to the west of the Channel Islands, their associated rocks and the Plateau des Minquiers.
This is always a highlight of the season for both double-handed and fully crewed teams. Some years it's a tough upwind slog and tactical challenge in south-westerly breezes, but equally good summer weather can give light airs that test patience and an entirely different skill set. Last year this handed an advantage to some of the oldest designs in the fleet, and similar conditions might help lower-rated entries in the Double-Handed European Championship, including Yann Gindre’s J/97 l’Opale, the two JPK 960s and even some of the JPK 1010s.
The race is timed so that competitors arrive at the medieval port for the Bastille Day festivities that mark the start of the long French summer holidays. The prize-giving will be on Sunday July 9 at the Société Nautique de la baie de St Malo, just outside the gates to the old city.
Image: JPK 1030 Leon © Paul Wyeth/RORC