Image: Szymon Kuczynski’s Figaro One Hultaj © Tim Wright/RORC
RORC Cowes – Dinard – St Malo Race
Start: RYS Line Cowes, IOW, UK
Friday 07 July 2023 15:00 BST
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL - Pôle Course du YCF, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo, Junior Offshore Group (JOG) and the Royal Yacht Squadron.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Cowes Dinard St Malo Race has attracted 204 boats with over one thousand crew on board from sixteen different nations. This is the largest fleet for any offshore yacht race since the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. 191 boats will be competing under the IRC Rating Rule for the overall win and the magnificent King Edward VII Cup, dating back to 1906.
From about 2pm on Friday 07 July, the impressive fleet will gather in the Central Solent outside Cowes with multiple starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line. Spectators can watch the start from Cowes Parade and along the shore of the Western Solent.
The Multihull Race Record was set in 2015 by Tony Lawson’s MOD70 Concise 10, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield, Concise 10 set an incredible pace, finishing the 151nm race in 9 hrs 12 mins 35 secs. The Monohull Race Record was also set in 2015; Mike Slade’s Farr 100 Leopard scorched across the finish line in an elapsed time of 11 hrs 57 mins 53 secs.
Returning to defend their overall win last year is Henry Vergnoux’s Classic Illingworth designed 33ft sloop Arabel, which lifted the King Edward VII Cup in 2022. Arabel is proof that under IRC, any team that puts in a top performance and gets the rub of the green can win big trophies under IRC.
The Cowes Dinard St Malo is the final race for the inaugural IRC Two-Handed European Championship, the first leg is still in progress in the 350-mile La Trinité Cowes Race. An update of the doublehanded teams vying for the championship will be released after the results are in for Leg One (La Trinité Cowes Race). The second leg to St Malo will feature 63 double-handed teams to decide the European Champion.
The Cowes Dinard St Malo Race will start at 15:00 BST on Friday 07 July, the first to go of the four starts will be the 75ft (23m) Irens /Cabaret designed trimaran Use It Again. Skippered by Romain Pilliard, the record-breaking trimaran has been renovated with recycled fixtures and fittings. Favourites for Monohull Line Honours and the Sandison Memorial Salver are racing in IRC Super Zero. Christian Zugel’s Volvo 70 Tschüss 2 and Peter Morton’s Maxi 72 Notorious are both based in Cowes and both sailors are RORC Members.
IRC Zero
Eighteen boats are entered for IRC Zero with RORC Vice Commodore Eric de Turckheim’s NMD54 Teasing Machine looking to take the class win for the race for the third year in succession. Looking to stop Teasing Machine’s winning streak are two of the most hi-tech IRC boats in the race; Niklas Zennstrom’s CF 520 Rán, and RORC Commodore James Neville with his Carkeek 45 Ino Noir. Teasing Machine leads the class for the season, and the remainder of the current class podium will also be in action; Family De Graaf’s Ker 46 Baraka GP, and Mark Emerson’s A13 Phosphorus II.
IRC One
Forty boats are set for the race in IRC One, including the return of Géry Trentesaux with his new charge Sydney 43 Imagine, to be entered as Long Courrier later this month for Gery’s seventeenth Rolex Fastnet Race. Two teams with proven success in the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race are Ed Bell’s JPK 1180 Dawn Treader, class winner in 2021, and Jaques Pelletier’s Milon 41 L’Ange de Milon, class winner in 2019. The two top boats in IRC Two for the RORC Season’s Point Championship will be a force to be reckoned with Michael O’Donnell’s J/121 Darkwood and RORC Treasurer Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog will be in the race.
IRC Two
Sixty-Four boats are entered in IRC Two, including many of the IRC Two-Handed entries battling for the European Championship. Of the fully-crewed entries in IRC Two, François & Corentin Lognoné MC 34 Nutmeg Solidaire en Peloton was last year’s class winner and won the race overall in 2015. Ross Applebey’s Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster, overall winner in 2019, will be racing, looking to score more points for the RORC Season’s Points Championship. Two fully-crewed Sun Fast 3600 that are in the top ten for the season will be racing; Trevor Middleton’s Black Sheep, and the Army Sailing Association’s Fujitsu British Soldier, skippered by Wil Naylor.
IRC Three
The top three boats for the class this season are all in action for the 53-boat IRC Three Class. Sun Fast 3200 Cora raced double-handed by Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews, Mike Yates’ skipper of J/109 Jago, two-handed with Wil Holland, and Rob Cotterill’s fully-crewed J/109 Mojo Risin, skippered by Conrad Woodring. Cora has a massive 118 point lead for the season but is counting one additional race than Jago. Mojo Risin’ is third for the season by just 14 points from Chris Burleigh’s J/109 Jybe Talkin’ which will be racing to St Malo.
A total of nine J/109s are racing producing a great competition within IRC Three but they are not the only in-class skirmish. Of the eleven JPK 1010s, the leader for the season is Mark Brown’s Jetpack with a full crew from Gosport. Eleven Sun Fast 3200s are in action, seven are racing Two-Handed, including Cora, which is the favourite to be the first to St Malo of the double-handers.
IRC Four
Last year’s overall winner Arabel will be racing in IRC Four. Classic Swan 38 Xara, skippered by Jonathan Rolls was second last year and is back for the 2023 edition. The top two teams in IRC Four for the season will also be in action. Chris & Vanessa Choules’ With Alacrity leads the class for the RORC Season’s Points Championship. With Alacrity is one of four Sigma 38s racing to St Malo. In second place for the season, and one of the smallest boats in the race is Samuel Duménil’s JPK 960 Casamyas from Le Havre. Szymon Kuczynski’s Figaro One Hultaj is the smallest boat racing to St Malo at just 30ft (9.15m). However for Szymon, Hultaj is a large boat, he sailed his 20’6” (6.3m) sloop Atlantic Puffin solo around the world in 2018 to set a new world record. For the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race Hultaj will be three-up with an all-Polish crew.
The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Cowes Dinard St Malo Race is the 12th race of the RORC Season’s Points Championship, the largest racing series in the world of offshore racing.