Banqueting House, London
13th November 2010 at 1830

Following the success of last year's event, this year's Annual Dinner & Prize Giving will once again be held in the prestigious Banqueting House.

Banqueting House was built in 1622, just 27 years before King Charles I of England was executed on a scaffold in front of it in January 1649. Prior to his death, the King commissioned the beautiful Rubens ceiling, painted in 1635. It is a stunning location to receive your prize or to have a truly enjoyable evening with the RORC.

The Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race proved to be one of the most thrilling record-breaking races in years. There was drama, even before the start of this challenging race.

A potentially boat breaking low depression was predicted to hit the west coast of Ireland at precisely the moment when the majority of the fleet would be there and caught out with nowhere to run. To avoid the extreme weather the Royal Ocean Racing Club took the decision to reverse the course and race anti-clockwise around Britain and Ireland. The race is 1802 miles long and highly tactical with frequent changes to the weather and sea state. Racing around Britain and Ireland is a real challenge. At one time or another all of the competing yachts experienced some testing conditions and it would be over two weeks before some of the competitors would complete the course.

The Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race exploded into action on the 23^rd August, under grey leaden skies and big breeze.

ICAP Leopard and Telefónica Azul were a hair-raising sight as RORC Chief Executive Eddie Warden Owen reported from the racecourse:

"It was a magnificent start, 25 knots from the southwest with gusts of up to 30 knots coming out of the Medina River. Telefónica was an impressive sight, built to race at full tilt around the world, she carried her enormous spinnaker to blast past Leopard at over 25 knots. It was a really impressive sight to see these huge machines charging down the Solent leaving the rest of the 27-strong fleet in their wake."

Read the complete article on the Race Minisite

Nick Martin cleaned up today in the 2010 RORC Cherbourg Race sailing his J 105 Diablo J with his Irish co-skipper Barry Hurley. Not only did they win the RORC trophy for the Two-Handed Division, but took home the Yacht Club de France trophy for IRC 2 and the Cherbourg trophy for IRC Overall.

The race started on a perfect sunny early September evening. With the tide and wind behind them, the fleet of 53 yachts set off towards the Needles under spinnaker. However, it wasn't long before wind holes began to appear, particularly off Yarmouth, and the leg out of the Solent became tricky; it turned out to be the hardest part of the race.

Sunday 29 August 11:26:45

Ireland has done it. After mounting multiple teams, considered favourite going into both the 2006 and 2008 events but failing to win either, so the Irish boats Antix, Marinerscove.ie and Roxy 6 today secured the Rolex Commodores' Cup for the emerald isle.

"It is delightful to finally have a chance to get our hands on the trophy," declared Anthony O'Leary, owner and helmsman of the Ker 39 Antix, the Irish team's big boat. "For all three boats, the Rolex Commodores' Cup has been the absolute pinnacle of what we have wanted to do this year. While Antix and Marinerscove have been around, it is a credit to the guys on Roxy because they had a new build and got the boat in the water, and then there were all the attendant things you have to do. Owner Rob Davies, in fairness to him, didn't take a huge amount of persuasion to sign up and make the extra effort required to do it. We owe him a huge debt."

David Dwyer and his Marinerscove.ie team were equally ecstatic. "I bought this boat in 2006 and we have been waiting since then for the right time. This time it worked. It was absolutely brilliant."

Roxy 6's pro sailor Maurice 'Prof' O'Connell added: "We put in a massive effort and it is nice to have got the reward. Cowes is going to go ballistic tonight!"

Read the full article and find more info on the Rolex Commodores' Cup Minisite [Ireland claims victory in blustery Rolex Commodores' Cup finale]

RORC Commodore Andrew McIrvine and Peter Morton won the closely fought and very competitive IRC Class Two in Cowes Week.

Going into the final day their First 40 La Réponse was two points behind the leader Ian Matthews’ J122 Jinja; Jim Macgregor’s Elan 410 Premier Flair was close in third. With the racing going to the wire Andrew was delighted to win the final race and clinch a class win.

With both Andrew and Jim competing in GBR teams in the Rolex Commodores' Cup next week their performance will not go unnoticed by the other national teams from France, Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Racing commences on Sunday, 15 August, with the first race scheduled for 10.30 am and, as one would expect, there has been no shortage of activity since close of challenges for the 10^th biennial Rolex Commodores' Cup.

Whilst the single team nations, Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong, set out their stall early, identifying boats and team members, the multi-team nations, United Kingdom and France have faced more complex decision-making in defining the composition of their various line-ups.

Ten teams, comprising a total of thirty yachts spread over five nations, will be on the start line all fired up in anticipation of a highly competitive event. Teams are made up of three boats, one in each of three precise rating bands. The full National team listings are available on line at http://commodorescup.rorc.org/ and www.regattanews.com.

Read the complete article on the Rolex Commodores' Cup Minisite [Rolex Commodores' Cup 2010 Team Line Up Complete]

This year's Channel Race was blessed with good breeze around the 130 mile course with sunshine during the day and warm air temperature at night. The overall winner was the First 40, La Réponse, owned by Peter Morton and RORC Commodore Andrew McIrvine by just under three minutes on corrected time from Neil Kipling's J 122, Joopster. Charles Ivill's Grand Soleil 54, John B, was third but did win Class Zero against some stiff opposition.

"It was a real surprise to win overall," admitted Andrew, co-owner of La Réponse. "Perhaps the tide favoured the medium size boats better but we made full use of it; taking a line down the south side of the island putting us in the strongest tide possible. I must say it was a real delight to have a RORC race with a 60-mile downwind leg; something that doesn't happen too often. A boil in the bag dinner on deck, under spinnaker was a real joy. I will be back at work on Monday, just like everybody else but offshore racing is an excellent way to get away from the stress of work, much better than staring at your navel for the weekend." La Réponse were also victors in IRC One with Joopster second and Sailing Logic's Reflex 38, Visit Malta Puma, third.

"Absolutely thrilled," admitted Jeremy Hill, "it has been a tough week in some pretty big breeze. Our speed off the line was great and that meant that when we got away well at the start, we were confident of winning every race, we managed five wins in the series. However, on the occasions that we did not get away well, we managed to convert a low position to a top ten result by some excellent downwind work; Grant Rollerson is a highly accomplished skiff sailor and his asymmetric experience was a big part of our win."

Full results at http://worlds2010.lasersb3.com/

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with the Royal Yacht Squadron.
START: Saturday 24^th July from the RYS Cowes to the West.

The Channel Race is the last RORC offshore race prior to the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race and some well known boats will be competing in the race which will last between 24-36 hours on a flexi-course. The top boat under IRC will win the Channel Challenge Cup and there are plenty of contenders.

In IRC Super Zero Derek Saunders' CM 60, Venomous, will be hoping for strong winds to propel him to victory but John Merricks II are on a roll having just won the Cowes Dinard St Malo race and will be hard to beat.

Piet Vroon's Tonnerre de Breskens 3, who is leading the Season's Points Championship by a country mile, is back after winning the Round Ireland Race earlier this month. However John Shepherd's Fair Do's VII, Chris Radford's Relentless on Incisor and Charles Ivill's John B will also be looking for a good result in IRC Zero. All of these boats go head to head in IRC Zero for this race and the 1760 mile Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race next month.