"That was the fastest St Malo race I have ever done", "the best race in 50 years" - typical comments from a happy fleet

The 100th anniversary of the race saw a bumper fleet of over 200 yachts including Ellen MacArthur's Castorama B&Q and a Classic Division. The race turned out to be a classic as well; the conditions were perfect for a fast downwind race, bright sunshine followed by a moonlit night.

In 1906 His Majesty King Edward VII presented a Challenge Cup for the race. In the first race 4 yachts entered and the winner was "Brada" after 3 days of racing. Over the years thousands of yachts have enjoyed the race and it has become not only one of the oldest but one of the "must do" great races.

The monohull record for the race was set in 2000 by Mike Slade on Skandia Leopard with an average speed of 10.97 knots.

Most of the weather forecasters predicted a light northerly at the start which would build and veer north easterly overnight building to 20 knots.  Meteo France alone predicted the Beaufort 6 gusting 7 that occurred south of the Casquets. Conditions were marginal for the Committee boat on the finish line but she managed to remain on station.

Leading the fleet to France, where she is always so welcome, was Dame Ellen MacArthur with Castorama B&Q.   Crossing the line at 0147 and winning the Open Multihull Class.

JP Chomette's Solune was next to finish at 0447 and very nearly beating the monohull record. She was followed by Cutting Edge on Venom (Robert Lutener/Martin Elwood) finishing at 0520, which was enough to win Super Zero.

After a pause of just over an hour the Pogo 40 Courrier Guyader (Antoine & Nicolas Trentesaux) finished having revelled in the downwind conditions. Inside the next ten minutes four of the small multihulls finished.  The wind remained strong and the vast majority of the fleet were finished in less than 24 hours. The last boat finished at 1604.

A Classic Division was constituted for the centenary and was defined as: Classics - yachts with an age date of December 1975 and earlier and Semi-Classics - yachts with an age date between January 1976 and December 1985.

Persephone a1969 Tina design won the Classic Division on corrected time from Clarionet. The oldest boat in the fleet Wanda a 1930 gaff cutter, owned by Colin Ryan, finished in just over 24 hours and came 5th in the Classic Division. Wanda was not built as a racing yacht but a Mr BG A Scott re-rigged her with a much bigger rig and raced her with the RORC winning the Channel Race in 1938. She continued to race with the RORC until the late 40s.    She was later re-rigged as a Bermudan cutter but the present owner is returning her to the big rig of her heyday. The Semi-classic class was won by Saint Sebestien III a 1978 Romanee design.

The race was won overall by the Class 2 yacht - Noel Racine's JPK 9.60 Foggy Dew.  The RORC would like to thank Héve Gillet for arranging the committee boat, the Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo and the Yacht Club de Dinard for all of their help and for organising the party in St Malo and prizegiving in Dinard.

PRIZEWINNERS CLASSIC Class   for boats pre 1975

5          Colin Ryan                  WANDA                    (Gaff Cutter  1930)
4          Dominique Tournier      STJARNA                  (Bostrom 29  1962)
3          Jean-Luc Desrues         PERNEZ 2                 (1967 Stand Fast 37)
2          Paul March                 CLARIONET             (1966  S & S 37)
1          Yves Lambert             PERSEPHONE         (1969 Tina)

Winning the Raymond Ladde Trophy presented by the SNBSM
Jean-Marie Postel                WINIBELLE II (1933 Epoque)

SEMI CLASSIC  CLASS    for boats between  1976 - 1985

5          Yves Gerard                 DELFICIA 11  (1982  First 30ES)
4          John Spooner               MINKI                       (1977  Swan 38)
3          Tom Sperrey                NIGHTLIFE                (1983  Sigma 41)
2          Yvon Nedonchelle        VERT-GALANT          (1980  Aphrodite 101)

Winning the RORC Semi Classic  prize 
Thierry Fremont                       SAINT-SEBASTIEN 111   (1978   Romanee)

SEAHORSE DIVISIONFor non advertising boats which have not previously won any RORC prize in the current or previous season and have an age date of 12/02 and older
Pierre Balian                 ELECTRON  LIBRE

MULTIHULL   Division

2nd    Joel Malardel       TANCREDE

BCT MOCRA  RATING winning the  YACHTS & YACHTING CAULDRON 
Philippe Bessec            JOLLY  JUMPER

IRM
BCT  IRM       HOLMAN CUP  Edward Broadway       HOOLIGAN  V

LARGEST CLASS - IRC 2

YACHT CLUB DE FRANCE SHIELD Noel Racine    FOGGY DEW

NEWCOME  HOARE  TROPHY

BEST  IRC  YACHT  ON CORRECTED TIME  WITH 25% OF  THE CREW UNDER  25      Winning class 1 with 5 out of the 7 crew  under 25 Laurent Bregeon         
COTES  d'ARMOR

SANDISON  MEMORIAL  TROPHY
1st BOAT  HOME  MULTIHULL Ellen  Macarthur   -  CASTORMA B & Q 
1st BOAT HOME    MONOHULL JP Chomette    SOLUNE

PASSMORE  BOWLMOST  NUMEROUS  PRODUCTION  BOAT  CLASS  IN  IRC 
Emmanuel Le Men    FIRST  40.7        PEN  KOENT

JOHN  WEST  TROPHY  CLUB  CHALLENGE
Best 2 yachts representing the same club whose aggregate corrected time is the least.

YACHT  CLUB  DE  DINARD      with

Courrier du Coeur and Atao

TWO  HANDED  DIVISION

2nd    Andrew Bird   JAMBALAYA 
Winning the Slingshot Trophy   -    Shaun Murphy    SLINGSHOT

IRC 3

5          Jean-Francois Ygont                 PREFIXE

4          Jean-Francois Demay               FLETCHER LYND

3          Jean-Yves Chateau                   IROMIGUY

2          Peter Wallace                         GUNSHOT

IRC  2

5          Loic de Courlon           ATAO

4          Christian Guyader         GUYADER L'ESPRIT  DE  LA  MER

3          R Tancrede                  JUST AJ

2          Le Glatin                      MAISON  DU  POISSON

BCT  IRC 2    YACHT  CLUB DE  DINARD  TROPHY -  Noel Racine     FOGGY  DEW

IRC 1

5          Guy Sallenave               STER  WENN 5

4          Andrew Pearce           MAGNUM  2

3          Emmanuel Le Men        PEN  KOENT

2          Paul King                     SERENDIP

4          Philippe Lamotte           AERO 2

3          Michel Peretie              STAMINA 11

2          Robert Bottomley         DECOSOL

BCT  IRC 0    NORYEMA  TROPHY  - Gery Trentesaux           COURRIER  DU  COEUR

BCT  IRC  SUPER ZERO       LLOYDS  OF  LONDON  SALVER 
Robert Lutener/Martin Elwood CUTTING EDGE ON VENOM

DEREK  BOYER  TROPHY  2nd  BCT   IRC