Royal Ocean Racing Club - Iromiguy On Top Again at Dieppe

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Iromiguy On Top Again at Dieppe

Cowes to Dieppe Race – Saturday 23rd August 2003.

The RORC fleet started from the Royal Yacht Squadron line at 08:00 on Saturday morning in a light westerly breeze. The course set by the committee sent the boats on a beat west out of the Solent to the Needles Fairway Buoy and across the Channel, leaving the Roches d’Ailly North Cardinal to starboard and on to the finish D1, an East Cardinal Buoy off Dieppe a distance of approximately 120 miles. ‘Jazz’, Chris Bull’s J145 and ‘Fastwave II’ ACP Sailing’s First 40.7, sailed by Chris Brown, both got away well, showing the way down the Solent on what proved to be a difficult tactical beat. The forecast was for the breeze to veer from the west during day and evening, through to the north east, possibly even to the east and remain light. By mid afternoon the breeze had indeed veered on the French coast to the North at 8kts.

In keeping with the trend of the RORC 2003 season this was panning out to be another hard tactical race for the crews, striving to harness every last ounce from the dying pressure gradient and cheat the worst of the foul tides. However it was noted by the finish team in Dieppe that the recorded wind speed at the Greenwich Light Vessel at 01:00 on Sunday morning was 162.5kts!! (the actual wind speed was 00.00kts but in these conditions the technology “thinks of a number”)

During the night and early morning the breeze had all but vanished and had been replaced for several hours by a coastal fog, the wind started to fill in from the North at around 05:30 when those who had opted to go north began to reap their reward. First to cross the finish line at 08:01 was Windward Sailing’s Volvo 60 ‘Venom’, sailed by Derek Saunders, 1 hour 44 minutes ahead of the second yacht on the water ‘Jazz’, Chris Bull’s J145. By this time the breeze had built to a healthy 15kts from the North East freeing the fleet before the onset of another foul tide.

‘Jazz’ reported that they had taken the more northerly route in the hope that they would catch the expected early build in pressure as the ‘High’ moved to the north. Their plan was delayed as the high kept pace with them keeping them in the light air and causing them to go backwards for about a mile in the western end of the east going separation zone, being unable to kedge due to their position. There were also reports of a large amount of weed in the central separation zone, not dissimilar to the ‘Sargasso Sea’.

The battle in IRC1 saw ‘Exabyte 2’, Shaun Frohlich’s IMX 40 the third yacht to finish and the first in class ahead of ACP Sailing’s First 40.7 ‘Fastwave II’ sailed by Chris Brown, who in turn was only 3 minutes in front of the Mills 36 of R Lutener , P James and M Elwood ‘Cutting Edge’. Harry Heijst with his S & S 41 ‘Winsome’, the lowest rated boat in IRC 2 also pulled out all the stops to be sixth boat home, in amongst the IRC Zero’s and IRC1’s and taking the Gordon Greville Cup for IRC 2.

Following on from his success in the Channel Race, Jean-Yves Chateau and his Nicholson 33 ‘ Iromiguy’ produce another splendid performance winning not only the Rebel Maid Trophy for IRC 3, but also taking the top prize for Best Corrected Time in IRC. The contest for 2nd and 3rd places overall went down to the wire between Harry Heijst’s IRC 2 boat ‘Winsome’ and Mr Richard Butler’s Thomas 33 ‘Boozeroo’ in IRC 3. After over twenty seven hours of racing, ‘Winsome’ sneaked in a place above ‘Boozeroo’ by one second on corrected time.

As was the case in 2002 race to Dieppe, this year once again saw a Sailability division taking part, challenging for the R J Rutter Trophy, which was won on this occasion by ‘Jeu D’Esprit, Clem Jones’ J 160. Many thanks going also to all the owners who signed up to offer crew positions on their yachts for the race.

The RORC would like to offer its grateful thanks to Le Cercle de la voile de Dieppe, especially the following people: President – M. Bernard Hamel; Committee Director – M. Jacques-Henri Heulot, and also the owner of the finish boat ‘Arbalestrille’, his crew Yves Duval, Dominique Obot and his wife Bridgette; Yacht Club Manager - Renee-Paul Arent and his hard working staff Isabelle and Josse

Prize winners:

RORC Prize – BCT IRC Iromiguy Jean-Yves Chateau

Kenneth Mason Trophy – IRC Zero Jazz Chris Bull

Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cup – IRC 1 Exabyte 2 Shaun Frohlich

Gordon Greville Cup – IRC 2 Winsome Harry Heijst

2nd Arbitrator Peter Hopps

Rebel Maid – IRC 3 Iromiguy Jean-Yves Chateau

RORC Prize – BCT IRM Venom Windward Sailing Derek Saunders

R J Rutter Trophy – 1st BCT in the Sailability Division Jeu D’Esprit Clem Jones

RORC medallions to be presented on Tuesday 23rd September at 19:30, in the Clubhouse, 20 St James’s Place, London SW1. All crews welcome.

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