FRIDAY 29th JUNE - SUNDAY 1st JULY

Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club

Entries from all over the world will be at this year’s IRC Championships, making it a truly international event. Whilst the majority of the yachts are from the United Kingdom, there are yachts competing from; Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia and the United States of America. Well over sixty yachts are expected to be racing on tight Solent courses with eight races planned over three days. Five classes are expected with yachts varying in size from 65ft to 29ft, all vying for the coveted RORC IRC Championship trophy.

In recent years, a growing number of TP52s optimised for IRC racing have been Racing in the Solent and this year two more have entered the fray for the championship; Peter Winkelmann’s, Island Fling, will be racing for the first time since the yacht arrived from Hong Kong and Colm Barrington’s, Flash Glove, will be competing at her first championship event. Also Peter Ogden’s Swan 601, Spirit of Jethou, has returned from the Caribbean and will be competing, as well as Richard Loftus’ Swan 65, Desperado, who makes a welcome return.  

There are a large number of Swan 45s at this year’s event, including top competition from the United States, with William Douglass driving Goombay Smash and Dick Weismann at the wheel of Vixen. These two yachts are extremely well sailed and came, second and fourth, respectively at last year’s Swan 45 World Championships in Sardinia. A large fleet of Swan 45s will be gracing the IRC Championships in a build up to the Swan Gold Cup, in the Solent, the following week.  

There are a huge variety of yachts entered of approximately 40ft which should make for a fantastic series. Frenchman, Gery Trentesaux, a past winner of the event is racing his Class 40, Courrier de Cour and there are a number of entries that have plenty of experience in the Solent, there is a huge variety of yachts around this size and the racing rule allows them all to enjoy competitive racing; X Yachts, J Boats, Beneteau and several other designs, make up a very diverse and highly competitive fleet.  

The yachts entered under 40 feet for the IRC Championships are just as diverse, Jackie Welch’s, Elan 333, Elusive is back to defend her class title from last year and Eamon and Alan Crosbie are over from Ireland, making a welcome return in their Ker 32, Teng Tools. Tim and Sophie Harrington have had a great season racing their X 35, Vortex, amongst their competition will be another X 35; Nigel Passmore’s, Plymouth based, X Wave. There are several Beneteau First 34.7s racing; Peter Morton’s, Salvo, and Nick Jones’s, Astarte, are both new boats with seasoned campaigners aboard.  

The weather beyond about a week ahead stretches even the most experienced weather forecaster; however late June is usually a time when the south of England has a great effect from the Azores High, often this creates light gradient wind from the north west which can create a sea breeze from the south west by late morning, only to die out by early afternoon. Thundery showers are often present in late June, giving rise to some very bizarre local conditions caused by changes in atmospheric pressure. Also with the full moon on the 30^th of June, there will be Spring Tides. All this, adds up to the likelihood of changeable and tricky Solent racing conditions for competitors and the Race Committee for the 2007 RORC IRC Championships.  

 
Enter for the IRC CHAMPIONSHIP online via the RORC website: http://www.rorc.org by 20^th June 2007.

For more information, please contact: –
Janet Grosvenor, Racing Manager, RORC
Tel. 020 7493 2248, E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Prizegiving in Cowes on Sunday 1st July

CLASSES: IRC Endorsed (including Quarter Ton Class*). The class bands used in the Championship may differ from the seasons offshore class bands.

TROPHIES: RORC IRC Championship Trophy; Jackdaw Trophy; Class prizes

*QUARTER TON CLASS: To qualify as a Quarter Ton Boat a boat shall have had an IOR rating of 18.5 or less during the period 1970 to 1996. In the case of series production boats only one of the series need have had a rating of 18.5 or less.

IRC Championship Points: The overall prize for the IRC Championships will be awarded to the yacht with the lowest resultant score when the yacht’s total score (less discard) is divided by the number of entries in her Class plus 2. For the purposes of scoring classes Super Zero and Zero may be combined and constitute one class

SSS MINIMUM: 20 or STIX MINIMUM 23 and AVS MINIMUM 130-0.005 x m (where m is minimum sailing weight in Kg)
Quarter Ton Class boats only – SSS MINIMUM 10 or STIX MINIMUM 14 and AVS MINIMUM 90.
Boats may be categorised under either STIX or SSSN.

SPECIAL REGULATIONS: Category 4 with RORC prescriptions plus VHF Radio, the primary purpose of which is to monitor the Race Committee.

ENTRIES: Close Friday 22nd June

BERTHING: will be provided at Cowes Yacht Haven

PROGRAMME OF RACES

POINTS: The IRC Championship is not part of the RORC Seasons Points Championship

RACE HQ: RORC Office, 82 High Street, Cowes, Isle of Wight PO31 7AJ Tel: +44 (0) 1983 295 144 Fax: +44(0) 1983 292 242

All competitors will be welcome at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, the Island Sailing Club, Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club and the Royal London Yacht Clubs. For details of accommodation and dining facilities please contact the individual club. Additional social arrangements will be published in the Sailing Instructions.

PRIZEGIVING: Prizegiving in Cowes on Sunday 1st July