Royal Ocean Racing Club - Myth Of Malham Race

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Myth Of Malham Race - Cowes to St Helier, Jersey

Saturday 28th May saw a RORC fleet of 106 yachts gather at the RYS line for the 2005 Myth of Malham Race to St Helier, Jersey. Course ‘C’ was chosen by the Race Committee who sent the fleet east out of the Solent and into the Channel. Once across the Channel the yachts would pass to the west of the Casquets and leave Les Hanois, on the south west tip of Guernsey, to port before turning to the east once to the finish off St Helier, a distance of approximately 140 miles.

First away at 08:30 was Class 3,Class 2 started at 08:40, followed by Class SZ, Z & 1 together at 08:50 and finally the Multihulls at 09:00. Class 3 flew spinnakers from the start, the other classes tried to follow suit but the breeze steadily increased to F5, gusting F6 from the south west and there were many spectacular broaches. The kites soon came down and those who started without them did well.

As with the previous race to Cherbourg, the De Guingand Bowl, the fleet would find themselves facing a long beat in testing conditions as they turned the corner at Bembridge on their way to the Casquets and Les Hanois, the breeze being reported as south westerly 30 to 35kts. But this time the beat was in daylight and the forecast was for the breeze to veer and reduce during the night possibly going very light for a time.

With a veer forecast the smart money went west. Boats tacked into Sandown Bay and having stood off for the foul tide at St Cats they tacked back in. It paid to go as far as St Albans. As forecast the veer came in on schedule and those who went west were able to crack off for Les Hanois.

For many years the RORC has encouraged skippers to take a crew member with a disability in their team in a race. The Myth of Malham was this year’s Sailability race and the RORC would like to thank the skippers of Jeu D’Esprit, El Syd and Erivale.

Line Honours went to Richard Mathews’ Oyster 72, Oystercatcher XXV at 06:44:52, but only just! Chris Brown & Peter Harding’s DK 46, Fidessa-Fastwave fighting to the end, missed out by only 12 seconds. The third yacht home was Venom, Windward Sailing’s Volvo 60, sailed by Kevin Sussmilch at 07:19.

The smaller yachts had a tough time when the breeze dropped leaving many of them struggling to stem the strong tide.

The competitors received a warm welcome at the St Helier Yacht Club and the prizegiving was held is a specially commissioned marquee on the dock. With the bar open and breakfast followed by barbeque food on hand the teams were tired but happy. It was another tough race but more invaluable experience for those preparing for the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Foggy Dew Noel Racine’s class 2 JPK 960 won the Myth of Malham Cup with a strong performance in a little boat in a predominantly upwind race. Exile Nicholas de la Fourniere’s X312 won class three, Maverick 2 Dominic Chappell’s IMX 40 took class 1 and Jeronimo the DK 46 owned by Jonathan Goring took combined class super zero and zero. IRM was won by the Farr 40 Cacharaza owned by Marcos Vivian de la Pedrosa and the two handed division winner was Slingshot Shaun Murphy’s J105. The seahorse division was won by Kiribilli Doug Flynn’s 47.7.

The race committee would like to thank the St Helier Yacht club for their extraordinary effort and commitment in making the race finish so successful and in particular the Commodore Rodney Challoner, Mr fix it Andrew Le Quesne, Simon Taylor the skipper of the Committee Boat, Dean Pitman for the water taxi and Matthew Wainwright the Steward for the excellent catering.

Provisional Results

Myth of Malham Cup – BCT IRC Foggy Dew Noel Racine

Loujaine Cup – IRC Zero Jeronimo Jonathan & Lisa Goring

2nd Fidessa-Fastwave Chris Brown / Peter Harding

3rd Kirribilli Doug Flynn

4th Exabyte III Shaun Frohlich

5th Thunder 2 Robert Boulter

Jamarella Trophy – IRC 1 Maverick 2 Dominic Chappell

2nd Meta Baron Sean Hurst

3rd White Knuckles Mervyn Hughes

4th Serendip Paul King

5th Groupe Partouche Christopher Coatnoan