Fluky wind conditions test fleet on second day of the Red Funnel Easter Challenge

Three races were held on the second day of the Red Funnel Easter Challenge in shifty wind conditions with the fleet of 76 boats setting off for the first race of the day in 7-8 knots of breeze.

Jamie Wilkinson, Chief Race Officer for the RORC said: “The forecast last night led us to believe that there was going to be very little wind. This morning there was only about 2 to 3 knots so thought we would be lucky to get in three races. But, as we headed out on the Committee Boat, the wind was already blowing 6 knots although it did go flat and swung round. We finally sent them off in a decent breeze that held up across the Ryde Bank, so we ran a course down to the Island shore and back to the mainland before ending on the Ryde Bank.”

The wind was not to hold though and went light half way through the race, but luckily there was enough with the tide across the course to enable the boats to make progress towards the next mark. Finally the wind did come in and the boats in IRC Super Zero and Zero finished the course, with the smaller boats finishing at the top mark so as not to stem the tide on the final leg.

By the time of the start of race three, there was enough depth to get the fleet up into the Hill Head Plateau on the far side of the Brambles Bank and the Race Committee took the decision to run the last two races of the day in this area of the Solent . By race four, the wind had increased to 12-14 knots but as Jamie Wilkinson commented: “Looking at the forecast, the wind shifts were never as expected or anticipated making course laying extremely difficult today. We had a lot of shifting around trying to get the start line correct but we managed to get in the three races and I think this was probably pretty good because it was quite difficult, particularly in the morning.”

There were a large number of general recalls with boats over the line at the start but most classes responded extremely well to the running commentary by the Chief Race Officer.

In IRC Super Zero and Zero, the competition is now hotting up with only one more day of the regatta to run. Last year’s winners, the Farr 52, Bear of Britain owned by Kit Hobday & Tim Louis, and Shaun Frohlich’s IMX 45, Exabyte III are battling it out. The Farr having raced well today with a 2 nd place in the first race of the day followed by 1 st in race 3 and another 2 nd in the final race. They are currently leading their class overall after four races, 7 points ahead of Exabyte III, whose form was good today achieving two wins in race 2 and 4. Shaun Frohlich commented: “We had much better racing today. It was a very good but we could do with a bit more breeze really. We are racing again this year with the same crew and we are getting it together now. We have got a lot more optimisation to do on the boat so we are chuffed with our result today.”

Crew member Stig, racing on board Adam Gosling’s Beneteau First 44.7 Yes! who are placed 3 rd overall in the same class, commented: “We only launched the boat on Thursday night, it’s brand new so we want to do a little better tomorrow but we are testing out the boat during this regatta and moving things around.”

In IRC 1 Edd Clayson & John Gimson’s Mumm 30, I’ve Had Ya Mumm still held onto their series lead with 13 points, having come in 4 th position in all three races today. Following the IMX 40, Exabyte 2 are two boats competing for 3 rd and 4 th positions overall with 23 points each – Nick Jones’ First 40.7, Tarka, who won the first race of the day and Peter Morton’s Sydney 36 Salvo. Both are closely followed by another First 40.7, Nick Lutte’s Shockwave who achieved a good final race today with a 3 rd place win and are only 2 points behind.

No surprises for the winning boat in the largest fleet of the regatta, IRC 2, with Irish entry, Voodoo Chile, Eamon Crosbie’s Ker 32 from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin taking three consecutive wins and a 2 nd in the first race of the day. Jonathan & Lisa Goring however have also held onto 2 nd place in the class with their J109 Jeronimo. Two HOD35’s follow, Peter Scholfield’s Zarafa and 2003 class winners, Tim Harrington’s Capitali$m, whose best race of the day was a 2 nd place in race 4.

In IRC 3, again Ian Maclean’s Software Mistreess, the Sigma 362 had a successful day out on the water with three wins. Robert McLeod’s Fulmar Sareema is two points behind in the series followed by Rory Carter and Jon Yorke’s Elan 333 Evelyn R.

In IRM 1, Peter Morton & Adrian Stead’s Atomic, a Europrix 45 took a 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd today making them overall leaders in their class with 7 points, however Robbie Cameron Davies’ I-Site beat them on the final race of the day and are 4 points behind. Glynn Williams Europrix Wolf also had a good day, winning the final two races and putting them into 3 rd position overall at the end of day two.

The position of the two boats in IRM 2 remains the same after racing today, with Simon Henning’s Alice winning all three races closely followed by Bob Fisher’s Zzing.

Also on the water checking out the runners and riders for the first major regatta of the season was David Aisher who is Chairman of the selectors for the GBR teams in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup, taking place between 25 th July and 1 st August. Although trials consisting of two inshore weekends and an offshore race have been announced by the RYA, Aisher commented: “I was out today observing all the boats, many of which have been performing quite well in the regatta. I really wanted to see who was out there and what they were doing. I can see a few potentials already. “

Once ashore, the last of the debrief sessions by Jim Saltonstall and his team took place once again to a packed attentive audience. Saltonstall commented on the debriefs: “I think crews learn a tremendous amount in the three days that they are in the regatta and take away a lot of knowledge from the debrief sessions but they have now got to take that knowledge away from here and work on it. To a degree some have already put what they learnt in the briefing yesterday into practice, but it only needs the conditions to change and you are talking about a different scenario and a different problem.”

Following the debrief, a prizegiving ceremony took place with prizes which have become a trademark of the regatta, with a presentation of large amounts of Easter Eggs to winners of races over the last two days.

After a much needed drink, the exhausted crews exchanged tales of their day’s racing and looked ahead to their final day out on the water on Easter Sunday, before enjoying a special BBQ laid on as part of the social programme in Cowes Yacht Haven.

Full results can be found on: http://rorc.org/raceresults04/index.php

The rorc website also contains reports, information and a selection of photographs by Hamo Thornycroft: www.rorc.org