Palanad 4 and Bellino Lead RORC’s Roll of Honour

Palanad 4 has been named RORC Yacht of the Year, winning the Somerset Memorial Trophy, while Rob Craigie and RORC Commodore Deb Fish have secured their fourth consecutive RORC Season’s Points Championship title aboard Bellino. Their achievements lead the Club’s 2026 roll of honour. 

Championship winners and recipients of RORC’s historic trophies and special awards will be celebrated at the Annual Dinner and Prize-giving on Saturday 14 November at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London. With Dee Caffari MBE as Guest Speaker, the dinner has already proved extremely popular with an international gathering of sailors and is already sold out—see details below if you want to get on the waitlist.

Waiting List—RORC Annual Dinner and Prize-giving

Palanad 4 © Arthur Daniel/RORC

Palanad 4: Family Team Among Offshore Racing’s Greats

Olivier Magré’s Mach 50 Palanad 4 receives the Somerset Memorial Trophy for outstanding racing achievement, as voted for by the RORC Main Committee, alongside the Europeans Cup for IRC Zero. For skipper Antoine Magré, who races with his father Olivier, joining the trophy’s roll of honour prompted “slight imposter syndrome.”

“It’s a list of names that are in almost all offshore racing history books,” said Magré. “As an amateur, you don’t necessarily feel you belong there. For us, this is the main prize in offshore racing. It’s a huge achievement.”

Behind the boat is a team rooted in family and friendship, with the designer and builder also sharing the racing.

“Palanad really was a family sailing programme, and then it grew with friends,” explained Magré. “I did my first double-handed racing with Jean Philippe Saliou, a close family friend and my first transatlantic with my dad. It was a way of enjoying offshore racing in our free time, as a hobby. Now we end up alongside Volvo Ocean Race winners and owners of some of the best offshore racing teams.”

The award recognises both their sailing and the ambition behind the project.

“She sailed a lot of miles in her first year without any failures. It’s recognition of the bet we took in building her, and of our sailing.”

The RORC Caribbean 600 also demonstrated the design’s versatility: “It showed she’s not just a downwind speed machine. She can sail upwind quite well too.”

Antoine’s ambition is to see more boats join them: “It’s cool to be the only boat, but it would be much cooler to have three, four or five scow bows in a full-on match.”

Bellino © Paul Wyeth/RORC

Bellino: Four Titles and a Shared Adventure

For Rob Craigie and RORC Commodore Deb Fish, Bellino’s fourth consecutive championship brings the satisfaction of sustained success—and the pleasure of sharing it with a new generation.

Alongside the Jazz Trophy for IRC Overall, Bellino wins the Grenade Goblet for IRC Three, Psipsina Trophy for IRC Two-Handed and Boyd Trophy for the Mixed Two-Handed Division. The team’s haul also includes the Keith Ludlow Trophy and Serendip Trophy.

Their campaign mixed two-handed and fully crewed racing, with RORC Griffin Pathway graduates Joe Griffiths and Nicole Hemeryck joining them for the Round Britain and Ireland Race.

“They are exceptional, both of them, with different skill sets,” said Craigie. “They were just as keen to get the boat going fast all the time as Deb and I are. You look at someone steering and think they’re really good—let me learn from this.”

For Fish, seeing the graduates flourish was particularly rewarding.

“With my RORC Commodore hat on, it’s really satisfying to see how good they are—but it’s also their attitude. They’re humble, but very, very good,” she said. “Everyone says they’re going to learn so much from us. I hope they learnt something, but we certainly learnt from them. It was very much equals coming in with different things to bring.”

Behind the trophies lies a hands-on Corinthian partnership.

“We do the preparation ourselves, so that’s a big saving every year,” explained Craigie. “Our cash goes on how we make the boat more reliable and faster.”

“We’re both committed and we both put the time in,” added Fish. “It’s very much a partnership.”

At the Annual Dinner and Prize-giving, the pleasure will be in celebrating together.

“Joe and Nicole will be there, and I hope they’re happy to join us on stage to collect Bellino’s trophies,” said Fish. “We’ve had a fantastic adventure around Britain together, and that would be quite special.”

Craigie’s approach to the occasion is simple: “Rather than going on stage and pretending nothing’s happening, just look at it and enjoy it.”

RORC Annual Dinner and Prize-giving © RORC

Class Champions

Trevor Middleton’s JPK 1180 Black Sheep wins IRC One and the Trenchemer Cup. RORC Vice Commodore Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog takes IRC Two and the Emily Verger Plate, adding the Highwayman Cup and Gordon Applebey Trophy to an impressive season’s collection.

Inka Luhrs and Richard Bretherton’s Sun Fast 3200 Zanzibar wins IRC Four and the Cowland Trophy. Peter Coote’s Dazcat 1295 Slinky Malinki takes the MOCRA championship and RORC Prize, while Greg Leonard’s Swift receives the Concise Trophy as Class40 champion.

Second overall, Ian Hoddle’s Sky Business Game On also receives the Alan Paul Trophy for consistent high performance. Third overall, the Army Sailing Association’s Fujitsu British Soldier wins the Haylock Cup, with crew member Jake Salmon receiving the Duncan Munro Kerr Youth Challenge Trophy.

The Griffin Pathway has further cause to celebrate: RORC Griffin wins both the Dillon Perpetual Ladies’ Trophy and Peter Harrison Youth Trophy.

RORC Fleet © Paul Wyeth/RORC

Historic Trophies and Special Awards

·       Somerset Memorial Trophy — Palanad 4, Olivier Magré: RORC Yacht of the Year, recognising outstanding racing achievement by a yacht owned or sailed by a RORC member.

·       Keith Ludlow Trophy — Bellino, Rob Craigie and Deb Fish: Awarded to the navigator of the IRC Overall championship winner.

·       Serendip Trophy — Bellino, Rob Craigie and Deb Fish: Best series-produced cruiser-racer, selected by the Committee.

·       David Fayle Memorial Cup — Morpheus, Forza Sailing Academy: Best sailing school yacht.

·       Dillon Perpetual Ladies’ Trophy — RORC Griffin: Top mixed crew with at least 30% female sailors and a minimum of two women.

·       Haylock Cup — Fujitsu British Soldier, Army Sailing Association: Best British service yacht.

·       Stradivarius Trophy — Foggy Dew, Noël Racine: Best overseas yacht.

·       Arambalza Swan Cup — Astrid, Patrick Moriarty: Best Swan.

·       Alan Paul Trophy — Sky Business Game On, Ian Hoddle: Consistent high performance, rewarding points and races completed, excluding class championship winners.

·       Highwayman Cup — Bulldog, Derek Shakespeare: Best elapsed-time performance by an IRC yacht across the Cervantes Trophy, Morgan Cup, Cowes Dinard St Malo and Cherbourg races.

·       Duncan Munro Kerr Youth Challenge Trophy — Jake Salmon, Fujitsu British Soldier: Youth crew member completing the most RORC miles aboard a yacht finishing in her IRC class’s championship top three.

·       Peter Harrison Youth Trophy — RORC Griffin: Highest qualifying score from three offshore races with the required proportion of youth crew.

·       Gordon Applebey Trophy — Bulldog, Derek Shakespeare: Fully crewed Corinthian yacht with the highest combined score from her best five races.

·       Dennis P Miller Memorial Trophy — Ino Veritas, James Neville: British yacht overseas.

·       Seamanship Trophy — Solano, Robin Follin: Outstanding act of seamanship.

·       Freddie Morgan Trophy — Quaillo III, Andrew Tseng: Classic yacht racing under IRC.

·       Meritorious Award — Grant Gordon, Louise Racing: Outstanding keelboat performance by a RORC member, recognising victory in the Marblehead Trophy.

Beken Trophy — Concours d’Elegance in RORC races: to be awarded at the Prize-giving.

Missed the boat?

As the event is already sold out, if you would like to join the winners, their crews and fellow sailors at the RORC Annual Dinner and Prize-giving on Saturday 14 November at the Institute of Directors, Pall Mall, London you can join the waitlist here:

Join the waitlist for the RORC Annual Dinner and Prize-giving 2026