RORC Easter Challenge | Update

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club

Racing in The Solent – Debriefs at RORC Cowes Clubhouse

7-9 April 2023

For over 20 years, the Royal Ocean Racing Club has held a training regatta over the Easter Weekend. World Sailing Rules on outside assistance are relaxed, so for no additional cost to the teams, hand-picked coaches can provide pin-point assistance to get crews of any level up to speed. Three days of racing are organised in The Solent from Easter Friday to Easter Sunday. As with all RORC racing the RORC Cowes Clubhouse is open for all competitors. Entries are still coming in and over 200 sailors are expected for the RORC Easter Challenge.

After racing, every day, a warm reception awaits at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse with video debriefs from the RORC Coach Team supported by North Sails. The famous Clubhouse Bar is a hive of activity and the RORC Clubhouse kitchen will be offering a simple and unique Regatta Crew Buffet.

Racing will be in IRC Rated Classes for Grand Prix racers, pocket rocket Cape 31s and HP30 Classes, plus a huge range of performance racer-cruisers. While the regatta attracts some professional teams, the vast majority are passionate corinthian crews looking to sharpen their skills. The RORC Easter Challenge has the traditional prizes of Easter Eggs but the real winners are all the sailors, improving every aspect of yacht racing ability at a safe and friendly regatta.

For up to date information or to enter online visit: The RORC Easter Challenge Notice Board

RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole runs through the intention for the racing programme and what’s on at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse.

The RORC Easter Challenge is a training regatta designed to get teams up to speed for their racing season, we want the sailors to gain from it, and the coaches have been chosen especially with that in mind. Race Officer Stuart Childerley and the team intend to have up to three races on Friday, so with a midday start we intend to get teams ashore by 5pm. Another three races on Saturday unless Sunday is looking like light winds. At least two races are intended for Sunday.

The RORC Race Team will split the fleets into IRC classes but for this regatta we also try to put boats together that have similar training requirements, this makes the best use of the coaches at the regatta. The coaching system is very interactive.

Starts and pre-starts have detailed video analysis in the debriefs using video from the North Sails drone and taken from the RORC Committee boat. During the racing, teams are approached by coaches to offer advice, even taking a sailor onto a coach rib to show their set up from off the boat. There is also advice on strategy and tactics offered by the coaching team, if a RORC coach is invited on board, the coach will sail with the team for a period.

A competitor’s whatsapp group will be active right through the RORC Easter Challenge. This will inform the boats about the intentions of the Race Committee, but it will be a two-way channel, so competitors can ask for coaching advice during racing.

It is always a Spring Tide at Easter, so any team racing will definitely have an opportunity to sharpen tidal strategy and tactics. Spring Tides are not ideal if there is light wind but it does allow the Race Committee a huge amount of water to be able to use. On Saturday and Sunday we will have a four hour window around High Water for the windward leeward courses, as well as plenty of opportunities for boats to have long legs on the Round the Cans courses to work on their tidal offset calculations.

The RORC Easter Challenge is not a championship, so the race team will set courses which are both windward leeward and round the cans. The competitors race their boats at every point of sail and hopefully in different wind conditions.

The courses are designed to practice boat handling and performance over a range of sailing angles. This also creates options in sail choice, racing mode, plus deck and rig set up. All of this is under the watchful eye of experts who will offer help to improve performance.

RORC Cowes Clubhouse

Throughout the RORC Easter Challenge, the Cowes Clubhouse is open to all competitors. Breakfast is available by pre-booking. Every day after sailing the main bar and a bottle bar will be open A Crew Buffet with a different two-course meal each evening will be available, we would urge competitors to pre-book for the Crew Buffet but subject to availability meals can be purchased each evening. A laid-back Prize Giving (4pm Easter Sunday) will be held at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse with plenty of Easter Eggs.

RORC Cowes Clubhouse

eventscowes@rorc.org Tel: 01983 293581 The Parade, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7QU

Mason King, Lead Coach RORC Easter Challenge, has been part of the coaching set up for over ten years. Mason gives information on how to get the best from the regatta.

The Coaching Team at the RORC Easter Challenge want the racers to have a fantastic, safe weekend’s racing where their performance takes a leap forward and they all get some food for thought to go home with. So that teams get the best out of the event, we encourage skippers and crew to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses before the regatta, as well as during it. This gives the coaching team information about where they may need help. We want the crews to exploit the coaching available to them as much as possible.

RORC Easter Challenge teams have been contacted in advance to see which elements of their performance they would like the coaches to look at. This is a formula that has worked well in the past so. The coaching team will continue this discussion through the regatta.

Out on the water Mason’s team include RORC’s Tim Thubron with vast practical and technical experience across a wide spectrum of race boats. Jack Fenwick who was six years with the RYA as keelboat development manager, before becoming the RS21 Class Activity Manager and RORC Commodore James Neville. James will be donning his waterproofs but his new boat Ino Noir has not splashed yet, so the RORC Commodore will be cutting his teeth in a coach boat!

“We have a great coaching team out on the water with oodles of knowledge and advice to impart to the racers,” continued Mason King. “We are also very lucky again to have experts from North Sails out on the water filming with drones and helping the racers with rig set up, trim and boat handling. I still learn a great deal from the racers and other coaches about how they go about their work…every day is a school day!

We will use both on the water coaching and filming from drones and ribs to demonstrate good and not so good practices and provide examples of how to fix them at the evening debriefs. This has always been a big part of the weekend with the crews coming together at the end of the day to learn from each other’s techniques and solutions. It is a great way to share ideas and experience.

Mason King’s Message to competitors before the regatta

Please make the most of the coaching available, please flag us down on the water and at debriefs and ask us questions, and please, please arrive at the event with a plan….have one or two simple goals and a plan as to how to work towards them. We can obviously help you greatly but you are best people to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. On each day, skippers and tacticians should be looking at the conditions and predicting what the issues of the day are likely to be for their boat and taking these points into account when racing.

For up to date information or to enter online visit: The RORC Easter Challenge Notice Board