Time Travellers rejoice in RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race
by Louay Habib / RORC 10 Jul 2022 13:51 BST
8-9 July 2022
Start of the 2022 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race © Paul Wyeth / RORC
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo and the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Winning the King Edward VII Cup is a huge achievement for any offshore racing team, and the 2022 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race attracted 105 teams from all over Europe. Racing in a huge variety of boats including the latest offshore performance designs, right through to classic yachts of the 1960s, the race to the walled-port of St Malo is always one of the highlights of the RORC season.
This year's results were highly unusual, as in a light airs race, three classic yachts claimed the top three results overall. Henri Vergnoux's 1966 John Illingworth designed 33ft sloop Arabel, scored the best corrected time under IRC, winning the impressive King Edward VII Cup, dating back to 1906. Classic Swan 38 Xara skippered by Jonathan Rolls was second and Stuart Greenfield's 1968 S&S 34 Morning After was third.
"This is not the first time Arabel has won the trophy, but it is definitely the first time for me!" smiled Arabel's skipper Henri Vergnoux, who is from Saint-Cast-le-Guildo just west of St Malo. "Arabel won the race in 1975 when she was raced by Francis Bourgeois. I purchased Arabel in 2003 and the crew are all friends and amateur sailors. Nicolas Lerolle is the most experienced of us, and his son Antoine is the youngest at 17. This is the first time Antoine has even raced across The Channel! Right now, I am very tired because I haven't really slept since we sailed over for the race three days ago but once we have rested, we will have a big celebration for this win!"
Eric de Turckheim's NMYD54 Teasing Machine took Line Honours for the race winning the Sandison Memorial Salver and retained the Lloyds of London Salver, for winning IRC Zero for a second year. Teasing Machine now leads IRC Zero for the RORC Season's Points Championship.
"It is a beautiful day here in St Malo, and it will be nice to collect the trophies as due to the restrictions last year that was not possible." commented Eric de Turckheim. "We are pleased with our performance and taking Line Honours, but we had fairly light winds during the night." After the start, Teasing Machine took the most westerly route of the fleet, Eric de Turckheim explained the strategy. "The northwest wind was due to turn west, to get the change sooner and with more strength, we went far to the west. We were confident with our tactic, and it worked as we had a big lead on the water by Casquets. Unfortunately for us, as predicted, the rest of the fleet experienced more wind, so they caught us up on corrected time, but that's racing!"
Runner up to Teasing Machine in IRC Zero was Henry Bateson's Iceni 39 Andrasta, skippered by celebrated umpire and coach Bill Edgerton. Bill's crew are all in their 20s and part of the RORC's Griffin Initiative. The Andrasta crew had numerous coaches training the young team prior to the race. The Griffin Committee has been promoting youth sailing for a number of years with great success bridging the gap between dinghy sailors and offshore keelboat racing. Mark Emerson's A13 Phosphorus II was third in IRC Zero for the race and is also third in class for the RORC Season's Points Championship.
IRC Two-Handed
45 teams competed in IRC Two-Handed, representing close to half of the fleet and the oldest boat in the class came out on top. Stuart Greenfield's S&S 34 Morning After which was launched in 1968 was the winner of the Slingshot Trophy for IRC Two-Handed and third overall.
The impressive IRC Two-Handed class contained some of the latest racing designs including the phenomenally successful JPKs and Sun Fast boats. However, Morning After sailed by Stuart Greenfield and Louise Clayton was the victor. Regis Vian & Fabien Delahaye's JPK 1010 Numerobis was second with Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews racing Sun Fast 3200 Cora a very close third.
"Wow that's amazing, extraordinary!" exclaimed Stuart on hearing the result. "It was really snakes and ladders out there, so it really is fantastic to hear about our result!" In complete contrast to the powerful line honours winner Teasing Machine, which went far west. Morning After tacked south immediately after rounding The Needles. "The wind was due to shift to the west, and we were ready for that, but the shift did not come for us, and we kept on going south. We beat closed hauled all the way across The Channel. Morning After is a brilliant boat on the beat and we stayed on starboard tack all the way to Casquets. In the morning, we had no breeze, and at one point, we were going backwards on the tide, and we thought we had lost the race. However, the wind picked up from the north and we got going again before the boats in front of us got the new wind. That is the luck of being a small boat, but we had to get the tide tactics absolutely spot on!"
There were more awards in IRC Two-Handed with the John West team trophy won by Nick Martin's Sun Fast 3600 Diablo and Jim Driver's Sun Fast 3300 Chilli Pepper. Gavin Howe's Sun Fast 3600 Tigris, raced Two-Handed by Mike O'Donovan and Saoirse Reynolds, won the Newcombe Hoare Trophy for best youth team.
IRC One
Francois Lognone's MC34 Nutmeg Solidaire En Peloton, a two time winner of the King Edward VII Trophy, was the class winner this year and there is no doubt the Nutmeg crew, including French legend Gery Trentesaux, will be celebrating at Nutmeg's home club the SNB de St Malo. Herve Benic's First 40 Iritis, another local boat was second. RORC Treasurer Derek Shakespeare, racing J/122 Bulldog was third, less than three minutes behind Iritis after IRC time correction.
IRC Two
Paul Archer's JPK 1080 Play corrected out to win IRC Two and the Noryema Trophy. All of the team are from France including Paul who lives in Paris. Runner-up was Juan Ignacio Gomeza's A35 Tchin Tchin with a Spanish crew, mostly from Bilbao. Laurent Sambron's Sun Fast 3300 Hémon-Camus from La Rochelle, was just three minutes behind Tchin Tchin after IRC time correction.
IRC Three
Regis Vian and Fabien Delahaye's JPK 1010 Numerobis scored a narrow victory in IRC Three to win the Yacht Club de Dinard Trophy. Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews racing British Sun Fast 3200 Cora was just 82 seconds behind Numerobis after IRC time correction. Mike Yates & Will Holland racing British J/109 JAGO was third. The podium in IRC Three were all racing Two-Handed.
IRC Four
Henri Vergnoux's Arabel was the winner of the IR Trophy, Jonathan Rolls Swan 38 Xara was second and Stuart Greenfield's S&S 34 Morning After was third.
Class40
In a close battle for the Class40 podium, Marc Lepesqueux's Sensation Class40 Extreme, raced by Antoine Jomier, was the winner by four minutes from Cédric Chateau's SOGESTRAN - SEAFRIGO. James Stableford's Mussulo 40 was third, less than two minutes behind Cédric Chateau's team.
The Cowes Dinard St Malo Race is one of the oldest races organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The next race in the RORC Season's Points Championship is the latest offshore spectacle. The inaugural Roschier Baltic Sea Race will start from the Bay of Finland, Helsinki on the 21st July.
Full results here
For more information about the Royal Ocean Racing Club: www.rorc.org