RORC COWES-MADERIA RACE

RORC Cowes – Madeira Race

COURSE: Casquets (P), Ushant (P), Ponta de Sâo Lourenço (S), Quinta do Lorde. Approximately 1,480 miles.

Hard miles to Atlantic freedom
Race Report by: Louay Habib

The RORC fleet have had 3 days of near gale force conditions with several retirements in the race from Cowes to Madeira. Five yachts have now rounded Ushant and after about three days of beating into strong head winds, they have cracked off much to the relief of the crews on board. The reward for making it around Ushant, is some fantastic blue water sailing; the wind speed is still in the region of 30 knots gusting 35 but as they free off down the French coast, the air temperature will increase as will the boat speed as they head for Madeira.

The lead boat on the course is Dr D Thomsen, Andrews 56,Norddeutsche Vermoegen Hamburg who are positioned at the edge of the Bay of Biscay, roughly paralell with La Rochelle on a heading for Cape Finisterre, on the North West corner of Spain.

Notes from the boats

A night not for the fainthearted, reported an exhausted Skipper, Philipe Phalle, from Puma Logic at 11pm last night. Puma was only 1 mile from Ushant and the seas were huge, sailing with No 4 heavy jib and storm trysail, and still going over 6 knots. Puma Logic was considering pulling in to the French port of Brest last night after rounding Ushant, to grab some rest and continue in daylight, but the tracker shows that they have soldiered on and are now doing really well.

During the night, Clipper Ventures, Jamaica looked to have given in to the whiff of pasties from Penzance, as they turned towards the South Coast of Cornwall but then turned back on a better angle to round Ushant and continue racing.

The Army Sailing Association’s, A40, British Soldier is having a great battle with Philippe Delaporte’s J/122 Pen Azen with the two barely a part for the first three day’s racing. At the moment, British Soldier seem to have stolen a march on Pen Azen over night as they had a better direct route around Ushant and gained valuable miles.

Mostly Harmless has turned back from the coast of France and is currently in Falmouth. Skipper, Tom Hayhoe, has reported that all are well on board. However a torn leach line on the mainsail was there undoing. They carried on under Code 4 headsail alone until about 30 miles from Ushant. Whilst crewman Neal Brewer did a fantastic repair job, they decided to run for cover to put the mainsail back up and get some rest after the offwatch system became non-existent. The crew then made the decision to retire from racing and this morning went in search of the biggest breakfast Falmouth could offer.

For now the wind seems to have abated a little and is coming directly from the west. This respite from the very uncomfortable conditions yesterday will be met with open arms, but it is still gusty, and the sea state is very rough. The forecast suggests that it is still 5-7 occasionally gale force 8 at times, so even though the wind has died a little it is still pretty windy!

British Soldier seem to have stolen a march on Pen Azen over night as they had a better direct route around Ushant and gained valuable miles there.

It is interesting to note here that Puma Logic is the smallest yacht left in the field now, and sailed by people who have never experienced anything like this before. Although Brian (nicknamed ‘Shumey’) is our offshore racing protégé at the tender age of 68, all the crew are from normal walks of life. We have Alice, a 59 year old Bank Executive from London , who originally signed up to do the RORC Cowes-La Rochelle Race. We persuaded her that racing to Madeira would be much more fun….I am not really sure what she thinks of us now!

RORC SEASON’S POINTS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008
The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Season’s Points Championship consists of a testing series of races which attracts an international and varied fleet. For the serious offshore sailor, trying to win the Season’s Points Championship is the real challenge. The Season’s Points Championship this year includes the tactically challenging BMW Round Ireland Race and a new addition to the RORC sailing programme, The Cowes Madeira Race which offers an exciting opportunity of a race to Madeira and back, some 1500 miles away in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. For those with less time, the programme also includes a race to the charming port of La Rochelle. For the ful RORC racing programme go to:http://www.rorc.org
For more information, please contact: –
E-mail racingmanager@rorc.org.uk