Big winds take their toll

A report from day two of RORC MeesPierson IRC Championship in Cowes

Grey skies, big breeze and white horses were served up for the second day of the RORC's MeesPierson IRC Championship. Wind constantly over 20 knots and gusting to over knots was the order of the day and many of the competing yachts suffered gear failure or sail damage.

Winning in big breeze is all about keeping the mistakes to a minimum and a big part of that is down to good boat preparation to avoid gear failure. Kit Hobday’s Bear of Britain was the only boat in class Super Zero to finish all three races and therefore leads by just one point from Patches who retired with minor gear failure. Bear of Britain now lead their class and are uncatchable with two races to go. Unfortunately the repairs to the TP52 will not be done in time for racing tomorrow as they want to make sure the yacht is in top condition for the delivery to Ireland to continue their campaign.

Patches' tactician Shirley Robertson commented: “although it is a shame that we have had to retire we have achieved a lot at the Championship. We are very happy with the boat speed and the overall design and are looking forward to the season ahead including the Rolex Fastnet Race in August.”

In IRC 0 Colm Barrington’s Ker 39 Flying Glove revelled in the conditions posting two bullets and would have had the hat trick except for a Z Flag infringement in Race 5. The Irish crew are often faced with this kind of weather back home and their experience seemed to pay off, the boat handling was smooth in the rough conditions save one wipe out downhill.

Jonathan and Lisa Goring’s J/133 Jeronimo had a consistent day with some cracking starts and are now tied with Tim Costello’s Mills 40 Tiamat for second place and either could catch Flying Glove tomorrow.

In the second race Jeronimo tore the luff of their number four headsail out of the bottom of the track the owner of Jeronimo, Jonathan Goring explained how they got out of that one: “We had to do the whole leg bare headed. However America’s Cup legend Ben Morrison-Jack was on board and with true Ossie grit, laced the No. Four to the headstay. We didn’t drop the jib until the end of Race 6, it was a bit full on to say the least but she is absolutely flying, especially upwind.”

In IRC1 Jerry Otter’s IMX 40 Exabyte 2 with a well-drilled crew came out top on the day and have stolen the overall lead in class from Eamonn Rohan’s Corby 35 Mustang Sally. Exabyte 2 posted two firsts and a second. However Lance Stevens' Bavaria Match 42 Sidney is still very much in contention just two points off the lead with two races to go.

IRC2 has Anthony O’Leary’s Corby 35 Antix extending their lead with three straight bullets but it was not easy for the sleek downhill flyer, especially in Race 4 where they overcame the main competition by just 35 seconds on corrected time. Peter Jackson and Gary Shaffur’s J/39 Assassin is lying in second place overall.

Shaffur commented: “I am praying for lighter winds tomorrow, we are carrying a 150% genoa which puts are rating up and we couldn’t use it today, we seem to have good pace downwind but to have a chance of catching the Irish lads we need less wind tomorrow.”

In IRC3, the love affair between David Pinner’s X332 Kiss and Adam Gosling’s Corby 29 Yes! has taken a very interesting twist with Gauntlet of Tamar crewed by the Royal Navy getting amongst the courting couple posting a first, second and fourth. Going into the last day Kiss looks to have the upper hand but if the Navy have another good day these three could swap overall positions.

Following racing today, a prize giving ceremony took place on the platform of the Royal Yacht Squadron where engraved glassware was awarded to winners of races from day one and two and Pimms was served compliments of MeesPierson.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Type	Owner	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
	IRC SZ
1	Bear of Britain	Farr 52	Kit Hobday	3	2	2	2	1	1	8
2	Patches	TP 52	Eamon Conneely	1	1	1	5	5	5	13
3	Aera	Ker 55	Nik Lykiardopulo	2	3	5	1	2	5	13
4	Oystercatcher XXV	Oyster 72	Richard Matthews	4	4	3	3	5	5	19
	IRC 0
1	Flying Glove	Ker 39	Colm Barrington	1	1	2	1	7	1	6
2	Jeronimo	J 133	Jonathan & Lisa Goring	4	2	1	4	5	2	13
3	Tiamat	Mills 40	Tim Costello (DMYC/DBSC)	2	6	4	3	1	3	13
4	Vespucci's Black Sheep	First 44.7	Leo Clifford	3	3	6	5	2	5	18
5	Hawk	Swan 45	Nigel Bramwell	6	9	3	8	19	19	45
6	Rebel	Farr 45	David Franks / Duncan Morris	8	16	9	6	6	19	45
7	Eclipse VII	Humphreys 12m	Douglas & Clare Hassell	19	15	15	9	4	6	49
8	Exabyte III	IMX 45	Shaun Frohlich	10	5	7	11	19	19	52
9	Erivale	DK 46	Mike Greville	12	11	12	12	7	19	54
10	Kirribilli	First 47.7	Doug Flynn	11	8	10	7	19	19	55
11	Okasama	Marten 49	Nick Griffith	14	14	5	19	19	4	56
12	Shockwave	DK 46	Nick Lutte	5	12	19	2	19	19	57
13	El Syd	Sydney 41	Ian Mckinney	7	4	13	14	19	19	57
14	Fidessa-Fastwave	DK 46	Chris Brown/Peter Harding	9	10	11	10	19	19	59
15	MarinersCove.ie	Corby 41.5	David Dwyer	15	7	8	15	19	19	64
16	Creative Play	Farr 40	H20 Yachting	13	13	14	13	19	19	72
17	Victric	Farr 40	Tony de Mulder	19	19	19	19	19	19	95
17	El Gringo	Ker 11.3	Ian Maclean	19	19	19	19	19	19	95
	IRC 1
1	Exabyte 2	IMX 40	Jerry Otter	3	1	3	1	2	1	8
2	Mustang Sally	Corby 36	Eamonn Rohan	1	8	1	6	1	2	11
3	Sidney	Bavaria 42	Lance Stevens	2	2	2	2	3	3	11
4	Longbow	Prima 38	Army Sailing Association	8	3	5	3	7	8	26
5	Maverick 2	IMX 40	Dominic Chappell	4	7	4	7	4	18	26
6	Love Shack	First 40.7	Tim Spalding	9	5	8	4	6	5	28
7	Mankie	IMX 40	Jack Pringle	6	11	9	5	5	4	29
8	Serendip	Prima 38	Paul King	10	4	6	8	8	6	32
9	Kylidh	Prima 38	Guy Spurr	6	6	7	18	18	18	55
10	Meta Baron	IMX 40	Sean Hurst	14	14	12	18	9	7	56
11	Salvo	Mumm 30	Peter Morton	11	10	11	9	18	18	59
12	Circus	Sequest 36	Andrew Webster	12	13	10	13	18	18	66
13	Magnum II	IMX 40	Andrew Pearce	7	9	19	15	18	18	67
14	Oz Privateer	Prima 38	Don Kennedy	13	12	18	12	18	18	73
15	Gusto IV	Prima 38	Andrew Hinton-Lever	18	18	18	11	10	18	75
16	White Knuckles	Prima 38	Mervyn Hughes	18	18	18	10	18	18	82
17	Lowly Worm	Swan 46	John Dean	18	18	18	14	18	18	86
	IRC 2
1	Antix	Corby 36	Anthony O Leary	2	7	1	1	1	1	6
2	Assassin	J 39	Peter Jackson/Gary Shaffur	1	1	3	2	4	3	10
3	Quokka	Elan 37	Peter Rutter	5	2	4	5	3	2	16
4	Flair IV	Elan 40	Nicola & Lucy Macgregor	6	5	2	4	6	4	21
5	Sanguma	Ker 31	Chris Walmsley	9	6	7	3	2	15	27
6	Jumunu	J 109	Alistair Ray	10	4	6	8	5	5	28
7	Carpetbagger	HOD 35	Michael Ronson	3	9	9	15	7	8	36
8	Puma Logic	Reflex 38	Sailing Logic	15	3	5	15	8	7	38
9	Ex Rollox	X 362	Diarmid de Burgh-Milne	4	8	8	6	15	15	41
10	Malice	HOD 35	Mike Moxley	7	13	13	10	9	6	45
11	White Knight of Wessex	HOD 35	James Neville	11	11	10	10	15	15	57
12	Kimanchee Eve	Ker 32	Mark Franklin	8	10	12	15	15	15	60
13	Panther	Mumm 36	James Stableford	13	12	14	9	15	15	63
14	Beth of Five Star	J 109	Guy Knight	12	14	11	15	15	15	67
	IRC 3
1	Kiss	X 332	David Pinner	2	1	1	1	4	1	5.5
2	Yes!	Corby 29	Adam Gosling	2	2	3	6	2	3	12
3	Gauntlet Of Tamar	Sigma 38	Royal Navy Sailing Association	7	5	2	3	1	2	13
4	Parallel Universe	Impala 28	Gorman/Williams/Pybus	4	6	8	2	3	4	19
5	Sareema	Westerly Fulmar	Robert McLeod	6	7	6	11	5	5	29
6	Eric the Barbarian	Bavaria 35	Derek Blancké	5	3	4	7	11	11	30
7	Respect	Corby 29	Tom Brennan	3	4	5	11	11	11	34
8	Revolution XXI	Evolution 32	Kevin Downer	9	8	7	4	6	11	34
9	Leo Lady	Sigma 362	Graham Nixon	8	11	9	5	11	11	44
10	Juneau	J 105	Mike West	11	11	11	11	7	11	51