Summery conditions

A report from the third and final day of the Red Funnel Easter Challenge

The third and final day of the Red Funnel Easter Challenge was another beautiful warm and sunny day in the Solent with high pressure providing light and tricky conditions for the competitors to hone their skills for the season to come.

Although starts are important in any race, today was a day where the wind speed and direction was very variable, boats that could use these shifts in direction of the wind and strength to their advantage were the ones that came out on top.

Although many yachts use sophisticated equipment to analyse wind strength and direction, there is no replacement for the tactician and crew keeping their ‘heads out of the boat’ spotting yachts around them in breeze and avoiding the holes. A good start is important but in these conditions the front runners have few yachts to gauge the spots where the wind dies, yachts further back can see these more easily and avoid them.

Nick Haig, winner of IRM1 & 2 on Too Steamy commented: ”I have to say that the IRM fleet had lots of professionals racing. It was interesting to see the different boat speeds with all the Farr 45s together and the Farr 52s and ourselves with the other Farr 40 and the Kers." Co-owner and wife Annie Haig said: ”We have a fantastic team and it’s been a really good weekend, all the more so as it didn’t snow as it has done in previous years!”

Eddie Warden Owen, tactician on Colm Barrington’s Ker 39 Flying Glove said: “It’s very good to see Red Funnel sponsoring the event because it’s an excellent regatta to support. We chose to come to the regatta because it’s better competition than the guys will get in Ireland and we’re aiming to do the IRC Nationals which will also be in the Solent.”

Shirley Robertson OBE, tactician and helm on Patches-Team Tonic, winner of IRCSZ & Z commented: ”We came to the Red Funnel Regatta to practice for the TP52 that is being built to compete in this years RORC Admiral’s Cup. We just really wanted to get the crew together and start racing. A lot of the Irish guys haven’t sailed in a yacht of this size. It was good for us really as there were some tricky weather conditions and the competition with Bear of Britain, the other Farr 52 has flagged up some areas for us to work on. For us it was training and it was good to kick start the season. I haven’t actually sailed all winter and neither have many of the crew. I really enjoyed racing the Farr 52 as although I have done big boat sailing in the past, it was on the more cruisie type. Eamon Conneely has not been intimidated by the power of the Farr 52 even though he has never sailed anything over 35ft. I know he is really looking forward to getting the Transpac 52 Patches very soon.”



Kevin Sproul, helmsman on Peter Morton’s Mumm 30 Salvo (above), winners of IRC1 said: “The main event for us this season is the Mumm 30 Worlds and we highlighted this regatta as a training event for that. It’s early on in the season and it’s a good opportunity to get people out there and shake away the cobwebs of the winter. As we were the smallest boat in the class it was really hard for us to find clear lanes. The guys sailing on the boat have all sailed together on Peter’s previous boat a Bashford 36 but this is the first event we have done together on the Mumm 30. We got a lot out of the event in particular managing to ascertain what sails need to be replaced or changed."

Ex-RORC Commodore Peter Rutter won IRC2 with his Elan 37 Quokka. Peter commented: “This year’s Red Funnel event was the best racing we have done with boat since last year and we were particularly interested in improving our downwind trimming and used the expert skill of Jim Saltonstall out on the race course to improve this area.



Steve and Jody Maine’s X332 X-To-Sea (above) winners of IRC3 said: “We have virtually all new crew and the regatta does exactly what it says on the tin - it’s a tune up regatta. This is the fifth year that we have raced in the Red Funnel Easter Challenge. We see this as an occasion to bed in the new crew, the main event for us this year will be the IRC Nationals in June and the lessons we have learnt this weekend would have taken weeks to achieve.”

Once the fleet were safely docked in Cowes Yacht Haven, an overall prizegiving ceremony for the regatta was held at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club. After a successful three-day regatta, the crews of the winning boats were presented with the customary Easter egg prizes.

Overall winners in all classes were then awarded etched glass tankards by the RORC and prizes from the regatta sponsors were presented by the Managing Director of Red Funnel Group Ltd, Tom Docherty and Commercial Director Colin Hetherington who commented: "We are delighted to be associated with this long-running regatta and support it as part of our on-going commitment to sailing. The regatta has been a great success and we hope it will provide an auspicious start to a new seasons racing.”

The Red Funnel Easter Challenge Prix d’Elegance Trophy will be awarded to Misha Mouratov’s Swan 45 Murka 2 at the RORC’s Annual Dinner in London in late November.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Type	Owner	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
	IRM1 & 2
1	Too Steamy	Farr 40	Nick & Annie Haigh	3	1	4	3	2	4	17
2	Atomic	Farr 45	Peter Morton	2	3	1	8	7	1	22
3	Alice	Mumm 36	Simon Henning	7	2	5	2	1	7	24
4	Rebel	Farr 45	David Franks / Duncan Morris	2	5	2	8	3	5	25
5	Creative Play	Farr 40	H20 Yachting	4	4	3	4	4	6	25
6	High Life	Ker 11.3	Peter Rodgers / Roger Duckworth	5	6.5	7	2	5	3	28.5
7	Audacious	Farr 45	David Wadsworth	8	6.5	6	8	6	2	36.5
	IRC SZ & Z
1	Patches - Team Tonic	Farr 52	Eamon Conneely	14	1	5	1	2	2	25
2	Flying Glove	Ker 39	Colm Barrington	5	2	6	4.5	5	4	26.5
3	Bear of Britain	Farr 52	Kit Hobday	4	4	2.5	14	1	3	28.5
4	Crackerjack	Swan 45	Keith Miller	2	9	1	6	3	8	29
5	Fever	Swan 45	Grant Gordon/Klaus Diederichs	1	6	8	6	4	6	31
6	Exabyte III	IMX 45	Shaun Frohlich	3	7	5	7	8	12	42
7	Fidessa-Fastwave	DK 46	Chris Brown/Peter Harding	8	10	4	14	6	1	43
8	Shockwave	DK 46	Nick Lutte	9	5	10	8	7	5	44
9	Murka 2	Swan 45	Misha Mouratov	14	3	7	4.5	11	11	50.5
10	Eclipse	Humphreys 12m	Douglas & Clare Hassell	7	8	12	7	9	10	53
11	El Gringo	Ker 11.3	Ian Maclean	9	12	9	9	13	9	61
12	Erivale	DK 46	Mike Greville	10	11	11	13	10	7	62
13	Hooligan V	Max Fun 35	Edward Broadway	13	13	13	13	12	13	77
	IRC1
1	Salvo	Mumm 30	Peter Morton	1	1	3	3	1	1	10
2	Mankie	IMX 40	Jack Pringle	2	7	2	5	2	8	26
3	Longbow	Prima 38	AOSC	9	4	4	5	3	9	34
4	Mostly Harmless	Prima 38	Tom Hayhoe	10	10	7	4	6	4	41
5	Exabyte 2	IMX 40	Jerry Otter	3	2	1	13	21	2	42
6	Magnum II	IMX 40	Andrew Pearce	7	6	12	2	5	12	44
7	White Magic	Mumm 30	Allan Hogg	5	3	21	10	9	3	51
8	Playing Around	First 40.7	Peter Robson	6	11	5	7	7	15	51
9	Serendip	Prima 38	Paul King	8	15	9	6	8	6	52
10	Assassin	J 39	Peter Jackson / Gary Shaffur	4	8	15	20	4	5	56
11	Euphorix	First 40.7	Race Euphorix	11	12	10	11	11	7	62
12	Dragon of Hamble	First 44.7	Gwilym Evans	14	9	6	15	10	13	67
13	Meta Baron	IMX 40	Sean Hurst	15	5	8	14	14	17	73
14	Closing Time	Prima 38	David Riley	12	21	11	8	12	10	74
15	Bornslippy 2	Prima 38	Julian Bates	13	13	16	18	16	11	87
16	Lynx	Reflex 38	Anna Rockall	16.5	17	17	13	13	19	95.5
17	Panther	Mumm 36	James Stableford	16.5	16	13	17	17	16	95.5
18	Puma Logic	Reflex 38	Sailing Logic	18	14	14	19	18	14	97
19	In X Celsis	X 119	Peter Jones	19	21	18	12	19	18	107
20	Kylidh	Prima 38	Guy Spurr	21	21	21	21	21	21	126
	IRC2
1	Quokka	Elan 37	Peter Rutter	1	2	5	2	1	6	17
2	Flair IV	Elan 40	Nicola Macgregor	8	7	1	1	3	4	24
3	High Tension	J 109	Graeme Brooks	4	1	2	7.5	13	7	34.5
4	Sanguma	Ker 31	Chris Walmsley	5	3	10	6	13	1	38
5	Malice	HOD 35	Mike Moxley	9	8	6	4	5	12	44
6	Me'Julie	J 109	Richard Purssell	2	20	3	9	9	3	46
7	Little Xtra III	X 362	Peter Cross	13	5	7	3	17	2	47
8	Beth of Five Star	J 109	Five Star Sailing	6	6	24	7.5	7	5	55.5
9	White Knight of Wessex	Hod 35	James Neville	16	19	4	5	11	8	63
10	Jumunu	J 109	Alistair Ray	7	4	8	11	24	9	63
11	Revolution XXI	Evolution 32	Kevin Downer	10	9	13	10	16	15	73
12	Brightwork	X 332	Bob & Jon Baker	11	16	14	16	9	14	80
13	Flying Boat	Dehler 39	Stuart Duffin	12	24	9	12	7	17	81
14	White Cloud IX	HOD 35	John Donnelly	14	14	15	15	20	11	89
15	Jugular	J 109	John Pickles	3	24	12	17	24	10	90
16	Diablo J	J 105	Gary Fry & Nick Martin	15	15	11	14	24	13	92
17	Xcalibar	X 332	Maxwell Kenna	21	13	16	18	16	18	102
18	Cabaret	DB 36	Michael Webster	19	17	24	13	14	16	103
19	Ilex Of Upnor	X 332	Richard Williams	17	11	17	19.5	19	24	107.5
20	Zebedee	Sunfast 37	Bill Howard	18	10	21	21	21	22	113
21	Dragonfly Too	X 332	Mike Ridley	22	18	19	19.5	18	21	117.5
22	Fay-J	J 105	Paul Griffiths	23	12	18	22	24	20	119
23	J-Dream	J 105	David & Kirsty Apthorp	20	24	20	24	22	19	129
	IRC3
1	X-To-Sea	X 332	Steve & Jody Maine	1	1	5	6	3	1	17
2	Skywave	Elan 333	Royal Signals YC	3	2	1	5	2	6	19
3	Sareema	Westerly Fulmar	Robert McLeod	2	5	3	2	4	5	21
4	Leo Lady	Sigma 362	Graham Nixon	4	4	2	6	7	2	25
5	No Fear	Sigma 38	Guy Prest	5	3	6	7	1	5	27
6	Fresh Herring	Contessa 32	John Corden & Anne Merryweather	6	10	7	1	6	7	37
7	Warpaint	Corby 25	Susan Kavanagh	7	6	8	8	5	8	42
8	Iskareen	Sigma 33	David Stow	10	10	4	7	8	4	43
9	Magewind of Roke	Maxi 1050	1st Charters Ltd	8	10	9	10	9	9	55