RORC Easter Challenge - Day 2 - Admiral in the chocolates

by James Boyd on 16 Apr 2017 While Invictus Challenge remains top scoring boat at the RORC Easter Challenge, today the scoreline of Sir Keith Mills' immaculately sailed FAST40+ was matched in IRC Two by La Réponse, skippered by Admiral of the RORC, Andrew McIrvine.

Day two of the RORC's domestic season opener and training regatta, saw three races held on the central Solent, with a round the cans followed by two windward-leewards, due to the tidal state. As yesterday, conditions came good, starting in a chilly, overcast seven - eight knot northwesterly, finishing in brilliant sunshine and winds gusting to 20 knots.

Despite shifty conditions and the contrary tidal state across the race track, La Réponse and Invictus showed impressive consistency, both scoring one – two - one.

For La Réponse today was a bounce back after rounding the wrong mark while leading yesterday's opening race. 'I have new crew and really good foredeck crew,' explained McIrvine. 'The boat handling was superb and we fiddled with the rigging a lot last weekend and the boat's flying.' Race three went particularly well, La Réponse's tactical team calling the giant left hand shift correctly.

In IRC Two Ed Fishwick's brand new Sun Fast 3600 Redshift Reloaded (the only boat to take a race off La Réponse) has nudged David Frank's JPK 10.10 Strait Dealer off the top spot. Fishwick, who usually races a Figaro 2, has acquired the 3600 to sail doublehanded under IRC with former Match Racing National Champion turned solo offshore sailor, Nick Cherry.

Redshift Reloaded pulled out a second in race one, despite a contretemps with the mainland. 'We were cheating the tide off the North Shore and we hit because the instruments aren't properly calibrated yet,' admitted Fishwick. 'It took us about a minute to refloat and we only lost by 12 seconds...'

In race two they nailed the pin end start perfectly, putting them into clear air for the remainder of the race. But in the final race Fishwick said they found the shifting breeze tough and they got mixed up with traffic from IRC One.

In the FAST40+ class, the Scottish boat, Steve Cowie's Zephyr, followed three last place finishes with victory in today's second race, finally blemishing Invictus' perfect scoreline. 'It was about getting all the fundamentals right - we had a good start and we went the right way and there was a big difference between getting the tactics right and wrong,' recounted tactician Ian Budgen. 'There were big gains on the right side upwind where the tide had already turned and there was also more pressure and right shift. Every time we got to the right of somebody we made gains.' On the second lap this tactic enabled Zephyr to overhaul Invictus to take the bullet.

'It was really nice for the crew because everyone was really frustrated yesterday,' continued Budgen. In the final race Zephyr was over early but managed to recover to finish third. This again was due to the Scottish team positioned themselves correctly for the giant left hand shift. As Budgen observed: 'The Solent is a weird place and a race isn't over until you cross the finish line...'

Mike Greville and his beloved Ker 39, Erivale III, won today's first race in IRC One and maintained her string of podium positions until the tricky final race. 'We had a good start in the first race, but the last race was a bit funny because the wind was all over the shop and there were big shifts,' summarised Greville, former Commodore of the RORC. Erivale III is looking in good shape with a fresh paintjob and with 100kg lopped off her bulb this winter.

In IRC Three, top scoring boat of the day was Bullit, posting a four – one - four to leave Louise Morton's all-female crew in fifth place overall, just 1.5 points astern of another Quarter Tonner, Bullet, steered by husband Peter. Among the pint-sized former IOR racers, Sam Laidlaw's Aguila continues to lead IRC Three after another consistent day, 5.5 points ahead of Ian Braham's MG346, MS Amlin Enigma.

Also on the ascent among the Quarter Tonners is Cobh Pirate, skippered by Ben Daly. In only his second season in this highly competitive class, Cobh Pirate won their first race (among the Quarter Tonners) yesterday and followed this up with another solid performance today, scoring six – four - two. 'We are comfortable up to 14 knots and today we were in the sweet spot for the boat,' said Daly. They might have done better in the first race had they not got stuck in traffic with bigger boats. Their top result in the final race was once again due to choosing the favourable side of the course for the giant shift. 'It was fun sailing in sunshine. All the Quarter Tonners finished within a few boat lengths of each other,' concluded Daly.

The RORC Easter Challenge concludes tomorrow with three more races scheduled prior to the prizegiving where competitors will be appropriately rewarded with Easter eggs.

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2017 RORC Easter Challenge - Results:

Fast 40+

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Type of Boat	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6
1	GBR1851X	Invictus	Ker 40+	Sir Keith Mills	1.269	7	1	1	1	1	2	1
2	GBR1682R	Tokoloshe II	Gp 42	Michael Bartholomew	1.262	15	2	2	3	3	3	2
3	GBR1542R	42° South	GP 42	Mark Rijkse	1.264	21	5	4	2	2	4	4
4	GBR4242C	Zephyr	Gp 42	Steve Cowie	1.264	23	4	5	5	5	1	3
5	SUI19	Jubilee	Gp 42	Tony Dickin	1.261	24	3	3	4	4	5	5

IRC One

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Type of Boat	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6
1	GBR236R	Erivale III	Ker 39	Michael Greville	1.116	16	2	3	2	1	2	6
2	GBR5940R	Nifty	King 40	Roger Bowden	1.116	19	1	6	4	2	5	1
3	GBR8888N	Cobra	King 40	Stephen Beckett	1.117	21	4	2	6	4	3	2
4	USA61180	Tschuss	Mat 1180	Christian Zugel	1.187	26	7	7	1	5	1	5
5	GBR6255N	Lady Mariposa	Ker 46	Daniel Hardy	1.296	29	5	1	10	3	7	3
6	GBR1180X	Gallivanter	Mat 1180	Tor McLaren	1.196	31	8	4	3	8	4	4
7	IRL39000	Zero II	Mills 39	Cowes Race School	1.114	37	3	5	10	6	6	7
8	GBR759R	Eclectic	Azuree 46	Colin Campbell	1.131	46	6	8	5	7	10	10
9	GER11	Hotspot	M34	Soenke Bruhns	1.138	50	9	9	7	9	8	8

IRC Two

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Type of Boat	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6
1	GBR4411L	Redshift Reloaded	Sun Fast 3600	Ed Fishwick	1.052	14	1	2	5	2	1	3
2	GBR1250N	Strait Dealer	JPK 10.10	David Franks	1.014	15	2	1	1	4	3	4
3	GBR3213L	Dusty P	First 40	Sailing Logic/Attenda	1.076	23.5	3.5	4	2	5	4	5
4	GBR42N	La Réponse	First 40	Andrew McIrvine	1.080	27	14	3	6	1	2	1
5	GBR1111X	Jitterbug	J/111	Cornel Riklin	1.095	35	16	5	4	3	5	2
6	GBR888X	Sunrise	JPK 10.80	Thomas Kneen	1.046	38	5	6	7	6	6	8
7	GBR979R	Malice	HOD 35	Mike Moxley	1.022	39.5	3.5	8	8	7	7	6
8	GBR8611R	Kestrel	J/111	Simon Bamford	1.099	56	6	14	11	8	8	9
9	GBR2688R	Jenga	J 88	Mark Richmond	1.031	58	8	9	3	10	9	19
10	FRA76	Pegasus	Farr 30	Malcolm Wootton	1.047	59	9	7	9	9	14	11
11	GBR011	Pandemonium	Farr 280	Jamie Rankin	1.093	63	11	10	10	12	13	7
12	GBR8541R	Jolly Jack Tar	J/109	RNSA	1.011	65	7	11	16	11	10	10
13	GBR7005R	Trojan	J/109	REYC Offshore Racing	1.010	76	13	12	14	13	11	13
14	GBR9235R	Mad Max	Max Fun 35	Andy Williams	1.083	79	10	19	12	14	12	12
15	GBR3234L	Rocket Dog II	First 40	Sailing Logic	1.068	87	15	13	13	16	15	15
16	GBR8809R	Mojo Risin'	J/109	J/109 Racing Limited	1.009	90	12	15	15	15	19	14
17	GBR007	Miss U	8mr	Ian Smyth	1.098	114	19	19	19	19	19	19
17	GBR4013R	Sailplane	First 40	Rob Bottomley	1.083	114	19	19	19	19	19	19

IRC Three

Series Place	Sail No	Boat	Type of Boat	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6
1	GBR8414R	Aguila	Quarter Tonner	Sam Laidlaw	0.906	16	4	1	1	3	2	5
2	GBR4365T	MS Amlin Enigma	Mg 346	Ian Braham	0.950	21.5	1	2.5	4	2	6	6
3	NED118	Winsome	S&S 41	Harry J. Heijst	0.987	23	2	7	3	5	3	3
4	ESP3090	Bullet	Quarter Ton	Oliver Ophaus	0.911	24.5	6	2.5	2	8	5	1
5	FRA7891	Bullit	Quarter Ton	Louise Morton	0.910	26	8	4	5	4	1	4
6	IRL1392	Cobh Pirate	Quarter Ton	Ben Daly	0.910	30	3	5	10	6	4	2
7	GBR8185	Quokka 9	Half Tonner	Peter Rutter	0.951	45	9	6	6	9	7	8
8	GBR7557	Innuendo	1/4 Tonner	Julian Metherell	0.911	46	5	9	7	10	8	7
9	GBR8274	MacHismo II	Sigma 38	Tim Levett	0.982	57	11	14	9	1	11	11
10	GBR3965R	Jumblesail 2	J 97 1.92	Rachel & Robert Hunt	0.975	65	7	10	19	7	10	12
11	GBR97L	Jaywalker	J/97	Robert Baker	0.976	69	10	8	19	13	9	10
12	GBR9202R	Nightjar	J/92	Richard Searle	0.975	70	14	11	8	11	13	13
13	GBR2097R	Jackaroo	J/97	Robert Orr	0.959	70	12	13	12	12	12	9
14	GBR137	Jackal	J70	Simon Spraggs	0.966	78	13	12	11	14	14	14
15	GBR7	Ilex of Upnor	X 332	REYC	0.965	94	17	15	13	18	15	16
16	GBR3200N	All Or Nothing	Sun Fast 3200 1.90	Chris Blackburn	0.995	95	15	16	14	16	17	17
17	GBR6687T	Skywave	Elan 333	Royal Signals Yacht Club	0.963	100	18	17	15	17	18	15
18	GBR8351	Rumour Of Boss	Sigma 38	Peter Ellis	0.982	104	16	19	19	15	16	19