Big guns out to lock horns for the 250 mile RORC Myth of Malham

by Louay Habib on 26 May 2016 The Royal Ocean Racing Club's Season's Points Championship continues this Bank Holiday Weekend with the Myth of Malham Race. Two MOD70 trimarans will be locking horns for the 250 mile race around the Eddystone Lighthouse this weekend.

Tony Lawson's Concise 10, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield, will be taking on Oman Sail's Musandam-Oman Sail, skippered by Frenchman, Sidney Gavignet. Two of the world's fastest offshore racing teams could finish the 250 nautical mile race in under 24 hours.

Musandam-Oman Sail left L'Orient on Wednesday 25th May to sail the MOD70 to the start, skipper Sidney Gavignet explains the importance of the Myth of Malham Race in the build up to their season.

“It is an English classic so we are looking forward to it and would love to win it. We will be up against Team Concise which is the main reason why we are doing it but it will be a challenge because they have done a lot of sailing over the last few months and I think they are favourites for this race. The Quebec-St. Malo is a big adventure, but we are sailing against Spindrift, which is much bigger and faster than us. For the Myth of Malham and the Round Ireland, we will be racing against other MOD70s. So we will have a real race against equal competition.”

Gavignet confirmed that there will be a total crew of six on board Musandam-Oman Sail for the Myth of Malham. Damian Foxall, Jean-Luc Nélias, Fahad Alhasni, Sami Al Shukaili and Yasir Al Rahbi. Five of the crew were on board for the record breaking 2014 Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. Jean-Luc Nélias was navigator for Groupama for the 2012 Volvo Ocean Race win and for Team Mapfre in the 2015 Volvo Ocean Race.

Ned Collier Wakefield, skipper of Concise 10, is relishing the prospect of taking on Musandam-Oman Sail. The British MOD 70 will be returning to RORC racing after a spectacular duel with Phaedo3 in the RORC Transatlantic Race and the RORC Caribbean 600.

“Oman Sail has been the scratch boat for the MOD70s for a long time and it will be interesting to line up against them” commented Ned Collier Wakefield. “ We have huge respect for them, in what they have achieved. We found over the winter, the more we lined up against Phaedo, the more we learnt and the more we achieved. By the end of the winter, I think it was fair to say, the level between us was quite well balanced. So it will be interesting to see where that has got us to, when we take on Oman Sail.”

Ned Collier Wakefield confirmed a total of seven regular crew for Concise 10. Joining Collier Wakefield will be; Tom Dawson, Paul Larsen, Jonny Malbon, Jeff Mearing, Jackson Boutelle and race-rookie John Hamilton.

Over 50 yachts are expected on the start line this Saturday for the 250 mile race along the southwest coast of England. As with the start of the Rolex Fastnet, managing the tides along the headlands is an additional component to staying in favourable wind conditions. Weather forecast produce a complex picture for the weekend with a week low pressure system from the east disintegrating with a northeasterly gradient breeze developing along the course.

IMOCA 60, Artemis Ocean Racing, skippered by Mikey Ferguson, will be the scratch boat for the monohulls but as the British team found out in the last race Avenarius and Gondesen's German Ker 46, Shakti is capable of taking line honours and Piet Vroon's Ker 51, Tonnerre 4 is likely to pose an even greater threat. The flying Dutchman returns to RORC Racing after competing in the RORC Caribbean 600 and is defending their IRC Zero win in the Myth Malham from last year.

In IRC One, Nick Jones' First 44.7 leads the class for the championship and will be looking to score better than Robert Nelson's J/105 Bigfoot, which currently leads the RORC Season's Points Championship overall, as well as IRC Two Handed and IRC Four. RORC Vice Commodore, Steven Anderson will be racing his Corby 40, Cracklin' Rosie and hoping to win the class, having been runner up in the 2015 Myth of Malham.

In IRC Two, The Army Sailing Association's J/111 British Soldier and Sailing Logic's First 40 Rocket Dog II will both be competing this weekend and either team could take the class lead for the season with a good result in the Myth of Malham Race.

In IRC Three, two French Two-Handed teams have the opportunity of taking the lead in IRC Three ; Jean-Eudes Renier's JPK 10.80 Shaitan and Louis-Marie Dussere JPK 10.10 Raging Bee are both racing whilst Delamare and Mordret's JPK 10.80, Dream Pearls is not on the entry list. In IRC Four Noel Racine's JPK 10.10, Foggy Dew will be hoping to retain the class title for the Myth of Malham.

The RORC Myth of Malham Race will start from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line from 1000 BST (GMT+1) on Saturday 28th May.