Fascinating strategic battle for the 400nm RORC Île d'Ouessant Race

by Louay Habib on 18 Aug 2016 The inaugural edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Île d'Ouessant Race produced a fascinating strategic battle for the new four hundred nautical mile ocean race. In an ever-changing wind and tide scenario, the outstanding performers needed to make bespoke tactical decisions to achieve success. Speed is always king in offshore racing, but the fastest time is not always achieved by adopting the shortest route.

Lloyd Thornburg's MOD 70 Phaedo3, skippered by Brian Thompson, won the duel with Tony Lawson's MOD 70 Concise 10, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield. Taking multihull line honours in an elapsed time of 27 hours 58 minutes 13 seconds, Phaedo3 has set the multihull record for the Île d'Ouessant Race.

“Concise was within reach of us for most of the race and they did get ahead near the start but the main tactic for us was staying in the best pressure and that was the deciding factor in the end.” commented Phaedo's Rob Greenhalgh.

In IRC Canting Keel, IMOCA 60 Artemis Ocean Racing, skippered by Mikey Ferguson, crossed the finish line taking monohull line honours and setting the monohull race record of 49h 06m 18s. Artemis Ocean Racing had to work hard for their line honours victory, only passing Piet Vroon's Dutch Ker 51 Tonnerre 4 sixty miles from the finish. Tonnerre's performance stemmed from a fantastic start. Heading south out of the Solent, the team found extra wind, which propelled Tonnerre past the tidal gate off St. Alban’s Head. However, the overall winner of the Île d'Ouessant Race under IRC was Eric de Turckheim's French A13 Teasing Machine.

“Tonnerre made a really good move out of the Solent” admitted Teasing Machine's tactician Laurent Pages. “We were very slow past St Alban’s, pushing the tide. We were close to kedging in 30 metres of water when just enough wind came to get us going again. After that the wind angle was really good for us. Reaching towards Wolf Rock, we made up a lot of time as it is what the boat was built for.

For the leg to Ouessant, the main strategy was to stay east of the rhumb line and go for speed. We felt that the wind would go northeast, and when it did we had a perfect approach to Ouessant. For the last part of the race, the decision was to go offshore, even though there was more tide; we felt that there was more wind there and if the wind was going to shift more to the north-west then it would work to go that way. Our navigator called a perfect tack to lay the finish and we were very happy with the result.”

Avenarius and Gondesen's Ker 46 Shakti was second overall and the winner of IRC Zero. The German team chose to hug the Brittany coast after rounding Ouessant. Escaping the tide amongst the rocks, Shakti managed to pull ahead of their rival, Tonnerre 4, who finished the race second in class and third overall. In the Class40 Division Halvard Mabire's Campagne De France was the winner, setting a Class40 race record of 62 hours three minutes 28 seconds.

In IRC Two, three British yachts made the podium; Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster was the winner, lifting the team to second in class for the season. David Richards' J/122 Jumping Jellyfish was second and First 40 Southern Child, skippered by Susan Glenny was third.

“Another good result from team scarlet!” commented Scarlet Oyster's Ross Applebey. “A tricky race, which was close in class, right to the end. Now time for moules and beer! Thanks Royal Ocean Racing Club for a great race!”

In IRC Three Louis-Marie Dussere's French JPK 10.10, racing Two Handed, was the winner. A close battle for second in IRC Three was won by another Two-Handed team, Richard Palmer's British JPK 10.10 Jangada. RORC Commodore Michael Boyd, racing Irish JPK 10.80 Audrey, was third by less than fifty seconds on corrected time.

In IRC Four, Night and Day was the winner, with Noel Racine's French JPK 10.10 Foggy Dew in second place. Robert Nelson's British J/105 Bigfoot was third, retaining second in class and third overall for the season.

Thirteen yachts competed in the IRC Two-Handed Divsion of the RORC Île d'Ouessant Race. The class was dominated by two French JPK 10.10s; 2013 Rolex Fastnet victors Pascal and Alexis Loison's Night and Day, and the leading yacht in this year's Two-Handed RORC Season's Points Championship, Raging Bee skippered by Louis-Marie Dussere. Night and Day won the duel by just over an hour on corrected time. Top British boat was Richard Palmer's JPK 10.10 Janganda, which came third.

“For the race we saw much of the English coast because we were inshore trying to beat the tide, and it was the same for the Brittany coast. Inshore among the rocks, with nearly a full moon for a souvenir, it was beautiful” smiled Pascal Loison. This year we have changed our spinnaker from symmetric to asymmetric and it has made a really big improvement. Alexis knows this coast so well from his Figaro racing and as we come from Cherbourg; it is where we learn how to sail. Louis-Marie (Dussere) is a long time friend, in fact my son Alexis sailed with them for Cowes Week. It is always nice to beat good competition but we are still friends now and will always be.”

In IRC One, Alan Hannon's British RP45 Katsu was runner up to Teasing Machine for the Île d'Ouessant Race. Nick Jones' British First 44.7 Lisa was third. With just two races remaining for the RORC Season's Points Championship Lisa remains the top boat for the season and Katsu second. The RORC Season's Points Championship continues on Friday 2 September with the RORC Cherbourg Race. The 75-mile sprint to Cherbourg is a popular race to end the domestic season for the championship. The last race of the series will be the Rolex Middle Sea Race, stating and finishing in Malta this October.