Leopard 3 dominates RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race
by RORC 15 Jul 00:56 AEST
11 July 2025
Fleet approaching the Needles - 2025 RORC Cowes Dinard St Malo Race © Paul Wyeth / RORC
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), in association with the UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St Malo, JOG and the Royal Yacht Squadron.
Farr 100 Leopard 3 (MON), skippered by Joost Schuijf, completed a remarkable hat-trick in the 2025 Cowes Dinard St Malo Race—taking Line Honours, winning IRC Zero, and claiming overall victory on corrected time under IRC to win the historic King Edward VII Challenge Cup.
"Winning both Line Honours and the overall IRC prize in the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race is a proud moment for the entire Leopard team," commented Joost Schuijf. "The key to this result was simple: preparation, teamwork, and reliability. We've been running this program for years, and many of the crew — senior and junior — have grown together over that time. That continuity really showed out there. Every manoeuvre was smooth, every system worked, and we had zero gear failures. That doesn't happen by accident.
The difference now is we're not distracted by breakdowns or uncertainty — we're focused purely on performance, on sailing the boat properly. It's a huge credit to the team's dedication and attention to detail. This race also gave us the perfect platform to test everything ahead of the Rolex Fastnet Race. We're more ready now than we've ever been. It's an honour to lift a trophy with such a rich history — and now the focus shifts to the next big challenge."
Second overall and winner of IRC One was Giovanni Lombardi Stronati's JPK 1180 Django (ITA), skippered by Michele Ivaldi. Third overall was Gery Trentesaux's Ker 43 Long Courrier (FRA).
Congratulations to all the class winners for the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race: Robin & Lawrence Herbert's J/133 Corazon (GBR), Sam White & Sam North racing JPK 1080 Mzungu! (GBR), Frank Lavenant's JPK 960 Sur la mer contre le cancer (FRA), and Achille Nebout & Gildas Mahé racing Pogo RC Amarris (FRA).
James Holder's Grainger 36 Uno (GBR) took Multihull Line Honours to win the Dinard Trophy. After time correction, the Multihull Class was won by Didier Bouilllard's Dazcat 1295 Minor Swing (FRA).
For the 2025 edition of the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, glorious conditions produced a spectacular start off the Royal Yacht Squadron Line in Cowes. The massive RORC fleet headed west in tropical temperatures and solid easterly breeze with spinnakers flying right from the start. Approaching Hurst Narrows, the easterly gradient breeze in the Solent faded away in a transition zone created by the new breeze in the English Channel. It was slowing going for the fleet in unstable light airs for the first 24 hours, but the wind picked up for many, creating a superb finish into St Malo.
Leopard 3 managed to push through the transition zone and stay in enough wind to sail away from the boats behind. Leopard's Race Manager, Chris Sherlock explains what was in the Maxi's playbook and the detail in the strategy for the win.
"As Joost (Schuijf) has explained, the win in the Cowes-Dinard St Malo Race came down to preparation, execution, and a clear strategy," commented Sherlock. "At the start, we made an early call to go down the middle of the Solent and then to take the island side, anticipating a transition zone near Yarmouth. While the rest of the fleet hugged the mainland, we held our line, stuck to the playbook, and were first to break into the new breeze. That decision set the tone for the race.
We had everyone on deck—no watch system—because we knew this would be a short, high-intensity 12-hour race. The team stayed sharp, rotated smartly, and pushed hard from the Solent exit through to the finish. We gained another critical advantage after the traffic separation zone when we got lifted and extended at 17-18 knots, while others fell into current. This race has always been a favourite for Leopard, personally, I am not sure how many I have done. It is an historic race with a great course and a memorable lunch in St Malo after the finish."
For the 39-strong IRC Two Handed Class, the Cowes Dinard St Malo was the first race for their IRC European Championship. The winner was Achille Nebout & Gildas Mahé racing Pogo RC Amarris, second was Frank Lavenant's JPK 960 Sur la mer contre le cancer, racing with Nils Boyer. Completing the all-French podium was Hervé Chataigner's JPK 1050 Pilou, racing with Gildas Morvan.
For Double-Handed winners Nebout and Mahé this has been 12-months of terrific highs with Class40 Amarris Rebellion, winning the Quebec St Malo, Med Max but the Class40 was dismasted in May competing in Normandy Channel Race, putting serious doubts to their Transat Café L'Or which starts in October. Achille Nebout with co-skipper Bouroullec Tanguy, in a borrowed boat from Pogo CNS, entered the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, winning the IRC Two-handed Class, which is the first race of the IRC Double-Handed European Championship. The final race will be the Rolex Fastnet Race, which the duo have also entered.
Achille Nebout, Winner of the IRC Double Handed Class for the Cowes Dinard St Malo commented: "We're really happy with what we achieved on the Pogo RC Amarris. After the disappointment in the CIC Normandy Channel Race, this was a chance to bounce back — and we made it count. A brand-new boat, and a new challenge in IRC racing, which is quite different from what we're used to. It was super enriching.
Winning the Cowes-Dinard race in the double-handed class means a lot. It's a format that's growing fast, with more and more boats at every start line — and the competition is getting stronger. To come away with a win, with a solid margin, really feels like a reward for how much we've progressed. We learned a lot about this boat in different conditions and made very few strategic mistakes.
Massive thanks to Pogo - Chantier Naval Structures for trusting us with a fantastic boat. And arriving in Saint-Malo? Always special. Almost a year to the day since we won Québec-Saint-Malo — a bit of déjà vu in the best way possible!"
In IRC Two, Robin Herbert's J/133 Corazon delivered an impressive victory. Skippered by Lawrence Herbert, the all-British crew boasts an average age of just 27. The youngest of the nine-strong team is Lawrence's 23-year-old brother, Will Herbert. Corazon outpaced top French double-handed teams and held off seasoned race winner Ross Applebey's Scarlet Oyster to claim class line honours and the win after IRC time correction.
"Winning IRC Two in the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race was an amazing feeling," commented Lawrence Herbert. "We've come close so many times over the past three years—lots of second-place finishes—but this was our first big class win, and it feels like a breakthrough. The key was pushing hard out of the Solent and making a bold call to stay high across the Channel, which paid off in the shifting breeze. One of the defining moments was a clean, late peel to the A1.5 in the final few miles—we gained a lot there. For once, it felt like we didn't leave any time on the course, which is a rare thing in offshore racing.
Huge thanks to my dad, Robin, for handing over the boat and trusting us with it. It means everything to me and the crew—most of whom are mates from sailing and university. To get this win together, as a young team, was incredibly special."
Five races have now been completed for the new Cowes Offshore Racing Series. The seven race series counts the best five results for the races all starting from Cowes but does not include the Rolex Fastnet Race.
The next race in the RORC Season's Points Championship—the world's largest offshore racing series—and the penultimate event of the new RORC Cowes Offshore Series will be the Channel Race, starting from the Solent on 19th July. It will also mark the first offshore leg of the 2025 Admiral's Cup.
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For more information about the Royal Ocean Racing Club: www.rorc.org