Kers rule in Rocking Chair Trophy

Designer Jason Ker is a happy man after the storming performance of his 38-foot rocket ships

The Island Sailing Club set an epic of a course for the Rocking Chair Trophy on Friday. The course took the big boats in Class 0 and 1 up to Bridge, a turning mark beyond the Needles and situated in some of the roughest waters anywhere in this part of the world.
It was here that Jason Ker saw his wunderkind 36-footer Roaring Meg break her rig a year ago at the Rolex Commodore's Cup. But this year the Ker 11.3m one-designs romped home ahead of much larger opposition on a day where the bigger boats were expected to do best.

Starting on the Squadron Line and zigzagging across the Solent up towards Hurst Castle, it was the Farr 52 Chernikeeff that started to stretch away from her rivals in Class 0. As the fleet fought their way up against a strong adverse tide, the wind climbed steadily from 6 knots up to more than 20 by the Needles.

Peter Harrison’s Chernikeeff rounded Bridge with a massive lead. She set her kite and surfed back through Hurst Point on the last of a favourable tide before the current turned against the smaller boats for the long run back downwind to the finish. The 12-metres Australia II and Italia were loving it, and they come home in second and third places in Class 0 behind Chernikeeff.

John Bertrand, back at the helm of Australia II after 18 years when he won the America's Cup, has got right into the groove with his beloved boat. "With Skip, Damien, Chink and Ya on board, that line of communication that we had has come back straight away. It's like we've never been away," he told madforsailing.

So the big heavies did well today, but the performance of the lightweight Ker 11.3m boats was a revelation. They took 1,2,4 in Class 1, with only the ever-consistent Nokia of Charles Dunstone spoiling the party. Jarrod Simpson on another brand new 11.3m which only launched a week ago did not fair so well on Fair Do’s V, but he still had a blast downwind. "We hit over 18 knots on the run back down."

The first two Kers, I-Site and On a High, finished just a minute apart and over five minutes ahead of third-placed Nokia on corrected time. If ever there was a perfect sales pitch for these boats, and then this was it, and don't be surprised to see a whole load more of these by Skandia Life Cowes Week next year.

By 1600, the tide had turned strongly against the fleet as they rounded Gurnard Ledge to the finish and the wind had increased to 27 knots. The central Solent had turned into a washing machine and boats were beginning to broach. Farr 40 Forza ran aground on Gurnard Ledge and had to retire.

It was a tough old race for Stephen Bailey on his Sydney 40 Arbitrator. After taking a knock on the head when the traveller slipped out of its cleat and the boom taking him by surprise, he recovered to make good progress down the run until the final gybe at Gurnard. Arbitrator gybed, broached and broke her steering gear as well as her spinnaker pole while the kite flailed away to leeward. For a while she was a ship without a rudder until fast acting Richard Hinde-Smith managed to re-rig the steering sufficiently for Bailey to manoeuvre his battered boat safely back to harbour.

Overall in the divisions, Swan 68 Spirit of Jethou holds onto a Class 0 lead that the fast improving Chernikeeff could take if she won another race on the final day, whilst a poor performance by the Swan in Class 1, Desperado, in the Rocking Chair Trophy means that only two points separate the top four boats with the discards taken into account. Desperado holds a slender advantage over On a High, Team Tonic and I-Site all on equal points.

In Class 2, J39 Jackdaw put a seal on a nigh-on perfect week with a third place, making her the clear winner of the division. Closest rival T&G faltered with a 16th, after being closed out on the start line and having to do a costly circle in an adverse tide. This leaves her in a close tussle for second overall with the two boats that came first and second in Friday’s race, Fastwave 3 and Crescendo.