Rebel rules the roost

At conclusion of the IRM National Championship reports Ingrid Abery

On yet another perfect day’s racing the Duncan Morris/David Franks-owned Rebel (IRM class 1) wiped the floor with her seven Farr 45 counterparts out on the central Solent. Three races concluded the IRM National Championship at the weekend affording Rebel the opportunity to stretch out her already healthy lead by posting another three bullets. This totalled seven with their discard being an enviable second.

Rebel’s success was accredited to a finely tuned campaign. Key weapon Graham Sunderland has been helping to shape the format of the boat over the past two seasons. “We’ve spent a huge amount of time developing the rig,” Sunderland commented. Rebel was principally quick this weekend. We didn’t always have the best starts but showed extra pace and got to the windward mark first in most races and stayed there.” Adding to that co-owner Duncan Morris commented: “The exciting thing is that if you make one mistake you can drop two or three places.”

In the first two races of day three Rebel got out of position somewhat but as Sunderland admitted “we had a few lucky breaks and we got back in the pack. From a weak fifth we managed to lead around the mark.” The team looked to pull out 110 per cent. “Approaching the mark in the second race of the last day,” he added “we were on a port and starboard with Shockwave. We were thin on the lay line and I asked everyone to grunt up, hike out well and that just gave us enough to creep in front to make the cross but we never took our position for granted.”

Second and third places went to owners new to the class. Jerry Otter scooped second with 25 points with Were Wolf while John Bainbridge snapped at his heels with Renaissance on 27 points. Otter, who has collected a number of trophies with his IRC boat Exabyte 2 summed up IRM racing. “I’ve always wanted to sail on a level playing field. When you’re first across the line that’s the best. Both the Vice Admiral’s Cup and the IRM Nationals have personified this. It would be good to bring the Swan 45s, DK 46s and Farr 45s onto a level playing field for the same start line. That would make for some thrilling racing.”



David Wadsworth’s Audacious had its moments clocking a 1,2 but a ripped kite and few mid fleet results pulled her out of contention. Though not competitive on rating Nick Lutte’s Shockwave enjoyed the tight racing and her owner, bitten by the IRM bug, vowed to be on the start line for the final round of the IRM series at the end of this month.

The regatta lured a cross-section of abilities with the RYA Keelboat Programme Squad racing on the Farr 45 John Merricks. Nick Cherry who has come up through the RYA Youth Squad programmes shared the helming with Johny Marshall, a former 29er sailor. “It was great to be stuck in the middle on the start with these other boats” enthused Cherry, a regular on the RYA match race circuit. “Interesting to helm on the start line. It was a great experience for me and the others some of whom are just trialing for the squad.” Marshall nailed the start in the penultimate race of the series and managed to keep the rest of the fleet behind him as the breeze built to around 16 knots. His call
was rewarded with a second place.

In IRM class 2 the top three Farr 40s jostled for the podium with just two points separating them. Tony De Mulder’s Victric used her fourth place on day three as a discard and followed up with a 2,1 to claim overall class victory. 2XL’s bad call the day before in which she flew her spinnaker to the finish cost her the championship but settled for second ahead of Too Steamy. 13 points separated bronze from a fourth for Farrfalina.

The Farr 45s are proving a lot of boat for the money and the quality of people racing the fleet is high with a good mixture of pros and amateurs. Lion, which is up for sale, may soon be joining the starting sequence. The general consensus is for the class to flourish again with a regular racing circuit. Taking it to an international level would add another dimension.

RORC acted as final day sponsor and the Royal Southern Yacht Club once again played excellent club host.

More photos on the following pages...

Overall results:

IRM 1
1. Rebel 9 points
2. Were Wolf 25
3. Renaissance 27
4. Cutting Edge 35
5. Audacious 36
6. John Merricks 39
7. Atomic 45
8. Shockwave 57

IRM 2
1. Victric 14
2. 2XL 16
3. Too Steamy 18
4. Farrfalina 31
5. Highlife 36
6. Skipjack 47