Bear puts in solid performance

A report from the last races of today's MeesPierson IRC championship in the Solent

The final day of the MeesPierson IRC Championships saw lighter and brighter conditions than the previous day - but not by much. At the start of racing the wind speed was about 16 knots but had increased to up to 20 knots by the start of the final race.

The general banter on the dock at Shepherds Wharf after racing was that the weather had served up some mixed and at times trying conditions and the level of boat handling and great courses set by the Race Committee had produced some tight and interesting racing.

In IRC Super Zero Kit Hobday’s Farr 52 Bear of Britain retained the Super Zero title and against the odds, before the regatta, most felt that Nik Lykiardopulo’s Aera would be too quick upwind and Eamon Conneely’s Patches too fast downwind. However Bear of Britain ran out deserved winners after performing consistently all weekend and the young crew kept there heads up even when they got soundly beaten by Patches on the first day.

In IRC0 Colm Barrington had a big grin on his face as the Ker 39 Flying Glove tied up at the dock and rightly so having beaten off stiff opposition to win class and take the MeesPierson RORC IRC Championship Trophy back to Ireland for the first time.

“The racing was great fun and I have really enjoyed the Championship," said Barrington. "It is always a pleasure to come Cowes as we find the place and the people give a great welcome.Next we will be racing in Kinsale in the Sovereign’s Cup and we are looking forward to competing there against the likes of Tiamat and Patches.”

Second in Class Zero was Jonathan Goring’s J/133 Jeronimo who managed to beat Flying Glove in race 7 but could not catch the Irish Flying machine.

IRC1 saw Jerry Otter’s IMX 40 Exabyte 2 keep up a very consistent performance to win a highly competitive class of 17 entrants. Otter's crew were pushed all the way in this championship with Lance Stevens Bavaria 42 Sidney and Eamon Rohan’s Corby 35 Mustang Sally still in contention going into the last race. However during that race Mustang Sally suffered not one but two collisions pushing them down to third.

There was more joy for the Irish as Anthony O’Leary’s Corby 36 Antix won IRC3 from the J/39 Assassin and took home the Jackdaw Trophy for second overall. A tense final day was well sailed by the all Irish crew winning race 7 and tying for first place with Peter Rutter’s Elan 37 Quokka in the last race. Antix will be sailing back to Ireland and will be competing in the Irish IRC Nationals in Kinsale.

David Pinner’s X332 Kiss won IRC3 with a first and a second on the last day, Adam Gosling’s Corby 29 Yes! retired from Race 7 after a protest was lodged which effectively took them out of the running for first place but the sleek Corby recovered well winning the last race and just holding off the Royal Navy’s Sigma 38 Gauntlet of Tamar.

At the final prizegiving ceremony, Alex McBarnet of MeesPierson said: “We have been involved in the business end of sailing since 1992 and it makes sense to get involved with this event. We are working with prestige clients and this event and the sport of sailing attracts prestige competitors.”

Results:

Pos	Boat	Type	Owner	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
	IRC SZ
1	Bear of Britain	Farr 52	Kit Hobday	3	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	11
2	Aera	Ker 55	Nik Lykiardopulo	2	3	5	1	2	5	1	2	16
3	Patches	TP 52	Eamon Conneely	1	1	1	5	5	5	5	5	23
4	Oystercatcher XXV	Oyster 72	Richard Matthews	4	4	3	3	5	5	5	5	29
	IRC 0
1	Flying Glove	Ker 39	Colm Barrington	1	1	2	1	7	1	2	1	9
2	Jeronimo	J 133	Jonathan & Lisa Goring	4	2	1	4	5	2	1	2	16
3	Vespucci's Black Sheep	First 44.7	Leo Clifford	3	3	6	5	2	5	3	3	24
4	Tiamat	Mills 40	Tim Costello (DMYC/DBSC)	2	6	4	3	1	3	8	6	25
5	Hawk	Swan 45	Nigel Bramwell	6	9	3	8	19	19	5	8	58
6	Exabyte III	IMX 45	Shaun Frohlich	10	5	7	11	19	19	4	7	63
7	Okasama	Marten 49	Nick Griffith	14	14	5	19	19	4	6	4	66
8	Rebel	Farr 45	David Franks / Duncan Morris	8	16	9	6	6	19	11	12	68
9	El Syd	Sydney 41	Ian Mckinney	7	4	13	14	19	19	13	5	75
10	Kirribilli	First 47.7	Doug Flynn	11	8	10	7	19	19	7	13	75
11	Shockwave	DK 46	Nick Lutte	5	12	19	2	19	19	9	11	77
12	Eclipse VII	Humphreys 12m	Douglas & Clare Hassell	19	15	15	9	4	6	14	14	77
13	Erivale	DK 46	Mike Greville	12	11	12	12	7	19	10	16	80
14	MarinersCove.ie	Corby 41.5	David Dwyer	15	7	8	15	19	19	12	9	85
15	Fidessa-Fastwave	DK 46	Chris Brown/Peter Harding	9	10	11	10	19	19	19	19	97
16	Creative Play	Farr 40	H20 Yachting	13	13	14	13	19	19	15	10	97
17	El Gringo	Ker 11.3	Ian Maclean	19	19	19	19	19	19	16	15	126
18	Victric	Farr 40	Tony de Mulder	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	133
	IRC 1
1	Exabyte 2	IMX 40	Jerry Otter	3	1	3	1	2	1	2	2	12
2	Sidney	Bavaria 42	Lance Stevens	2	2	2	2	3	3	7	1	15
3	Mustang Sally	Corby 36	Eamonn Rohan	1	8	1	6	1	2	1	6	18
4	Longbow	Prima 38	Army Sailing Association	8	3	5	3	7	8	3	4	33
5	Love Shack	First 40.7	Tim Spalding	9	5	8	4	6	5	4	5	37
6	Mankie	IMX 40	Jack Pringle	6	11	9	5	5	4	8	3	40
7	Maverick 2	IMX 40	Dominic Chappell	4	7	4	7	4	18	15	7	48
8	Serendip	Prima 38	Paul King	10	4	6	8	8	6	10	18	52
9	Kylidh	Prima 38	Guy Spurr	6	6	7	18	18	18	5	18	78
10	Meta Baron	IMX 40	Sean Hurst	14	14	12	18	9	7	14	10	80
11	Magnum II	IMX 40	Andrew Pearce	7	9	19	15	18	18	6	8	81
12	Circus	Sequest 36	Andrew Webster	12	13	10	13	18	18	11	9	86
13	Salvo	Mumm 30	Peter Morton	11	10	11	9	18	18	18	18	95
14	Oz Privateer	Prima 38	Don Kennedy	13	12	18	12	18	18	13	11	97
15	Gusto IV	Prima 38	Andrew Hinton-Lever	18	18	18	11	10	18	18	12	105
16	Lowly Worm	Swan 46	John Dean	18	18	18	14	18	18	9	18	113
17	White Knuckles	Prima 38	Mervyn Hughes	18	18	18	10	18	18	18	18	118
	IRC 2
1	Antix	Corby 36	Anthony O Leary	2	7	1	1	1	1	1	2	8.5
2	Assassin	J 39	Peter Jackson/Gary Shaffur	1	1	3	2	4	3	2	3	15
3	Quokka	Elan 37	Peter Rutter	5	2	4	5	3	2	7	2	23
4	Flair IV	Elan 40	Nicola & Lucy Macgregor	6	5	2	4	6	4	3	4	28
5	Sanguma	Ker 31	Chris Walmsley	9	6	7	3	2	15	9	5	41
6	Jumunu	J 109	Alistair Ray	10	4	6	8	5	5	15	12	50
7	Puma Logic	Reflex 38	Sailing Logic	15	3	5	15	8	7	7	10	55
8	Carpetbagger	HOD 35	Michael Ronson	3	9	9	15	7	8	14	8	58
9	Ex Rollox	X 362	Diarmid de Burgh-Milne	4	8	8	6	15	15	8	9	58
10	Malice	HOD 35	Mike Moxley	7	13	13	10	9	6	12	11	68
11	White Knight of Wessex	HOD 35	James Neville	11	11	10	10	15	15	10	6	73
12	Kimanchee Eve	Ker 32	Mark Franklin	8	10	12	15	15	15	11	7	78
13	Panther	Mumm 36	James Stableford	13	12	14	9	15	15	14	13	90
14	Beth of Five Star	J 109	Guy Knight	12	14	11	15	15	15	13	14	94
	IRC 3
1	Kiss	X 332	David Pinner	2	1	1	1	4	1	1	2	8.5
2	Yes!	Corby 29	Adam Gosling	2	2	3	6	2	3	11	1	19
3	Gauntlet Of Tamar	Sigma 38	Royal Navy Sailing Association	7	5	2	3	1	2	2	4	19
4	Parallel Universe	Impala 28	Gorman/Williams/Pybus	4	6	8	2	3	4	4	3	26
5	Sareema	Westerly Fulmar	Robert McLeod	6	7	6	11	5	5	3	5	37
6	Eric the Barbarian	Bavaria 35	Derek Blancké	5	3	4	7	11	11	11	11	52
7	Revolution XXI	Evolution 32	Kevin Downer	9	8	7	4	6	11	11	7	52
8	Leo Lady	Sigma 362	Graham Nixon	8	11	9	5	11	11	5	6	55
9	Respect	Corby 29	Tom Brennan	3	4	5	11	11	11	11	11	56
10	Juneau	J 105	Mike West	11	11	11	11	7	11	11	11	73