Notice of Race out

RORC publish details of next year's Rolex Commodore's Cup

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has issued the Notice of Race for the Rolex Commodores’ Cup which will take place at Cowes on the Isle of Wight between 25th June and 2nd July 2006.

Organised by the RORC in association with the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, the 2006 Rolex Commodores’ Cup is an international offshore regatta open to national teams racing under the IRC (Endorsed) rating rule. Each team will consist of three yachts and national authorities can enter up to a maximum of 4 teams per country.

To ensure the continued Corinthian nature of the event which has been so successful in previous years, the RORC has stated that not more than 25% of each crew (rounded down) shall be Group 3 sailors under the ISAF Competitor Classification Code. The remainder of the crew on each boat may be Group 1 or 2 provided that at least 50% (rounded up) are Group 1. Full details of the Classification Code can be found on the ISAF website.

The rating bands for the three yachts in each team are as follows: -

Class 1 1.105 – 1.320
Class 2 1.040 – 1.104
Class 3 0.980 – 1.039

The rating bands are based on 2005 TCC and the RORC reserves the right to amend these Class limits when TCC 2006 are known.

Entries must be received by the RORC before Monday 22nd May 2006 and entry forms are available from the Notice of Race which can be downloaded from the RORC website at http://www.rorc.org or from the RORC in London.

The racing will consist of seven Solent inshore races of about 12 miles in length spread throughout the week, a short passage coastal race with a duration of up to 12 hours and an offshore race with a duration of between 24 and 36 hours.

The principal trophy is the Commodores’ Cup which will be awarded to the team with the overall best points score. There are a number of other prizes for both inshore and offshore events and owner of each boat in the winning team will receive a Rolex Chronometer in gold and stainless steel.

There is tremendous interest in the event and the Irish have already entered one team and are looking to enter another. They were pipped at the post in 2004 having led for most of the series and will be returning to try to avenge this defeat with a strong showing. The French are also preparing a challenge and teams are expected from many other European countries.

David Atkinson, Racing Services Manager for the Royal Yachting Association which is organising the selection trials for the UK teams, commented: -

“The UK is looking to launch a strong defence of the Rolex Commodores’ Cup which we won with the Red Team in 2004. We are looking to enter a number of quality UK teams including, we hope, teams from the UK regions. The English trials will be held at the beginning of May with the Selection events being run by the Royal Southern Yacht Club and we are already aware of considerable interest amongst UK owners which will make competition tight.”