Hobday's Bear takes Cherbourg IRC victory

A RORC report from the De Guingand Bowl

The De Guingand Bowl Race always seems to be a tough one. In 2005 there was rather too much wind for some competitors. This year it was a different story but the race was hard in another way. The conditions that greeted the competitors at the start were the opposite of those last year. Not the howling of a fresh north easterly, but the serenity of a light south easterly with the forecast of the breeze increasing gradually during the night and swinging to the west.

First away at 18:30 were Classes 2 & 3. Peter Rutter led the way in his Elan 37 Quokka. Next to go at 18:40 were Classes Super Zero, Zero & 1, followed at 18:50 by the Multihulls. As with the race in 2005 a cruise ship, the Arcadia, thought it might join in the fun and came through outbound at the 5 minute gun for the second start.

The Race Committee chose Course C which sent the fleet of 58 yachts east out of the Solent through the Forts and then down to Ocean Safety for a 47 mile beat west to the RORC buoy. Then it was a bear away to the south east to EC2 followed by a fetch to the western entrance and the finish in the Grande Rade de Cherbourg; a total distance of approximately 145 miles.

The fleet had a beat with the tide down the Solent in very light south easterly airs. But the area around the Nab Tower was a parking lot for most of them. Cutting Edge on Venom and Creative Play did well by staying north and sailing toward Selsey. In class 2 Slingshot also managed to avoid the hole. There was a great deal of overtaking as boats gained and then lost on their rivals. Dark and Steamy enjoyed some good banter with Solune who were surprised to find some countrymen aboard the English boat.

After Ocean Safety the breeze eased further and swung around to the west before increasing as forecast during the night to around 20kts. There were thunderstorms and it rained and the wind was up and down. If that was not enough it was also foggy; some competitors experienced visibility down to less than 100m.

As the sun rose a very light and patchy west south westerly made life hard for those punching the tide and struggling to make headway. Without the forecast wind and with a 4 knot spring stream the RORC Offshore light buoy became the crucial tidal gate. Those who made it round surged away while watching their competitors continue to struggle. At EC2 there was a tricky decision to be made on the course to the finish with a changeable wind and a strong cross tide. The final challenge was to avoid numerous lobster pots around the finish line.

After 20 hours of racing Cutting Edge on Venom took line honours for the second year running at 15:06, but just 9 minutes ahead of Kit Hobday’s Farr 52 Bear of Britain. Which was not enough to stop Bear winning not only in class but overall. Solune Jean-Philippe Chomette’s Nacira 60 was the 3rd boat home.

First of Class Zero home at 19:26 was Dark & Steamy Nick Haigh’s DK46. Andy Greenwood’s Farr 40 Creative Play had a good race finishing at 19:51.

Kenmore Nick Bubb and Clemency Williams’ Shuttleworth 30 tri was the first of the Multihulls to finish at 20:41 with Ben Godland’s Raider Team Eberspacher following at 00:02 Sunday morning.

Class 1 began their charge for the line with Software Mistress Ian Maclean’s Ker 36 finishing at 01:04 keeping Dominic Chappell’s IMX 40 Maverick 2 at bay but only three minutes behind. Simply the Best Philip Wood’s Grand Soleil 43 finished third, Pen Azen Philippe Delaporte’s J109 finished at 02:02 to show Class 2 the way home, 8 minutes ahead of Quokka who fended off Flair IV Jim Macgregor’s Elan 40.

Following on from their success in class at the Cervantes Trophy Race to Le Havre two weeks earlier, Stephen Winter’s Carter 36 Mavis III of Gosport stole the limelight in Class 3 finishing at 03:20 ahead of Arbitrator Derek Shakespeare’s Sigma 38 and Tantrum of Langstone.

The RORC would like to thank the Yacht Club de Cherbourg for their warm and hospitable welcome and especially to the owners of the committee boat Canopy 2 Gilbert and Nicolle Roger who remained on station for 24 hours.

The strong tides and light airs were the controlling factors and once again the De Guingand Bowl race to Cherbourg proved to be a tough race but totally different from last years hard destructive slog.

The prizegiving will take place on Tuesday 16th May 1930 at the Clubhouse, 20 St James’s Place, London SW1. All crews welcome.

Prize winners:

De Guingand Bowl – BCT IRC Kit Hobday BEAR OF BRITAIN (Farr 52)

St Barbara Trophy – IRC SZ & Z Kit Hobday BEAR OF BRITAIN (Farr 52)
2nd Robert Lutener / Martin Elwood CUTTING EDGE ON VENOM (Volvo 60)
3rd Ger O Rourke CHIEFTAIN (Cookson 50)
4th H2O Yachting Andy Greenwood CREATIVE PLAY (Farr 40)

Stewart Cup – IRC 1 Ian Maclean SOFTWARE MISTRESS (Ker 36)
2nd Sailing Logic Philippe Falle PUMA LOGIC (Reflex 38)
3rd Dominic Chappell MAVERICK 2 (IMX 40)
4th Philip Wood SIMPLY THE BEST (Grand Soleil 43)

Auclair Trophy – IRC 2 Noel Racine FOGGY DEW (JPK 9.60)
2nd Jerome Vol SENEQUET (Figaro)
3rd Philippe Delaporte PEN AZEN (J 109)

David Maufe Salver – IRC 3 Stephen Winter MAVIS III OF GOSPORT (Carter 36)
2nd Chris Staples TANTRUM OF LANGSTONE (Sigma 36)

Windward Sailing Trophy - IRM H20 Yachting Andy Greenwood CREATIVE PLAY (Farr 40)

RORC Prize – Multihulls Nick Bubb & Clemency Williams KENMORE (Shuttleworth 30)

RORC Prize – 2 Handed Division Shaun Murphy SLINGSHOT (J 105)

Seahorse Division Jerome Vol SENEQUET (Figaro)