80 to do battle

British IRC National Champsionship starts today

Today sees the start of the Uk IRC Champsionship with racing scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the Solent with the fleet of 80 boats based in Cowes.

In recent years, a growing number of TP52s optimised for IRC racing have been rRacing in the Solent and this year two more have entered the fray for the championship; Peter Winkelmann’s, Island Fling, will be racing for the first time since the yacht arrived from Hong Kong and Colm Barrington’s, Flash Glove, will be competing at her first championship event. Also Peter Ogden’s Swan 601, Spirit of Jethou, has returned from the Caribbean and will be competing, as well as Richard Loftus’ Swan 65, Desperado, who makes a welcome return.

There are a large number of Swan 45s at this year’s event, including top competition from the United States, with William Douglass driving Goombay Smash and Dick Weismann at the wheel of Vixen. These two yachts are extremely well sailed and came, second and fourth, respectively at last year’s Swan 45 World Championships in Sardinia. A large fleet of Swan 45s will be gracing the IRC Championships in a build up to the Swan Gold Cup, in the Solent, the following week.

There are a huge variety of yachts entered of approximately 40ft which should make for a fantastic series. Frenchman, Gery Trentesaux, a past winner of the event is racing his Beneteau 44.7, Courrier de Cour and there are a number of entries that have plenty of experience in the Solent, there is a huge variety of yachts around this size and the racing rule allows them all to enjoy competitive racing; X Yachts, J Boats, Beneteau and several other designs, make up a very diverse and highly competitive fleet.

The yachts entered under 40 feet for the IRC Championships are just as diverse, Jackie Welch’s, Elan 333, Elusive is back to defend her class title from last year and Eamon and Alan Crosbie are over from Ireland, making a welcome return in their Ker 32, Teng Tools. Tim and Sophie Harrington have had a great season racing their X 35, Vortex, amongst their competition will be another X 35; Nigel Passmore’s, Plymouth based, X Wave. There are several Beneteau First 34.7s racing; Peter Morton’s, Salvo, and Nick Jones’s, Astarte, are both new boats with seasoned campaigners aboard.

The weather will be the major hurdle for the competitors and Race Committee alike with very heavy rain and strong winds forecast for Saturday. With the final day of the Etchells Worlds being raced today the central Solent will be a busy place.

Super Zero	Sailed By	Type
Spirit of Jethou	Peter Ogden	Swan 601
Cockburns Red	Charles Dunstone	TP 52
Flash Glove	Colm Barrington	Judel Vrolijk 52
Panthera	Benny Kelly	TP 52
Island Fling	Winkelmann	TP52
Bear of Britain	Windward Sailing	Andrew Palmer
Chernikeeff 2	Peter Harrison	Farr 52
IRC Zero
Fraxious	Andy Greenwood	Farr 45
John Merricks	Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme	Farr 45
Dark & Steamy	Nick & Annie Haigh	DK 46
Fair Do's VII	John Shepherd	Ker 46
Windsong	Stuart Bowen-Davies	Windsong 37
Uxorious III	Colin Buffin	Club Swan 42
Madrugada	Derek Shakespeare	Pacer 42 Club
Predator of Wight	Penny Pariso	Murray 41
Desperado of Cowes	David Bongers	Swan 65  Ketch
Pacific Interiors Sailplane	Rob Bottomley	John Danby
Erivale III	Mike Greville	Ker 39
Jammy Dodger	Neil Martin	J133
Allard	Rudi  Floridor	Sydney 39
Courrier Du Coeur	Gery Trentesaux	Beneteau 44.7
IRC 1
Simply the Best	Philip Wood	Grand Soleil 43
Lowly Worm	John Michael Dean	Swan 46
Software Mistress	Ian Maclean	Ker 36
Meta Baron	Sean Hurst/Patrick Fitzgibbon	IMX 40
Longbow	Michael Lawrence	Prima 38
Love Shack	Tim Spalding	Beneteau 40.7
Puma Logic	Sailing Logic	Reflex 38
Genie	Andrew Jackson	First 40.7
Incognito	Paul McNamara & Tony Lowe	First 40.7
IRC 2
Spirit of Juniper	Mike Eaton	Hamish Mackay
Swallow	Gordon Craigen	X 35
Xwaves	Nigel Passmore	X 35
Vortex	Tim & Sophie Harrington	X-35
Teng Tools (Voodoo Chile)	Eamon/Alan Crosbie	Ker 32
Rosetta from the Rocks	Radboud Crul	Dehler 36 JV
Zarafa	Peter Scholfield	HOD 35
Aria	Luca Rubinelli	J 109
Sir Ducktion	Roy William Morgan	HOD 35
J2EAU	Steve Maine	J109
Zelda	Michael Ewart-Smith	J109
Designstar 2	Roger Phillips	J109
Jumunu	Iain Fenna	J109
Salvo	Peter Morton	Beneteau 34.7
Astarte	Nick Jones	First 34.7
Tiger Developments	Peter Parker	Elan 340
Jo Jo Gunne	Richard Creer	J109
IRC 3
Crazy Diamond	Steve Northmore	Elan 340
Xcellent	John Pollard	X99
Brightwork	Bob Baker	X 332
X-Rated	Charles Gurney	X-332
Scarlet Jester	Jamie Muir	SJ320
Nebulas	Robert Garlick	J92
Gotcha!	John Symington	Corby 29
Esprit	Neil Vardy	Elan 333
Elusive	Jackie Welch	Elan 333
Electra	Mike Tattersall	X-99
Aviva	Jonathon McGuire	First 31.7
Xtratime	Jerome Huillard	X302
Dean & Dyball Enigma	Ian Braham	MG 346
Tangent Minus 1	Paul & Julia Aisher	MG 335
IRC 4
Maverick 2	Dominic Chappell	Dominic Chappell
Cracker	Stephen Heppell	IMX40
STS Antilope	Willem Wester	Rogers 36
Parallel Blue	Robert Corbally	First 40.7
Ship Shop Aquaholic	Bernard Wilmet	First 34.7
Swan 45
Bellicosa	Massimo Ferragamo	Swan 45
Blue Nights	Tea Ekengren-Saurén	Swan 45
Goombay Smash	William Douglass	Swan 45
Murka 2	Mikhail Mouratov	Swan 45
Nemo of Cowes	Simon Shaw	Swan 45
Piper	Charles Swingland	Swan 45
Plenty	Alex Roepers	Swan 45
Tarok VII	Mr Erik Berth	Swan 45
Vixen	Dick Weisman	Swan 45
Fever	Klaus Diederichs & Grant Gordon	Swan 45
Bolidt	RW Bol	Swan 45
Crackerjack	Keith Miller	Swan 45
McFly	Tony Mack	Swan45
Charisma	Swan 45	White