Ránaway train

Three bullets for Niklas Zennstrom’s TP52 on the opening day of the RORC's IRC National Championship

Right at the start of the RORC IRC National Championship, Niklas Zennstrom’s TP52, R á n, stamped their authority on the competition. Three straight bullets put them at the top of the leaderboard in Super Zero after the first day’s racing.

“It was very shifty out there,” commented R á n skipper, Tim Powell. “The first race was affected by the transition zone between the southeasterly gradient breeze and the southwesterly sea breeze and Ado Stead did a great job on tactics. The race course was moved further to the east for the next two races and we got some solid south easterly breeze. Halfway through the second race, we had a consistent 15 knots of breeze. This is the first time we have been racing in the Solent since last August and it is good to be back; it is a challenging place to race. Obviously we are satisfied with today’s results but we are here to defend a national title and we won’t be taking anything for granted."

After three races, R á n leads IRC Class Super Zero with Lutener & Elwood’s TP52, Cutting Edge, in second and Peter Harrison’s Farr 52, Chernikeeff 2, crewed by the UK Sailing Academy, lying third.

In IRC Class Zero, there was some very close racing with big gains and losses made at mark roundings, but Michael Bartholomew’s King 40 Tokoloshe had a great day on the water with two wins and a second.

After three races, Pieter Vroon’s brand new Ker 46 Tonnerre of Breskens is lying in third place and will be delighted to have won race 2 by some margin. John Shepherd’s Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII lies third and after the first day is still very much in the hunt, but a tenth in the last race, may prove costly.

David Dwyer’s Mills 39 MarinersCove.ie is top of the class in IRC One but the Irish entry realised from the first gun that they are in for a close battle with Peter Rutter’s Corby 36 Quokka. The ex-RORC Commodore had a cracking start, as Quokka won the first race but MarinersCove.ie fought back to win the last two, in better breeze.

John Patterson’s J/122 Panacea is also very much in the frame, despite not winning a race today, consistent results leave them just three points off the lead. “We are delighted to be here for this event and it is part of our build up for the Rolex Commodores’ Cup for next year and we have Andy Beadsworth at the back, coaching for this regatta," said Patterson. "It is only the third time we have been out this season and the crew work was a bit rusty in the first race and it is the first time that this crew had been together.”

In IRC Class Two, Steve Northmore’s A35 Waterjet could only manage sixth in race one, but reveled in the stronger breeze to win the next two races to lead the class. By comparison, Chris & Hanna Neve’s First 34.7 No Doubt won the first race, but two fourths knocked them back to second overall. Beating the other First 34.7s will be a lift to the husband and wife team from Lymington. Jonty Layfield’s J/39 Sleeper recovered from a poor first race to post two podium finishes and claim third place in class after three races.

In IRC Class Three, Peter Morton’s Quarter Tonner, Anchor Challenge was in devastating form, winning race one by a good margin. However Adam Gosling’s Corby 30 Yes! corrected out to win race two. Paul Kelsey’s Quarter Tonner Runaway Bus was the victor in the last race of the day. Anchor Challenge leads the class, but will have to carry an 11 point discard for the rest of the regatta, after not finishing the last race of the day. Runaway Bus is just a point behind with Yes! in third on count back. IRC Class Three is proving to be a highly competitive division.

Three races are scheduled for tomorrow with the forecast of 12-15 knots from the east southeast, conditions could be ideal providing more highly competitive racing for the RORC IRC National Championships.

Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat	Type	Owner	TCF	R1	R2	R3	Tot	Net
		IRC SZ
1	GBR528R	Ran	TP 52	Niklas Zennstrom	1.37	1	1	1	3	2
2	GBR952R	Cutting Edge	TP 52	Robert Lutener & Martin Elwood	1.364	2	2	2	6	4
3	GBR52R	Chernikeeff 2	Farr 52	Peter Harrison	1.317	3	3	3	9	6
4	GBR76R	John Merricks II	TP 52	RYA Keelboat Programme	1.367	4	4	5	13	8
		IRC 0
1	GBR5940R	Tokoloshe	King 40	Michael Bartholomew	1.112	1	2	1	4	2
2	NED46	Tonnerre de Breskens	Ker 46	Pieter Willem Vroon	1.243	3	1	3	7	4
3	GBR95R	Dark & Steamy	DK 46	Nick Haigh	1.204	5	5	2	12	7
4	FRA34649	Magic Mix	X 41	Pharo Management (UK) LLP/John Pawrence	1.116	12	3	6	21	9
5	GBR11N	Apollo	J 133	Nigel Passmore	1.117	4	6	7	17	10
6	GBR54R	Atomic of Cowes	Farr 45	Tony Langley	1.226	6	7	5	18	11
7	GBR4601L	Fair Do's VII	Ker 46	John Shepherd	1.191	2	15	10	27	12
8	GBR906R	Assassin	Stimpson 42	P Jackson & G Shaffer	1.132	8	10	4	22	12
9	GBR236R	Erivale III	Ker 39	Michael Greville	1.117	11	4	9	24	13
10	NED8020	Split2nd	Salona 42	Yan Trouwen	1.133	10	8	8	26	16
11	GBR60R	Jeronimo	J133	Jackie Dobson	1.128	9	9	11	29	18
12	GBR547R	Seawolf 2	Lutra 42	Henri Tinchant	1.243	7	12	13	32	19
13	GBR851R	Cracklin Rosie	Corby 40	Brian Wilkinson	1.107	13	11	12	36	23
14	GBR5021L	Warlord	First 47.7	Neil Brailsford	1.122	15	15	15	45	30
		IRC 1
1	IRL39000	MarinersCove.ie	Mills 39	David Dwyer	1.103	2	1	1	4	2
2	GBR1236L	Quokka	Corby 36	Peter Rutter	1.069	1	3	2	6	3
3	GBR1223L	Panacea	J 122	John Patterson	1.088	3	2	3	8	5
4	GBR4070L	Incognito	First 40.7	Paul McNamara	1.06	8	4	4	16	8
5	GBR9335T	Portia	First 40.7	Andrew Iyer	1.066	4	5	5	14	9
6	GBR8410R	Premier Flair	Elan 410	Jim Macgregor	1.079	5	7	6	18	11
7	GBR704R	Tradition Philosophie IV	First 40.7	Nicolas Gaumont-Prat	1.063	6	11	7	24	13
8	BEL3939	Allard	Sydney 39	Nadia Ifticene	1.104	7	10	10	27	17
9	GBR7383R	Puma Logic	Reflex 38	Sailing Logic/Philippe Falle	1.071	12	9	8	29	17
10	GBR410L	Esprit	Elan 410	Neil Vardy	1.074	9	8	9	26	17
11	GBR79R	Software Mistress	Ker 36	Ian Maclean	1.084	14	6	13	33	19
12	GBR1429L	British Soldier	Archambault A40 RC	Army Sailing Assoc/Paul Andersen	1.093	11	13	11	35	22
13	GBR2741R	Biela	Comet 41S	Richard Barnes	1.098	10	15	15	40	25
14	GBR8725T	Deliverance 2	Dehler 39	Chris Shipman	1.076	13	12	14	39	25
15	GBR6665R	Cajou	IMX 40	Mark Chatfield	1.072	15	14	12	41	26
16	GBR6501N	White Knuckles	Prima 38	Dominic Hurndall	1.073	17	17	17	51	34
		IRC2
1	GBR7735R	Waterjet	A35	Steve Northmore	1.032	6	1	1	8	2
2	GBR1347R	No Doubt	First 34.7	Chris & Hannah Neve	1.014	1	4	4	9	5
3	GBR4206T	Sleeper	J 39	Jonty Layfield	1.047	12	3	2	17	5
4	GBR9359	Sir Ducktion	HOD 35	Roy Morgan	1.029	3	2	7	12	5
5	GBR847R	Mongoose	First 34.7	Patrick Snowball	0.997	2	6	9	17	8
6	GBR73R	Salvo	First 34.7	Peter Morton	1.011	5	8	5	18	10
7	GBR1132L	Alaris	Dehler 36	John Howell	1.024	7	5	8	20	12
8	GBR1242R	Yeoman of Wight	J 109	David Aisher	1.013	13	7	6	26	13
9	GBR9033R	No Retreat!	Corby 33	David Riley	1.039	15	12	3	30	15
10	GBR362T	Extra Djinn	X 362	Neville Hodkin	1.023	8	10.5	10	28.5	18
11	GBR1405R	Elaine	Elan 37	Mike Bridges	1.03	9	10.5	15	34.5	19.5
12	GBR4909R	High Tension	J 109	Andrew Given	1.015	4	16	16	36	20
13	BEL3470	Ship Shop Aquaholic	First 34.7	Bernard Wilmet	1.003	17	9	13	39	22
14	GBR979R	Malice	HOD 35	Mike Moxley	1.031	11	13	11.5	35.5	22.5
15	GBR4243T	Jackdaw	J 39	David Walters	1.058	10	17	14	41	24
16	GBR6895T	Xcitable	X 362	Peter Hodgkinson	1.018	14	14	11.5	39.5	25.5
17	BEL3537	Tontin	A 35	Wouter Borghijs	1.031	16	15	17	48	31
18	GBR7535R	Jolene	J 105	Ivan Trotman	1.016	18	18	18	54	36
		IRC3
1	GBR506R	Anchor Challenge	Quarter Tonner	Peter Morton	0.922	1	2	11	14	3
2	GBR7055	Runaway Bus	Quarter Tonner	Paul Kelsey	0.891	5	3	1	9	4
3	GBR3033L	Yes!	Corby 30	Adam Gosling	0.988	4	1	3	8	4
4	GBR50R	Espada	Quarter Tonner	Louise Morton	0.906	3	7	2	12	5
5	GBR8414	Aguila	Quarter Tonner	Rob Gray	0.906	2	4	5	11	6
6	GBR4416	Whippa Snappa	Sigma 33	Richard Puddifoot	0.911	7	8	4	19	11
7	GBR9250R	Who's To No	J 92	Richard Sparrow	0.983	6	5	7	18	11
8	GBR9716R	Hot Rats	Humphreys 30	Elisabeth Robinson	0.99	9	6	6	21	12
9	NED317	Cisne	Swan 43	David Collins	0.975	8	9	8	25	16
10	GBR4080T	Crakajax	X 95	Richard Hollis	0.912	11	11	11	33	22