Alegria claims IRC1

Vattenfall Ramsgate Week concludes

The final day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week, sponsored by Icom, incorporated Ramsgate Week’s IRC Series, the SailEAST Ramsgate Series and the Gold Cup. Also, the Cruiser Classes completed their sixth day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week Cruiser Series’. The biggest fleet of the week was greeted with perfect sailing conditions of 15 to23 knots from the South East, calm seas and beautiful sunshine. It doesn’t get much better than this!

IRC Class 1

It was a day for the Europeans in the IRC Class 1 fleet, with foreign boats winning all three of the races sailed in very close and competitive sailing.

The first race was won by Belgium boat, Alegria, with a one second lead on the local boat, Icom Assassin, once corrected time had been taken into consideration. Third place went to another Belgium boat, Oxygen.

The next race was won by the French IMX 38, Milo, with Alegria second and the local First 45, Carronade taking third place.

The final race for Vattenfall Ramsgate Week was won with a four second lead by Axel De Cock’s Oxygen, with Alegria second and Milo third. There was only an eleven second gap between the first and the third boat, with only three minutes between the entire fleet.

IRC Class 2

Phillipe Boureois’ Marine Diffusion Dunkerque led the way throughout the first race in the IRC Class 2 fleet, taking line honours to win the race. The Impala 28 Reaction took second place, with Medway boat Big Zipper taking third place.

The second race started in a slightly lighter breeze. Once again, Marine Diffusion Dunkerque established a convincing lead, but was beaten on handicap by Paul Glover and Malcolm Flory’s Volante, who had a two second lead . Peter Pearson and Barry Smith’s Scallywag II took third place.

In the final race, Marine Diffusion Dunkerque took line honours again to win the race, with the Dehler 34, Big Zipper taking second place John Allen’s X302 Antix taking third.

Gold Cup

The Belgium Grand Soleil 40, Alegria, were the historical winners of the coveted Gold Cup, awarded to the overall winner from all three races. This is the first time the cup has been awarded to a foreign boat, since it was first presented in 1903. Congratulations to the Carl Sabbe and his crew.

Cruiser Class 5 & 6

Conditions were the same as yesterday; force 4 to 5, southwesterly, with a short, steep sea. The Race Officer set the course down to Deal Bank with a dog leg from West Goodwin to Deal Dolphin. As usual the start, Lance Stevens’ Grand Soleil 50, Sydney II powered away and was first to round Stonar with Surprise, Toucan, Jazz, Sunbird and Rush following. These positions stayed largely the same through the rest of the race. The fleet enjoyed a marvellous sail in the sunshine.

In Class 5, Sydney II took line honours, with Frank Martin’s Surprise second and Hugh Cripps Sunbird third.

In Class 6, Mirage took line honours, but was beaten on handicap by Mallard, with Richard Hoppers Mystic Sky taking third place.

Full results here