How to miss the World Cup

A preview to this weekend's RORC Morgan Cup

Unless you have been living in the remotest corner of the earth without communications, you may be aware that the FIFA World Cup kicks off this Friday. However not everybody will be glued to a television set, daring to dream of winning the coveted trophy. Hundreds of sailors will be taking part in the RORC Morgan Cup and will miss the start of the tournament in South Africa.

The Morgan Cup marks the launch of a new Class 40, Tony Lawson’s Concise 2, on board will be one of Britain’s iconic solo sailors, Pete Goss, as Tony Lawson explains: “For the inaugural race the new boat will be skippered by Tom Gall with Pete Goss and Ned Collier Wakefield” explained Tony Lawson. “Tom is a great example of what Concise is all about: he is a young, up-and-coming sailor, who worked with Puma during the last Volvo Ocean Race and is a bright prospect for the future. He deserves his chance. Ned has been with the team for some time, but took some time out to finish his education and we are very happy to see him back on board. Pete Goss is looking to get as much time on the water as he can, before returning to solo racing on Concise 2 for the Route de Rhum, later this year. His attitude is outstanding and he brings a wealth of experience, a perfect role model for young talent.”

In IRC Zero Piet Vroon’s Ker 46 Tonnerre de Breskens 3 will be looking to continue the impressive form that has them in pole position in IRC Overall for the RORC Season’s Points Championship. However Mike Greville’s Ker 39 Erivale III has had a good start to the season and is currently lying in second place in IRC Zero and he is a big fan of the race to Cherbourg, as he explains: “I have to say it is one of my favourite venues for RORC racing. There is an excellent deep harbour that can fit us all in at whatever time we finish and some great restaurants. Hopefully we will finish in time for dinner on Saturday night, but at the moment it is looking like a light airs race. However, that was the forecast for the Myth of Malham which turned into a windy one. We have had a good start to the season and perhaps the fact that the crew have been together for five years is one of the main reasons for our success.”

Steven Anderson’s First 40.7 Encore is currently leading IRC One and this weekend will be racing with his wife Jane and the entire compliment of his Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland crew. The team are all friends and family and Steven is relatively new to racing, as he explains: “I use to do a lot of cruising but these days I really enjoy the racing. I have become fascinated with the intellectual challenge of the offshore sport, especially through the development of navigational electronics and performance relative data that is now available. We are really enjoying the battle with Sailing Logic; although we are fiercely competitive we are also great friends and this is another great aspect of this sport.”

John Loden, along with his co-skipper Paddy Cronin, are currently leading the RORC Two-Handed Division and hope to make it three wins in a row for HOD 35 Psipsina this weekend. However Loden is not counting his chickens just yet. “We had a very good reminder of what can happen if you lose your concentration in this game during the Cervantes Trophy Race. We got our approach to France all wrong and the resulting foul tide knocked us right down the pecking order. I have been racing short-handed for a few seasons now and I really enjoy the satisfaction of beating fully crewed boats. Also you learn so much when you have to do all of the work between just two of you. Probably the greatest pearl of wisdom I have learnt in short-handed racing is to take time to plan a manoeuvre, especially down wind. Gybe in haste; repent at leisure, would be a good way of summing it up.”

In IRC Three the class leader is Trevor Nicholls’ Starlight 39 Spellbinder Of Wytch. Nicholls sails under the burgee of the Phoenix Yacht Club out of Haslar Marina in Gosport. The Club was formed to enable its members to enjoy sailing and to share the costs between a group of like-minded individuals. The club depends entirely on its members to ensure that the yachts are maintained to a high standard. Every time a yacht is used, the skipper and the crew are expected to leave the yacht in a better condition than they found it.

RORC Morgan Cup starts Friday 11 June: from the RYS Cowes, starting to the east, to Cherbourg. First warning signal: 1850.