Trentesaux breezes it

French legend shows his latest vessel in the RORC Cervantes Trophy

The RORC's Cervantes Trophy race, organised in association with the Société des Régates du Havre and the Royal Yacht Squadron, saw 114 yachts set out on the 135 mile course from the Squadron line to Le Havre.

The first leg took the fleet downwind to Anvil Point and the DZB Buoy, with 20 knots of wind from the east. The wind was funnelling through Hurst Narrows causing several yachts to broach, but back under control, competitors continued downwind to Anvil Point where spinnakers were dropped and the yachts hardened up for the 100 mile leg to Le Havre.

The forecast was showing a massive shift with the wind veering from the east and into the southwest. As a result, anticipating the change, most boats stayed on port tack and headed for Cap de la Hague. With the shift plus rain squalls running up the Channel the crossing of the Baie de la Seine and negotiating the tricky tidal streams and shifty winds was to prove crucial.

Géry Trentesaux's new JPK 10.80, Courrier Du Leon, was the overall winner, taking under 20 hours to complete the course.

“This is the first time we have raced the boat and we are delighted with the performance,” said Trentesaux. “We haven't really tuned up the boat, but she will be a nice fast boat once we have had some time on the water. IRC 3 is a very competitive class and it looks like this will be a really good season. The Cervantes Trophy Race had a lot of upwind sailing and I was very surprised how fast Courrier Du Leon was on the wind. The key area of the race was the approach to le Havre, we stayed south and tacked just off Barfleur, which was perfect. Courrier Du Leon will be taking part in the North Sea Race and I am sure I speak for all sailors when I say, we will all miss Piet Vroon, who is not sailing at the moment due to a back operation. We all wish him a speedy recovery.”

In IRC Canting Keel, the IMOCA 60 Artemis Ocean Racing took line honours in 15 hours 23 minutes and 58 seconds and the class win from Chris Le Prevost's IMOCA 60 Rosalba, sailed by Andy Greenwood. Derek Saunders' CM60 Venomous, crewed by the Windward Sailing Team, was the winner of IRC Zero while the Ned Collier Wakefield skippered Concise8 took the Class40 win, 22 minutes ahead of David Pearce's Forty Shades of Grey, with Bertrand Gregory's Rififi third.

In IRC One, there was an emphatic win for Nick Jones' First 44.7 Lisa, nearly an hour ahead on corrected time from Mark Emerson's Rodman 42 Phosphorus. Edward Broadway's Ker 40 Hooligan VII was third.

In IRC Two, local French sailor Gilles Fournier's J/133 Pintia was the winner by just over ten minutes on corrected and was also second overall sailing with French legend Bruno Troublé. RORC Admiral Andrew McIrvine's First 40 La Réponse, skippered by Jason Owen was second with Peter Rutter's Grand Soleil 43 Quokka 8 - with RORC Commodore Michael Boyd on board - third.

IRC Three was won by Courrier du Leon, just under ten minutes ahead of Eric Mordret's JPK 10.80 Raphaello. Defending Rolex Fastnet Race winner, Pascal Loison's JPK 10.10 Night and Day was third, racing two-handed once again with his Figaro sailor son Alexis. 25 yachts were racing in the Two Handed Class for the Cervantes Trophy. Night and Day was the winner by just under 20 minutes on corrected time from Rob Craigie's Sunfast 3600 Bellino. Louis-Marie Dussere's JPK10.10 Raging Bee returned from the RORC Caribbean 600 to compete and placed third in the Two Handed Class, just 31 seconds behind Bellino.

Harry Heijst's S&S 41 Winsome revelled in the upwind conditions to win IRC Four, beating Noel Racine's JPK 10.10 Foggy Dew by just over six minutes after time correction. Ludovic Melnyk's JPK 9.60 Sous Mama Boulé, racing doublehanded was third.

The Cervantes Trophy also fired up the RORC's 2015 Season's Points Championship. “The RORC Season's Points Championship is the premier offshore sailing series in the world” commented RORC Racing Manager Nick Elliott. “The 2015 series will see the fleet swelled by yachts competing for the RORC blue ribbon event, the Rolex Fastnet Race, which once again has struck a chord with Professional and Corinthian sailors alike.”