Final Day of the Brexit IRC National Championships

June 27, 2016

Today, Sunday, 26th June, was the third and final day of the IRC National Championships We were delighted to get 3 races sailed today and thankfully, our results improved and we finished 6th overall (on equal points with the 5th position boat).

The first race was a windward-leeward course in 12-15 knots of wind. It was a nice race but unfortunately, we hit the 1st windward mark and had to make a penalty turn, which cost us alot. The right hand-side of the course was hugely favorable due to the tide and we gained a lot on the first half of the 2nd beat by going right. Unfortunately, we then went left on the 2nd half of the beat and we then lost a lot! We finished 11th in this race and we knew we had to reverse the downward trend in our results.

Race 2 was a lot better. It was also a windward-leeward in 12-18 knots of wind and we knew that the right hand-side was still paying due to the tide. We got a good start and stuck to our plan to go right and thankfully, we finished this race in 2nd. This race and the first race of the regatta, were our best races. So it was nice to be improving again!

Photo of Winsome finishing race no. 2 today (taken form the committee boat)

Race 3, was around the cans race and the wind came up to 15-20 knots. The race was very enjoyable and we finished the regatta with a solid 5th position. This left us 6th overall in class 3 (on equal points with the 5th position boat Malice). We learnt a lot from the regatta. It was great to get 8 races sailed and thank you very much to RORC, the race officer Stuart Childerley and all of the race team. This regatta was great practice for the Winsome crew for Cowes Week, which is in just over 5 weeks time now.

Photo of Floris out on the spinnaker pole

Unfortunately, on the way home, we ran out of fuel. So we decided to sail onto the Royal London pontoon. The RYS also very kindly brought us out some fuel and after Leen did some maintenance to the engine, we were able to get the engine started again. I think Leen will have a nomination for the pink t-shirt and might have to wear it next weekend, for Round the Island Race! Although, Laura probably also has a nomination for hitting the windward mark today!

Most of the crew took the 4.15pm Red Jet fast ferry and flew home to Amsterdam at 5.55pm. Meanwhile, Leen and Laura brought Winsome back to East Cowes and Harry brought Luna back. However, when we arrived at Winsome’s marina berth in East Cowes, it was already occupied by another boat! So, we helped the owner of the other boat to move, to the boat’s correct berth (I think someone got confused the day before and parked in Winsome’s spot by mistake!). After packing Winsome away, we finally made it back to the RORC / Royal Corinthian YC for the prize-giving (well it had already finished but we were at least able to congratulate Adam Gosling and the Yes! crew for their overall IRC Nationals joint win, as well as Mike Greville with Erivale III. It also enabled us to congratulate Andrew McIrvine and the La Reponse crew for 3 race wins today).

Here is the summary of today’s racing from the RORC website: https://www.rorc.org/2016-race-news/joint-winners-for-rorc-irc-nationals.html

And here are the overall class 3 results: https://www.rorc.org/raceresults/2016/ircnats-threeos.html

Our course in the last race

Thanks to Harry and the entire Winsome crew for a very enjoyable weekend and we are all really looking forward to Round the Island Race next Saturday!

Laura Dillon