Review of the 2014 RORC Seasons Points Championship The RORC Seasons Points Championship consists of a selection of races, both UK and abroad, that test the skill and endurance of offshore sailors. In addition to the domestic season of 10 races, including the record-breaking Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, there were three races based overseas in 2014: the RORC Caribbean 600, Round Ireland Yacht Race and the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Whilst these longer races carry the highest points factor for the Championship, boats that do not travel outside of the domestic season still have a chance to win their class as only one high points factored race can count for the class trophies, with all other completed high points factor races reduced to a normal factor of 1.0. With this in place it is notable that this season the boats successfully campaigned to win their class only competed in races with a points factor of 1.0 or 1.2. Highlight of the domestic offshore season was the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race,a truly record-breaking race with five World and Race Records set in what transpired to be a challenging test of endurance in difficult conditions. In total 360 boats competed in the RORC Seasons Points Championship, a strong testament to the allure of offshore racing even in a year without the RORCs flagship offshore event, the Rolex Fastnet Race. IRC Overall - Jazz Trophy Vincent Willemart and Eric Van Campenhouts MC 34 Patton, Azawakh. Photo: Rolex/Kurt ArrigoWhilst class prizes for the RORC Seasons Points Championship are decided by the best five offshore races, the Jazz Trophy for IRC Overall is awarded with all offshore races to count. This means that dedication from the crew and skipper is required as well as sailing skill. This is demonstrated by the number of races entered, on average seven out of the 13 seasons races, by the top 10 boats in IRC Overall for 2014. Top boat was Vincent Willemart and Eric Van Campenhouts MC 34 Patton, Azawakh, new to the Belgian team after her successful 2013 season sailing as Courrier Vintage. Going in to the final race of the Championship, the Rolex Middle Sea Race, Azawakh was only 0.5 of a point ahead of the second placed boat, the Army Sailing Associations J/111, British Soldier. An entry into the Rolex Middle Sea Race by one of the other boats at the top of the leaderboard could have toppled them from the top spot with such a narrow margin of points, fewer than 100 points between the top 10 boats, but luckily Vincent and Eric had already made the decision to enter the final race of the season and take the boat to Malta. Sadly, after a slow and windless start to the race, the fleet were hit by gale force winds and many boats, Azawakh included, succumbed to the elements and had to retire from the race. Nevertheless, with other boats either not entering or completing the race, Azawakh maintained their lead in IRC Overall to claim the Jazz Trophy, with British Soldier in second and Noel Racines Le Havre based JPK 10.10, Foggy Dew, in third place. Azawakh has also won the Stradivarius Trophy for best overseas yacht in IRC Overall and the Alan Paul Trophy for consistent high performance in IRC. Vincent and Eric reflected on their season with Azawakh: The 2014 season has been a double challenge for both the boat and the crew. This has been a source of a few frustrations, but essentially a great deal of joy and happiness. The first challenge for the new Azawakh boat was the unification of two crews from competing JPK yachts Rackham and WASABI so as we say in French `the mayonnaise had to take between both crews and both Captains. We are pleased to say that this challenge has been convincingly won. The second challenge was to find ourselves sailing the boat that was elected Yacht of the Year by the RORC and UNCL for the 2013 season under the esteemed ownership of Géry Trenteseaux and Sam Marsaudon. Their 2013 overall season results were outstanding, achieved with an extremely competent team. Azawakh replied with three wins in our class, IRC Two, one overall on the beautiful Myth of Malham Race and the title of RORC Champion 2014. We feel that the Azawakh team has risen to the challenge, although we know there remains a lot of work and room for improvement. Our frustration was mainly due to a season of particularly light wind conditions that we have all faced this year. This did not often allow Azawakh to express her tremendous qualities of reaching in a strong breeze. The irony was that in our last race the Middle Sea we were forced to retire with a ripped mainsail in conditions gusting over 60knots, therefore cancelling any chances of winning the title of RORC class winner in IRC Two. However we congratulate our competitors, Jellyfish and British Soldier, who retain first place, which is very well deserved after a long season and very tough race around the British Isles. We complete our 2014 season with a boat that we know better and respect even more, our new team spirit and future ambition to participate and extend our racing miles in the English Channel during the 2015 season.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:08:16 +0000
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