Cora wins the RORC Lewmar Cherbourg Race

The Royal Ocean Racing Club's finale for the 2024 RORC Season's Points Championship was the traditional race to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.

Sun Fast 3200 Cora, raced Two-handed by Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews, was the overall winner of the RORC Lewmar Cherbourg Race after IRC time correction. The Royal Ocean Racing Club's finale for the 2024 RORC Season's Points Championship was the traditional race to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The 71 boat fleet was an impressive sight, starting to the east off the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, Cowes. Combined with JOG, the Lewmar Cherbourg Race attracted 235 sailors for the last offshore race of the RORC season.

After a light-air spinnaker start, the main strategic judgment after leaving The Solent was choosing the best lane towards Cherbourg. The forecast increase and shift in the gradient wind, as well as the current in The English Channel, were crucial for a top performance.

David McGough's J/109 Just So was second overall and the JOG Series Points division winner. Third overall was Jean-Lin Flipo's J/99 Yalla! All of the podium boats were racing in IRC Three.

On top of overall victory, Cora was the winner of IRC Three and IRC Two-Handed; a fine end to the season for Tim Goodhew and Kelvin Matthews.

"A really nice way to close out the season," commented Cora's Tim Goodhew. "Last year we won, the final race and it's always nice to retain some of the silverware!" However the Cherbourg race did not start well for Cora as Tim explains.

"We were called over the line at the start by the Race Committee along with three other boats," confirmed Tim Goodhew. "We went straight back to restart and probably only lost about eight boat lengths in a 75-mile race. Some of the others took longer to turn round, which cost them a lot more. We spent the next six hours trying to catch up with the J/99 Yalla!, our big competition in IRC three. We both had the same strategy of sailing west. We knew that the new breeze was coming from the northeast, giving a big right shift over the course of the evening. However, the big picture was that the real wind was very variable and you have to make your decisions on the fly. The goal was to maximize our velocity towards Cherbourg to the south. We didn't go as far west as Yalla!, this worked out well for us. We were in a good position when the shift came in and we profited quite nicely."

In IRC Two, Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster was the winner by 17 minutes after IRC time correction from Gareth Edmondson's JPK 1030 Insert Coin. Sun Fast 3600 Diablo raced by Cal Finlayson & Maggie Adamson was third in IRC Three and IRC Two-Handed.

"The Scarlet Oyster team are pretty pleased!" commented Ross Applebey. "The exit from The Solent was painful, we were struggling for speed. Nothing was really working for us but we made some small gains. We knew the conditions were going to change and after Bembridge Ledge we were making good VMG towards Cherbourg with the Code Zero up. With Scarlet Oyster in those conditions, you have to heat it up and get speed on the angle and we kept getting lifted west, so we kept going that way. In our class we rolled the dice, we were either going to win by being the furthest west or come last. After making that decision, the biggest concern was if we ran out of wind before the shift came, but that didn't happen, we kept going. The Scarlet Oyster crew has been much the same for thousands of miles, and we will be celebrating in Cherbourg!"

In IRC One, RORC Treasurer Derek Shakespeare's J/122 Bulldog was the winner by just over three minutes after IRC time correction from Lawrence Herbert's J/133 Corazon. Third was Richard Powell's First 40 Rogan Josh.

In IRC Four, David Cooper's Dehler 38 Longue Pierre corrected out to win the class by ten minutes from Gareth Penn's Contessa 32 Jemima of Farley. Dudley Stock's X-302 Xtract was third by just 37 seconds after IRC time correction from James Holmes' Laser 28 Blazer.

James Neville's Carkeek 45 Ino Noir took Line Honours in the race and won the IRC Zero big boat Class.

"A great way to end the season, the increase in wind came a bit later for us, in terms of beating the smaller boats under IRC. However, we had a wonderful race downwind in up to 14 knots of