Near record turn-out for British trials

The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s more open rating bands for the 2012 Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup are having the desired effect: As the deadline closed for teams wishing to enter the British trials for this July’s Cowes-based event, so 17 boats had registered - a near record compared to past trials.

In addition to his important role as Chairman of the Royal Yachting Association, Stacey Clark is also Chairman of the Selectors for the British Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup team, a panel he sits on with professional sailor, Chris Mason, now Yachting Secretary of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and Cowes Week CEO, Stuart Quarrie.

Clark himself has been helmsman on the various Cutting Edge campaigns, including most recently a Farr 45 and a TP52. “I think given the world the way it is at the moment, we are pretty pleased,” he says of the turn-out. “We have a healthy number of trialists and we are optimistic about being able to put forward very strong teams.”

Read more: Near record turn-out for British trials

Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup - Latest News

Interest from teams wishing to stake a claim on the prestigious Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup is running high with challenges from several nations including: England, Netherlands, France, Ireland and Hong Kong. Eddie Warden Owen, Chief Executive of organisers, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), is very happy with the way things are shaping up for the 11^th biennial event:

"It would appear that the new format of allowing teams to be made up of three boats of any size and the availability of good boats to charter, has prompted interest from outside of Europe too. The Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup is shaping up to be a very competitive regatta."

Read more: Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup - Latest News

Notice of Race for the 2012 Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup published

Race Date: Saturday 21^st July – Saturday 28^th July 2012

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) is pleased to announce that the Notice of Race for the Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup 2012 has been published and can be viewed on the Event minisite.

The Brewin Dolphin Commodores’ Cup is the leading international amateur regatta with a reputation for competitive offshore and inshore racing in the Solent and lively onshore hospitality. The event welcomes amateur teams from around the world and past editions have seen teams from as far as Hong Kong, South Africa, the USA and Russia, as well as strong representation from Europe and regional UK teams. The trophy was won in 2010 by the Irish team who will be hoping to retain their title in 2012, a feat not accomplished since the USA won successive editions in 1992 and 1994.

Click here to read the Notice of Race Online or use the download option below.

 Download the Notice of Race as PDF 1.94 Mb

RORC Announce New Title Sponsor for Commodores' Cup

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) is delighted to announce Brewin Dolphin as the new Title Sponsor for the 11th Commodores' Cup sailing championship, which is run, with the support of the Royal Yacht Squadron, between Saturday 21^st and Saturday 28^th July 2012.

Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK's largest independent private client investment managers, will support the biennial regatta for three editions. The event attracts highly competitive teams from several nations to compete for the esteemed Commodores' Cup on the waters of the Solent and English Channel.

Jamie Matheson, Brewin Dolphin Executive Chairman comments:
"We are proud to add such a prestigious event as the Commodores' Cup to our portfolio and look forward to building a long term relationship with the Royal Ocean Racing Club, its members and competitors. We are not newcomers to the world of sailing, having successfully sponsored the Scottish Series for the past 11 years. Sailing has provided us with an excellent platform to increase awareness of our brand to a wider audience and we are confident that the Commodores' Cup will develop this."

Matheson continues: "The Royal Ocean Racing Club as organisers and the Commodores' Cup series has its own rich heritage and this fits well with Brewin Dolphin as our firm goes back two and a half centuries. Although we can trace our beginnings back to the mid 18th Century, we look forward to investing in new beginnings with this sponsorship, helping to attract new teams and a positive long term partnership for future events."

Read more: RORC Announce New Title Sponsor for Commodores' Cup

Advance Notice of the 2012 Commodores' Cup

Saturday 21st  - Saturday 28th July 2012

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) is delighted to announce details for the 2012 Commodores' Cup to be held in Cowes, Isle of Wight between Saturday 21st and Saturday 28th July 2012 in association with the Royal Yacht Squadron.

National teams to race three boats

This tough mix of inshore and offshore races will be concentrated into a challenging seven day racing schedule on the testing waters in and around the Solent. The RORC have introduced a change to the IRC rating band to encourage more entries. The smallest boats will have a minimum rating of 1.020 and the fastest boats a max rating of 1.230. Three boats can be chosen from this rating band with the proviso that only one boat in the team may rate 1.150 or above.

RORC Commodore Andrew McIrvine explained the rationale behind the change: "in previous events we have had three distinct bands however some countries have struggled to find a competitive boat in each band. We are keen to get more foreign teams to enter the competition and feel that by opening up the entry criteria, there will be more good boats available for charter, which makes sense in today's challenging economic climate," explained McIrvine. "However, we do not want teams to dominate the competition by bringing three big boats, thus the reason for only allowing one boat in each team to be faster than 1.150."

The racing format will also be changed so that all the boats will start together rather than having three individual races for each rating band as was the norm in previous events.

The last Cup in 2010 was the tenth biennial event and it attracted 10 highly competitive teams from five nations: France, Ireland, Great Britain, Hong Kong and South Africa.

Read more: Advance Notice of the 2012 Commodores' Cup

Ireland claims victory in blustery Rolex Commodores' Cup finale

Ireland has done it. After mounting multiple teams, considered favourite going into both the 2006 and 2008 events but failing to win either, so the Irish boats Antix, Marinerscove.ie and Roxy 6 today secured the Rolex Commodores' Cup for the emerald isle.

"It is delightful to finally have a chance to get our hands on the trophy," declared Anthony O'Leary, owner and helmsman of the Ker 39 Antix, the Irish team's big boat. "For all three boats, the Rolex Commodores' Cup has been the absolute pinnacle of what we have wanted to do this year. While Antix and Marinerscove have been around, it is a credit to the guys on Roxy because they had a new build and got the boat in the water, and then there were all the attendant things you have to do. Owner Rob Davies, in fairness to him, didn't take a huge amount of persuasion to sign up and make the extra effort required to do it. We owe him a huge debt."

David Dwyer and his Marinerscove.ie team were equally ecstatic. "I bought this boat in 2006 and we have been waiting since then for the right time. This time it worked. It was absolutely brilliant."

Roxy 6's pro sailor Maurice 'Prof' O'Connell added: "We put in a massive effort and it is nice to have got the reward. Cowes is going to go ballistic tonight!"

Read more: Ireland claims victory in blustery Rolex Commodores' Cup finale

Outcome rests in Ireland's hands

Now on 63.5 points to second placed Hong Kong's 101.5, the Irish team's position at the Rolex Commodores' Cup is looking all but unassailable. With just one inshore race to go tomorrow it would now take a major disaster in all three classes for the immaculate Irish to lose their grip of the trophy that has eluded them for so long.

Today the 29 strong fleet (one down with Paul Turner's Artemis in GBR Black out of the competition with a damaged keel) sailed anti-clockwise around the Isle of Wight, the results from this 55-nautical-mile carrying a points co-efficient of 1.5x. This was held in southwesterly wind that peaked at around 24 knots as the boats battled their down the western Solent towards the Needles in lumpy wind against tide conditions.

In the big boat class, Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39 Antix scored another win, her fourth this week, giving her by far the lowest points score of all the boats at the Rolex Commodores' Cup. She won on corrected by a minute, once again from her sistership, Bernard Gouy's Inis Mor racing in France Yellow.

"The start was very tricky," commented Dave Lenz, Antix' tactician and one of the crews two permitted professional sailors. "There was tide, not much breeze and while you weren't crossing the line on starboard, you wanted the left because of the effective bias there." Surprisingly only one boat, Inspara (RSA), was swept over the line by the tide and had to re-start.

Read more: Outcome rests in Ireland's hands

2010 Live Offshore Tracking

The Rolex Commodores' Cup Offshore Race (Race 5 in the schedule) and the Race round the Isle of Wight (Race 7) are being tracked with OCTrackers. Each boat is supplied with an OCTracker beacon, a self contained unit that transmits the position of the boat at regular intervals using GPS and Iridium (a global satellite phone network). Synchronised position reports are availabe to the public by using the Race Player Application.

Important notice on Fleet Tracking

Sometimes, due to various technical reasons or due to local conditions, a boat's tracker cannot report. The boat will remain in the rankings list with it's position calculated from the last report received.

The non-transmission of a position report should not cause concern; it is not a sign of distress!

Boats competing in the Rolex Commodores' Cup are equipped with various types of communications equipment which can be used to request assistance.

Read more: 2010 Live Offshore Tracking

Ireland extend their lead

A grim overcast start and lumpy wind against tide conditions gave way to brilliant sunshine and a summery finish off the Royal Yacht Squadron for the Rolex Trophy Day inshore race at the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup. Today's one race was held around multiple marks in the central western Solent starting in 18 knot southwesterlies with a wet beat through short chop before the tide turned and the wind dropped gradually through the race, ending at below 10 knots.

It was another solid day for the Irish team, leaders since the opening day of the regatta last Sunday. Their big boat, Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39 Antix and their small boat, Robert Davies' Corby 36 Roxy 6 both won their classes today while David Dwyer's marinerscove.ie posted a third. No other team was close to being as consistent today.

In the small boat class Roxy 6 came out on top partly thanks to a navigation error on the Hong Kong boat, Christopher Opielok's Corby 36 Rockall III [at the time of going to press this was subject to a protest for redress*]. "We were very lucky," said Roxy 6's helmsman Andrew Creighton. "Rockall went to a wrong mark and they were ahead of us. With them making that mistake it obviously pushed us into first, although one of the French guys, Goa, came very close to us, but we had them by about 25 seconds."

Roxy 6 was only launched in April, but has had an intensive season at regattas throughout the UK and her native Ireland. Designed by Cowes resident John Corby, the 36 footer relished today's conditions. "The short Solent slap suits this sort of boat," said Creighton.

Back at Cowes Yacht Haven, Commodore of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, Andrew McIrvine stepped off the boat he co-owns with Peter Morton in buoyant mood. His Beneteau First 40.7 La Réponse won the mid-sized class today by two and a half minutes on corrected time ahead of past RORC Commodore Peter Rutter's Quokka 8.

Read more: Ireland extend their lead

Irish hold the line offshore

Boats have been returning to Cowes Yacht Haven throughout today, back from the offshore race of the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup. With a 2.5x point co-efficient this race had the potential to provide a major upset in the results, but after four days of competition the Irish team hold an even more commanding lead, now up to 29.5 points. Hong Kong has regained second place, this time with a 25-point cushion over the leading French team, which in turn is just 5 points ahead of GBR Red and 15 points ahead of France Yellow in fifth.

Hong Kong and Ireland scored equal points in the offshore race with the former's Rockall III winning the small boat class while the latter's marinerscove.ie claimed the mid-sized class.

On the water Rockall III was first home in the whole fleet, crossing the line just to the west of the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour at 10:40:41 BST, winning her class by almost one hour on corrected time. While racing for Hong Kong, where he used to live, Rockall III's owner Christopher Opielok is German. His crew is largely from Hong Kong but also includes two Dutch, one Irishman and three Australians. According to Opielok he bought his Corby 36 specifically to compete in the Rolex Commodores' Cup, "we have been preparing for this for a long time. The boat clocked since delivery to us last year, 4,000 miles. We did a lot of offshore racing. We have four very good helmsmen. The navigation was very well prepared. We had a good tactician and I believe altogether with a very good boat, ended up with this result."

Opielok said they faced stiff competition from the Irish team's small boat, Roxy 6, "we focussed on sail trim and sailed extremely hard without any rest. We knew we could only beat Roxy upwind. We put all our effort into the 60-mile beat and then we tried to control them downwind. Luckily the tide went with us and pushed us even further than expected." The tide was particularly beneficial on the final run into the finish.

Simon Henning, owner of the Alice II from GBR White was delighted to have won the big boat division. His Farr 45, the biggest yacht in this year's Rolex Commodores' Cup does not have a favourable rating and they have not performed well in the inshore racing so far. Having to continue past Anvil Point and on to the East Shambles mark in Weymouth Bay, the Class 1 course at 191-nautical-miles was some 35 nm longer than the Class 3 version, which simply did an about-turn at Poole. Yet Alice II reached the finish line just under four minutes astern of Rockall III.

Alice led the 30-boat fleet out of the Solent in the strongest conditions of the race and enjoyed a fantastic blast down to the Owers, the easternmost mark of the course, to the southeast of Selsey Bill. "We saw 24-25 knots [of wind] and we were surfing up to 17 several times – it was lovely," commented Henning. Thanks to this they caught the tide turning at the Owers and from there never looked back. Despite the wind dropping to five knots this morning, they claimed the big boat class by a margin of 1 hour 20 minutes on corrected time.

Read more: Irish hold the line offshore

Tough night ahead

The 30 strong Rolex Commodores' Cup fleet shot off east down the Solent this morning with the wind and tide but under a grey rain-filled sky at the start of their high points scoring offshore race. The course for the 10 teams is full of zigzags taking them first out towards Selsey Bill while tonight they will be heading west along the bottom of the Isle of Wight en route for a mark off Poole Harbour. At this point the three classes will race slightly different courses before the run back east tomorrow morning that should see them finishing off a line to the west of Portsmouth Harbour sometime tomorrow afternoon.

At 17.00 BST Simon Henning's Alice II, a Farr 45, and the longest, highest rated yacht in the race, was approaching the Owers turning mark, the easternmost on the course, while the chasing pack were spread five to thirty-nautical miles astern of her. It seems likely that Alice II will steal a march on her Class 1 rivals, as her rounding of the Owers should coincide with the tide turning westbound, while those behind will face a further hour or two punching into it. Already Alice II in the GBR White team looks to be leading the big boat class on corrected time.

The absent Géry Trentesaux, the Frenchman who was instrumental in his country winning the Rolex Commodores' Cup in 2006 and 2002, would be proud. The First 40, Coup de Coeur, he co-owns with UNCL Commodore Marc de Saint Denis was leading Class 2 on handicap at 17.00 BST as part of the France Blue team. Meanwhile, in Class 3, it was the turn of the Hong Kong team to head the standings, with Christopher Opielok's Corby 36, Rockall III.

The latest positions from the racecourse indicate that the Irish team is not only still leading overall in the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup, but they have extended their lead albeit marginally. The 17.00 BST sched showed Anthony O'Leary's Antix second among the big boats, David Dwyer's Marinerscove.ie second in the mid-sized fleet and Robert Davies' Roxy 6 second among the small boats. With these results the Irish team would be on 44.5 points ahead of France Blue and Hong Kong tied in second on 71.5. GBR Red holds fourth on 86.5, followed by France Yellow in fifth.

Read more: Tough night ahead

France's Day, but Irish remain Front Runners

Ireland remains the runaway leader after day two of the 2010 Rolex Commodores' Cup. Those chasing, led by 2008 winners GBR Red, with strong competition for second from France Blue in third and the potent Hong Kong team in fourth, did a good job to minimise the damage inflicted today: the Irish managing to extend the gap over the second-placed team, but only by 2.5 points.

Conditions were perfect for today's two races with brilliant sunshine and more breeze – 14-17 knots from the northwest for the first, dropping off to 10-15 for the second. First up was an inshore race around the length and breadth of the eastern Solent, followed by a shorter windward-leeward course set off Hill Head on the mainland shore.

In the big boat class race one saw a rare corrected time tie between Anthony O'Leary's Ker 39 Antix (IRL), maintaining her perfect scoreline for the Irish team, and Nicolas Loday and Jean Claude Nicoleau's Grand Soleil 43 Codiam in France Blue. While Antix remains the boat to beat among the big boats, it was Codiam that scored two bullets today.

"I think the conditions were ideal for our boat, which is a bit heavy and ideally needs about 15 knots," commented Nicolas Loday, racing his fourth Rolex Commodores' Cup, but his first in the Grand Soleil 43. "It is a boat that goes very well with flat water. It is not at all a boat that goes fast in the big waves or the choppy seas you get in the Channel. So today the conditions were perfect for this boat – like yesterday, but yesterday we made wrong tactical decisions. Today we kept close to the other boats and this paid off very well."

Perhaps it was coincidence, but in Class 2 another Grand Soleil 43 shone today with former RORC Commodore Peter Rutter's Quokka 8 (GBR Red) scoring two bullets ahead of UNCL Commodore Marc de Saint Denis and Géry Trentesaux's Coup de Coeur (FRA Blue) and Ireland's marinerscove.ie, belonging to David Dwyer. Quokka 8 rates at 1.103 under IRC compared to Codiam's 1.110 as the French boat has a larger sail plan.

Read more: France's Day, but Irish remain Front Runners