Cora wins RORC IRC Double-Handed Nationals
by Louay Habib / RORC 11 Sep 11:29 UTC
9 September 2023
RORC IRC Double-Handed fleet in the Solent - 2023 RORC IRC Double-Handed Nationals © Rick Tomlinson / RORC
It's been quite a year for Tim Goodhew and Kelvin Matthews racing Sun Fast 3200 Cora. Following on from winning IRC Two-Handed and IRC Three for the 2023 RORC Season's Points Championship, Cora has become the Royal Ocean Racing Club's 2023 IRC Double-Handed National Champions.
Cora won the Salcombe Gin Castle Rock Race at the beginning of the month and scored a double-win on Saturday 09 September in the final race. Cora took Line Honours and the win after IRC time correction for Race Two. Last year's championship winner, Mike Yates' J/109 JAGO, racing with Will Holland, was second to Cora by narrow margins in both races. Rob Craigie's Sun Fast 3600 Bellino was third for the championship. In Race Two, Kathy Claydon's Arcona 370 Arcsine, racing with Phil Kirk, finished third after IRC time correction.
With very light airs and neap tide, the course for the final race of the IRC Double-Handed National Championship started from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line to the west, then south of the Isle of Wight, leaving Bridge and St Catherine's Point to Port. The RORC fleet continued east to Owers, but with the forecast wind increase not materialising, the race was shortened to a finish off West Princessa.
"I think we got a great start, and that was critical; you had to nail that first leg," commented Cora's Tim Goodhew. "The Western Solent was really tricky with two winds fighting each other. It is something that we have seen before and we had a plan to deal with it, but you had to have your head out of the boat, because every situation is different. The teams that sailed to the island side did well at first, but we were to the north and the better breeze came off the mainland shore. After that, timing when to head south was crucial. At Hurst we got onto the south-westerly sea breeze sooner and that is where we extended. The highest IRC rated boat in the fleet, Tigris was the only boat ahead of us. The race was not done and dusted but it made a huge difference for the remainder of the race.
Approaching St Catherine's we were reaching in a light south-westerly, as expected the breeze accelerated to about eight knots, we were going well flying our Code Zero. We were getting headed, and as we expected the wind to decrease after St Catherine's. Due to our good start in The Solent, we made it past the headland in the last of the slack tide. We got to our favoured northerly position without having to fight the current, which was starting to rip around St Catherine's. The breeze did arrive from the north, which really suited us, but we would have never got to that location if we hadn't had such a good start. The result was really rewarding, because winning in light airs requires making very few mistakes, and I don't think we left much out there." Concluded Cora's Tim Goodhew.
After organising well over 2000 miles of racing in Europe since April, for more than 500 different teams, The Royal Ocean Racing Club's domestic season has come to a close with a message from RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole.
"A huge thank you to the RORC Race Team, especially the volunteers who play a huge part in helping to organise the racing. Well done to all the team at the RORC Cowes Clubhouse, which has made all of the sailors welcome with excellent events throughout the summer. Above all thank you to the competitors for choosing to race with the RORC. We look forward to assisting the Royal Malta Yacht Club with the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October, and we are all looking forward to the RORC Annual Dinner and Prize Giving in London on 2nd December; I am sure that will be a fantastic celebration. The next race organised by RORC will be the 15th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race, the 3000-mile race across the Atlantic starts from Marina Lanzarote on 7th January."
For more information about the Royal Ocean Racing Club: www.rorc.org