IRC Nationals – Day 1

July 18, 2015

Friday 17 July 2015 – The first day of the 2015 IRC Nationals proved to be a windy and challenging day. There was a strong South-Westerly wind between 20 and 28 knots and our courses were laid in the Western Solent. Our class, IRC 3, consisted of 17 boats with the top rated boat being of our friend Peter Morton.

Our team comprised Harry Heijst, Leen Hoogmoed, Laura Dillon, John Coffey, Herman Lammerts van Bueren, Hidde Kroon, Floris Oud and your truly.

We sailed three races and managed to get a 6th, a 3rd and a 4th place. We had some issues getting the first windward in the first race and had to follow the leaders in our fleet. We however made little mistakes and managed to keep up reasonably well and finished sixth.

The second race the wind came up and more boats were struggling. These conditions however suited as well and we were in full control and able to power along under the no. 2 Genoa. Downwind it was clear that more boats were struggling in the breeze, lots of them were wiping out. Right next to us, Boomerang went into a Chinese jibe and hit Bengal Magic. Also, the Belgian boat Sorcier Noir lost its rig. Fortunately we managed to keep it all together and keep control of the boat during the windy downwind legs. We sailed a nice clean race and managed to come in third on handicap.

Please click below for a video showing Winsome powering through the fleet at the second start. Click here

During the third race it became clear that the wind was taking its toll on the fleet. Only 8 out of the 17 boats finished the race. We switched back to the no. 3 Genoa as we were getting overpowered. Despite that we felt slightly underpowered we weren’t doing too bad. Downwind it was again a demolition derby with a couple of the remaining boats wiping out and Malice even losing its rig. We made a big mistake at the second downwind leg by realising much too late that the port mark was much. Fortunately, we sailed a good beat after that and a clean downwind leg without getting into trouble. This resulted in a 4th place and left us overall in fifth position, tied in on points with number four.

The report for 18 July is to follow tomorrow.

All the best

Joost Dantuma