40 | THE YACHTING YEAR 2018
Editor of Yachts & Yachting, Georgie Corlett-Pitt, on what
she is looking forward to in the racing world in 2018
THE
YEAR AHEAD FOR
RACING SAILORS
2018 promises to be yet another action-packed year for
UK racing sailors. If you are competing yourself, there is
a multitude of events to take part in. There’s also ample
opportunity to soak up some of the very best that the
professional sailing world has to oer, with the UK playing
host to several top level events this summer, not to
mention a plethora of innovations, exciting launches and
new campaigns to look forward to...IRC EUROPEANS COME TO COWES
FIRST EVER OFFSHORE SAILING
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
An undoubted highlight of this summer, the Spinlock IRC
European Championships, organised by the Royal Ocean
Racing Club, comes relatively early in the season (8-16 June).
RORC will be pulling out all the stops and Cowes is set to
welcome more than 100 entries for the nine-day event, more
than doubling the numbers attracted to last year’s event in
Marseille and 2016’s inaugural championship in Cork.
Entry is open to boats with a rating between 1.00 and 1.27.
Some fantastic racing is promised, with mix of 10 inshore and
oshore races, highlights of which will be special round the
island race (11 June) and a 150nm oshore race (13 June).
For the first time, the event will also incorporate the
Commodore’s Cup, a biennial team event where each three-
boat team can have no more than one World Sailing Cat 3
sailor on board, meaning the event is a strictly amateur aair,
with teams representing their nation, club or region. Entries
open in January and it will be eagerly anticipated to see
which nations enter. It was first sailed in 1992 as a Corinthian
take on the Admiral’s Cup. In 2016, when the event was last
held, the French took victory; a British team last won in 2012.
Also of note in 2018 will be the first ever combined
ORC/IRC Oshore Sailing World Championship, being
competed for in The Hague from 12-20 July.
It is the first time that the two leading handicap
systems will have joined forces, and some 150 teams are
anticipated. Keelboats of between 9-20m LOA, with IRC
or ORC ratings, will sail a combination of inshore and
oshore courses..QUADRENNIAL BATTLE - ROUND
BRITAIN AND IRELAND RACE
Immediately following Cowes Week, on 12 August, the
quadrennial Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race sets
o from the Royal Yacht Squadron start line on its 1,805nm
west-bound circumnavigation of the British Isles, taking in
all the islands including Muckle Fluga.
Organised by RORC, it will be a strong fleet that takes
on this gritty test of oshore sailing, with hopes of break-
ing the record. A star studded fleet contested the race
last time, with an incredible five new world records set
thanks to a low pressure dominating over the northern
UK. Famously, the MOD 70 Musandam-Oman Sail didn’t
tack once. In the monohulls, Ian Walker’s VO65 Abu Dhabi
Ocean Racing led the way in an incredible 4 days 13 hours
and 10 minutes and 28 seconds to set a new record. Will
conditions be prime for smashing that? It will be
interesting to see how the new generation of foil-assisted
oshore keelboats impacts on the records.
In the double-handed category, several IMOCA 60s will
be using the event to warm-up for the solo Route du Rhum
Race and 2019’s Barcelona World Race. A strong line-up of
Class 40s is expected, with hopes of smashing the class’ 8
days, 19 hours and 6 minutes race record.
This testing endurance race also attracts amateur crews
in the open IRC fleets; with a $20,000 voucher from
sponsor Sevenstar for worldwide yacht transportation up
for grabs for the overall winner under IRC, there’s all the
more reason to enter.PROCTOR CENTENARY
One of the most influential dinghy designers of all time,
Ian Proctor was the man behind more than 100 boat de-
signs, innovative spar developments, not to mention being
a hugely talented sailor himself. 2018 marks 100 years
since his birth and there are plans to celebrate his career
with an exhibition at the RYA Dinghy Show and a com-
memorative regatta later in the year. His influence touched
so many classes, from the Merlin Rocket to the Wayfarer,
the Topper to the Bosun.Ian Proctor was
one of the most
influential dinghy
designersTYY4 Year ahead Y&Y.indd 40 04/12/2017 15:12