Since the 1940s, the Royal Ocean Racing Club has organised a season of multiple races and organised the first RORC Season’s Points Championship in 2000 using the IRC Rating System.
The series quickly became, and still is, the largest racing series in the world of offshore racing. For 2023, buoyed by the 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, over 600 boats from across the globe are expected to be racing with the Royal Ocean Racing Club. The competition for every race is fierce, the trophies are part of the history of yachting, many dating back even further than the RORC, which was established in 1925.
The 2023 RORC Season’s Points Championship began with the Rolex Middle Sea Race in October 2022, followed by the RORC Transatlantic Race in January 2023 and the RORC Caribbean 600 in February 2023. RORC Vice Commodore Eric de Turckheim, racing his NMD 54 Teasing Machine, has two overall victories to lead the 2023 RORC Season’s Points Championship. From April, the focus moves back to Europe. The majority of the 12 remaining races will start from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, Cowes, IOW.
Since 2000, only one boat 50ft or over has won the RORC Season’s Points Championship; Ger O’Rourke’s Cookson 50, Chieftain in 2006. More often than not, a production yacht with a Corinthian Team wins the RORC Season’s Points Championship, arguably the most competitive offshore series in the world.
Whilst the Rolex Fastnet Race is the showcase race of the 2023 series, there are 15 testing races that make up the championship. Trying to win the RORC Season’s Points Championship is a real challenge but every race has its own coveted prize for the overall winner under IRC and for class honours. Special prizes for the season include the Somerset Memorial Trophy for RORC Yacht of the Year and The Jazz Trophy for the Overall Winner under IRC of the RORC Season’s Points Championship.
RORC Rear Commodore Richard Palmer, racing JPK 1010 Jangada in IRC Two-Handed, won the 2022 RORC Season’s Points Championship and was RORC Yacht of the Year. Richard had been trying to win the competition since 2018.
“There is nothing like time on the water to get to know the race courses, especially the tides and headlands” commented Richard Palmer. “Reliability is also a key factor; good preparation eliminates points of failure. Some races work in your favour and others don’t so the more races that you do the better your five races that count towards the series trophies.”
Having won overall last year, Richard Palmer has a different focus for Jangada for 2023. “It is a slightly different emphasis this time,” continued Palmer. “I will be racing two qualifying races and the Rolex Fastnet Race with my daughter Sophie and the IRC Double-Handed Europeans with Rupert Holmes: La Trinité – Cowes and then Cowes – St Malo. I raced with my daughter in the 2000 miles Azores and Back but she hasn’t raced with me since then, so it will be great fun to spend some time with Sophie on a Fastnet Campaign. The IRC Class that Jangada race in has such a great community spirit, especially with the Two-handed teams and the standard is just improving all the time. I am sure it will be a great experience with Rupert in the European Championship followed by a fantastic Rolex Fastnet Race. Sophie and I are both looking forward to the celebrations in Cherbourg.”
Jangada will be racing in IRC Two-Handed, double-handed racing with the RORC has seen exponential growth over the last 20 years and that is set to continue. In 2022, 85 teams completed races in the double-handed discipline and this year IRC Two-Handed teams in the RORC Season’s Points Championship are likely to exceed 100.
Second in the 2022 RORC Season’s Points Championship overall was Tim Goodhew & Kelvin Matthews racing Sun Fast 3200 Cora. The young team will be starting off this year’s championship by defending their overall win in the Cervantes Trophy Race. RORC member Tim Goodhew first raced double-handed with his father Nigel, on board Sigma 38 Persephone in the 2013 Rolex Fastnet Race. Tim is now serving on the RORC Committee and spoke about Cora’s goals for the season.
“For 2023, Kelvin and I are focussed on IRC 3 and IRC Two-Handed in the RORC Seasons Points,” confirmed Tim Goodhew. “We are also aiming to do the Offshore Double Handed Europeans from La Trinité – Cowes – St Malo, so that will be something new and interesting and it would be amazing to do well. The 50th Rolex Fastnet Race is going to be a huge experience and our final goal is to defend the UK Double-Handed Offshore Series, which we’ve been fortunate enough to win two times running.”
Third for the 2022 RORC Season was Sun Fast 3300 Chilli Pepper raced two-handed by the father and daughter duo of Ellie and Jim Driver. The 20-year-old RORC Member Ellie Driver was voted Sailor of the Year at the 2022 British Yachting Awards. “Dad and I are really excited for the start of the season, working towards the Rolex Fastnet Race which looks like an epic double handed entry of 100+ boats,” commented Ellie Driver. “I’m looking forward to putting all our learnings from the past two years with the boat into another Fastnet campaign and then improving some more!”
RORC Commodore James Neville has been racing with the RORC for over 30 years and joined the Club after completing the 1993 Fastnet Race. Neville’s former boat, HH42 Ino XXX, has won class in the championship on several occasions and was second overall under IRC for the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. This year, James Neville will be racing his new Carkeek 45 Ino Noir in IRC Zero for the RORC Season’s Points Championship.
“IRC Zero is looking super competitive this year with boats such as Rán and Teasing Machine at the larger end and Phosphorus II at the other, all getting their miles in prior to the Rolex Fastnet Race,” commented James Neville. “It is going to be an amazing season with classic Channel based races followed by the 50th Fastnet Race. Every race is going to be a real challenge with large fleets making any podium finishes a true test.”
RORC Racing Manager Steve Cole and his team are hard at work preparing and planning logistics for the world’s biggest offshore racing series.
“The RORC Season’s Points Championship takes a huge amount of planning especially as this year, we have several races that will attract well over 200 boats and close to 500 are expected for the Rolex Fastnet Race,” commented Steve Cole. “The Race Management team is just as excited about the championship as the competitors. RORC races have always attracted the hi-tech boats, crewed by top professionals, but the vast majority of the sailors are passionate amateurs and every boat and crew member is treated in the same way. Despite the challenges that the crews take on, all they want to know when they cross the finish line is their result. The new SailRaceHQ system updates as the boats cross the line, so every team knows if they have had a cracking race or there is room for improvement for the next one.”
