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Home / News / Offshore Racing at LCSC
Home / News / Offshore Racing at LCSC

Offshore Racing at LCSC

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Published 16:56 on 7 Aug 2022

They say you can find the magicians of sail trim in light winds and if that's true this race needed some wizardry. A start at Cowes which seemed more of a drift than a charge for the line saw four boats with Corinthians crews take on one of the oldest races in the RORC calendar. Jazz, Jengu, Petruchio and Tango were among a fleet of over a hundred boats racing for the King Edward VII cup.

On Jazz, we were grateful for the tide as that accounted for the majority of our ground speed for the first leg from Cowes to the needles. Wind of less than five knots made boat speed tortuous and strict instructions not to make unnecessary movements were issued to the crew.

Jengu and Petruchio edged out past the needles ahead of Jazz and Tango and finally there was some breeze we could work with. We sailed out into the Channel and the differences in tactics started to become apparent with Petruchio taking a westward track, Jazz and Tango taking a more eastward track and Jengu sailing straight down the middle.

By the time we'd got to Casquets, refueled the crew with a delicious Canelloni, Jazz had sneaked ahead of Jengu and Petruchio. Positions were maintained going round Les Hanois, albeit with Tango now snapping at our heels until we fell into another windhole and spent two hours going backwards relative to our rivals.

The last leg would normally be a drag race into St Malo but again the lack of wind made it a tactical cat and mouse game. My genius plan of casting out west and counting on the tide to swing us into the finish was thwarted by the wind filling in from the east. We spent the last few hours hopefully watching Petruchio and Jengu, convinced we could catch them, and nervously watching Tango catching up fast from behind. In the end we held those positions over the line and we were pleased with our final result with a respectable mid fleet finish.

Beers and a meal in the old town of St Malo on Saturday evening before sailing back the next morning with a quick stop for lunch in St Peters Port, Guernsey completed the experience.

Final Results (on IRC corrected time)

Jengu 38th Overall (19th in class)

Petruchio 67th Overall (32nd in class)

Jazz 84th Overall (13th in class)

Tango 86th Overall (15th in class)

Last updated 10:35 on 18 February 2024

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