Jade Cole and Barney Walker sailing RMS, a Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300, won the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria’s Rudder Cup by just 38 minutes.
In this race, Walker and Cole sailed three-up with Jade’s husband Aaron, who is also their sailing coach, and showed they will be a pair to contend with in double-handed events.
RMS has also provisionally won IRC and ORCC handicap divisions and was second on PHS.
Guillaume Leroux’s Class 40 Lord Jiminy took line honours in the Melbourne to Devonport Race, in an elapsed time of 23 hours 29 minutes and 5 seconds for the 195nm race.
This is the boat’s third major victory in ORCV races, having taken line honours in the Melbourne to Stanley Race and the Melbourne to Hobart last year.
Jason Close’s J133 Patriot was third across the line and in third place in the AMS handicap division as they finished.
The Rudder Cup is Australia’s oldest sailing trophy, having first been contested in 1907. The race across Bass Strait is the fifth oldest ocean race in the world still being contested, predating the Fastnet by nearly 20 years and the Sydney Hobart by four decades.
The fleet can be tracked at https://race.bluewatertracks.com/2020-orcv-melbourne-to-devonport.
