The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Channel Race had it all . . . zero to 25 knots of wind, and sunshine to heavy rain.
The Admiral’s Cup got underway with a light-wind start from Cowes for the 160nm Channel Race on Saturday. By the finish at 06:01 hrs Sunday morning it was Niklas Zennström’s AC1 Carkeek 52 Rán (KSSS) that took race line honours for the Admiral’s Cup fleet.
But after IRC time correction, Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s Wally Rocket 51 Django scored the best corrected time. Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste (RHKYC) corrected out in second by less than six minutes with Rán taking third.
In AC2, James Murray’s B&C 42 Callisto (RNZYS) took class line honours and the best corrected time for the class.
Second after IRC time correction was Jolt 6 (YCM), co-skippered by Pierre Casiraghi & Tom Dawson. Karl Kwok’s Botin 41 Beau Ideal (RHKYC), skippered by Christopher Cowan, was third after IRC time correction.
Class winners of the RORC Channel Race: include Volvo 70 Green Dragon, skippered by Danqi Wang, Hanno Ziehm’s Marten 49 Moana, Sam White’s JPK 1080 Muzungu!, Mark Brown’s JPK 1010 Jetpack and Daniel Jones’ Class40 Gambit.
With the Channel Race concluded, it has become brutally apparent that the level of competition in the Admiral’s Cup is fierce. With such a wide range of boat designs, predicting what made for a winning performance in the Channel Race is no easy task.
But one thing stands out, when you look at the IRC corrected times for all 30 boats: the top six boats are all from AC2. That’s a striking statistic – and serious food for thought.
With a lay day on Monday 21 July, the Admiral’s Cup action returns on Tuesday 22 July with the first day of inshore racing for the series.
Admiral’s Cup Race Results after Race 1
