The overall win under IRC for the Cowes to Le Havre (110nm) Cervantes Trophy Race was decided by just 13 seconds after more than 20 hours of racing.
Nicolas Dezeustre’s Sun Fast 3600 Princesse Gotionude II won overall, just 13 seconds ahead of Nick Martin’s Sun Fast 3600 Diablo, racing double handed with Joe Slipper.
Sam White’s JPK 10.80 Mzungu!, racing fully crewed, was third, only 1 minute 40 seconds behind the winner. Derek Shakespeare’s J/122 Bulldog was fourth, just 1 minute 54 seconds off the overall win.
After a tactical Channel race of light airs, shifting breeze and hard choices, the top four were separated by less than two minutes on IRC corrected time.

Cervantes Line Honours Winners:
Greg Leonard’s Class40 Mach 40.6 Swift took Monohull Line Honours in an elapsed time of 17Hrs 32Mins 28Secs.
First to finish in the IRC Fleet was Graeme Lewis’ CM60 Venomous in 17Hrs 54Mins 02Secs.
Multihull Line Honours went to Peter Coote’s Dazcat 1295 Slinky Malinki in 18Hrs 51Mins 47Secs and corrected out to win the Multihull Class.
Full results available here . . .
The Cervantes Trophy Race is the first race of the RORC Cowes Offshore Series.
The world’s largest offshore racing series, the RORC Season’s Points Championship, continues on 15 May. First raced in 1931, the RORC North Sea Race is one of the Club’s longest standing offshore races, linking the UK and the Netherlands.
Starting from outside the Royal Harwich Yacht Club across a demanding 165nm North Sea course, the North Sea Race finishes off Scheveningen, Netherlands.