SAILING: A final race win by the France Red Team provided the coupe de grâce to the Rolex Commodore's Cup series at Cowes yesterday when the dominant squad won the seven-day event with ease. Ireland's two teams had mixed fortunes but both ended in the bottom half of the scoreboard.
In fact, France Red Team's two IMX 40-footers, Courier Nord and Fastwave 3, plus their X442 Clin D'Oeil didn't even need to sail the final race, such was their lead after Saturday's long inshore course. The Netherlands too, as runners-up, were assured of their position, with a host of nations in the running for third place as consolation.
But in reality, this event was effectively decided by Wednesday's 24-hour short offshore course that counted for a quadruple points bonus. A lull in the breeze at a time when it is understood the race committee were considering shortening course transformed the course in the favour of the small boats, and these fared best throughout the week.
Had that race ended sooner, Ireland Team Orange's 50-footer, Mandrake, was leading on corrected time. "Had we ended then, Mandrake would have won that race and would have been top boat in the series," said Mandrake's Wicklow-based designer Mark Mills. "However, I'm especially pleased that we were able to beat all the Farr 52 footers and end as best big boat of the week." That result joins with Mills' Thunder 2 design Class Zero win at Ford Cork Week last month.
Nevertheless, Ireland Orange missed out on a very achievable fourth place overall yesterday. While Mandrake and their Corby 41.5-footer Carphone Warehouse scored a fifth and a 15th respectively, Dún Laoghaire's Gloves Off was 24th after the 38-footer had handling difficulties for the finale, but still ended as the highest scoring Irish yacht in the event. They ended one point off fifth and three off fourth.
In contrast, at least for the final day, Ireland Green had their best day of the series as some consolation for ending last overall. Roy Dickson's Corby 40 Cracklin' Rosie produced a brilliant sixth place after a great starting line position gave the Howth and Royal Cork crew clear air and a fast getaway.
Simon Brown and Deirdre Hornecks' Prima 38 White Knuckles 2, of the Royal St George YC, revelled in the 12-15 knot breeze to score a 20th, their second best result of the series. Ger O'Rourke's Grant Thornton-sponsored Chieftain took 32nd and the resulting seventh place for the day was their best group performance that closed the gap on tenth placed Belgium to just six points.
"It was a nice way to finish the event," said Dickson yesterday. "At least we came and tried, though we were certainly conquered in the end." As for another entry, he observed: "I wouldn't do it again, personally, it's too like the Admiral's Cup - professional. You could actually buy this event by picking the top boats, sails and crew and just pay for it all - I've said this to the RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club)."
White Knuckle's owners also enjoyed the experience overall: "We're totally happy we came here which was for many reasons," said Brown. "On our boat we had lots of people who haven't been exposed to international competition, so the best thing to do was to come here and try it. The standard is very high and the first and last boats are only separated by six minutes on corrected time."
Virtually all the crews are united on the humour front. The mere suggestion of Irish club level crews making the jump into the deep end that is the Admiral's Cup next summer produced wry smiles and comments, borne of nine gruelling races against the well-resourced, well-planned and aggressively executed teams that will form the backbone of July's contest in Dún Laoghaire.
