With the Rolex Commodores’ Cup kicking off this weekend on the Solent, teams are this morning flooding into Cowes in preparation for the first two short inshore races on Monday.

A total of 13 three-teams representing six nations (Great Britain, Republicof Ireland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Russia) have signed up for the event which promises to be one the most competitive in the event’s eight-year history.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club for national teams racing under the IRC rating rule and held every two years, the Rolex Commodores’ Cup was developed tooffer an alternative to the RORC’s fully professional flagship offshore event, the Admiral’s Cup.

Currently held by Great Britain, the Rolex Commodores’ Cup is a national team event. Teams are made up of three boats (small, medium and large) where 50 per cent of each crew must be a resident or a national of the countrybeing represented. The three boats of each team fit into three distinct IRC rating bands.

Resultsare calculated using a corrected time handicap system based on the IRC rule, and each boat’sposition in its respective fleet, contributes to the team’s overall position.

Although the Commodores’ Cup is currently held by Great Britain, the four-strong GBR team has plenty of stiff competition to face up to including a strong Irish contingent who is keen complete some unfinished business. Two year’s ago Team Ireland came close to an overall win so this year they’ve come back with three highly competitive teams including Ireland Orange – Colm Barirington who’s had a brand-new Ker 50 (Magic Glove) built especially for the occasion.

Fintan Cairns, commodore of the Irish Cruiser Racer Association commented: “They came so close last time and we were encouraged by that. It was important to have more than one team, so we got all interested owners together and left them to develop it from there and they have gone the full hog and got new boats built.”

The Irish onslaught has affected the campaigns from other nations, most noticeably France and Great Britain, both also fielding multiple triple boat teams.

“With the work the Irish have been doing, everyone has had to raise their game” believes the RYA’s Dave Atkinson, who was part of the panel selecting the British teams. “They probably started directly after the last event to plan what they were going to do, which has forced everyone to go down the same line.”

Unlike the Irish boats, where owners were allowed to set up their own teams, the RYA’s selection panel led by Olympic medallist Iain MacDonald-Smith chose the GBR squad. Once the three big, medium and small boats were chosen, the selection panel then grouped them together into teams. Like the Irish teams, the British ones are not divided according strictly to merit, but are all equally strong reckons Atkinson.

Alongside the two Farr 52s Bear of Britain and Chernikeef 2, the third British big boat competing is the brand new Ker 46 of John Shepherd. This will be Shepherd’s fourth Rolex Commodores’ Cup since he first raced his Mumm 36 in 2000. As with Barrington’s Ker 50 Flying Glove, so Shepherd’s new Fair Do’s VII was built for inshore and offshore racing in the UK, but primarily with competing in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup in mind.

While Fair Do’s VII is a new boat and so potentially faster than her competition Shepherd says they are still attempting to iron out some small teething problems, something not the case with their Irish opposition. “We had a good run at the IRC Nationals, although we were second and consistently beaten by Tiamat,” he says of the Irish competition. “They are a year ahead of us but we are hoping we have worked out a few of the glitches and can take them on.”

Shepherd’s crew on Fair Do’s VII includes RYA Olympic Sailing Manager Stephen Park and Olympic coaching legend David Howlett. “We are sailing with the same Corinthian spirit we have always done and I hope we will be able to compete in a professional way but as amateurs.” Racing alongside Fair Dos VII in the GBR White team will be IMX 40 Maverick of Dominic Chappell and Quokka, the Elan 37 cruiser/racer of former RORC Commodore Peter Rutter.

In GBR Black is Peter Harrison’s Chernikeef 2, crewed by a mixture of young talent including two-time youth match racing national champion Nick Cherry. They are joined by Jack Pringle’s IMX 40 Mankie and Jim MacGregor’s Elan 40 Civils Building with Flair, both two solid campaigners on the UK circuit.

Meanwhile Bear of Britain will be in the same GBR Red team as Ian Maclean’s brand-new Ker 36 Software Mistress on which top world ranked British match racer Ian Williams is sailing, and No Doubt, one of the first examples of Beneteau’s brand new 34.7 cruiser/racer.

The British Rolex Commodores’ Cup team suffered some tragic news when earlier this week offshore yachtsman and Bear of Britain co-owner Kit Hobday died after a long battle against cancer. Hobday captained the winning GBR Red team to victory in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup two years ago.

Peter Wykeham-Martin – RORC General Manager – paid tribute to Hobday commenting: “He was a staunch supporter of offshore sailing both in the Admiral’s Cup and Rolex Commodores’ Cup and his encouragement of youth sailing has brought forward a new generation of offshore sailors.”

Unlike the Irish boats, where owners were allowed to set up their own teams, the RYA’s selection panel led by Olympic medallist Iain MacDonald-Smith chose the GBR squad. Once the three big, medium and small boats were chosen, the selection panel then grouped them together into teams. Like the Irish teams, the British ones are not divided according strictly to merit, but are all equally strong reckons Atkinson.

Alongside the two Farr 52s Bear of Britain and Chernikeef 2, the third British big boat competing is the brand new Ker 46 of John Shepherd. This will be Shepherd’s fourth Rolex Commodores’ Cup since he first raced his Mumm 36 in 2000. As with the Irish big boat Colm Barrington’s Ker 50 Flying Glove, so Shepherd’s new Fair Do’s VII was built for inshore and offshore racing in the UK, but primarily with competing in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup in mind.

“The Irish have gone about it in a very professional way,” says Shepherd agreeing that the Irish have raised the game. “They were miffed they didn’t win it last time. They want to win it, but we are happy to take them on. It is all good for competition.”

While Fair Do’s VII is a new boat and so potentially faster than her competition Shepherd says they are still attempting to iron out some small teething problems, something not the case with their Irish opposition. “We had a good run at the IRC Nationals, although we were second and consistently beaten by Tiamat,” he says of the Irish competition. “They are a year ahead of us but we are hoping we have worked out a few of the glitches and can take them on.”

Shepherd’s crew on Fair Do’s VII includes RYA Olympic Sailing Manager Stephen Park and Olympic coaching legend David Howlett. “We are sailing with the same Corinthian spirit we have always done and I hope we will be able to compete in a professional way but as amateurs.” Racing alongside Fair Dos VII in the GBR White team will be IMX 40 Maverick of Dominic Chappell and Quokka, the Elan 37 cruiser/racer of former RORC Commodore Peter Rutter.

In GBR Black is Peter Harrison’s Chernikeef 2, crewed by a mixture of young talent including two-time youth match racing national champion Nick Cherry. They are joined by Jack Pringle’s IMX 40 Mankie and Jim MacGregor’s Elan 40 Civils Building with Flair, both two solid campaigners on the UK circuit. Meanwhile Bear of Britain will be in the same GBR Red team as Ian Maclean’s brand new Ker 36 Software Mistress on which top world ranked British match racer Ian Williams is sailing, and No Doubt, one of the first examples of Beneteau’s brand new 34.7 cruiser/racer.

The British Rolex Commodores’ Cup team suffered some tragic news when earlier this week offshore yachtsman and Bear of Britain co-owner Kit Hobday died after a long battle against cancer. Hobday captained the winning GBR Red team to victory in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup two years ago.

“He was a staunch supporter of offshore sailing both in the Admiral’s Cup and Rolex Commodores’ Cup and his encouragement of youth sailing has brought forward a new generation of offshore sailors,” said RORC General Manager Peter Wykeham-Martin in tribute to Hobday.

Racing takes place over six days and includes seven inshore races, a short passage/coastal race next Wednesday of up to 12 hours, and a final 24-36 hour offshore race finishing on Saturday week.

Team line-up
Ireland Orange: Magic Glove (Colm Barrington), Jump Juice (Conor and Denise Phelan), Antix (Anthony O’Leary)

Ireland Green: Tiamat (Tom Costello), Blondie (Eammon Rohan), No Naked Flames (Andrew Alen/Colm Monahan)

Ireland White: Marinerscove.ie1 (David Dwyer), Marinerscove.ie2 (David Dwyer), Checkmate (Mike McCarthy)

Russia: Murka 2 (Misha Mouratov), Juga (Sergey Bryuzga), Zarafa (Vladimir Loginov)

Belgium: Moana (Francois Goubau), Oxigen (Alex de Cock), Ship Shop Aqua-holic (Bernard Wilmet/Phillippe Bergmans)

Holland: Fatboy (Robertjan Zonneveld), Roark (Kees Kaan), Swisslife (Ralph Berkmans)

France Blue: Courrier du Coeur (Géry Trentesaux), Paprec Recyclage (Stephane Névé), Batistyl (Cyrille Legloahec)

France White: Codiam (Jean-Claude Nicoleau), Guyader (Erwan Dubois), TBS (Pierre Follenfant)

France Red: Saga (Alain Foulquier), AON (Jacques Pelletier), Pen Azen (Philippe Delaporte)

GBR Blue (Scotland): Exabyte III (Dave Cullen), Absolutely II (Kelly/Bramall/Plummer), Salamander XVIII (John Corson)

GBR White: Fair Do’s VII (John Shepherd), Maverick II (Dominic Chappell), Quokka (Peter Rutter)

GBR Red: Bear of Britain (Kit Hobday), Software Mistress (Ian Maclean), No Doubt (Chris and Hannah Neve)

GBR Black: Chernikeef 2 (Peter Harrison), Mankie (Jack Pringle), Civils Building with Flair (Jim MacGregor)