IRC BOATS

Swedish built Ericsson 4 fastest monohull in the World (602nm in 24 hours)

Howth Autumn League

Class 1 honours went out of Howth, with Paul O'Higgins' 'Rockabill V' from National YC holding a narrow lead on IRC and 'Mumbo', Dermot Cronin's J35 from Malahide heading the ECHO standings.

Harry Byrne's 'Alphida' won Class 5 and 'Kinetic' (Murphy & Colwell) had the biggest winning margin on IRC of any class when winning Class 2 (although visitor Conor Ronan's 'Ruthless' had a bigger lead on ECHO in the same class). 'King One' (Bourke & Cullen) won the Class 2 IRC Restricted Division.

Great results, Corby 33s 'Rockabill V' and 'Contango' 1st and 2nd in Class 1 and Corby 26 'Ruthless' 3rd in class 2. Most successful Corby designs still the production range from www.ircboats.com

Results www.hyc.ie/results

Disagreement with John Corby over royalties

We have until now chosen not to answer the allegations that John Corby have openly posted on his site.

This is a disagreement that should be held between two business partners and not in public. Our customers clearly deserves an explanation, so here is our response.

We started this business as a 50/50 partnership in September 2004. We have worked according to this agreement until a request from John Corby, he now wants a royalty-based business model, which we have agreed to. This will be effective for new boats.

We are working on getting this and old issues agreed and signed in contract, and have no intention not to pay John Corby.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get back to me.

Best Regards,

Fredrik

Hong Kong - Vietnam Race 2008

IRC Div A
Sail No            Boat                         Elapsed    Handicap    Corrected
HKG2112        Hi Fi                         56:06:37    1.336        74:57:48
GBR88R           Island Fling             56:46:21    1.348        76:31:46
HKG2238        FfreeFire52              60:17:10    1.334        80:25:18
NZL11011       Full Metal Jacket     69:15:52    1.219        84:26:00
HKG2166        Fortis Mandrake      RET            1.279        RET

Living Doll, the new Farr 55

The HSBC Premier Coastal Classic from Auckland to Russell started yesterday and five hours into the race and for one reason or another, more than a quarter (70 boats) of the fleet have already pulled out. The breeze is 20-30 knots from the north-east, so a good headwind, but in most cases it’s the seastate and not the wind strength that is the problem. As the smaller boats get closer to Kawau we’re expecting more to drop out. Need for Speed (aka Predictweather.com) was first to radio in at Flat Rock, ahead of the big fifty footers. Race website is www.coastalclassic.co.nz. Pictured is Living Doll, the new Farr 55 built by Cookson Boats and launched last week for Melbourne owner Michael Hiatt.

Alegre takes Rolex Middle Sea Race Line Honours

Alegre the Mills Design IRC 68 was first to finish in the Rolex Middle Sea Race yesterday morning, followed by a pair of STP65s: Moneypenny crossing 35 minutes later and Rosebud finishing nearly 6.5 hours after Alegre. Alegre won first the tactical battle of the first half of the race in light airs, and then the drag race to the finish once into the steadier winds beyond Capo San Vito.  With 250 nm left to go at that point the winds were 12-15 knots and seas were typical for the region: short, sharp and steep for a close reaching boatspeed race against Moneypenny to the finish, during which Alegre pulled out more than enough time to win the big boat Division 1 on handicap from her similarly sized Mini-Maxi rivals.

Navigator Will Best was on his first Rolex Middle Sea Race and was clearly delighted to have won Line Honours modestly put it down to some lucky breaks.  Owner and regular helm Andy Soriano was happy to be heading home with Alegre's maiden offshore Line Honours and a Rolex Chronometer. “We're thrilled, absolutely thrilled. It's a culmination of a lot of hard work, including a few people who aren't with us who contributed greatly to the team effort. It's a tribute to my son, who put the crew together. It is a cohesive group of both amateur and professional sailors. Beating some of the top sailors in the world is a credit to the boys who just kept fighting” commented Soriano.

This team ethos is reflected throughout the project: engineered by Team Alinghi members SDK, built by Newport yard NEB, and with a Hall Spars US rig and a sail inventory designed by Kevin George of North Sails UK, Alegre has developed at every event since her launch in May to become a leading contender in the Mini-Maxi fleet.  She will spend the winter preparing for the Mini-Maxi circuit in the Med next year which promises to be some of the most competitive big boat racing anywhere in the world in 2009.

Ambush Takes Asia by Storm

The Mills Design IRC 41 Ambush owned by Drew Taylor and Joachim Isler stormed to the front of Hong Kong’s top Big Boat event, the 2008 China Coast Regatta run by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.  With a tally of 1,1,1,1,1,3 Ambush with Dave Ullman calling the shots had wrapped up the win without needing to sail the final race of what turned out to be a tough regatta in strong breezes and a very steep lumpy seas.   The dominance of Ambush over a competitive range of recent custom and production IRC designs was highlighted by the corrected time deltas: over an average race length of 1hr30 mins her average winning margin was over 3 minutes, reflecting the talent of the owners on helm and mainsheet on tight courses in testing conditions.

Ambush which also straight-bulleted the Hong Kong BMW Autumn Regatta last month in light-medium flat water conditions, is a custom IRC design built by McConaghy’s China, reflecting the attention to detail and finish they are known for, with a sail program overseen by Dave Ullman of Ullman Sails.  Designer Mark Mills who sailed with Ambush for the China Coast Regatta commented “With Ambush we were given the opportunity to combine a dedicated IRC design with a progressive styling theme with rounded coachroof, faceted sheerline, and flush retracting sprit; and wrap it around a 3-cabin interior that would get used for family cruising in the beautiful South China Sea.  I think the result is spectacular on all counts, it’s fantastic to see it being campaigned so well.”

Corby 26 'Casper' Race report by owner Vincent

Report translated into English (with reservations for getting the translations done correct)

An anthology racing Corby 26 'Casper'

Casper our Corby 26 has made its 2nd race on September 20. The program of the League of regattas Courseulles, the tower of St Marcouf islands, a beautiful journey of 80 miles and the weather for a northeast wind of force 4. In fact, we had up to 30 knots of wind! 

The first buoy was 5 miles departure, in the axis of wind, which allowed us to demonstrate the potential of the boat upwind. The winds were NE at around 12 knots, a feast for the boat upwind. We spend the first mark more than 4 minutes to music, a formidable first 32S5 and other competitors were already far behind. 
           
Followed a board spinnaker (2) to 115 ° wind of 10 miles. The wind began to cool to 18 knots. The gap with the second remained stable. 

The third leg was a long board reaching 7.5 miles, the wind continued to climb to 25 knots, we took a risk. We were too canvas and we should have put the Solent. 

At the buoy "Cussy, 9 miles off the coast, the sea was strong, we attacked the 4th board with a little too optimistic by sending directly starboard tack the spinnaker S4. A 2 on board alone, we have not managed to stabilize with the power of the waves and almost the crash. Seeing that we were not on the road, we tried a jibe rush to readjust on the road, but in these conditions lacking arms, we started to surge with a indescribable chaos on board. The time affaler the spinnaker, delivering everything in order to restore road, 32S5, parties quietly on the road with its international pole we had almost 1 mile. 

The 5th board was fabulous, to rebuild our backlog, we sent our 3rd spi code 5, asymmetrical small breeze. A 120-130 ° of wind, sea and the waves were strong, we did some long surfs lasted over 20 seconds, reaching over 15 knots speedo. In surfing, we catch up with waves that preceded the boat and the bridge was submerged in water, unbelievable. The vessel has remained stable, the carbon rudder is magic! 

As we navigating this pace, we feared that the return leg and looked at length. 

Before the board spinnaker, I risked on the close range before to replace the Genoese by the Solent. Kneeling on the beach before, I had the thighs and legs covered by the waves engulfing the bridge. 

Still, 13 miles from the edge have been too much to catch up with the 32S5, we arrived at the buoy "St Marcouf" in his ass. 

The 6th board was used to take a risk. Then it was back to leeward. It must be said that it was our first outlet in the breeze and wondered how I would behave at the leeward boat with waves face. 

The beginning of the 7th board was surprising is that we've had more wind, the speedo exceeded 30 knots, and with one reef and Solent, we were a little too canvas. The boat completely gîté gave us the impression of standing in the cockpit, rest against the hold-mast. The behavior was healthy, saffron has allowed us to control every ship in waves, it crossed the waves retaining good speed, we had the feeling of power at almost the yachts offered much bigger. 

We have not taken more than 10 minutes to double the 32S5. 

We had the chance to make the last 3 edges on each leg 1. The wind was a little molli on the end to 20-22 knots which was more comfortable and has spent more west. 

At the finish, after 12 hours 10 race, we end almost 1 / 2 hour before the 32S5, which was sailing crew. 

The square was in a mess and everything was incredible soaked returned after the 3 spis genoa and completely wet. 

We are pleased to have done this regatta and without breaking anything. We were ranked 2nd. 

Navigating more rational, we would certainly have won this regatta.