Although this year’s Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race took a very long time to complete there was success for local sailors and boats.
When this 4-yearly event has taken place in previous years, records were broken for fast times. In 2014 Cowes based sailor Brian Thompson was on board Artemis-Team Endeavour and set a record time of 5 days, 14 hrs, 00 mins and 54 secs.
Along with the rest of the fleet Brian was not so quick to finish the 2022 edition of this race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. However, the boat he sailed on, Tquila took 2nd place in Line Honours finishing the race on 20th August at 14:06.-13days 2hrs 6mins 47secs.
There was a success too for Yarmouth-based sailor Sam White who with Sam North sailed Mzungu, to take 3rd place in the 2-handed class. (Finished on 21st August at 22:57-14d 10h 47m 11s)
It was the 2-handed class that saw the most excitement with a number of craft not only vying for the double-handed title but that of overall winner.
Local boat Jangada owned by Cowes sailor Richard Palmer and joint-skippered in the two-handed class by Richard and Rupert Holmes came out tops with not only winning the 2-handed class but by a very narrow margin on handicap being declared overall winner.
In a dramatic final twist to an intense and highly complex race, the overall winner was decided by the thinnest of margins. After IRC time correction for 15 days of racing, Jangada won overall by seven minutes and nine seconds. Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600, Bellino racing 2-Handed with Deb Fish was second. In percentage terms, Jangada won by just 0.03% in a race of 1,805 nautical miles. Sam White & Sam North racing JPK 1080 Mzungu! was ranked third overall, under two hours behind Jangada after IRC time correction. All three teams were racing in IRC Two-Handed.
On Monday 22 August the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race came to a thrilling climax. This was the 16th day of the 1,805 nautical mile race. In a 14-hour flurry, 10 boats finished the race and after a dock party on Trinity Landing, Cowes a hearty meal was enjoyed at the RORC Clubhouse. Some of the crews had been living on reconstituted food for the duration of the race so real food must have been a treat. Richard Palmer and Rupert Holmes had told us prior to the race start that they planned to have as much fresh food as possible so perhaps this was their secret weapon.
At the time of writing five boats are still racing but none of them can realistically better the IRC corrected time scored by JPK 1010 Jangada. Therefore, The Royal Ocean Racing Club has declared Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada, racing Two-Handed with Rupert Holmes, as the overall winner of the 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race.
