Medallia crossed the line in Cowes at 01:23 this morning (Thursday), taking the line honours in the Sevenstar Round Britain And Ireland Race.
Following the start from Cowes on Sunday 7th August, very slow progress was made by most of the fleet over the first few days of the race. By midnight on Thursday (11th) Pip Hare and her crew on Medallia were sailing at 5 knots and 1st in Line Honours. Tquila, with Cowes sailor Brian Thompson on board, was sailing at 4.9 knots and topping the speed at 5.5knots was Bellino which, on ratings at this time was in 1st overall place. Local boat Rockit (Shirley Robertson and Dee Caffari) was at this time 13th in Line Honours.
Crews on most of the fleet had the chance to enjoy views of the rugged coast of West Ireland but others with both yachting and business commitments around the World were thinking of retiring from the race. 23:30 on Saturday saw Medallia still 1st in Line Honours, now doing 8 knots and heading for the top of the Scottish mainland. Palby Marine had 2nd place in Line Honours and Tquila 3rd. Bellino had progressed to 1st in IRC Overall as well as 1st in the Double-handed class, but places were changing all the time.
One of the boats which had by now retired was Haspa Hamburg. This retirement was due to business commitments -a great disappointment for 2 of the youngest sailors in the race: Inken Borrman and Reemt Bruhn, both aged 17. We had spoken with them before the start. Both were very keen but Inken particularly, as she had sailed the boat from Germany to Cowes prior to the race start and was really looking forward to the challenge of this race.
Coming into the 9th day of racing on Monday 15th, all bar 3 teams had rounded St Kilda, the isolated Scottish archipelago in the North Atlantic, and Medallia had rounded Muckle Flugga, the most northern extremity of the course. Most of the teams were past the midway 900-mile waypoint, and there was optimism for a faster 2nd half of the race.
Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After was ranked as the overall leader after IRC time correction, with Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada, a Cowes-based boat ranked 2nd and Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino ranked 3rd.
All through this race, boats have made contact with organisers: Cowes-based The Royal Ocean Racing Club. Richard Palmer from Cowes spoke with the RORC as his boat Jangada, jointly skippered by Rupert Holmes, headed up the Scottish coast.
Richard said:
“The approach to St Kilda was challenging. Ahead of the front, there was an area of low cloud with little or no wind. We managed to navigate our way through the maze and pop out ahead of the Sunfast 3300s at St Kilda and take the lead in IRC 2-handed. A hugely satisfying moment after days of relentless concentration. But we have no doubt that the leaderboard will change over the coming days with the change in conditions. Just grateful to be with the peloton at this stage. As we now pass Eilean Mor on our way to Muckle Flugga, conditions couldn’t be more different. Up to 20 knots, close hauled in a short choppy sea. Very unpleasant by contrast. It looks like we will have to endure this hardship for a day and a half until we round Muckle Flugga, then ease sheet and run for home.”
