RORC Transatlantic Race 2018: Farewell Marina Lanzarote!

The fifth edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race started on schedule at 1200 UTC on Saturday 24 November. The fleet bid farewell to Marina Lanzarote which had once again provided an ideal location to prepare for the 3,000 nautical mile race to Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina Grenada. "The fleet got away to a clean start," commented RORC Deputy Racing Manager, Tim Thubron. "Kuka3 was first over the line, followed by Class40 Hydra and the two multihulls; PowerPlay and Maserati. My Song held back at the start but was at speed and full upwind mode at the pin, soon leaving the rest of the monohulls in their wind shadow."

The expected light airs start was enhanced by a sea breeze with many of the teams electing to stay inshore to gain lifting pressure rolling down the volcanic landscape of Lanzarote. Pier Luigi Loro Piana's Supermaxi My Song was the first boat to the turning mark at Puerto Calero Marina, followed by the multihulls. Peter Cunningham's MOD70 PowerPlay took first blood in the duel with Giovanni Soldini's Maserati Multi 70. PowerPlay led at the turning mark by several boat lengths. Both trimarans were still able to fly a hull in the light pressure, and no doubt the duel across the Canary Islands will be the next phase of the battle to Grenada.

Franco Niggeler's Swiss Cookson 50 Kuka3 was going well, second on the water in the IRC class behind My Song. Arto Linnervuo's Finnish Xp-44 Xtra Staerk made a cracking start, beating all three Class40s to the turning mark at Puerto Calero.

In the Class40 division, Henrik Bergesen's Norwegian flagged Hydra was first to the mark, just ahead of French skipper Catherine Pourre, racing Eärendil. Stephane Bry's French-Finnish corinthian team racing Sirius was some way behind the leaders, but all set for a 'tick the box' adventure.

Trevor Middleton's British Sunfast 3600 Black Sheep got away well, the smallest yacht in the race has a crew of five and a massive fan club back home, especially from Yorkshire, Trevor's home county. The amateur crew racing First 47.7 Kali is skippered for the first time by Corinne Wirth. Representing the Swiss Ocean Racing Club, the team are indicative of the ethos of the race. Sail safe and fast!

By 1800 UTC on Day One, the duelling multihulls had chosen to sail 30 miles north of the rhumb line. Six hours into the race, Maserati had passed PowerPlay and was one mile ahead of their rivals. My Song was making good speed in the light winds leading the monohull fleet, with Kuka3 six miles astern. Class40s Eärendil and Hydra were side-by-side matched for speed. The entire fleet are heading north above all of the Canary Islands avoiding the wind shadow from the islands. With the ridge of high pressure predicted to provide light winds, the overall strategy for all of the competing yachts will be to stay in the best pressure during the first night.

Finnish Xp-44 Xtra Staerk was still ahead of the Class40s at 1800 UTC and skipper Arto Linnervuo commented from on board: "We had light winds at the start and inshore it was very shifty, so we had to concentrate on keeping the right side of that. We have now seen the wind go to the south and increase a little to about 11 knots. The spirit on board is fantastic and we are so happy to start this race. We are living our dream and we have such interesting boats and sailors to compete with. As the sun goes down, we can feel the chill in the air, but we are dreaming of getting south into warm trade winds and what promises to be fantastic sailing conditions."

For further information, please go to: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

HOW TO FOLLOW THE RACE:

Race Minisite: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/ 
Daily stories, press releases and race updates, as well as blogs from the boats and photo gallery 
YB Race Tracker: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/tracking/2018-fleet-tracking.html

Individual yachts, classes or the whole fleet can be tracked throughout the race
Social Media: Official Race Hashtag: #rorctransatlanticrace
Facebook: @RoyalOceanRacingClub, Twitter & Instagram: #rorctransatlanticrace

Virtual Race: Armchair sailors...take on the challenge with Virtual Regatta Page Officielle, a new dimension of virtual offshore sailing! http://click.virtualregatta.com/?li=4852

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Ends/...Louay Habib

RORC MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

Trish Jenkins - Press Officer, RORC Transatlantic Race

M: +44 (0)7880 518689

E:  trish@j2pr.co.uk

CURRENT RACE RECORDS:

Monohull Record:

10 days 07 hours 06 minutes and 59 seconds
NOMAD IV, FINOT-CONQ 100

In 2015, Jean-Paul Riviere's French Finot-Conq 100, Nomad IV set a record for the RORC Transatlantic Race and was also awarded the International Maxi Association Transatlantic Trophy for Monohull line honours

Multihull Record:

5 days 22 hours 46 minutes 03 seconds

PHAEDO3, MOD70

In 2016, Lloyd Thornburg's MOD70, Phaedo3 set the multihull record for the race

Class40 record:

12 days 12 hours 36 minutes 32 seconds

TALES II, CLASS40

Gonzalo Botin's Spanish Class40, Tales II was the first Class40 to complete the race in 2015, setting a Class40 record

NOTES TO EDITORS

RORC RACE ENQUIRIES:

Royal Ocean Racing Club

T: +44 (0) 1983 295144

E:   racing@rorc.org 

W:  http://www.rorc.org/ 

ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB:

20 St James's Place

London SW1A 1NN

Tel: 020 7493 2248

Fax: 020 7493 2470

E: info@rorc.org 

THE RORC TRANSATLANTIC RACE:

The 2,865 nautical mile race runs through the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic to arrive at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada

Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) became famous for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral's Cup. It organises an annual series of domestic offshore races from its base in Cowes, such as the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, as well as inshore regattas including the RORC Easter Challenge

The club is based in St James' Place, London, but after a merger with The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes, now boasts a superb clubhouse facility at the entrance to Cowes Harbour and a membership of over 4,000

The 5th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race will start from Lanzarote on Saturday 24th November 2018

The annual race is organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA) http://www.internationalmaxiassociation.com 

Race minisite: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/ 

RORC website: www.rorc.org

Twitter: #rorctransatlanticrace @RORCracing

Facebook: www.facebook.com/royaloceanracingclub

Instagram: instagram.com/rorcracing 

IRC RATING:

The RORC has also been a leader in yacht handicap systems and in co-operation with the French offshore racing club, UNCL, created IRC - the principal yacht measurement system for the rating of racing yachts worldwide

The Spinlock IRC rating rule is administered jointly by the RORC Rating Office in Lymington, UK and UNCL Centre de Calcul in Paris, France

The RORC Rating Office is the technical hub of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and recognised globally as a centre of excellence for measurement. For Spinlock IRC rating information in the UK please see: www.rorcrating.com and for IRC rating globally www.ircrating.org 

Social media: www.facebook.com/rorcratingwww.facebook.com/ircrating  

Twitter @RORCrating @IRCrating 

THE INTERNATIONAL MAXI ASSOCIATION (IMA):

The International Maxi Association (IMA) represents owners of Maxi yachts worldwide

Recognised in 2010 as the World Sailing international class of Maxi yachts, the IMA has the exclusive right to organise World championships for Maxi yachts. The President of the IMA is Benoît de Froidmont, the Secretary General is Andrew McIrvine, also Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club

The IMA has been closely associated with the RORC Transatlantic Race since its inception. The IMA is registered in Geneva, has a base in Porto Cervo and an office in the UK, for rating and technical matters. It has two affiliated classes (Maxi 72s, and J Class) and one associated class (Wally Class). The IMA's function is to guide, structure and encourage maxi yacht racing worldwide

The IMA rule defines and categorises maxi yachts: it aims to embrace all maxi yachts and encourage any development that has a positive effect on the construction and performance of maxi yachts

The IMA Transatlantic Trophy is presented to the Line Honours Monohull in the RORC Transatlantic Race

www.internationalmaxiassociation.com 

CALERO MARINAS: 

Calero Marinas has developed and manages three marinas in the Canary Islands, having accrued over 35 years' experience in the sector. The Canaries' warm climate and regular supply of breeze has lead Lanzarote to become a favourite training ground for offshore race teams, whilst the combination of good flight connections and easily available services has created a popular and reliable base for international sailors

Marina Lanzarote is the newest addition to the group with secure berthing for vessels of up to 60m LOA, a wide range of services and the advantage of having the city and maritime quarter within a few minutes' walk

The shipyard is equipped to hoist superyachts and the inclusion of deep keel pits in the yard's design was considered especially to meet the needs of transoceanic racing yachts

www.caleromarinas.com 

https://www.facebook.com/CaleroMarinas/ @CaleroMarinas 

Enquiries: msymes@caleromarinas.com 

Other social media handles: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Canary.Islands.Tourism 

#CanaryIslands, Twitter: @CanaryIslandsEN, #CanaryIslands, Instagram: theCanaryIslands - #CanaryIslands. Lanzarote: FB: @Visit Lanzarote -# Lanzarote, Twitter: @TurismoLZT - #Lanzarote, Instagram : turismolzt - #Lanzarote. Arrecife: @Turismo Arrecife, Real Club Náutico de Arrecife:  https://www.facebook.com/rcna.info, @rcna.info 

CAMPER & NICHOLSONS MARINAS:

Camper & Nicholsons Marinas is widely recognised to be one of the world's oldest and most prestigious yachting business names, with origins dating back to 1782

The company has specialised in marina and waterfront development for over 40 years and has provided services to clients in more than 25 countries worldwide. Projects range from small marinas through to developments of over 500 hectares

Camper & Nicholsons Marinas Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Camper & Nicholsons Marina Investments Limited, listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange. Camper & Nicholsons Marinas currently operate marinas in Grenada, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey and the UK, with over 30 new projects currently under way all over the world

Owned and managed by Camper & Nicholsons Marinas, Port Louis Marina has transformed Grenada's yachting facilities. Overlooking the historic capital St Georges and designed to reflect the traditional Creole architecture, the marina offers 159 berths, including 30 superyacht berths for vessels from 25m to 90m LOA, and up to 6m draft

For more information about Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina visit: www.cnmarinas.com/plm 

Twitter: @portlouismarina

Facebook: www.facebook.com/portlouismarina 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portlouismarinaofficial

GRENADA TOURISM AUTHORITY:

The premium yachting destination in the southern Caribbean, Grenada and its sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique are widely considered to be the most unspoiled cruising grounds in the Caribbean. Famed for its people's warm and gregarious hospitality Pure Grenada, the Spice of the Caribbean has a varied topography of mountains, rainforests and waterfalls, fringed by icing sugar beaches and cooled by trade winds.

www.puregrenada.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/discovergrenada

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/discovergrenada

Instagram: www.instagram.com/discovergrenada

Youtube: www.youtube.com/puregrenada