Rolex Commodores' Cup

May 17, 2006 10:23 by RYA | 0 comments

After a successful selection series, the RYA Offshore Group is pleased to announce the four teams selected to represent Great Britain at the Rolex Commodores’ Cup 2006.

After much deliberation, today (16 May) selectors have indicated the teams they believe will be able to help lead Britain to glory again, after GBR won the Cup in 2004.

The Rolex Commodores’ Cup, organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), is one of the most important international events of the yachting calendar and pits the world’s best yacht racing talent against each other.

The week long racing series, held between 25 June and 2 July 2006 in the Solent, is expected to attract between ten and fifteen teams of three boats representing up to ten countries, mainly from Europe. The event is raced under IRC Endorsed ratings, between 0.980 and 1.320, in three rating band classes.

While the Blue Team was selected after trials in Scotland, the three British teams were selected based upon their performance in a series of offshore and inshore races.

Iain Macdonald Smith, selector and Chairman of the RYA Offshore Group explained, "We have had a good series of trials over three weekends, with eleven completed inshore races run by the Royal Southern YC, and a very testing offshore race last weekend, in the RORC de Guingand Bowl.

“The variety of conditions gave us a good indication of all the boats’ relative performance. Some of the boats were “undercooked” going into the trials, some were quite new and untested. The standard of crewing and boat handling has improved noticeably during this process.

“These three weekends were essential as without them, some of our best boats would not have done enough close racing to prepare for the Commodores’ Cup. The owners and skippers have undoubtedly learnt a lot about their boats and crews during the selection series and we hope they will bring everything to the table in the Commodores’ Cup."

Ian Maclean, owner and navigator of Software Mistresses, has been nominated to captain the Red Team. “Our whole crew are proud to have qualified for the middle boat position in the Red Team. We have completed 46 races since the boat’s launch on the 16 July 2005, enabling our team to be successful at such high levels of competition.

“I’m looking forward to leading the Red Team and am hoping to follow on from the great and successful team captains in the past, including 2004 winning captain Kit Hobday who set very high standards.”

British Commodores’ Cup Teams

Blue Team (Scotland)

Class 1: Exabyte III, David Cullen

Class 2: Absolutely II, Kelly/ Bramall/ Plummer

Class 3: Salamander XVIII, John Corsen

White Team

Class 1: Fair Do’s VII ,John Shepherd

Class 2: Maverick, Dominic Chappell

Class 3: Quokka, Peter Rutter

Red Team

Class 1: Bear of Britain, Kit Hobday

Class 2: Software Mistress, Ian Maclean

Class 3: No Doubt, Chris and Hannah Neve

Black Team

Class 1: Chernikeef, Peter Harrison

Class 2: Mankie Jack, Pringle

Class 3: Civils with Flair, Jim Macgregor