Ebb and flow
IRC Nationals won by 0.005 of a point
The IRC National Championship was won by 0.005 of a point by Niklas Zennström’s FAST40+ Rán, a nail-biting finish to a weekend of perfect sailing conditions in the Solent, the event organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
Rán’s mixed crew nearly let the title slip when they posted a third in the first race of the final day, the only blemish on their otherwise perfect scoreline.
Over in IRC Three, Rán’s rival for the overall win, Adam Gosling’s JPK 10.80 Yes!, scored a fourth in the same race. In the longer, round the cans racing that concluded the event, both scored bullets, meaning the title went to Rán by the tiniest margin.
“It is fantastic!” said Zennström. “We’ve won our class before [at this event] but never overall. We had an amazing weekend so we are very pleased. It was fantastic sailing with good wind and good weather and also really good race management – we have nothing to complain about at all.”
The Skype founder was also enthusiastic about the new Grand Prix Zero class that encompassed all of the entrants competing in IRC One. “It has been really cool to have the other boats - the 43 and 46 etc - mixing it
