Ino Veritas dominates RORC Channel Race with double triumph

SOUTHAMPTON, England, July 27 - James Neville's Botin 52 Ino Veritas has taken line honours and won overall under IRC in the RORC Channel Race, a roughly 150-nautical-mile offshore race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

Ino Veritas lifted the Hugh Astor Trophy for line honours and the Channel Challenge Cup for the overall IRC win, with the result forming part of Neville's build-up towards the 2027 Admiral's Cup.

IRC is the world’s leading handicap rating system for offshore racing, designed to allow different types and sizes of yachts to compete fairly. Boats race together on the water, but their finishing times are adjusted using an IRC rating based on factors such as hull design, length, weight and sail area, with the lowest corrected time determining the overall winner.

• "Any time you race 150 miles in 25 knots, you know you have been in a proper race," Neville said. "It was a classic Channel Race: tactical, physical and heavily influenced by the tide. It paid off for us, so naturally I am very happy.”

• After IRC time correction, Ker 46 ROST – Van Uden, skippered by Laura Louise van Veen, finished second overall; Jean-Eudes Renier's Pogo IRC Midnight Blues was third.

• Jacques Pelletier's L'Ange de Milon finished fourth; Trevor Middleton's JPK 1180 Black Sheep and Noel Racine's JPK 1030 Foggy Dew tied for fifth with identical corrected times.

• In the MOCRA multihull class, James Holder's Grainger TR36 Uno took line honours and the class win.

• Renier's Midnight Blues also won IRC Two and the IRC Two-Handed division, racing double-handed with Joe Lacey.

• The RORC Season's Points Championship continues with the Baltic Sea Race from Helsinki on August 8 and the Round Britain and Ireland Race from Cowes on August 9. REUTERS