Solo and short-handed racing is demanding, competitive and all encompassing, it requires a unique set of skills and few make it to the top echelons of the sport. Ellen MacArthur, Mike Golding, Dee Caffari, Samantha Davies and Alex Thomson are just a few of the modern-generation British sailors who have made an impact in this highly competitive discipline that is dominated by the French. The Artemis Offshore Academy is a fully funded programme that offers British sailors the chance to train and compete exclusively in this discipline, and now in its third year the Academy will be staging its annual Selection Trials. Read the full article here. Applications close on 20th August.

Channel Race Report
Louay Habib

Philippe Falle sailing Peter Rutter's Grand Soleil 46, Trustmarque Quokka 8, won the 2012 Channel Race overall finishing the 145-mile in course in just over 26 hours. However a number of boats have requested redress as the mark, (CH1) off the coast near Cherbourg was not in place and some boats spent time looking for the mark before rounding its GPS co-ordinates and proceeding back to Cowes.

One of those who looked for the mark was Piet Vroon with his Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens, who still has a fighting chance of retaining the title of RORC Season's Points Championship winner. He will have a fight on his hands and with one more race to go, the Cherbourg Race at the end of August, Laurent Gouy's French Ker 39, Inis Mor, has the upper hand but Nick Martin's British J/105, Diablo-J, racing Two-Handed is right in the mix.

The course for the RORC Channel Race has now been published - Click here to Download a copy

Preview 2012 RORC Channel Race
By Louay Habib

Starts Saturday August 4^th - Flexi course race designed to last 24 - 36 hours, starting and finishing in the Solent.

With just two races left in the RORC Season's Points Championship, the 10 race series that started back in February is heading for a dramatic conclusion. Three yachts are contesting the overall victory and several classes still hang in the balance. GBR Red may have won the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup but a French and a Dutch team are contesting the overall win in the championship with a Two-Handed British boat also looking for a fairy tale end to the season.

Laurent Gouy's Ker 39, Inis Mor, was the overall winner in this year's Round Ireland Race and leads the championship by just four points from Piet Vroon's Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens. Laurent hales from the Crouesty Arzon YC in Southern Brittany, France and the amateur team have travelled thousands of miles this season. "We have done so much sailing we could have crossed the Atlantic," smiles Laurent Guoy. "But we just love to compete in the Round Ireland Race and also the Fastnet Race, don't ask me why, we just love it. This season we decided that there was not really enough racing for us in France, so we decided to compete in the RORC races. I have to say I am surprised at our position, we really didn't expect to be leading the series but it has taken a big commitment from the crew of Inis Mor. For this weekend's Channel Race, we will sail the boat 300 miles to the start line and then 300 miles back."

The Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup ended with a more typical Solent day, finally providing sailors with some fresh conditions and waves for the last double points scoring race of this week long series for international three boat teams and their amateur crews.

With a 66 point lead going into the final race, RYA Team GBR Red were in a strong position but there have been several occasions in the past when a dominant team has lost this competition in the last race.

Today's final bout got underway on time, but the first attempt had to be abandoned when, cruelly, the wind dropped off to nothing as the leaders closed to within 200m of the line. As the week's first cloud line eased across the Solent, so a westerly filled in and when the Race Committee went to sail the race again the wind was up to 17 knots and slowly built into the low 20s by the final beat.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup minisite

Today the race management of the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup bravely pushed ahead with the scheduled course anti-clockwise around the Isle of Wight.

The seven teams in this international event for amateur crews got their money's worth. The race proved to be one of the most dramatic laps of the Isle of the Wight we have followed, including some monstrous snakes and ladders, for some boats the most wind their crews had seen all week and the whole gamut of conditions (or up to 18 knots at least) culminating in the latter two thirds of the fleet being becalmed on the final approach to the finish.

Despite this, day six of the regatta was the first where one team managed to put in a consistent performance with all three boats in RYA Team GBR Red finishing in the top five. From being 10 points ahead at the start of the day, they are now 55.5 points ahead of the GBR White. This leaves them in good shape going into tomorrow's final double points scoring inshore race.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commdores' Cup minisite

Two thirds of the way into the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup and still it remains very tight between the seven international three boat teams taking part. After five days of racing this is the first day the lead hasn't changed - with RYA Team GBR Black ahead on day one, France pulling into the lead after the offshore race and RYA Team GBR Red edging ahead yesterday. After today's two races, the Red team has extended slightly while RYA Team GBR White has overhauled the French to move up to second overall, on 216 points to the leader's 206, with two races to go.

While conditions remained more Cote d'Azur-like than we have come to expect this summer, today the race area was shifted east from the Solent to Hayling Bay. This provided a generally more regular course, a 7-10 knot easterly that veered slowly right through the afternoon, and less tidal effect until the second race when a few boats got caught out being washed down on to the weather mark and were obliged to carry out penalty turns.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup minisite

The Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup fleet received an inadvertent visit from HM Queen Elizabeth II this morning, her Diamond Jubilee Tour taking in Cowes Yacht Haven where the 21 boats are based in this premier three boat team event for international amateur crews.

This afternoon only one race was held, again along the Lee-on-Solent shoreline as it was on the first day with the 6 - 9 knot southeasterly, enough for the boats to race. The boats then had to head out into the tide to round the first mark and spreader mark before heading back downwind. The course was shortened, when a southwesterly sea breeze filled in after a brief transition just short of the finish line.

Winner of the day was the young British Keelboat Academy crew on former RORC Commodore David Aisher's J/109 Yeoman of Wight competing in RYA Team GBR Black, whose time corrected out to more than two minutes ahead of John van der Starre's J/111 Xcentric Ripper in the Benelux team. However it was RYA Team GBR Red which put in the best performance of the day slipping into first place on 151.5 points, although they are just three points ahead of yesterday's leaders, France.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commdores' Cup minisite

The Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup fleet came ashore today after their high scoring offshore race with war stories, not of wrestling on the foredeck in gale force winds but of repeatedly anchoring in a flat calm to prevent themselves being whisked off down Channel by the powerful spring tide.

After heading east down the Solent from Cowes yesterday lunchtime, the boats had to head out into the English Channel, down to a virtual mark 17 miles south of Bembridge. Unfortunately after passing this virtual mark late yesterday afternoon, the westbound tide was so strong and the wind so light that they were unable to get back to complete the mark rounding. Thus the entire fleet was forced to anchor for most of the evening until the tide turned. This `kedging', they managed with mixed success.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup Minisite

At 1000 the 21 competing yachts set off on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup 24-36 hour long offshore race, the most highly scoring segment in this series for international three boat teams with amateur crews.

While conditions this year have been mainly blustery, the start today was in the same summery conditions as yesterday, with brilliant sunshine but precious little wind.

The race management team has set up a complex course for the offshore race, taking the boats east out of the Solent and through the Forts, before heading south to a virtual mark 17 miles out into the Channel. Once round this the boats retrace their steps north towards the Outer Nab mark, before taking a long leg east to the CS1 mark, 15 miles south of Brighton and back. In total the proposed race is 154 miles long, but it seems highly likely it will be shortened.

Read the complete article on the Brewin Dolphin Commodores' Cup Minisite