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First away, on one start was the IRC Fleet at 1840, lead away by Andrew PEARCE'S IMX 40 'Magnum II', Shaun FROHLIC'S IMX 45 'Exabyte III' and Grant GORDON / Klaus DIEDERICHS' Swan 45 'Swantastic', under spinnakers.

Ten minutes later at 1850 the Multihulls got away cleanly from the line.

A forecast for a light wind race prompted the committee to set the shorter course which would take the fleet east out of the Solent and then straight to Dieppe to the finish off the D1 North Cardinal Buoy, a distance of approximately 100 miles.

Conditions would indeed turn out to be as predicted with 'Jazz', Chris BULL'S J145 reporting in at 0945 on Saturday morning that they were 10 miles west of the finish in a light west south westerly breeze of around 4 kts, the tide having turned foul.

Another trick the weather was to play on the yachts would be the fog. Mike GREVILLE, sailing his DK46 'Erivale' thought he had managed to pull away in IRC Zero, only to discover as the fog lifted in the early morning light, that the breeze had filled in a little from the north west, allowing the following pack to set their spinnakers earlier and close the gap.

Line honours went to 'Bear of Britain', Kit HOBDAY and Tim LOUIS' Farr 52, finishing at 1051 with Piet VROON'S Lutra 52 'Tonnerre de Breskens', crossing 20 minutes later at 1108 and 'Jazz' Chris BULL'S J145 at 1140. 'Erivale' was the next home at 1153 ahead of 'Swantastic', 'Exabyte' and Nick HARTSHOM'S Ker11.3 'El Gringo'. It was not until 1450 that the next boat 'Hooligan V', Edward BROADWAY'S Max Fun 35 crossed the line at Dieppe.

By 1730 no other boats had finished which, when the TCC's were applied, meant that 'Exabyte' had done enough to take the De Guingand Bowl for BCT IRC and the St Barbara Trophy for IRC Zero, 'Jazz' was 2nd and 'El Gringo' 3rd.

'El Gringo' secured the Windward Sailing Trophy for BCT IRM.

First of IRC 1 to finish was 'Maverick 2', Dominic CHAPPELL'S IMX40 at 1943, just ten minutes behind 'Branec III', Roger LANGEVIN'S Futra 50. Their effort through the hard night and following day was good enough to earn 'Maverick 2' the Stewart Cup for IRC 1 on corrected time. It would be almost 12 hours later at 0644 on Sunday morning before the next yacht in IRC 1 crossed the line in the form of 'Magnum II', 15 minutes ahead of 'Cutting Edge', R LUTENER , P JAMES and M ELWOOD'S Mills 36. This was to be the order on the prizegiving list also.

The battle between the boats in IRC 2 brought 'Energies Total', Philippe BOURGEOIS' First 36.7 to the finish line at 0655 ahead of 'Carpet Bagger', Michael RONSON'S HOD35 who was closely followed by Noel RACINE'S JPK9.6 'Foggy Dew' and Alistair RAY'S J109 'Jumunu'. Once the numbers were crunched 'Foggy Dew' lifted the Auclair Trophy, second going to 'Energies Total' and 3rd 'Jumunu'.

Although out of the running for a Trophy in IRC 2, 'Psipsina', John LODEN'S HOD35 picked up a RORC Prize for winning the 2 Handed Division.

After nearly 39 hours of racing a tired but happy crew of 'Sigress', David & Fiona CRAWFORTH'S Sigma 33 made their way into the yacht club as the first boat to finish in IRC 3. There perseverance had paid off they were the winners of the David Maufe Salver.

Split between seven of the competing yachts were ten Sailability sailors vying for the R J Rutter Trophy, awarded to the yacht with the BCT in the Sailability Division. 'Jeu D'Esprit', Clem JONES' J160 had four members onboard, with 'Blustery Day', Colin SINCLAIR'S First 32, 'Simply the Best', Phillip WOOD'S Baltic 42, 'Marionette', Chris DUNNING'S J120, 'Lutine' Don MORETON'S Swan 53, 'Magnum II' and 'Sigress' all taking one sailor with a disability each. Despite the strong challenge of 'Sigress', 'Jeu D'Esprit' won the R J Rutter Trophy.

The RORC would like to thank the Cercle de la Voile de Dieppe for their hospitality, full results are available on the RORC website at the address below.