O'Rourke's Chieftain named RORC yacht of the year

SAILING:In a much-anticipated announcement this week, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has confirmed that Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain from the Western Yacht Club in Limerick is the recipient of their prestigious "yacht of the year" award and winner of the Somerset Trophy for outstanding achievement.

The news crowns two years as one of the most successful campaigns of the modern era for any Irish yacht at many of the world's best known racing events and the citation notes in particular O'Rourke's overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race and second place in the HSH Nordbank Blue Transatlantic Race this year.

The Cookson-built 50-footer features state-of-the-art sailing technology with its "canting keel" that delivers higher performance compared to similar sized racing yachts with conventional fixed keels.

The string of successes this year, following on from victories in 2006 that included the class win in the Sydney to Hobart Race plus overall victory in the Round Britain and Ireland Race resulted in Chieftain being placed on the open market as O'Rourke considered his options for next season.

But this week's news has tipped the balance against selling and in a nod to loyalty to Chieftain, he has decided to keep on racing for the foreseeable future.

"She's been very lucky for me and we've had fantastic going together over the last two years," O'Rourke told The Irish Times yesterday. "There is a bit of a bond between us."

So what of the mysterious notes on the brokerage notices stating the owner was planning to build a bigger boat? It seems the canting keel bug has well and truly bitten O'Rourke hard and his intention was to take a current generation Transpac 52-footer and adapt it to replace its fixed keel.

"The bottom line is that they're too weak - they can't go offshore," he admitted this week.

"It'd mean putting a new rig in and the structure can't take any more load. We'll go with modifications to Chieftain instead."

And modifications will be needed as current performance indicates a major weakness when it comes to light airs.

"We need to optimise for light conditions as she's just a bit weak around the cans (racing) and especially against the TPs, though these can't go offshore."

Racing plans for the season ahead aren't finalised yet but are certain to include the Round Ireland and Cork Week.

"I'd like to tick boxes of the ones I haven't won before," predicted O'Rourke. "I might consider one or two Med regattas but not the Middle Sea Race; the wind just shuts down each night."

Meanwhile, the RORC has still to make up ground with another prominent Irish sailor. Barely one year ago, Colm Barrington expressed his frustration with the management of the Commodore's Cup at Cowes and a return to the fray next June by this successful owner/skipper remains in doubt.

While waiting on delivery of his newly-built Ker 39-footer earlier this year, Barrington began racing an older generation TP52 which has attracted such a following in northern European waters that next July's Cork Week will feature a special class for these grand prix racers.

Such is the enjoyment that the skipper and crew of Magic Glove are getting from this fast class that next season appears unlikely to leave space for a Commodore's Cup campaign. Current plans include Key West and Miami Race Week's as well as Cork and Cowes Week plus the British IRC National Championships.

Nevertheless, while Barrington has still to make a final decision, he yesterday scotched various rumours in circulation that the new Ker 39 has been chartered out or that he would fund and manage one of the teams for the Commodore's Cup.

And as for speculation that his obsession with the TP52 might see him venture south for the MedCup circuit, "hiring 14 professional sailors is just not the type of racing I enjoy", he told The Irish Times.